This family presumably descends from John VI Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor ( 1347 - 1353 ). It is also known as Cantacuzene. Andronikos Cantacuzene was a wealthy Greek who supported Michael the Brave, Lord of Wallachia ( 1593 - 1600 ), in obtaining his throne. Of his four sons, Constantin, Gheorghe and Toma settled in the two Romanian Principalities, while Mihai remained in Constantinople and was the father of Dumitrașcu Cantacuzene, Lord of Moldavia ( 1674 - 1676; 1684 - 1685 ). Constantin was head of the Wallachian branch of the family and Gheorghe of the Moldavian one.
- Wallachian branch
- Moldavian branch
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I think you are too optimistic when you "presume" that they would be descended from John VI.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, there is no generation-by-generation evidence of such a descent between about 1400 and the mid-1500s.
There is not even any near-contemporary claim recorded from, say, year 1530 or around, that the Saitanoglu would have been descended from John VI. All claims of descent from John VI seem to be recorded only in much later epochs. When the knowledge of facts was no longer even near-contemporary. Everything first-hand relevant had already been forgotten in, say, before the 1600s. We long for detailed information about b1400s family members who would be evidenced (not merely claimed) as ancestors of the Saitanoglu.
Secondly, Kantakouzenos was a surname which belonged to a lot of separate (but usually related) families already in the 1200s. Merely only one of those families named Kantakouzenos rose to imperial dignity when a member of the clan, John VI, was emperor for several years in the mid-1300s. Not the other families of that time rose to be imperial even if they were with the same surname.
At the time of John VI (= mid-1300s), the Kantakouzenos ancestor of the Romanian family Cantacuzino COULD be another Kantakouzenos man of that time and not John VI. This possibility is a fact. And, when looking at the numbers, we observe that John VI is merely one man, while at his time, there existed a number of other men named Kantakouzenos. So, the numbers say that the likelihood of John VI descent is mere one (1) against a bigger number. Very bad odds to make a "presumption" of direct descent.
I would say that the surname of the Cantacuzino, already recorded for their proven ancestors in the 1500s in Greece (Constantinople), justifies a presumption that they are descended from the same clan (living in Constantinople or elsewhere in the Empire in year 1300 and so) as Emperor John VI, however possibly being descended from his remote cousin rather than directly from him.