***Grand Palatine Stefan Catargiu was also a son of High Treasurer Iordache. He married Safta Negri ( Costache Negri's aunt ) and had these children:
******Lascar Catargiu ( 1823 - 1899 ), was undoubtedly one of the most important Romanian statesmen of the 19th century. Of moderate opinions, he was in his youth governor of several counties and Police Sheriff of Jassy, under both Mihail Sturdza and Grigore Ghika V. Interior Minister of Moldavia ( 1859 ), he becomes the de facto leader of the Conservative opposition to Cuza after Barbu Catargiu's death ( see above ) and as such he plots Cuza's demise with the Radicals. He was one of the three members of the Council of Regency accepted at the point of the gun by Cuza during the coup of 11/23 February 1866 and which ruled Romania until Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen came from Prussia and took the oath as the new Prince Regnant ( 10/22 May 1866 ). The same day he was appointed head of the new government ( of broad coalition ) and Interior Minister, remaining in those offices for two months, until the new constitution was adopted. The occasion for a Conservative administration presented itself in 1871, when Prince Carol I and his Liberal cabinet came head to head. When serious unrest broke out in Bucharest ( in front of the Princely Palace ) in the context of the French defeat in the war with Prussia, Carol I summoned the three former co-Regents and declared that he wanted to relinquish his powers to them and go back to Germany. In response, Catargiu persuaded him to change his mind, but only by promising to take upon himself the responsibility of governing the country with a firm hand. His grand Conservative government ( 1871 - 1876 ) saved Romania from the dire prospects of 'ungovernability' and ushered in an era of political stability which lasted until the outbreak of WWI without any major shake-ups ( except brief moments of unrest such as the anti-Liberal riots of 1888 and the peasant revolt of 1907 ). The Conservative movement organised into the Conservative Party in 1880 and that year he became its second president ( the first president had died after just two months ). He retained this office until his death in 1899. He served again in government during the Conservative period in office of 1888 - 1895, namely as President of the Council of Ministers and Interior Minister ( 1888; 1891 - 1895 ) and just Interior Minister ( 1891 ). He is famous for the words which he would have said ( the authenticity of the story is not clear ) to Queen Elisabeta during the 'Elena Vacarescu crisis' of 1891: 'Your Majesty, now this can't be' ( 'Majestate, aiasta nu se poate' ). When he died his party had just won another parliamentary election and he probably would have been called to head the government a fifth time. He married Eufrosina ( Frosa ) Ventura, no children. In Bucharest he used as residence a small house on Amza's Church Street ( which bore his name for a while ). A big nearby section of the Coltea Avenue has been called Lascar Catargiu Avenue between 1912 and 1948 and again since 1995; consequently, the present Roman Square was called Lascar Catargiu before 1948 and it had his statue in the middle. See his grave.
******- Nicolae Catargiu married Catinca Jurgea and had two daughters and a son Nicolae, married to a Cretianu.
******- Constantin married Smaranda Costache-Negel ( close relative of Veniamin Costachi, famous Metropolitan of Moldavia ) and had a son Nicolae, who married four times. With Eugenia Ghika-Serbanesti ( his cousin, see below ) he had Eugen Catargiu. The second wife was Eliza Gheorghiu, with Margareta he had another Nicolae and with Aneta Scotescu three girls ( one married Zarifopol ). Eugen, nicknamed 'Totita', a socialite of some standing, was married to Elena ( Nelly ) Miclescu, daughter of Emil Miclescu, sometime General Manager of the Romanian Railroads and of Alexandrina ( Sasha ) Grecianu. After 1940 Nelly Catargiu became Queen Mother Elena's chief lady-in-waiting and close advisor, being involved in the political affairs of the '40s ( the August 1944 coup and the subsequent confrontations between the Monarchy and the Communists ). She and her husband left Romania in 1947 in the famous royal train to Switzerland.
******- Ecaterina ( Catinca ) married Constantin Ghika-Serbanesti, anti-Unionist aristocrat, and was Eugenia's mother ( see above ).
******- Iordache Catargiu had two sons:
*********- George Catargiu, Austrian colonel, was married for a while to Adela Rosetti-Roznovanu, daughter of Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu and of Princess Ruxandra Callimachi, who had married and divorced Prince Alexandru Ghika, a son of Grigore Ghika V, Lord of Moldavia ( 1849 - 1856 ), from his first marriage. They too divorced.
*********- Oscar Catargiu, married to Maria Miclescu, a great-niece of Sofronie Miclescu, Metropolitan of Moldavia ( 1851 - 1860 ), with whom he had Robert Catargiu and Zoe Pillat.
*** Another branch of the Catargius is that founded by High Treasurer Constantin Catargiu. Unfortunately I'm not sure how they were related with the other branches, but I suggest the possibility that they descended from Stefan, younger brother of Patrascu and Ilie ( see second paragraph ). Constantin married Safta ( in other sources Elena ) Rosetti-Roznovanu, aunt of brothers Nicolae and Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu, and sister-in-law of Ionita Sandu Sturdza, Lord of Moldavia ( 1822 - 1828 ). They had a son, Grand Palatine Stefan Catargiu, very Conservative statesman, several times minister during the Organic Regulation-period. As one of the three chief ministers of Grigore Ghika V at the end of his reign, he automatically became one of Moldavia's co-Regents in 1858 ( as decided in the Paris Convention of that year ). The other two ( Anastasie Panu and Vasile Sturdza ) were much more Liberal and a state of hostility developed between him and them until they managed to force his resignation after only a few months in office. His replacement was Ioan ( 'Zizine' ) Cantacuzino-Pascanu ( see third paragraph ). He owned the Tupilati manor and he is buried in the churchyard there. He was married to Princess Ruxandra Callimachi, sister of Prince Theodor Callimachi and of Smaranda Beldiman. They divorced and she married again Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu ( see above ), but they had two sons, both of whom sometimes went by the double surname Callimachi-Catargiu:
******- Nicolae (Callimachi)-Catargiu was head of the Diplomatic Mission ( 1875 - 1876; 1877 - 1880 ) in France, Ambassador to Great Britain ( 1880 - 1881 ) and again France ( 1881 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1869 - 1870; 1870 - 1871 ). He married a Frenchwoman.
******- Alexandru (Callimachi)-Catargiu was Minister for Control ( 1862 ) and Minister for Public Works ( 1862 - 1863 ). He was married to Sofia Catargiu ( see third paragraph ), with whom he had:
*********- Princess Alice Sutu, married to a nephew of politician Prince Constantin N. Sutu.
*********- Henri Catargi, diplomat, Ambassador to Belgium ( 1920 - 1929 ), Marshal of the Palace, married to Ecaterina Lamotescu, whose sister Maria had married the eminent physician Thoma Ionescu. Their son was Henri H. Catargiu ( 1894 - 1976 ), a very appreciated painter of the inter-war paeriod, partly living in Paris. They also had two daughters: Elena Villeboeuf and Marcela.
*********- Paul Catargiu, who was believed to have been fathered by the Conservative politician Menelas Ghermani, married Maria Vacarescu, daughter of General Theodor Vacarescu. No children.
Thursday, 9 July 2009
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
Catargiu family (1)
***The origins of this family ( whose name was sometimes and correctly pronounced 'Catargi' ) are not known, the earliest mentions going as far as ca. 1600. Around this time there lived in Wallachia Ioan Catargiu, an important nobleman. His two sons, Great Ban Ioan ( Ionache ) and Princely Table-Servant Nicolae, supported Radu Ilias as Lord of Wallachia at Leon Tomsa's death in 1632. The other pretender was Matei Basarab, who managed to secure the throne and defeat his enemies in a battle close to Bucharest in 1633. After this defeat, the two brothers went to Moldavia, where their descendants formed one of the countries great families. One branch remained in Wallachia, but not much is knowm about them. They probably stemmed from a brother or uncle of Ioan and one of them married a daughter of the Grand Chamberlain Constantin Cantacuzino. The most famous member of this branch was Barbu Catargiu ( 1807 - 1862 ), Conservative politician and orator of the pre-Union and Union era. He was the son of Princely Cup-Bearer Stefan Catargiu and of Stanca ( Tita ) Vacarescu ( see first paragraph ), daughter of Great Ban Barbu Vacarescu. There is conflicting information on his ancestry, some claiming ( a more likely claim ) that his father was the son of a certain Dumitru Fotache and of Luxandra Catargiu, from the Moldavian branch. In any case, the Wallachian Catargius were a very obscure family which at some point disappears from written records and Barbu Catargiu was of rather modest ( but yet noble ) origins. He served in various departments under the Conservative Lords, was Finance Minister of Wallachia ( 1859 ), President of the Council of Ministers and Interior Minister of Wallachia ( 1861 ) and President of the Council of Romania ( 1862, the first government of the united Wallachia and Moldavia ). He tried to push through a law confirming the entirety of what used to be the feudal domains as their landowners' private property, encountering the Liberals' and Lord Alexandru Ioan Cuza's opposition. He was assassinated on the Metropolitanate Hill ( underneath the archway of the Metropolitanate's belfry to be more precise ) after only six months in office, while he was leaving from a heated debate in the Chamber of Deputies. He was with Nicolae Bibescu, Police Prefect of Bucharest, in the latter's carriage, making him the prime suspect for the murder. He lived in the house that his mother had inherited from her father and also owned the Maia estate in Ialomita County, where he is buried. He married Countess Yelena Paravicini, a Russian noblewoman, with whom he had Maria, wife of Leon Beclard, French consul in Bucharest; he opposed the marriage on religious ( perhaps also ethnic and political ) grounds and disinherited his daughter, the Maia estate becoming an orphanage.
***The Moldavian Catargius stem from Princely Table-Servant Nicolae. One of his sons, Grand Constable Apostol, was father-in-law of Stefan Petriceicu, Lord of Moldavia ( 1672-1673; 1673-1674; 1683-1684 ). The other, Grand Palatine Gheorghe was grandfather of Patrascu, Ilie and Stefan Catargiu, great noblemen in early-18th-century Moldavia. Ilie was Grand Chancellor and his namesake grandson ( son-in-law of Grigore Ghica III, Lord of Moldavia ) founded the Russian branch of the family. Patrascu's son Ioan started the Russian branch from Bessarabia of this family. His other son, Constantin, was the father of High Treasurer Iordache Catargiu, one of the four members of the commission which in 1830 put together the working draft of Moldavia's Organic Regulation. Pro-Russian statesman under Lord Mihail Sturdza ( more Conservative than the Lord himself ), he was married to Elena ( according to other sources Pulcheria ) Rosetti, daughter of Grand Palatine Lascar ( Lascarache ), from the eldest branch of the Rosettis. Their children were:
***Grand Chancellor Constantin Catargiu ( 1800 - 1871 ), Conservative statesman, was Interior Minister under Regent Nicolae Vogoride ( 1857 ), but resigned before the infamous elections that caused Vogoride's downfall. He married Smaranda Bals, daughter of Grand Treasurer Gheorghe ( Iordache ) Bals and sister of Panait Bals. Their family was probably one of the 4-5 most important families in Moldavia in the later 19th century, having had an unusually noteworthy descendence, namely:
******- Maria ( 1835 - 1876 ) married Milosh Obrenovich, nephew of Milosh Obrenovich I, Prince Regnant of Serbia ( 1817 - 1842 and 1858 - 1860 ), and was the mother of Milan Obrenovich IV, Prince Regnant ( 1868 - 1882 ) and King ( 1882 - 1889 ) of Serbia ( as Milan I ). She met her husband in Moldavia, where the Obrenovich were living in exile after having been deposed in 1842 and replaced with the Karageorgevich; she never actually lived in Serbia and had little contact with that country. Towards the beginning of Alexandru Ioan Cuza's reign ( Lord/Prince Regnant of Wallachia and of Moldavia between 1859 - 1862 and of a united Romania between 1862 - 1866 ) she became his mistress and the biggest influence on him. Cuza became increasingly authoritarian and developed a clique around him, things which were associated with Maria Obrenovich's perceived negative influence. They had two boys together, Princes Dimitrie and Alexandru Cuza, who were adopted by Cuza and his complacent wife, Lady/Princess Consort Elena. Maria Obrenovich is widely believed to have been involved in the plot that brought about her lover's deposition in the coup d'etat of 11 February 1866; according to one interpretation, she feared for his life and offered to help the plotters in exchange for Cuza's safety. The army rebels found Cuza in the Princely Palace together with Maria. The two lovers went into exile in Germany, followed soon by Cuza's wife. Their relationship became less stable and Cuza died in 1873 after being cared for by his dutiful wife. Maria on the other hand became ( a bit surprising ) lady-in-waiting to the German Empress Augusta and died in 1876.
******- Sofia married a cousin, statesman Alexandru Catargiu ( see below ).
******- General George Catargiu married firstly Alexandrina Barcanescu ( see her and her father ), secondly Lucia Mavrogheni and thirdly Ana Rosetti-Raducanu ( sister of Radu the diplomat, politician and writer and aunt of Radu the general ) and had two daughters with Alexandrina: Elena married a certain Nicolescu, while Maria married Emanoil Baleanu jr. and was General Gheorghe Baleanu's mother.
******- Olga first married Nicolae Rosetti-Balanescu, Foreign Minister 1863 - 1865, who after the divorce married Olga's sister-in-law Alexandrina Barcanescu ( divorced from George Catargiu ). Olga's second husband was Petre Mavrogheni ( 1819 - 1887 ), Conservative politician, Finance Minister of Moldavia ( 1861 ) and Romania ( 1866, 1866 - 1867, 1871 - 1875 ), Foreign Minister of Romania ( 1866 ), Ambassador to Italy ( 1881 - 1882 ), Turkey ( 1882 - 1885 ) and Austria-Hungary ( 1885 - 1887 ). She was in her own right lady-in-waiting to Queen Elisabeta after her husband's death, becoming Grand Mistress of the Queen's Household ( i.e. head of all the ladies-in-waiting ) with King Carol I's support. A very stern woman, she was the King's eyes and ears, faithfully reporting to him on everything that was going in the Queen's circle. Later, she assumed the same role with regard to the young Princess ( future Queen ) Marie, who describes her in Her memoirs under the nickname of 'the Great Inquisitor'.
******- Lascar Catargiu married Princess Elena Ghica, daughter of Beizade Constantin Ghica ( son of Grigore Ghica IV, Lord of Wallachia 1822 - 1828 ), known as 'la belle Helene', and the two of them lived in Bucharest on Ban's Street at the corner with Manea the Baker ( now General Budisteanu ) Street( the present building of the Fine Arts University was built on the spot of their house ). Their children were:
*********- Lascar L. Catargiu ( 'Lascarus' ), who married Elena, daughter of Grigore Monteoru, a very rich, self-made man. Lascarus inherited his father-in-law's house on Victory Road, one of the most lavish residences in Bucharest. No children.
*********- Alexandru.
*********- Margareta, who was briefly married to Alexandru Ghica, youngest of the great statesman and writer Ion Ghica's children; they had three children.
*********- Elena, also known as 'la belle Helene', never married. In fact, Constantin Argetoianu in his famous memoirs describes the old Elena as a haughty figure and tyrannical mother who was using her children for the upkeeping of her own 'court', either as slaves ( the two daughters ) or as exchange currency ( he says that she 'sold' Lascarus to Monteoru, an upstart who with his enormous wealth managed to buy himself a noble connection ). Around WWII the two sisters ( popularly known as 'Berzalenele', from 'belle Helene' ) were still living together, in their family home on Ban's Street.
******- Elena married playwright and composer Grigore Ventura.
******- Alexandru Catargiu, Ambassador to Russia ( 1892 - 1895 ), Italy ( 1899 - 1900 ) and Great Britain ( 1900 - 1911 ), married Eufrosina Manu, first cousin of General Gheorghe Manu and granddaughter of Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu ( see first paragraph ). They had two daughters, Maria and Olga, and two sons: Barbu, married to Alexandra Cantacuzino ( daughter of Gheorghe Gr. Cantacuzino, 'the Nabab'; see second paragraph ), and Alexis Catargiu ( 1875 - 1923 ), composer, married to Mihaela Ghica, daughter of Mihai G. Ghica and Elena Vacarescu ( see second paragraph ). They had two sons of their own, Barbu ( diplomat in Buenos Aires ) and Alexis ( Bishi ).
***- Ana married in the 1830s Grigore Ghika V, Lord of Moldavia ( 1849 - 1856 ), but died only afew years into the marriage. Together they had two famous ( if a bit wild ) daughters, Princesses Aglae and Natalia Ghika.
***- Elena was married to a prince Sturdza, but for the life of me I don't seem to be able to find who exactly.
***- Alexandru Catargiu, President at the High Court of Cassation, was married firstly to Maria Donici and secondly to a Spiru. Among his children:
******- (1) Ioan married Princess Eufrosina Mavrocordat, niece of Lady Zoe ( 'Zoita' ) Bibescu.
******- (1) Dimitrie, nicknamed 'mos Mitica', married Elena Alecsandri, daughter of the great poet, playwright and revolutionary Vasile Alecsandri. They had two daughters, Margareta ( 'Margo' ) and Elena.
******- (1) Elena Vidrascu.
******- (1) Countess Caterina of Sant'Angelo.
******- (1) Mihail Catargiu married Maria Papadopol-Callimachi, who I think was Alexandru Papadopol-Callimachi's daughter, granddaughter of Princess Eufrosina Callimachi and great-granddaughter of Scarlat Calimah ( Kallimachis ). Their children were:
*********- Elena Istrati Dabija.
*********- Thyra-Maria, married to Radu Xenopol, nephew of the famous historian Alexandru D. Xenopol, industrialist. In the 1940s he was a close friend of Eugen Cristescu, head of the State Security; in that capacity he contacted Lucretiu Patrascanu, Justice Minister in the Communist government, trying unsuccessfully to broker a deal. He wasn't successful and he ended up in jail ( as did Cristescu ), being convicted in 1948 together with other industrialists of sabotaging his own mines. I own his promenade walking-stick and some silver of his wife's with monogram. They lived on Roman ( currently Mihai Eminescu ) Street and had no children.
*********- Alexandru.
*********- Mariette Moscu had a daughter, Colette, who was married for a time to Elie Carafoli, engineer of Aromanian origin, pioneer of Romanian aerodynamics.
******- Ana, married to Dumitru Rosetti-Solescu, brother of Lady Elena Cuza and of statesman Theodor Rosetti. No children.
******- Cleopatra Diamandy.
***The Moldavian Catargius stem from Princely Table-Servant Nicolae. One of his sons, Grand Constable Apostol, was father-in-law of Stefan Petriceicu, Lord of Moldavia ( 1672-1673; 1673-1674; 1683-1684 ). The other, Grand Palatine Gheorghe was grandfather of Patrascu, Ilie and Stefan Catargiu, great noblemen in early-18th-century Moldavia. Ilie was Grand Chancellor and his namesake grandson ( son-in-law of Grigore Ghica III, Lord of Moldavia ) founded the Russian branch of the family. Patrascu's son Ioan started the Russian branch from Bessarabia of this family. His other son, Constantin, was the father of High Treasurer Iordache Catargiu, one of the four members of the commission which in 1830 put together the working draft of Moldavia's Organic Regulation. Pro-Russian statesman under Lord Mihail Sturdza ( more Conservative than the Lord himself ), he was married to Elena ( according to other sources Pulcheria ) Rosetti, daughter of Grand Palatine Lascar ( Lascarache ), from the eldest branch of the Rosettis. Their children were:
***Grand Chancellor Constantin Catargiu ( 1800 - 1871 ), Conservative statesman, was Interior Minister under Regent Nicolae Vogoride ( 1857 ), but resigned before the infamous elections that caused Vogoride's downfall. He married Smaranda Bals, daughter of Grand Treasurer Gheorghe ( Iordache ) Bals and sister of Panait Bals. Their family was probably one of the 4-5 most important families in Moldavia in the later 19th century, having had an unusually noteworthy descendence, namely:
******- Maria ( 1835 - 1876 ) married Milosh Obrenovich, nephew of Milosh Obrenovich I, Prince Regnant of Serbia ( 1817 - 1842 and 1858 - 1860 ), and was the mother of Milan Obrenovich IV, Prince Regnant ( 1868 - 1882 ) and King ( 1882 - 1889 ) of Serbia ( as Milan I ). She met her husband in Moldavia, where the Obrenovich were living in exile after having been deposed in 1842 and replaced with the Karageorgevich; she never actually lived in Serbia and had little contact with that country. Towards the beginning of Alexandru Ioan Cuza's reign ( Lord/Prince Regnant of Wallachia and of Moldavia between 1859 - 1862 and of a united Romania between 1862 - 1866 ) she became his mistress and the biggest influence on him. Cuza became increasingly authoritarian and developed a clique around him, things which were associated with Maria Obrenovich's perceived negative influence. They had two boys together, Princes Dimitrie and Alexandru Cuza, who were adopted by Cuza and his complacent wife, Lady/Princess Consort Elena. Maria Obrenovich is widely believed to have been involved in the plot that brought about her lover's deposition in the coup d'etat of 11 February 1866; according to one interpretation, she feared for his life and offered to help the plotters in exchange for Cuza's safety. The army rebels found Cuza in the Princely Palace together with Maria. The two lovers went into exile in Germany, followed soon by Cuza's wife. Their relationship became less stable and Cuza died in 1873 after being cared for by his dutiful wife. Maria on the other hand became ( a bit surprising ) lady-in-waiting to the German Empress Augusta and died in 1876.
******- Sofia married a cousin, statesman Alexandru Catargiu ( see below ).
******- General George Catargiu married firstly Alexandrina Barcanescu ( see her and her father ), secondly Lucia Mavrogheni and thirdly Ana Rosetti-Raducanu ( sister of Radu the diplomat, politician and writer and aunt of Radu the general ) and had two daughters with Alexandrina: Elena married a certain Nicolescu, while Maria married Emanoil Baleanu jr. and was General Gheorghe Baleanu's mother.
******- Olga first married Nicolae Rosetti-Balanescu, Foreign Minister 1863 - 1865, who after the divorce married Olga's sister-in-law Alexandrina Barcanescu ( divorced from George Catargiu ). Olga's second husband was Petre Mavrogheni ( 1819 - 1887 ), Conservative politician, Finance Minister of Moldavia ( 1861 ) and Romania ( 1866, 1866 - 1867, 1871 - 1875 ), Foreign Minister of Romania ( 1866 ), Ambassador to Italy ( 1881 - 1882 ), Turkey ( 1882 - 1885 ) and Austria-Hungary ( 1885 - 1887 ). She was in her own right lady-in-waiting to Queen Elisabeta after her husband's death, becoming Grand Mistress of the Queen's Household ( i.e. head of all the ladies-in-waiting ) with King Carol I's support. A very stern woman, she was the King's eyes and ears, faithfully reporting to him on everything that was going in the Queen's circle. Later, she assumed the same role with regard to the young Princess ( future Queen ) Marie, who describes her in Her memoirs under the nickname of 'the Great Inquisitor'.
******- Lascar Catargiu married Princess Elena Ghica, daughter of Beizade Constantin Ghica ( son of Grigore Ghica IV, Lord of Wallachia 1822 - 1828 ), known as 'la belle Helene', and the two of them lived in Bucharest on Ban's Street at the corner with Manea the Baker ( now General Budisteanu ) Street( the present building of the Fine Arts University was built on the spot of their house ). Their children were:
*********- Lascar L. Catargiu ( 'Lascarus' ), who married Elena, daughter of Grigore Monteoru, a very rich, self-made man. Lascarus inherited his father-in-law's house on Victory Road, one of the most lavish residences in Bucharest. No children.
*********- Alexandru.
*********- Margareta, who was briefly married to Alexandru Ghica, youngest of the great statesman and writer Ion Ghica's children; they had three children.
*********- Elena, also known as 'la belle Helene', never married. In fact, Constantin Argetoianu in his famous memoirs describes the old Elena as a haughty figure and tyrannical mother who was using her children for the upkeeping of her own 'court', either as slaves ( the two daughters ) or as exchange currency ( he says that she 'sold' Lascarus to Monteoru, an upstart who with his enormous wealth managed to buy himself a noble connection ). Around WWII the two sisters ( popularly known as 'Berzalenele', from 'belle Helene' ) were still living together, in their family home on Ban's Street.
******- Elena married playwright and composer Grigore Ventura.
******- Alexandru Catargiu, Ambassador to Russia ( 1892 - 1895 ), Italy ( 1899 - 1900 ) and Great Britain ( 1900 - 1911 ), married Eufrosina Manu, first cousin of General Gheorghe Manu and granddaughter of Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu ( see first paragraph ). They had two daughters, Maria and Olga, and two sons: Barbu, married to Alexandra Cantacuzino ( daughter of Gheorghe Gr. Cantacuzino, 'the Nabab'; see second paragraph ), and Alexis Catargiu ( 1875 - 1923 ), composer, married to Mihaela Ghica, daughter of Mihai G. Ghica and Elena Vacarescu ( see second paragraph ). They had two sons of their own, Barbu ( diplomat in Buenos Aires ) and Alexis ( Bishi ).
***- Ana married in the 1830s Grigore Ghika V, Lord of Moldavia ( 1849 - 1856 ), but died only afew years into the marriage. Together they had two famous ( if a bit wild ) daughters, Princesses Aglae and Natalia Ghika.
***- Elena was married to a prince Sturdza, but for the life of me I don't seem to be able to find who exactly.
***- Alexandru Catargiu, President at the High Court of Cassation, was married firstly to Maria Donici and secondly to a Spiru. Among his children:
******- (1) Ioan married Princess Eufrosina Mavrocordat, niece of Lady Zoe ( 'Zoita' ) Bibescu.
******- (1) Dimitrie, nicknamed 'mos Mitica', married Elena Alecsandri, daughter of the great poet, playwright and revolutionary Vasile Alecsandri. They had two daughters, Margareta ( 'Margo' ) and Elena.
******- (1) Elena Vidrascu.
******- (1) Countess Caterina of Sant'Angelo.
******- (1) Mihail Catargiu married Maria Papadopol-Callimachi, who I think was Alexandru Papadopol-Callimachi's daughter, granddaughter of Princess Eufrosina Callimachi and great-granddaughter of Scarlat Calimah ( Kallimachis ). Their children were:
*********- Elena Istrati Dabija.
*********- Thyra-Maria, married to Radu Xenopol, nephew of the famous historian Alexandru D. Xenopol, industrialist. In the 1940s he was a close friend of Eugen Cristescu, head of the State Security; in that capacity he contacted Lucretiu Patrascanu, Justice Minister in the Communist government, trying unsuccessfully to broker a deal. He wasn't successful and he ended up in jail ( as did Cristescu ), being convicted in 1948 together with other industrialists of sabotaging his own mines. I own his promenade walking-stick and some silver of his wife's with monogram. They lived on Roman ( currently Mihai Eminescu ) Street and had no children.
*********- Alexandru.
*********- Mariette Moscu had a daughter, Colette, who was married for a time to Elie Carafoli, engineer of Aromanian origin, pioneer of Romanian aerodynamics.
******- Ana, married to Dumitru Rosetti-Solescu, brother of Lady Elena Cuza and of statesman Theodor Rosetti. No children.
******- Cleopatra Diamandy.
Friday, 26 June 2009
Vacarescu family (2)
***II. Radu Vacarescu married Venetiana Rosetti ( see fifth paragraph;aunt of Manole Giani-Ruset, Lord of Wallachia ) and had these children:
******- Maria married Radu Filipescu and was Alexandru Filipescu-Vulpe's mother;
******- Great Ban Barbu Vacarescu was co-Regent of Wallachia in 1821, after Lord Alexandru Sutzu's death; the co-Regents secretly encouraged Tudor Vladimirescu to begin his uprising and take Bucharest, but they were scared by the violent tone of the peasant uprising and fled to Kronstadt ( Brasov ) before Vladimirescu reached Bucharest. His house in Bucharest was on Victory Road, next to St Nicholas-the-Tanner ( Sf. Nicolae-Tabacu ) Church and I think it might be the one still standing in a modified form. He married (1) Stanca Slatineanu and (2) Zoe Guliano-Paleologu; their children:
*********- (1) Alecu Vacarescu, married to Ana Babeanu;
*********- (1) Irina, married to Alexandru Baron Bellu ( personal Austrian title ), mother of Barbu Baron Bellu, Stefan Baron Bellu and 'Georges de Bellio'. Her dowry included a house on 125 Victory Road, across the road from the one mentioned above; the house was donated by Alexandru Bellu ( Stefan's son ) to the neighbouring Romanian Academy and was demolished in the 1980s.
*********- (1) Stanca ( Tita ), married to Stefan Catargiu and mother of the famous Barbu Catargiu, the first head of the Romanian Government ( 1862 ) and the victim of the only political assassination of that century; Barbu Catargiu lived in his grandfather's house mentioned above;
*********- (2) Elisabeta ( Safta ) was briefly married to Matei, son of Great Ban Costache Ghica, grandson of Great Ban Dumitrache and of Rodion Cantacuzino ( see thrird paragraph ). After her divorce she lived in her father's house and was involved with Alexandru Dumitrescu, whose father was parish priest at St Nicholas-the-Tanner; from this affair with a common man two children were born ( Alecu and Iancu ) who used the name Paleologu ( their grandmother's ); one of them was father of French diplomat Maurice Paleologue;
*********- probably also Gheorghe ( Iordache ) Vacarescu, married to Ecaterina Manu ( first cousin once removed ), daughter of Grand Palatine and then Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu and of Smaranda Vacarescu; their daughter Irina married politician, sometime minister Nicolae Baleanu and was the mother of two prominent noble ladies, Maria Moret de Blaremberg and Ecaterina Cantacuzino-Nababul ( see second paragraph );
******- Grand Palatine Stefan Vacarescu 'the Blind' was married to Alexandrina ( Luxita ) Prejbeanu and had a daughter, Zoe, a great female character of her time, married to Russian Prince Alexey Kirilovich Bagration. Their daughter was Princess Alexandrina ( Alina ) Kirilovna Bagration ( see what might be a portrait of her ), who was briefly married with statesman Emanoil Baleanu ( Nicolae's older brother, see above ); she began an affair with General Pavel Dmitrievich Kiseliov ( or Kiseleff ), Russian military governor of Wallachia and Moldavia ( 1829-1834 ) and one of the founding fathers of modern Romania. Kiseleff managed to obtain her divorce and wanted to marry her but couldn't obtain his own divorce ( from the Czar ); therefore the four children born of this union were illegitimate and, although Kiseleff recognised them, they had to be formally adopted by a Prejbeanu uncle ( Luxita's first cousin ). They were Vladimir and Constantin Prejbeanu-Kiseleff, Alexandrina ( Sacha ), married to writer and pioneer archaeologist Alexandru Odobescu, and Elena, married to Stefan D. Grecianu, an important genealogist. Princess Zoe Bagration lived in old age in a house still extant on 129 Victory Road, not far from those of her uncle Barbu; the house was inherited by her daughter and then by the Odobescu family. On the other hand Zoe's descendant Paul Emil Miclescu claims in his book that her last years were spent in a house a few numbers up the street, at the corner with Gen. Gheorghe Manu Street; this house would have been across the road from the still extant house of Princess Cleopatra Trubetzkoy ( Matei Ghica's sister, see above ), the two ladies chatting regularly across Victory Road from their balconies. Princess Zoe is buried at Mavrogheni Church.
******- Sheriff Constantin Vacarescu married Ana, daughter of the founders of Kretzulescu Church ( Grand Chancellor Iordache Kretzulescu amd Princess Safta Brancoveanu, herself Constantin Brancoveanu's daughter ). They built the Magureanu Priory Church ( no longer a priory ) in Bucharest. Their children:
*********- Safta, married to Constantin Ipsilanti, Lord of Wallachia ( 1802-1806; 1807 under Russian occupation ) and Moldavia ( 1799-1801 ) and son of Alexandru Ipsilanti; he is famous for his strong Russian sympathies ( in fact his and Alexandru Moruzi's sacking by the Sultan in 1806 prompted the Russo-Turkish War 1806-1812 ).
*********- Ecaterina, married Palatine Dimitrie Bibescu and was the mother of two Lords of Walalchia: Barbu Stirbey ( 1849-1856; adopted ) and Gheorghe Bibescu ( 1842-1848 );
*********- Smaranda married Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu and was mother of Ecaterina ( see above ) and of co-Regent Ioan Manu;
*********- another daughter, married to a Negel;
*********- Theodor Vacarescu, nicknamed 'Furtuna' ( 'Storm' ).
***Great Ban Theodor Vacarescu-Furtuna ( 1775-1853 ) was an important political figure of his time; he served as Justice Minister and various stories were told about him in this capacity; according to one of them, he once hit a man over the mouth with the bag of coins that he had tried to bribe him with; he was also member of a short-lived 'Conservative' Regency when the revolutionary Provisional Government briefly had to flee Bucharest on 28-29 June 1848. He married Maria Ghica, daughter of Great Ban Costache, sister of Matei and Cleopatra ( see above ). Among their children were Ana Baroness Uxkull ( Russian family ) and Grand Chancellor Constantin Vacarescu, who married Elena daughter of several times minister Filip Linche; their son was:
******- Theodor Vacarescu ( 1842-1913 ), general ( he commanded in the 1877-1878 war ), member of Parliament, Marshal of the Palace ( 1873-1881 ), ambassador to Serbia ( 1871-1873 ), Belgium ( 1884-1885 ), Italy ( 1885 ) and Austria-Hungary ( 1888-1891 ). He married Maria ( daughter of Dimitrie Manescu-Filitti and Elena Arsaki ), whose dowry included the Manesti estate ( Prahova county ), where he had the very interesting manor built. His children were:
*********- Elena, married to Mihai G. Ghica, son of diplomat Gheorghe M. Ghica;
*********- Ana, married to Leon Cantacuzino-Deleanu ( see second paragraph );
*********- Maria, married to Paul Catargiu;
*********- Radu Vacarescu married Elena Cazoti, daughter of a nouveau riche, who had a very big dowry ( wasted by her husband in record time ); their daughter Ana-Maria inherited Manesti ( sold to King Mihai in the 1940s, then nationalised by the Communists ) and married Prince Ioan ( Jean ) Callimachi, son of Prince Theodor and younger brother of Prince Alexandru.
******- Maria married Radu Filipescu and was Alexandru Filipescu-Vulpe's mother;
******- Great Ban Barbu Vacarescu was co-Regent of Wallachia in 1821, after Lord Alexandru Sutzu's death; the co-Regents secretly encouraged Tudor Vladimirescu to begin his uprising and take Bucharest, but they were scared by the violent tone of the peasant uprising and fled to Kronstadt ( Brasov ) before Vladimirescu reached Bucharest. His house in Bucharest was on Victory Road, next to St Nicholas-the-Tanner ( Sf. Nicolae-Tabacu ) Church and I think it might be the one still standing in a modified form. He married (1) Stanca Slatineanu and (2) Zoe Guliano-Paleologu; their children:
*********- (1) Alecu Vacarescu, married to Ana Babeanu;
*********- (1) Irina, married to Alexandru Baron Bellu ( personal Austrian title ), mother of Barbu Baron Bellu, Stefan Baron Bellu and 'Georges de Bellio'. Her dowry included a house on 125 Victory Road, across the road from the one mentioned above; the house was donated by Alexandru Bellu ( Stefan's son ) to the neighbouring Romanian Academy and was demolished in the 1980s.
*********- (1) Stanca ( Tita ), married to Stefan Catargiu and mother of the famous Barbu Catargiu, the first head of the Romanian Government ( 1862 ) and the victim of the only political assassination of that century; Barbu Catargiu lived in his grandfather's house mentioned above;
*********- (2) Elisabeta ( Safta ) was briefly married to Matei, son of Great Ban Costache Ghica, grandson of Great Ban Dumitrache and of Rodion Cantacuzino ( see thrird paragraph ). After her divorce she lived in her father's house and was involved with Alexandru Dumitrescu, whose father was parish priest at St Nicholas-the-Tanner; from this affair with a common man two children were born ( Alecu and Iancu ) who used the name Paleologu ( their grandmother's ); one of them was father of French diplomat Maurice Paleologue;
*********- probably also Gheorghe ( Iordache ) Vacarescu, married to Ecaterina Manu ( first cousin once removed ), daughter of Grand Palatine and then Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu and of Smaranda Vacarescu; their daughter Irina married politician, sometime minister Nicolae Baleanu and was the mother of two prominent noble ladies, Maria Moret de Blaremberg and Ecaterina Cantacuzino-Nababul ( see second paragraph );
******- Grand Palatine Stefan Vacarescu 'the Blind' was married to Alexandrina ( Luxita ) Prejbeanu and had a daughter, Zoe, a great female character of her time, married to Russian Prince Alexey Kirilovich Bagration. Their daughter was Princess Alexandrina ( Alina ) Kirilovna Bagration ( see what might be a portrait of her ), who was briefly married with statesman Emanoil Baleanu ( Nicolae's older brother, see above ); she began an affair with General Pavel Dmitrievich Kiseliov ( or Kiseleff ), Russian military governor of Wallachia and Moldavia ( 1829-1834 ) and one of the founding fathers of modern Romania. Kiseleff managed to obtain her divorce and wanted to marry her but couldn't obtain his own divorce ( from the Czar ); therefore the four children born of this union were illegitimate and, although Kiseleff recognised them, they had to be formally adopted by a Prejbeanu uncle ( Luxita's first cousin ). They were Vladimir and Constantin Prejbeanu-Kiseleff, Alexandrina ( Sacha ), married to writer and pioneer archaeologist Alexandru Odobescu, and Elena, married to Stefan D. Grecianu, an important genealogist. Princess Zoe Bagration lived in old age in a house still extant on 129 Victory Road, not far from those of her uncle Barbu; the house was inherited by her daughter and then by the Odobescu family. On the other hand Zoe's descendant Paul Emil Miclescu claims in his book that her last years were spent in a house a few numbers up the street, at the corner with Gen. Gheorghe Manu Street; this house would have been across the road from the still extant house of Princess Cleopatra Trubetzkoy ( Matei Ghica's sister, see above ), the two ladies chatting regularly across Victory Road from their balconies. Princess Zoe is buried at Mavrogheni Church.
******- Sheriff Constantin Vacarescu married Ana, daughter of the founders of Kretzulescu Church ( Grand Chancellor Iordache Kretzulescu amd Princess Safta Brancoveanu, herself Constantin Brancoveanu's daughter ). They built the Magureanu Priory Church ( no longer a priory ) in Bucharest. Their children:
*********- Safta, married to Constantin Ipsilanti, Lord of Wallachia ( 1802-1806; 1807 under Russian occupation ) and Moldavia ( 1799-1801 ) and son of Alexandru Ipsilanti; he is famous for his strong Russian sympathies ( in fact his and Alexandru Moruzi's sacking by the Sultan in 1806 prompted the Russo-Turkish War 1806-1812 ).
*********- Ecaterina, married Palatine Dimitrie Bibescu and was the mother of two Lords of Walalchia: Barbu Stirbey ( 1849-1856; adopted ) and Gheorghe Bibescu ( 1842-1848 );
*********- Smaranda married Grand Chancellor Mihail Manu and was mother of Ecaterina ( see above ) and of co-Regent Ioan Manu;
*********- another daughter, married to a Negel;
*********- Theodor Vacarescu, nicknamed 'Furtuna' ( 'Storm' ).
***Great Ban Theodor Vacarescu-Furtuna ( 1775-1853 ) was an important political figure of his time; he served as Justice Minister and various stories were told about him in this capacity; according to one of them, he once hit a man over the mouth with the bag of coins that he had tried to bribe him with; he was also member of a short-lived 'Conservative' Regency when the revolutionary Provisional Government briefly had to flee Bucharest on 28-29 June 1848. He married Maria Ghica, daughter of Great Ban Costache, sister of Matei and Cleopatra ( see above ). Among their children were Ana Baroness Uxkull ( Russian family ) and Grand Chancellor Constantin Vacarescu, who married Elena daughter of several times minister Filip Linche; their son was:
******- Theodor Vacarescu ( 1842-1913 ), general ( he commanded in the 1877-1878 war ), member of Parliament, Marshal of the Palace ( 1873-1881 ), ambassador to Serbia ( 1871-1873 ), Belgium ( 1884-1885 ), Italy ( 1885 ) and Austria-Hungary ( 1888-1891 ). He married Maria ( daughter of Dimitrie Manescu-Filitti and Elena Arsaki ), whose dowry included the Manesti estate ( Prahova county ), where he had the very interesting manor built. His children were:
*********- Elena, married to Mihai G. Ghica, son of diplomat Gheorghe M. Ghica;
*********- Ana, married to Leon Cantacuzino-Deleanu ( see second paragraph );
*********- Maria, married to Paul Catargiu;
*********- Radu Vacarescu married Elena Cazoti, daughter of a nouveau riche, who had a very big dowry ( wasted by her husband in record time ); their daughter Ana-Maria inherited Manesti ( sold to King Mihai in the 1940s, then nationalised by the Communists ) and married Prince Ioan ( Jean ) Callimachi, son of Prince Theodor and younger brother of Prince Alexandru.
Vacarescu family (1)
***The Vacarescu family is a classic example of conflicting claims about origins. The family tradition explains the name as coming from that of the Transylvanian town of Fagaras and thus claims descendance from a Hungarian noble family. On the other hand, the name 'Vacarescu' ( Vacar-escu ) would logically imply a descendance from a cowherd.
***The first important member of this family is Ianache Vacarescu, High Treasurer under Constantin Brancoveanu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1688-1714 ). Together with his Lord and the latter's sons he was taken to Constantinople and beheaded in 1714 ( after refusing to convert to Islam, as some sources would have it ); all six of them were canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992. He and his wife Stanca built ( or perhaps rebuilt ) Razvan Church in Bucharest. They had four sons. Another mystery concerning the family is their relationship to the Vacaresti Convent. This very important monastery was founded by Nicolae Mavrocordat, Lord of Wallachia ( 1716; 1719-1730 ), presumably on land purchased from the family, probably from one of Ianache's sons. These sons were Constantin, Barbu, Stefan and Radu. They had a sister Elena, married to Great Ban Mihail Cantacuzino. High Treasurer Constantin Vacarescu was close to Lord Nicolae Mavrocordat and wrote a genealogy of this prince; at his death he was in charge of leading several high boyars on an unsuccessful mission to Jassy to offer Wallachia's crown to Grigore II Ghica of Moldavia. Barbu Vacarescu was exiled to Cyprus by the Sultan in 1756 for opposing Constantin Racovita, Lord of Wallachia at the time; he died there. He had one daughter, Maria, who married Great Ban Dimitrie ( Dumitrache ) Ghica ( second wife ), one of the senior boyars of his age, nephew of Grigore II Ghica, brother of Grigore III Ghica and founder of the Wallachian branch of the Ghicas. Her dowry included an estate just outside Bucharest, nowadays Tei neighbourhood; on this estate her son, Grigore IV Dimitrie Ghica ( Lord of Wallachia, 1822-1828 ), built his Ghica-Tei Palace; the road which used to be the Western boundary of the estate is now Barbu Vacarescu Street, an important street in Bucharest. Stefan and Radu, Barbu's brothers, were ancestors of the two branches of the family.
***I. Stefan Vacarescu, Great Ban of Craiova, married Ecaterina Donca. They were owners of the Baneasa estate outside Bucharest ( nowadays Baneasa neighbourhood ), named after the widowed Ecaterina, where they had St Nicholas-at-Baneasa Church ( 'Sf. Nicolae-Baneasa' ) built, which is still extant. Stefan was exiled to Cyprus together with his brother Barbu ( see above ); he died allegedly poisoned by the same Constantin Racovita during another of his Wallachian reigns. His son was Ianache ( Ienachita ) Vacarescu ( ca. 1740 - 1797 ), a pioneer of Romanian culture. He wrote History of the most mighty Ottoman Emperors and a grammar ( Observations or remarks on the rules and regulations of Romanian grammar ), but he is most widely remembered for his poems, typical examples of the Phanariote age, written in a very sweet and diminutive style, based on Greek models; they are usually love poems ( In a garden and Sad turtledove are the most renowned ), but also his patriotic Testament. Ienachita Vacarescu owned a house on Victory Road ( on land inherited from his father and grandfather ) which not long after his death became property of the Bellu family ( Stefan Bellu I think ); the house is still extant, in a much modified form of course. He also built a new residence for himself at Baneasa, supposedly lavish. He held different noble offices ( High Treasurer, Steward, Grand Palatine ). Ienachita Vacarescu was close to Lord Alexandru Ipsilanti, who in 1781 sent him to Sibiu as head of a delegation with the task of bringing back the Lord's fugitive sons. Other Lords didn't trust him: Nicolae Mavrogheni exiled him to Nikopol. His sympathies were anti-Russian and rather pro-Ottoman. He married three times: with Elena Rizu, with Elena Caragea ( sister of Lord Ioan Caragea ) and with Princess Ecaterina Caragea ( third cousin of the previous and daughter of Lord Nicolae Caragea ). From his first marriage he had Alexandru ( Alecu ), from his third he had Nicolae.
***Grand Palatine Nicolae Vacarescu is less appreciated than his father as a poet. He wrote in the same overly sentimental style; but he also wrote an outlawry ballad in popular style ( Durda ) and a number of published letters to his nephew Iancu ( see below ). He was also involved in politics, being sent by the boyars to Oltenia in February 1821 to negociate with Vladimirescu at the beginning of his uprising. He married Alexandrina Baleanu, daughter of Great Ban Grigore Baleanu and sister of politicians Emanoil sr. and Nicolae Baleanu. Their daughter was Maria ( 'Maritica' ), married first to Steward Constantin ( Costache ) Ghica, youngest of Great Ban Dumitrache's sons ( from his third marriage ); among their children, two daughters married Rasponi-Murat. Gheorghe Bibescu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1842-1848 ), began an affair with her at the beginning of his reign; he was married, but his wife had lost her mental health; he managed to force a divorce in 1844, he bribed Ghica into his own divorce and he married Maritica in 1845. This was all very controversial at the time, especially since Metropolitan Neophytus actively and openly opposed the divorce of this Romanian Henry VIII; it was finally granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, passing over the Metropolitan. Maritica inherited Baneasa from her father ( who had inherited from Ienachita ) and Bibescu began building there a big palace which was left unfinished; the estate was inherited by one of their two daughters, Countess Marie de Montesquiou-Fezensac and then by her French Montesquiou descendants.
***Alecu Vacarescu, Ienachita's first son, was also a poet and - like Nicolae - less appreciated than his father; he used the same Phanariote style. He was accused of murdering his aunt Venetiana Vacarescu and arrested in 1799 at Lord Alexandru Moruzi's orders; he was never seen again, one rumour was that he died in prison in Tulcea, another that he was strangled on the way and the body thrown in the Danube. He married a Dudescu; among their children:
******- Maria, married to sometime minister Constantin Balaceanu ( they were Iancu Balaceanu's parents );
******- Ioan ( Iancu ) Vacarescu ( 1792-1863 ), poet of the first Modern period of Romanian poetry, is considered more original than the others in his family. He wrote on love ( Love's spring ) and also patriotic themes ( The people's voice under tyranny ), being a supporter of Vladimirescu's 1821 uprising. His house in Bucharest ( on the aptly named Ienachita Vacarescu Street, formerly Poet's Street, under Metropolitanate Hill ), is still extant, housing the National Institute of Historical Monuments. He married Ecaterina Cantacuzino-Pascanu ( see ). Their children were:
*********- Ecaterina ( Mita ), married to Grigore Lahovary ( see below, point 2 );
*********- Maria, married to Scarlat Falcoianu, Foreign Minister ( 1859 ), Minister for Religious Faiths ( 1861 ) and Justice Minister ( 1861-1862 ) of Wallachia;
*********- Alexandrina ( Didina ) Darvari, whose son Alexandru Darvari married Princess Marie-Nicole Bibescu; the family had a house on Victory Road, close to its northern end ( nowadays Victory Square );
*********- Constantin Vacarescu;
*********- Mihai ( Misu ) Vacarescu, better known as 'Claymoor', the name he used for his high-life chronicles, published in L'independence roumaine. These dealt with parties, receptions, balls etc. and were heavily focused on women's fashion; at some point, his articles were the most widely read pieces of journalism in Romania and the chief concern of more than a few ladies was how Claymoor did or didn't describe them;
*********- Ioan ( Ienachita ) Vacarescu was diplomat, being ambassador to Serbia ( 1888-1889 ), Belgium ( 1889-1891 ) and Italy ( like his cousin Iancu Balaceanu; 1891 ). He built a manor on his estate Vacaresti ( Dambovita county ). He married Eufrosina Falcoianu and had two daughters:
************- Zoe married Mihail Caribol;
************- Elena Vacarescu ( 1864-1947 ), famous for her love affair with Prince ( future King ) Ferdinand in 1891. She was a maid of honour of Queen Elisabeta ( it's said that She saw in her the soul of Her late daughter, Princess Maria, deceased at a tender age ) and Ferdinand met her in the Queen's entourage, who in her romantic fancy encouraged the affair. This was passionate, despite Elena's legendary ugliness and despite the fact that his desire to marry her was completely unacceptable from a political point of view ( Unebenbuertigkeit ). The King and President of the Council Lascar Catargiu intervened and the two were separated. Elena Vacarescu was never again permitted to permanently reside in Romania, Ienachita Vacarescu's diplomatic career was cut short and the Queen was sent to Her family at Neuwied for an unofficial two-year exile. Elena lived afterwards mostly in Paris, where she published different kinds of literature ( in French ), especially poetry, more or less appreciated. She was an arduous supporter of Romania in the political circles of Paris, particularly during the Peace Conferences of 1918-1920 and 1946-1947 ( at the last one she was also member of the Romanian official delegation, before her death ); she was also Romanian delegate to the League of Nations ( the only woman delegate ) for most of the '20s and '30s; according to a legend, the Charter of the League of Nations was actually drafted in her house, seeing that she had many influential friends ( ex. Raymond Poincare ). She was an active member of the Romanian expats' society in Paris, sharing in all the petty rivalries ( especially with Princess Martha Bibescu, see ); in fact, for all her passionate supporters and admirers there have always been violent detractors. She never remarried and it is said that she never forgot King Ferdinand. Buried in Paris, her remains were repatriated to Romania with military honours and reburied in the Bellu Cemetery in 1959, something which in Communist Romania for an aristocrat was surprising and a huge favour on the part of the regime.
***The first important member of this family is Ianache Vacarescu, High Treasurer under Constantin Brancoveanu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1688-1714 ). Together with his Lord and the latter's sons he was taken to Constantinople and beheaded in 1714 ( after refusing to convert to Islam, as some sources would have it ); all six of them were canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 1992. He and his wife Stanca built ( or perhaps rebuilt ) Razvan Church in Bucharest. They had four sons. Another mystery concerning the family is their relationship to the Vacaresti Convent. This very important monastery was founded by Nicolae Mavrocordat, Lord of Wallachia ( 1716; 1719-1730 ), presumably on land purchased from the family, probably from one of Ianache's sons. These sons were Constantin, Barbu, Stefan and Radu. They had a sister Elena, married to Great Ban Mihail Cantacuzino. High Treasurer Constantin Vacarescu was close to Lord Nicolae Mavrocordat and wrote a genealogy of this prince; at his death he was in charge of leading several high boyars on an unsuccessful mission to Jassy to offer Wallachia's crown to Grigore II Ghica of Moldavia. Barbu Vacarescu was exiled to Cyprus by the Sultan in 1756 for opposing Constantin Racovita, Lord of Wallachia at the time; he died there. He had one daughter, Maria, who married Great Ban Dimitrie ( Dumitrache ) Ghica ( second wife ), one of the senior boyars of his age, nephew of Grigore II Ghica, brother of Grigore III Ghica and founder of the Wallachian branch of the Ghicas. Her dowry included an estate just outside Bucharest, nowadays Tei neighbourhood; on this estate her son, Grigore IV Dimitrie Ghica ( Lord of Wallachia, 1822-1828 ), built his Ghica-Tei Palace; the road which used to be the Western boundary of the estate is now Barbu Vacarescu Street, an important street in Bucharest. Stefan and Radu, Barbu's brothers, were ancestors of the two branches of the family.
***I. Stefan Vacarescu, Great Ban of Craiova, married Ecaterina Donca. They were owners of the Baneasa estate outside Bucharest ( nowadays Baneasa neighbourhood ), named after the widowed Ecaterina, where they had St Nicholas-at-Baneasa Church ( 'Sf. Nicolae-Baneasa' ) built, which is still extant. Stefan was exiled to Cyprus together with his brother Barbu ( see above ); he died allegedly poisoned by the same Constantin Racovita during another of his Wallachian reigns. His son was Ianache ( Ienachita ) Vacarescu ( ca. 1740 - 1797 ), a pioneer of Romanian culture. He wrote History of the most mighty Ottoman Emperors and a grammar ( Observations or remarks on the rules and regulations of Romanian grammar ), but he is most widely remembered for his poems, typical examples of the Phanariote age, written in a very sweet and diminutive style, based on Greek models; they are usually love poems ( In a garden and Sad turtledove are the most renowned ), but also his patriotic Testament. Ienachita Vacarescu owned a house on Victory Road ( on land inherited from his father and grandfather ) which not long after his death became property of the Bellu family ( Stefan Bellu I think ); the house is still extant, in a much modified form of course. He also built a new residence for himself at Baneasa, supposedly lavish. He held different noble offices ( High Treasurer, Steward, Grand Palatine ). Ienachita Vacarescu was close to Lord Alexandru Ipsilanti, who in 1781 sent him to Sibiu as head of a delegation with the task of bringing back the Lord's fugitive sons. Other Lords didn't trust him: Nicolae Mavrogheni exiled him to Nikopol. His sympathies were anti-Russian and rather pro-Ottoman. He married three times: with Elena Rizu, with Elena Caragea ( sister of Lord Ioan Caragea ) and with Princess Ecaterina Caragea ( third cousin of the previous and daughter of Lord Nicolae Caragea ). From his first marriage he had Alexandru ( Alecu ), from his third he had Nicolae.
***Grand Palatine Nicolae Vacarescu is less appreciated than his father as a poet. He wrote in the same overly sentimental style; but he also wrote an outlawry ballad in popular style ( Durda ) and a number of published letters to his nephew Iancu ( see below ). He was also involved in politics, being sent by the boyars to Oltenia in February 1821 to negociate with Vladimirescu at the beginning of his uprising. He married Alexandrina Baleanu, daughter of Great Ban Grigore Baleanu and sister of politicians Emanoil sr. and Nicolae Baleanu. Their daughter was Maria ( 'Maritica' ), married first to Steward Constantin ( Costache ) Ghica, youngest of Great Ban Dumitrache's sons ( from his third marriage ); among their children, two daughters married Rasponi-Murat. Gheorghe Bibescu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1842-1848 ), began an affair with her at the beginning of his reign; he was married, but his wife had lost her mental health; he managed to force a divorce in 1844, he bribed Ghica into his own divorce and he married Maritica in 1845. This was all very controversial at the time, especially since Metropolitan Neophytus actively and openly opposed the divorce of this Romanian Henry VIII; it was finally granted by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, passing over the Metropolitan. Maritica inherited Baneasa from her father ( who had inherited from Ienachita ) and Bibescu began building there a big palace which was left unfinished; the estate was inherited by one of their two daughters, Countess Marie de Montesquiou-Fezensac and then by her French Montesquiou descendants.
***Alecu Vacarescu, Ienachita's first son, was also a poet and - like Nicolae - less appreciated than his father; he used the same Phanariote style. He was accused of murdering his aunt Venetiana Vacarescu and arrested in 1799 at Lord Alexandru Moruzi's orders; he was never seen again, one rumour was that he died in prison in Tulcea, another that he was strangled on the way and the body thrown in the Danube. He married a Dudescu; among their children:
******- Maria, married to sometime minister Constantin Balaceanu ( they were Iancu Balaceanu's parents );
******- Ioan ( Iancu ) Vacarescu ( 1792-1863 ), poet of the first Modern period of Romanian poetry, is considered more original than the others in his family. He wrote on love ( Love's spring ) and also patriotic themes ( The people's voice under tyranny ), being a supporter of Vladimirescu's 1821 uprising. His house in Bucharest ( on the aptly named Ienachita Vacarescu Street, formerly Poet's Street, under Metropolitanate Hill ), is still extant, housing the National Institute of Historical Monuments. He married Ecaterina Cantacuzino-Pascanu ( see ). Their children were:
*********- Ecaterina ( Mita ), married to Grigore Lahovary ( see below, point 2 );
*********- Maria, married to Scarlat Falcoianu, Foreign Minister ( 1859 ), Minister for Religious Faiths ( 1861 ) and Justice Minister ( 1861-1862 ) of Wallachia;
*********- Alexandrina ( Didina ) Darvari, whose son Alexandru Darvari married Princess Marie-Nicole Bibescu; the family had a house on Victory Road, close to its northern end ( nowadays Victory Square );
*********- Constantin Vacarescu;
*********- Mihai ( Misu ) Vacarescu, better known as 'Claymoor', the name he used for his high-life chronicles, published in L'independence roumaine. These dealt with parties, receptions, balls etc. and were heavily focused on women's fashion; at some point, his articles were the most widely read pieces of journalism in Romania and the chief concern of more than a few ladies was how Claymoor did or didn't describe them;
*********- Ioan ( Ienachita ) Vacarescu was diplomat, being ambassador to Serbia ( 1888-1889 ), Belgium ( 1889-1891 ) and Italy ( like his cousin Iancu Balaceanu; 1891 ). He built a manor on his estate Vacaresti ( Dambovita county ). He married Eufrosina Falcoianu and had two daughters:
************- Zoe married Mihail Caribol;
************- Elena Vacarescu ( 1864-1947 ), famous for her love affair with Prince ( future King ) Ferdinand in 1891. She was a maid of honour of Queen Elisabeta ( it's said that She saw in her the soul of Her late daughter, Princess Maria, deceased at a tender age ) and Ferdinand met her in the Queen's entourage, who in her romantic fancy encouraged the affair. This was passionate, despite Elena's legendary ugliness and despite the fact that his desire to marry her was completely unacceptable from a political point of view ( Unebenbuertigkeit ). The King and President of the Council Lascar Catargiu intervened and the two were separated. Elena Vacarescu was never again permitted to permanently reside in Romania, Ienachita Vacarescu's diplomatic career was cut short and the Queen was sent to Her family at Neuwied for an unofficial two-year exile. Elena lived afterwards mostly in Paris, where she published different kinds of literature ( in French ), especially poetry, more or less appreciated. She was an arduous supporter of Romania in the political circles of Paris, particularly during the Peace Conferences of 1918-1920 and 1946-1947 ( at the last one she was also member of the Romanian official delegation, before her death ); she was also Romanian delegate to the League of Nations ( the only woman delegate ) for most of the '20s and '30s; according to a legend, the Charter of the League of Nations was actually drafted in her house, seeing that she had many influential friends ( ex. Raymond Poincare ). She was an active member of the Romanian expats' society in Paris, sharing in all the petty rivalries ( especially with Princess Martha Bibescu, see ); in fact, for all her passionate supporters and admirers there have always been violent detractors. She never remarried and it is said that she never forgot King Ferdinand. Buried in Paris, her remains were repatriated to Romania with military honours and reburied in the Bellu Cemetery in 1959, something which in Communist Romania for an aristocrat was surprising and a huge favour on the part of the regime.
Lahovary family
***The Lahovary family ( freguently spelt 'Lahovari' ) was originally a Greek family, of rather modest origins. The two main branches descend from Emanoil ( Manolache ), who established himself in Wallachia in the late 18th century and received noble offices, and his sister Eufrosina. Eufrosina married a certain Gheorghe Luki who took his wife's name and transmitted it to his descendants. The family had a strong connection with the Valcea county, where Manolache, Luki, Luki's son Ioan Lahovary and this latter's sons Constantin I. and Nicolae I. Lahovary were all governors/prefects. Manolache had two sons, 1) Emanuel and 2) Nicolae. His nephew Ioan Lahovary ( Gheorghe Luki's son ) had four sons: Constantin, 3) Nicolae, 4) Gheorghe and 5) Grigore.
***1) Emanoil Lahovary held different public offices and was President of the Court of Appeal in 1862. He married Olimpia Arsaki ( daughter of dr. Apostol Arsaki, politician and head of government under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and of Anastasia Darvari, whose brother founded the Darvari Priory in Bucharest ), they had a house on Victory Road ( in today's Revolution Square, where the High-Life building used to stand ). According to Emanoil Hagi-Mosco, Olimpia ( just like her sister Elena Manescu-Filitti, see penultimate paragraph ) was notoriously unfaithful and Emanoil was often subject of ridicule for tolerating it; most noteworthy, she seems to have had a long-time relationship with Nicolae Blaremberg, Conservative politician, who lived close to their house. Emanoil's and Olimpia's children were:
******- Maria, married to Emanuel Kretzulescu sr., head of the Diplomatic Mission in France ( 1867-1868 ), and mother of Emanuel Kretzulescu jr. and Radu Kretzulescu;
******- Zoe, married to Dimitrie Ghika-Comanesti, the famous traveller in Somalia and owner of the palace of Comanesti;
******- Alexandru Em. Lahovary ( 1851-1950 ), important diplomat, ambassador to Italy ( 1893-1896 ), Turkey ( 1902-1906 ), Austria-Hungary ( 1906-1908 ), France ( 1908-1917 ) and again Italy ( 1917-1928 ); he lived to be almost 100 and married Ana, Nicolae Kretzulescu's daughter ( from his father-in-law he inherited the small house on Roman Street in Bucharest, currently Nicolae Iorga Street ), with whom he had:
*********- Nicole, married to George Plagino, was Queen Marie's lady-in-waiting and was better known as Colette Plagino;
*********- Tatiana married General Vasile Rudeanu, who had divorced princess Eufrosina Sutzu;
*********- Sofia married archaeologist Emil Panaitescu, head of the Romanian School in Rome ( 1929-1940 );
*********- Nicolae was father to Emanuela, who was Alexandru S. Rosetti-Ciortescu's second wife ( his first wife was Olga Carp, still living if I'm not mistaken ) and had two daughters ( still living ) with him;
******- George Em. Lahovary ( 1854-1897 ), journalist, director of the newspaper L'independence roumaine; he was married to Zoe Alexandrescu-Cafegibasa and their house on Grivita Road, close to Victory Road ( no. 7 I think ) is still extant. He remains famous for being killed in duel ( sword duel, strange enough ) by Conservative politician Nicolae Filipescu, over a political dispute ( Lahovary and the traditionally Conservative L'independence roumaine were becoming friendly towards the Liberals ); it was one of the most sensational events of that age and it stirred a lot of scandal, Filipescu even serving time in jail. The duel took place in the hall of the Shooting Society, on Dambovita's embankment, where the Operetta Theater was later built ( and more recently demolished ); a few years after the tragedy, the widow ( who had married again, to Prince Alexandru Sutzu ) had a fountain-like monument erected, which stood for along time on the Embankment, next to the Operetta Theater; after the latter's demolition, it was kept out of the public eye for awhile, then placed in the courtyard of the Old Saint Spiridon's Church and recently in front of the Gioconda Building ( both in the former Operetta Square ).
***2) Nicolae Lahovary was involved in low-level politics, as were his son Grigore and his grandson Nicolae N. Lahovary. Grigore married Ecaterina ( Mita ), daughter of the famous poet Iancu Vacarescu and sister of diplomat Ienachita Vacarescu and of journalist Misu Vacarescu ( 'Claymoor' ); their daughter Maria married Prince Ioan A. Ghika. Grigore's house used to stand on Victory Road, in front of Berthelot Street.
***3) Nicolae Lahovary held different public offices, including Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies ( 1865 ). He had five sons ( among whom the famous Lahovary brothers, Conservative politicians ) and two daughters.
******- Constantin lived in Paris and never married;
******- Alexandru Lahovary ( 1841-1897 ) was Justice Minister ( 1870; 1873-1876 ), Minister for Agriculture, Domains, Industry and Trade ( 1888-1889 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1889-1891; 1891-1895 ); he was widely considered no. 2 in the party's hierarchy and Lascar Catargiu's natural successor, but he died too early for that. His wife was Simona Ghermani ( German ), illegitimate daughter of Anastasia Konstantinovich ( nee Princess Obrenovic ) and of the Greek-Aromanian banker and ship-owner Joanikije German, her brother-in-law; she was named after her maternal aunt ( and father's late wife ) Simona German and she was a first cousin of King Milan I of Serbia. She was known as Simka Lahovari and was famous for her strong personality and sharp wit; she was also notoriously unfaithful to her husband; according to Queen Marie, she was the de facto leader of Conservative ladies. Their house was on Dorobanti Road, immediately next to the White Church; later, that section of the street, from the White Church to Dionisie Lupu Street received Alexandru Lahovari's name and then different others ( nowadays George Enescu Street ); the crossroads at the corner with Dionisie Lupu Street was ( and is today again ) called Alexandru Lahovari Square and the Conservative had a statue of him erected there. Also, an important high school in Ramnicu-Valcea bears his name;
*********- Ioan A. Lahovary, his son, was a diplomat;
*********- Simona, his daughter, better known as Simky Lahovary, was a lady-in-waiting and intimate friend of Queen Marie's.
******- Ioan N. Lahovary ( Jean ) ( 1844-1915 ), was Ambassador to France ( 1893-1895 ), Foreign Minister ( 1899-1900; 1907 ), Minister for Agriculture, Domains, Industry and Trade ( 1904-1907 ), Minister for Agriculture and Domains ( 1910-1912 ), President of the Senate ( 1913-1914 ); he was also President of the Conservative Party ( pro-Entente branch ) in 1915, but he died after a few months. He married Princess Smaranda ( Emma ) Mavrocordat and they lived in a house still extant on Dorobanti Road; from the unhappy marriage the following children were born:
*********- Princess Martha Bibescu ( 1886-1973 ), married to Prince George Valentin Bibescu, famous writer and legendary socialite. Like everyone in her family, she lived in Paris as much as she did in Romania. Baptised Orthodox, she was raised mainly in a Catholic environment in Paris and she later converted ( shortly after the marriage I think ). The marriage itself, at the Princess Balasa Church in Bucharest ( traditionally linked with the Bibescu family ), was a major event of Bucharest social life ( in 1902 or 1903 I think ). Despite the wit, the broad education and sharp intellect that made her famous, she was also known to be arrogant and very malicious; she was particularly plagued by the most classical symptoms of aristocratic snobbery, which made her resent the modest origins of her father's family and identify with her husband's family ( she would sometimes say 'our ancestor, Lord Constantin Brancoveanu' ). It is probably this snobbery that made her avoid a divorce, since her marriage had at one point become nothing less than a shamble. Among her lovers was German Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince Charles-Louis de Beauvau-Craon, journalist Henri de Jouvenel ( Colette's former husband ) and Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson ( Secretary of State for Air in the Ramsay McDonald governments, 1924 and 1929-1930; he died in a plane crash while in office ). She was also a close friend of politicians like Aristide Briand, James Ramsay McDonald, after WWII General de Gaulle ( who said that he saw in her the personification of Europe ) and writers like Paul Valery, Jean Cocteau or Paul Claudel. Her most appreciated works were Les huit paradis ( based on a trip to Persia ), Isvor. Pays des saules ( perhaps the most successful, it's a depiction of peasant life in one of the villages 'owned' by her husband ), Katia, le demon bleu ( based on the life of Princess Ekaterina Dolgoruki, it was made into a film with Danielle Darrieux in 1937 ), Au bal avec Marcel Proust ( considered a very inspired portrayal of Proust, whom she had actually met only once or twice ) and Une victime royale: Ferdinand de Roumanie. This last work is usually considered the most perceptive description of King Ferdinand of Romania, who was an intimate friend of hers ( and perhaps more than that, though it's not clear ). In her youth she was also a good friend of the future Queen Marie, but the two strong personalities couldn't ensure a stable friendship. Princess Martha Bibescu was an important character in the Romanian circles of Paris, being involved in the female rivalries that were characteristic of these people, e.g. with Anna de Noailles, her husband's first cousin, and especially with Elena Vacarescu, whom she actually loathed. Her fight with Elena Vacarescu reached a peak in the early '30s, when a bestowal of the Legion of Honour upon her was attempted; this met with fierce opposition, because of her alleged pro-German attitude during WWI. In Bucharest in 1916-1917 she headed one of the several temporary military hospitals peopled with high-born girls as nurses; in that capacity she showed disloyal anti-war feelings ( took down the portraits of the King and Queen and replaced them with those of King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta ) and eventually left Romania suddenly in the company of a Prince Reuss; she crossed the enemy lines into Austria-Hungary and arrived in Switzerland, where she spent the rest of the war. In the end she did receive the Legion of Honour, but only after WWII, from President de Gaulle. Also after WWII she was received into the Royal Academy of Belgium, in Anna de Noailles' seat. In Romania she lived mainly in Mogosoaia Palace, the famous residence of Constantin Brancoveanu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1688-1714 ) near Bucharest; at her bequest, her husband had bought the domain from his first cousin, Marie-Nicole Darvari, and she had the palace restored by G.M. Cantacuzino ( see );
*********- Ioana ( Jeannette ) Lahovary, married first Constantin C. Olanescu, son of the namesake Conservative politician, with whom she had a son ( another Constantin ), and second Radu Vacarescu, son of General Theodor Vacarescu, sometime Marshal of the Palace; she died fairly young;
*********- Magdalena died young after only a few years of marriage;
*********- Margareta Lahovary also died young; she committed suicide the same year Magdalena died; this death affected very much Martha, as the two were close;
*********- George Lahovary, the only son of Jean and Emma Lahovary, died when he was 8 years old; his mother never got over his death and her grief permanently deteriorated the relationship with her family.
******- General Iacob ( Jacques ) Lahovary ( 1846-1907 ) was Chief of Staff of the Army ( 1894-1895 ), Defense Minister ( 1891-1894; 1899-1901 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1904-1907 ). He was particularly known for his stiff moustache and rash temper, which usually got him into a lot of troubles ( i.e. duels ). His first wife was Elena Kretzulescu ( they divorced ) and his second was Alexandrina Cantacuzino ( who had divorced Prince Ferdinand Ghika; see last paragraph ); from the first marriage he had Elena, married to a marquess de Kerguezec, and from the second marriage two boys without descendants ( Iacob and Leon ). Jacques Lahovary had himself built on Ion Movila Street in 1885-1886 one of the first houses in the so-called 'neo-Romanian' style, that was to become dominant between the wars; at that time the house, designed by Ion Mincu, was something of an experiment.
******- Emil Lahovary married into a Liberal family, Niculescu-Dorobantu; his wife Elena was sister of Liberal local leader Ilie Niculescu-Dorobantu. Ilie and his brother ( Constantin ? ), as well as their brother-in-law built houses very close to one another in downtown Bucharest, on family land ( Ilie and his brother on Gheorghe Manu Street, Emil Lahovary on Orlando Street, currently the Indonesian embassy ). Another Niculescu-Dorobantu ( probably their sister ) was Smaranda, Constantin Ghika-Deleni's second wife. Lahovary had one son:
*********- Nicolae E. Lahovary, diplomat, Ambassador to Albania ( 1936-1939 ) and Switzerland ( during WWII ), where he remained.
***4) Grigore Lahovary was jurist and judge; he was deputy ( i.e MP ) and division president at the Court of Cassation. He married Princess Smaranda Sutzu, daughter of Prince Constantin, niece of Sevastia Mavros, granddaughter of Alecu Ghica 'Red-beard' and sister of Prince Mihail C. Sutzu, founding father of Romanian numismatics. Among their children:
******- Zoe, lady-in-waiting of Queen Elisabeta, married Prince Dimitrie Sutzu; their daughter was Marie-Jeanne Carp, mother of Olga Racovita ( see above );
******- Filip Lahovary, diplomat, worked at the League of Nations and was Ambassador to Egypt ( 1928-1929; 1930 ). His first wife was Valentina Boamba ( they had issue ), who after the divorce married again to the famous politician Constantin Argetoianu and again to diplomat Henri Catargi. Filip Lahovary's second wife was the famous writer, socialite, centenarian, but above all pianist Cella Delavrancea, who had divorced banker Aristide Blank; their correspondence has been published.
***5) Gheorghe I. Lahovary was engineer and author; he served as Director of the Post and Telegraph ( 1873-1876 ) and later President of the Court of Audit ( 1893 ); as Secretary-General of the Geographical Society he supervised the publication of the Great Geographic Dictionary of Romania. He wrote minor works, both fiction and non-fiction, and was elected honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1909. From his marriage with a Cocorascu he had several children, among whom:
******- Alexandrina, married to Rear-Admiral Emanoil Koslinski, head of the War Navy ( 1901-1909 ). Their son, Rear-Admiral Gheorghe Em. Koslinski was Undersecretary of State for the Navy in the Department of National Defense ( 1940-1941 ).
******- Dimitrie, married to Elena Arion, General Eracle Arion's niece;
*********- Paul Lahovary, their son, was diplomat and appreciated writer ( novelist ); he married a Swede ( with issue ) and lived after the war in Sweden ( information for which I thank his son, Mr. André Paul Konstantin Lahovary ).
***1) Emanoil Lahovary held different public offices and was President of the Court of Appeal in 1862. He married Olimpia Arsaki ( daughter of dr. Apostol Arsaki, politician and head of government under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, and of Anastasia Darvari, whose brother founded the Darvari Priory in Bucharest ), they had a house on Victory Road ( in today's Revolution Square, where the High-Life building used to stand ). According to Emanoil Hagi-Mosco, Olimpia ( just like her sister Elena Manescu-Filitti, see penultimate paragraph ) was notoriously unfaithful and Emanoil was often subject of ridicule for tolerating it; most noteworthy, she seems to have had a long-time relationship with Nicolae Blaremberg, Conservative politician, who lived close to their house. Emanoil's and Olimpia's children were:
******- Maria, married to Emanuel Kretzulescu sr., head of the Diplomatic Mission in France ( 1867-1868 ), and mother of Emanuel Kretzulescu jr. and Radu Kretzulescu;
******- Zoe, married to Dimitrie Ghika-Comanesti, the famous traveller in Somalia and owner of the palace of Comanesti;
******- Alexandru Em. Lahovary ( 1851-1950 ), important diplomat, ambassador to Italy ( 1893-1896 ), Turkey ( 1902-1906 ), Austria-Hungary ( 1906-1908 ), France ( 1908-1917 ) and again Italy ( 1917-1928 ); he lived to be almost 100 and married Ana, Nicolae Kretzulescu's daughter ( from his father-in-law he inherited the small house on Roman Street in Bucharest, currently Nicolae Iorga Street ), with whom he had:
*********- Nicole, married to George Plagino, was Queen Marie's lady-in-waiting and was better known as Colette Plagino;
*********- Tatiana married General Vasile Rudeanu, who had divorced princess Eufrosina Sutzu;
*********- Sofia married archaeologist Emil Panaitescu, head of the Romanian School in Rome ( 1929-1940 );
*********- Nicolae was father to Emanuela, who was Alexandru S. Rosetti-Ciortescu's second wife ( his first wife was Olga Carp, still living if I'm not mistaken ) and had two daughters ( still living ) with him;
******- George Em. Lahovary ( 1854-1897 ), journalist, director of the newspaper L'independence roumaine; he was married to Zoe Alexandrescu-Cafegibasa and their house on Grivita Road, close to Victory Road ( no. 7 I think ) is still extant. He remains famous for being killed in duel ( sword duel, strange enough ) by Conservative politician Nicolae Filipescu, over a political dispute ( Lahovary and the traditionally Conservative L'independence roumaine were becoming friendly towards the Liberals ); it was one of the most sensational events of that age and it stirred a lot of scandal, Filipescu even serving time in jail. The duel took place in the hall of the Shooting Society, on Dambovita's embankment, where the Operetta Theater was later built ( and more recently demolished ); a few years after the tragedy, the widow ( who had married again, to Prince Alexandru Sutzu ) had a fountain-like monument erected, which stood for along time on the Embankment, next to the Operetta Theater; after the latter's demolition, it was kept out of the public eye for awhile, then placed in the courtyard of the Old Saint Spiridon's Church and recently in front of the Gioconda Building ( both in the former Operetta Square ).
***2) Nicolae Lahovary was involved in low-level politics, as were his son Grigore and his grandson Nicolae N. Lahovary. Grigore married Ecaterina ( Mita ), daughter of the famous poet Iancu Vacarescu and sister of diplomat Ienachita Vacarescu and of journalist Misu Vacarescu ( 'Claymoor' ); their daughter Maria married Prince Ioan A. Ghika. Grigore's house used to stand on Victory Road, in front of Berthelot Street.
***3) Nicolae Lahovary held different public offices, including Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies ( 1865 ). He had five sons ( among whom the famous Lahovary brothers, Conservative politicians ) and two daughters.
******- Constantin lived in Paris and never married;
******- Alexandru Lahovary ( 1841-1897 ) was Justice Minister ( 1870; 1873-1876 ), Minister for Agriculture, Domains, Industry and Trade ( 1888-1889 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1889-1891; 1891-1895 ); he was widely considered no. 2 in the party's hierarchy and Lascar Catargiu's natural successor, but he died too early for that. His wife was Simona Ghermani ( German ), illegitimate daughter of Anastasia Konstantinovich ( nee Princess Obrenovic ) and of the Greek-Aromanian banker and ship-owner Joanikije German, her brother-in-law; she was named after her maternal aunt ( and father's late wife ) Simona German and she was a first cousin of King Milan I of Serbia. She was known as Simka Lahovari and was famous for her strong personality and sharp wit; she was also notoriously unfaithful to her husband; according to Queen Marie, she was the de facto leader of Conservative ladies. Their house was on Dorobanti Road, immediately next to the White Church; later, that section of the street, from the White Church to Dionisie Lupu Street received Alexandru Lahovari's name and then different others ( nowadays George Enescu Street ); the crossroads at the corner with Dionisie Lupu Street was ( and is today again ) called Alexandru Lahovari Square and the Conservative had a statue of him erected there. Also, an important high school in Ramnicu-Valcea bears his name;
*********- Ioan A. Lahovary, his son, was a diplomat;
*********- Simona, his daughter, better known as Simky Lahovary, was a lady-in-waiting and intimate friend of Queen Marie's.
******- Ioan N. Lahovary ( Jean ) ( 1844-1915 ), was Ambassador to France ( 1893-1895 ), Foreign Minister ( 1899-1900; 1907 ), Minister for Agriculture, Domains, Industry and Trade ( 1904-1907 ), Minister for Agriculture and Domains ( 1910-1912 ), President of the Senate ( 1913-1914 ); he was also President of the Conservative Party ( pro-Entente branch ) in 1915, but he died after a few months. He married Princess Smaranda ( Emma ) Mavrocordat and they lived in a house still extant on Dorobanti Road; from the unhappy marriage the following children were born:
*********- Princess Martha Bibescu ( 1886-1973 ), married to Prince George Valentin Bibescu, famous writer and legendary socialite. Like everyone in her family, she lived in Paris as much as she did in Romania. Baptised Orthodox, she was raised mainly in a Catholic environment in Paris and she later converted ( shortly after the marriage I think ). The marriage itself, at the Princess Balasa Church in Bucharest ( traditionally linked with the Bibescu family ), was a major event of Bucharest social life ( in 1902 or 1903 I think ). Despite the wit, the broad education and sharp intellect that made her famous, she was also known to be arrogant and very malicious; she was particularly plagued by the most classical symptoms of aristocratic snobbery, which made her resent the modest origins of her father's family and identify with her husband's family ( she would sometimes say 'our ancestor, Lord Constantin Brancoveanu' ). It is probably this snobbery that made her avoid a divorce, since her marriage had at one point become nothing less than a shamble. Among her lovers was German Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince Charles-Louis de Beauvau-Craon, journalist Henri de Jouvenel ( Colette's former husband ) and Christopher Thomson, 1st Baron Thomson ( Secretary of State for Air in the Ramsay McDonald governments, 1924 and 1929-1930; he died in a plane crash while in office ). She was also a close friend of politicians like Aristide Briand, James Ramsay McDonald, after WWII General de Gaulle ( who said that he saw in her the personification of Europe ) and writers like Paul Valery, Jean Cocteau or Paul Claudel. Her most appreciated works were Les huit paradis ( based on a trip to Persia ), Isvor. Pays des saules ( perhaps the most successful, it's a depiction of peasant life in one of the villages 'owned' by her husband ), Katia, le demon bleu ( based on the life of Princess Ekaterina Dolgoruki, it was made into a film with Danielle Darrieux in 1937 ), Au bal avec Marcel Proust ( considered a very inspired portrayal of Proust, whom she had actually met only once or twice ) and Une victime royale: Ferdinand de Roumanie. This last work is usually considered the most perceptive description of King Ferdinand of Romania, who was an intimate friend of hers ( and perhaps more than that, though it's not clear ). In her youth she was also a good friend of the future Queen Marie, but the two strong personalities couldn't ensure a stable friendship. Princess Martha Bibescu was an important character in the Romanian circles of Paris, being involved in the female rivalries that were characteristic of these people, e.g. with Anna de Noailles, her husband's first cousin, and especially with Elena Vacarescu, whom she actually loathed. Her fight with Elena Vacarescu reached a peak in the early '30s, when a bestowal of the Legion of Honour upon her was attempted; this met with fierce opposition, because of her alleged pro-German attitude during WWI. In Bucharest in 1916-1917 she headed one of the several temporary military hospitals peopled with high-born girls as nurses; in that capacity she showed disloyal anti-war feelings ( took down the portraits of the King and Queen and replaced them with those of King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta ) and eventually left Romania suddenly in the company of a Prince Reuss; she crossed the enemy lines into Austria-Hungary and arrived in Switzerland, where she spent the rest of the war. In the end she did receive the Legion of Honour, but only after WWII, from President de Gaulle. Also after WWII she was received into the Royal Academy of Belgium, in Anna de Noailles' seat. In Romania she lived mainly in Mogosoaia Palace, the famous residence of Constantin Brancoveanu, Lord of Wallachia ( 1688-1714 ) near Bucharest; at her bequest, her husband had bought the domain from his first cousin, Marie-Nicole Darvari, and she had the palace restored by G.M. Cantacuzino ( see );
*********- Ioana ( Jeannette ) Lahovary, married first Constantin C. Olanescu, son of the namesake Conservative politician, with whom she had a son ( another Constantin ), and second Radu Vacarescu, son of General Theodor Vacarescu, sometime Marshal of the Palace; she died fairly young;
*********- Magdalena died young after only a few years of marriage;
*********- Margareta Lahovary also died young; she committed suicide the same year Magdalena died; this death affected very much Martha, as the two were close;
*********- George Lahovary, the only son of Jean and Emma Lahovary, died when he was 8 years old; his mother never got over his death and her grief permanently deteriorated the relationship with her family.
******- General Iacob ( Jacques ) Lahovary ( 1846-1907 ) was Chief of Staff of the Army ( 1894-1895 ), Defense Minister ( 1891-1894; 1899-1901 ) and Foreign Minister ( 1904-1907 ). He was particularly known for his stiff moustache and rash temper, which usually got him into a lot of troubles ( i.e. duels ). His first wife was Elena Kretzulescu ( they divorced ) and his second was Alexandrina Cantacuzino ( who had divorced Prince Ferdinand Ghika; see last paragraph ); from the first marriage he had Elena, married to a marquess de Kerguezec, and from the second marriage two boys without descendants ( Iacob and Leon ). Jacques Lahovary had himself built on Ion Movila Street in 1885-1886 one of the first houses in the so-called 'neo-Romanian' style, that was to become dominant between the wars; at that time the house, designed by Ion Mincu, was something of an experiment.
******- Emil Lahovary married into a Liberal family, Niculescu-Dorobantu; his wife Elena was sister of Liberal local leader Ilie Niculescu-Dorobantu. Ilie and his brother ( Constantin ? ), as well as their brother-in-law built houses very close to one another in downtown Bucharest, on family land ( Ilie and his brother on Gheorghe Manu Street, Emil Lahovary on Orlando Street, currently the Indonesian embassy ). Another Niculescu-Dorobantu ( probably their sister ) was Smaranda, Constantin Ghika-Deleni's second wife. Lahovary had one son:
*********- Nicolae E. Lahovary, diplomat, Ambassador to Albania ( 1936-1939 ) and Switzerland ( during WWII ), where he remained.
***4) Grigore Lahovary was jurist and judge; he was deputy ( i.e MP ) and division president at the Court of Cassation. He married Princess Smaranda Sutzu, daughter of Prince Constantin, niece of Sevastia Mavros, granddaughter of Alecu Ghica 'Red-beard' and sister of Prince Mihail C. Sutzu, founding father of Romanian numismatics. Among their children:
******- Zoe, lady-in-waiting of Queen Elisabeta, married Prince Dimitrie Sutzu; their daughter was Marie-Jeanne Carp, mother of Olga Racovita ( see above );
******- Filip Lahovary, diplomat, worked at the League of Nations and was Ambassador to Egypt ( 1928-1929; 1930 ). His first wife was Valentina Boamba ( they had issue ), who after the divorce married again to the famous politician Constantin Argetoianu and again to diplomat Henri Catargi. Filip Lahovary's second wife was the famous writer, socialite, centenarian, but above all pianist Cella Delavrancea, who had divorced banker Aristide Blank; their correspondence has been published.
***5) Gheorghe I. Lahovary was engineer and author; he served as Director of the Post and Telegraph ( 1873-1876 ) and later President of the Court of Audit ( 1893 ); as Secretary-General of the Geographical Society he supervised the publication of the Great Geographic Dictionary of Romania. He wrote minor works, both fiction and non-fiction, and was elected honorary member of the Romanian Academy in 1909. From his marriage with a Cocorascu he had several children, among whom:
******- Alexandrina, married to Rear-Admiral Emanoil Koslinski, head of the War Navy ( 1901-1909 ). Their son, Rear-Admiral Gheorghe Em. Koslinski was Undersecretary of State for the Navy in the Department of National Defense ( 1940-1941 ).
******- Dimitrie, married to Elena Arion, General Eracle Arion's niece;
*********- Paul Lahovary, their son, was diplomat and appreciated writer ( novelist ); he married a Swede ( with issue ) and lived after the war in Sweden ( information for which I thank his son, Mr. André Paul Konstantin Lahovary ).
Cantacuzino family - Moldavian branch
***This branch descends from High Steward Gheorghe ( Iordache ), brother of Grand Chamberlain Constantin. From his two sons, Toderascu and Iordache, stem the two Moldavian branches, Deleanu and Pascanu.
***The Deleanu branch is characterised by its relationship with Russia. Its members have sometimes used the surname Canta. Toderascu's grandsons, Tudor and Iordache, gave birth to two sub-branches;
******- in the first sub-branch ( also known as Serbesti ) we may note:
*********- Constantin, whose daughter Sevastia gave birth to the female-line Fyodosiev-Cantacuzino branch; Sevastia's granddaughter married Eugen Ghika-Budesti jr.;
*********- Alexandru, his brother, married to Elena Mavros, daughter of General Nicolae Mavros from his first marriage, with Pulcheria ( Profira ) Ghica;
*********- Maria, their sister, was married first to Grand Chancellor Lupu Bals ( of Bozieni ) and then to Grand Palatine Manolache Bogdan ( second of the name and title );
*********- Elisabeta, their other sister, married Alexandru Cantacuzino-Pascanu and was mother to Ioan ( 'Zizine'; see below );
******- in the second sub-branch, the two brothers Alexandru and Gheorghe ( 'Egor', one of Alexandros Ypsilantis' lieutenants in Moldavia in 1821 ) gave birth to the 'Bavarian branch' and to the Russian branch from Bessarabia respectively ( a third brother Grigore was a general in the Russian army and died at Borodino in 1812 ). The 'Bavarian branch' also had Romanian members: e.g. the sub-branch that gave Leon Cantacuzino ( he married Ana, daughter of General Theodor Vacarescu, Marshal of the Palace under King Carol I and had two daughters who were socialites in London at one time, Marie-Blanche or Balasa and Elena ); Alexandru A. Cantacuzino was Minister of Religious Faiths of Moldavia ( 1861-1862 ), Foreign Minister ( 1862 ) and Finance Minister ( 1862-1863 ) of Romania. This branch's biggest genealogical 'achievement' was marrying a Count von Schoenborn. The Bessarabian branch usually married Russian. In fact Prince Gheorghe ( Egor ) himself married Princess Yelena Mikhailovna Gorchakova, elder sister of the famous Alexandr Gorchakov, Russian chancellor ( 1856 - 1882 ). Among their children, Princess Aspasia married Wilhelm von Kotzebue, diplomat, writer, playwright, one of the many sons of the famous August von Kotzebue, while Olga married Nikolai de Giers, Russian chancellor between 1882 and 1895; they met when he was consul in Bucharest in 1858. Their son Mikhail de Giers was Russian Ambassador to Romania ( 1902 - 1912 ) and was behind the idea of the Russian Church in Bucharest. Their daughter Olga on the other hand married Gheorghe Rosetti-Solescu, nephew of Lady Elena Cuza, Ambassador to Serbia ( 1889 - 1895 ) and Russia ( 1895 - 1911 ); in other words, he was Ambassador to Russia while his brother-in-law was Russian Ambassador to Romania. Among Gheorghe's male-line descendants one could note a marriage with a prince Naryshkin.
***The Pascanu branch, a classical Moldavian aristocratic family ( i.e. ridiculously wealthy ).
******- Ioan A. Cantacuzino-Pascanu, nicknamed 'Zizine': intellectual, he translated from Schopenhauer's works and was sometime General Manager of Romania's Theatres. He was one of the three members of the Council of Regency of Moldavia in 1858 - 1859 ( replacing Stefan Catargiu of the anti-Unionist faction, forced to resign ) and later head of the Diplomatic Mission in Serbia ( 1866-1867; 1870-1871 ) and Russia ( 1876-1877 ) and Finance minister ( 1870 ). Son of Elisabeta Cantacuzino-Deleanu ( see above ). He married Princess Zoe Sturdza, daughter of Prince ( 'Beizadea' ) Nicolae Sturdza and of the famous Maria Ghika-Comanesti and thus granddaughter of Ioan Alexandru ( 'Ionita Sandu' ) Sturdza, Lord of Moldavia ( 1822-1828 ); no children.
******- his sister Ecaterina married Ioan N. Cantacuzino, of the Magureanu-Deleanu branch ( see link );
******- his uncle Dimitrie married Profira Beldiman, daughter of Grand Palatine Alexandru ( Alecu ) Beldiman, author of The Tragedy or Moldavia's pitiful happening; they founded the Holy Trinity Hospital in Jassy and their house in Jassy is now the Children's Palace. She is famous for having raised her late husband's son by a Gipsy slave like her own and refusing to free him when he fell in love with a free woman ( he shot himself as a consequence and a big scandal erupted in the context of the slavery debate of the 1850's );
******- one group of Zizine's first cousins included Ecaterina, married to the famous poet Iancu Vacarescu and Ruxandra, married to Panait Bals ( of Ivesti and Torcesti ), sometime Finance Minister; the two brothers-in-law administered their father-in-law's domain at Ceplenita ( the manor is now ruined ). The same father-in-law, Mihail, owned the Cantacuzino-Pascanu House in Jassy, which served as Princely ( 1859-1862 ) and Royal ( 1916-1918 ) residence and which today houses the Union Museum; this house was inherited by his widow and her children from another marriage. Panait Bals tried unsuccessfully to gain the Moldavian throne in 1849 and made big debts in Istanbul as a result; his wife Ruxandra had to pay it off. She had brought him as dowry the estates Torcesti and Ivesti ( in a renowned wine-area of Moldavia ) and they built the church in Ivesti where they are buried.
******- another group of Zizine's first cousins comprised Zoe, married to Alexandru ( Alecu ) Ghica 'Big Hat' ( last scion of Grigore II Ghica's branch of the Ghica family ), and Lady Elisabeta, married to Barbu Stirbei, Lord of Wallachia ( 1849-1856 ). Their mother was Elena Brancoveanu, sister of the famous Great Ban Grigore Brancoveanu, the last 'true' Brancovan.
******- yet another group of first cousins included Nicolae, Eufrosina, Caterina, Lascar and Casandra. Their father, Grand Palatine Constantin, had been one of the four members of the commission which put together the working draft of Moldavia's Organic Regulation ( in 1830 ). Eufrosina was married to Prince Alexandros Kallimachis ( Alexandru Callimachi ), Prince of Samos ( 1850-1854 ), son of Scarlat Callimachi, Lord of Moldavia. Caterina was married to Prince Nicolae Sutzu, statesman during the Organic Regulation-period, son of Alexandru Sutzu, Lord of Wallachia and Moldavia. Casandra was married to the Grand Chancellor Alecu Bals ( of Brosteni ), the famous anti-unionist, and was mother of Constantin Bals, killed in duel at Jassy in 1855. Nicolae and Lascar were close to Regent Nicolae Vogoride, infamous Regent of Moldavia ( 1857-1858 ), Nicolae even Justice and Interior Minister under him. He was father to Pulcheria, married first to Scarlat Sturdza ( related to Vasile Sturdza, his great-nephew I think ) and then to Prince Emil zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who was herself mother to Hereditary Princess Lucia von Schoenburg-Waldenburg and thus grandmother to Princess Sophie zu Wied, Queen of Albania ( who lived most of her life in Romania, on the estate of Hemeius/Fantanele, inherited via her grandmother and mother; there he had a red-brick manor built ). Lascar inherited from his father another large house in Jassy. From his two wives 1) Haricleea Vogoride ( daughter of Stefan Vogoride, Regent of Wallachia and Moldavia 1821-1822, sister of Nicolae Vogoride and of Alexandru Vogoride, Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia 1879-1884 ) and 2) Lucia de Gand, he had several children:
*********- 1) Adela, Haricleea's only child, was married to Nicolae Rosetti-Roznovanu, the famous Nunuta who was briefly hailed Lord of Moldavia in 1866, during the separatist movement in Jassy; they divorced; Constantin Argetoianu recounts that Nunuta was so short of memory as to come to a function together with his second wife and leave with the first one ( the two women were also first cousins ); Adela married again Grigore Kogalniceanu, Conservative politician and nephew of the famous statesman and journalist Mihail Kogalniceanu; passioned about poker and fine jewellery, she died strangled in her own house in Jassy in 1920;
*********- 2) Lucia was married to Prince Alexandru Mavrocordat, author, and was mother to Princess Olga Sturdza, renowned sculptor;
*********- 2) Constantin Cantacuzino-Pascanu was a Conservative politician, President of the Chamber of Deputies ( 1907; 1912-1914 ); he left most of his estate to the city of Roman;
*********- 2) Alexandru was Vice-President of the Senate and from his marriage to Princess Ralu Callimachi ( sister of Princes Alexandru and Jean Callimachi ) he had Lucia Baleanu, married to General Gheorghe Baleanu, who fought in WWII; when the Communists took power she and her daughter Eliza ( future Mrs. Ilie-Vlad Sturdza ) left for Francoist Spain and were part of the far-right Romanian community there. Lucia's half-brother General Alexandru was an aviator and head of the Civilian Air Force in the 1930s and his daughter Anca married Mircea Berindei, grandson of Johnny Berindei and first cousin of historian Dan Berindei.
***The Deleanu branch is characterised by its relationship with Russia. Its members have sometimes used the surname Canta. Toderascu's grandsons, Tudor and Iordache, gave birth to two sub-branches;
******- in the first sub-branch ( also known as Serbesti ) we may note:
*********- Constantin, whose daughter Sevastia gave birth to the female-line Fyodosiev-Cantacuzino branch; Sevastia's granddaughter married Eugen Ghika-Budesti jr.;
*********- Alexandru, his brother, married to Elena Mavros, daughter of General Nicolae Mavros from his first marriage, with Pulcheria ( Profira ) Ghica;
*********- Maria, their sister, was married first to Grand Chancellor Lupu Bals ( of Bozieni ) and then to Grand Palatine Manolache Bogdan ( second of the name and title );
*********- Elisabeta, their other sister, married Alexandru Cantacuzino-Pascanu and was mother to Ioan ( 'Zizine'; see below );
******- in the second sub-branch, the two brothers Alexandru and Gheorghe ( 'Egor', one of Alexandros Ypsilantis' lieutenants in Moldavia in 1821 ) gave birth to the 'Bavarian branch' and to the Russian branch from Bessarabia respectively ( a third brother Grigore was a general in the Russian army and died at Borodino in 1812 ). The 'Bavarian branch' also had Romanian members: e.g. the sub-branch that gave Leon Cantacuzino ( he married Ana, daughter of General Theodor Vacarescu, Marshal of the Palace under King Carol I and had two daughters who were socialites in London at one time, Marie-Blanche or Balasa and Elena ); Alexandru A. Cantacuzino was Minister of Religious Faiths of Moldavia ( 1861-1862 ), Foreign Minister ( 1862 ) and Finance Minister ( 1862-1863 ) of Romania. This branch's biggest genealogical 'achievement' was marrying a Count von Schoenborn. The Bessarabian branch usually married Russian. In fact Prince Gheorghe ( Egor ) himself married Princess Yelena Mikhailovna Gorchakova, elder sister of the famous Alexandr Gorchakov, Russian chancellor ( 1856 - 1882 ). Among their children, Princess Aspasia married Wilhelm von Kotzebue, diplomat, writer, playwright, one of the many sons of the famous August von Kotzebue, while Olga married Nikolai de Giers, Russian chancellor between 1882 and 1895; they met when he was consul in Bucharest in 1858. Their son Mikhail de Giers was Russian Ambassador to Romania ( 1902 - 1912 ) and was behind the idea of the Russian Church in Bucharest. Their daughter Olga on the other hand married Gheorghe Rosetti-Solescu, nephew of Lady Elena Cuza, Ambassador to Serbia ( 1889 - 1895 ) and Russia ( 1895 - 1911 ); in other words, he was Ambassador to Russia while his brother-in-law was Russian Ambassador to Romania. Among Gheorghe's male-line descendants one could note a marriage with a prince Naryshkin.
***The Pascanu branch, a classical Moldavian aristocratic family ( i.e. ridiculously wealthy ).
******- Ioan A. Cantacuzino-Pascanu, nicknamed 'Zizine': intellectual, he translated from Schopenhauer's works and was sometime General Manager of Romania's Theatres. He was one of the three members of the Council of Regency of Moldavia in 1858 - 1859 ( replacing Stefan Catargiu of the anti-Unionist faction, forced to resign ) and later head of the Diplomatic Mission in Serbia ( 1866-1867; 1870-1871 ) and Russia ( 1876-1877 ) and Finance minister ( 1870 ). Son of Elisabeta Cantacuzino-Deleanu ( see above ). He married Princess Zoe Sturdza, daughter of Prince ( 'Beizadea' ) Nicolae Sturdza and of the famous Maria Ghika-Comanesti and thus granddaughter of Ioan Alexandru ( 'Ionita Sandu' ) Sturdza, Lord of Moldavia ( 1822-1828 ); no children.
******- his sister Ecaterina married Ioan N. Cantacuzino, of the Magureanu-Deleanu branch ( see link );
******- his uncle Dimitrie married Profira Beldiman, daughter of Grand Palatine Alexandru ( Alecu ) Beldiman, author of The Tragedy or Moldavia's pitiful happening; they founded the Holy Trinity Hospital in Jassy and their house in Jassy is now the Children's Palace. She is famous for having raised her late husband's son by a Gipsy slave like her own and refusing to free him when he fell in love with a free woman ( he shot himself as a consequence and a big scandal erupted in the context of the slavery debate of the 1850's );
******- one group of Zizine's first cousins included Ecaterina, married to the famous poet Iancu Vacarescu and Ruxandra, married to Panait Bals ( of Ivesti and Torcesti ), sometime Finance Minister; the two brothers-in-law administered their father-in-law's domain at Ceplenita ( the manor is now ruined ). The same father-in-law, Mihail, owned the Cantacuzino-Pascanu House in Jassy, which served as Princely ( 1859-1862 ) and Royal ( 1916-1918 ) residence and which today houses the Union Museum; this house was inherited by his widow and her children from another marriage. Panait Bals tried unsuccessfully to gain the Moldavian throne in 1849 and made big debts in Istanbul as a result; his wife Ruxandra had to pay it off. She had brought him as dowry the estates Torcesti and Ivesti ( in a renowned wine-area of Moldavia ) and they built the church in Ivesti where they are buried.
******- another group of Zizine's first cousins comprised Zoe, married to Alexandru ( Alecu ) Ghica 'Big Hat' ( last scion of Grigore II Ghica's branch of the Ghica family ), and Lady Elisabeta, married to Barbu Stirbei, Lord of Wallachia ( 1849-1856 ). Their mother was Elena Brancoveanu, sister of the famous Great Ban Grigore Brancoveanu, the last 'true' Brancovan.
******- yet another group of first cousins included Nicolae, Eufrosina, Caterina, Lascar and Casandra. Their father, Grand Palatine Constantin, had been one of the four members of the commission which put together the working draft of Moldavia's Organic Regulation ( in 1830 ). Eufrosina was married to Prince Alexandros Kallimachis ( Alexandru Callimachi ), Prince of Samos ( 1850-1854 ), son of Scarlat Callimachi, Lord of Moldavia. Caterina was married to Prince Nicolae Sutzu, statesman during the Organic Regulation-period, son of Alexandru Sutzu, Lord of Wallachia and Moldavia. Casandra was married to the Grand Chancellor Alecu Bals ( of Brosteni ), the famous anti-unionist, and was mother of Constantin Bals, killed in duel at Jassy in 1855. Nicolae and Lascar were close to Regent Nicolae Vogoride, infamous Regent of Moldavia ( 1857-1858 ), Nicolae even Justice and Interior Minister under him. He was father to Pulcheria, married first to Scarlat Sturdza ( related to Vasile Sturdza, his great-nephew I think ) and then to Prince Emil zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, who was herself mother to Hereditary Princess Lucia von Schoenburg-Waldenburg and thus grandmother to Princess Sophie zu Wied, Queen of Albania ( who lived most of her life in Romania, on the estate of Hemeius/Fantanele, inherited via her grandmother and mother; there he had a red-brick manor built ). Lascar inherited from his father another large house in Jassy. From his two wives 1) Haricleea Vogoride ( daughter of Stefan Vogoride, Regent of Wallachia and Moldavia 1821-1822, sister of Nicolae Vogoride and of Alexandru Vogoride, Governor-General of Eastern Rumelia 1879-1884 ) and 2) Lucia de Gand, he had several children:
*********- 1) Adela, Haricleea's only child, was married to Nicolae Rosetti-Roznovanu, the famous Nunuta who was briefly hailed Lord of Moldavia in 1866, during the separatist movement in Jassy; they divorced; Constantin Argetoianu recounts that Nunuta was so short of memory as to come to a function together with his second wife and leave with the first one ( the two women were also first cousins ); Adela married again Grigore Kogalniceanu, Conservative politician and nephew of the famous statesman and journalist Mihail Kogalniceanu; passioned about poker and fine jewellery, she died strangled in her own house in Jassy in 1920;
*********- 2) Lucia was married to Prince Alexandru Mavrocordat, author, and was mother to Princess Olga Sturdza, renowned sculptor;
*********- 2) Constantin Cantacuzino-Pascanu was a Conservative politician, President of the Chamber of Deputies ( 1907; 1912-1914 ); he left most of his estate to the city of Roman;
*********- 2) Alexandru was Vice-President of the Senate and from his marriage to Princess Ralu Callimachi ( sister of Princes Alexandru and Jean Callimachi ) he had Lucia Baleanu, married to General Gheorghe Baleanu, who fought in WWII; when the Communists took power she and her daughter Eliza ( future Mrs. Ilie-Vlad Sturdza ) left for Francoist Spain and were part of the far-right Romanian community there. Lucia's half-brother General Alexandru was an aviator and head of the Civilian Air Force in the 1930s and his daughter Anca married Mircea Berindei, grandson of Johnny Berindei and first cousin of historian Dan Berindei.
Cantacuzino family - Princely branch
***This branch ( also known as Rafoveanu; see first two paragraphs ) descends from Serban Cantacuzino, Lord of Wallachia ( 1678-1688 ), participant in the Siege of Vienna ( 1683 ), founder of Cotroceni Monastery in Bucharest, later transformed into Royal residence ( with the church demolished in 1984 and rebuilt in 2003 ) and of the inn that bore his name ( 'Serban Voda Inn' ) and which occupied a large part of then Bucharest ( the National Bank was built in its place ). He is responsible for the Bucharest Bible, the first complete Romanian translation of the Bible, which appeared shortly after his death ( 1688 ). His wife, Lady Maria, founded the Lady's Church ( 'Biserica Doamnei' ) in Bucharest ( on Victory Road, but which gave its name to Lady's Street ). At his death, she fought for her son, Gheorghe, to be elected Lord, to no avail. The Austrian army ( led by General Heusler ) that attacked Wallachia in 1690 intended to put Gheorghe on the throne and the chief plotter in the affair was the boy's brother-in-law, Great Sheriff Constantin Balaceanu, leader of the pro-Habsburg internal faction. Later, Prince Gheorghe Cantacuzino became general in the Austrian army and was Great Ban of Craiova, which means that he served as governor of Oltenia under Austrian rule ( 1718-1735 ).
***The modern-era members of this family are descendants of two of Great Ban Gheorghe's descendants, namely brothers 1) Prince Constantin G. and 2) Prince Gheorghe G. Cantacuzino(-Rafoveanu).
***1) Prince Constantin G. Cantacuzino was the father of:
******- Prince Gheorghe ( 'Ghita', 'Gogu' ) C. Cantacuzino ( 1845-1898 ), important figure of the National Liberal Party, General Manager of the Romanian Railroads ( 1883-1888 ), chief editor of Vointa Nationala ( i.e. 'The National Will', 1888-1895 ), Finance Minister ( 1895-1898 ). He was owner of the Rafov estate. His house can still be found on Polish Street and across the road from it, in Icon's Garden, there is his bust. The square in front bears his name, as did some time ago Polish Street itself. One of his descendants, Prince Serban Constantin Cantacuzino ( see ), has managed to regain possession of the famous Manuk's Inn ( see outside and inside ), one of Bucharest's oldest civil buildings, of which he is rightful owner through a great-grandmother. A daughter of Prince Gheorghe, Princess Elena, married Ion ( Iancu ) D. Ghica, grandson of the famous Ion Ghica.
******- Prince Constantin C. Cantacuzino, physician, who owned a house still extant on C.A. Rosetti Street and married Sabina Bratianu, author of some famous memoirs and daughter of Ion C. Bratianu ( 1821-1891 ), one of Romania's most important statesmen ever. Their son, Prince Ioan C. Cantacuzino was also a physician.
***2) Prince Gheorghe G. Cantacuzino and Eliza Florescu ( sister of - among others - Luxita Florescu ) were founders of the so-called Corneanu sub-branch; they founded an asylum in Bucharest. Their children were Prince Alexandru ( General Director of the State Publishing Company and numismatist ), Prince Ioan, Prince Gheorghe ( married to Elena, daughter of politician Gheorghe Costa-Foru, see ) and Princess Ana, wife of dr. Nicolae Kalinderu, brother of Ioan Kalinderu, known as General Manager of the Crown Estates under King Carol I. Prince Ioan ( Iancu ), engineer, was one of the first Romanian industrialists, involved in the concrete business ( he might have owned the Fieni plant, but I'm not sure ). From a first marriage he had:
******- Prince Gheorghe Cantacuzino ( 'the Frontier Guardian' or colloquially 'Zizi'; see ) ( 1869-1937 ), who produced a big scandal in ca. 1898 when it was rumoured ( it's not known whether rightly or wrongly ) that he was having an affair with Princess ( later Queen ) Marie. Later on he became a general, famous for his bravery and martial drive. In the last years of his life he was associated with the Iron Guard. After being outlawed in 1933 ( for which Prime Minister I.G. Duca was assassinated ), the movement reorganized itself as the All-for-the-Fatherland Party in 1934, with Prince Gheorghe Cantacuzino as nominal leader. His family's house on Gutenberg Street, recently demolished, was a rallying place for Legionaries and the nearby St Elijah's Church on-the-Hill ( 'Sfantul Ilie-Gorgani' ) a sort of chapel of the movement. His funeral at the church in 1937 was a lavish display of Legionary propaganda. He was married to cousin Elena Kalinderu.
******From a second marriage, to Zoe Warthiadi, he had:
******- Princess Elisabeta ( 'Zetta' ), wife of Ioan G. Manu, daughter-in-law of statesman General Gheorghe Manu and mother of chemist and Iron Guard militant ( like his uncle and aunt ) George I. Manu. From her dowry, her husband built their house on Jianu Road ( nowadays Aviators' Avenue; see )
******- Prince Serban, who was known to be so haughty as to return any correspondence that didn't address him as 'Prince'.
******- Prince Ioan, known colloquially as 'Papanel', married to Alexandra Florescu; from an affair with the great actress Maria Filotti he had an illegitimate but acknowledged son, Ion I. Cantacuzino, psychiatrist, film historian and critic, host of a TV programme; the little square in front of St Elijah's Church on-the-Hill bears his name. This latter's sons from the marriage with his cousin Elena Warthiadi are:
*********- Mr. Gheorghe Cantacuzino ( see ), historian and archaeologist of the Middle Ages;
*********- Mr. Serban Cantacuzino ( see article ), actor, like his grandmother, who groomed him for this career.
******- Princess Ioana, from a third marriage to Maria Falcoianu, Lili Falcoianu's sister and niece of Zoe Warthiadi, the second wife; she too was an Iron Guard militant, assassinated by Police in 1939 in the same circumstances as Alexandru Cantacuzino ( see second paragraph, sixth child ).Married to Grigore Carp, son of the renowned Conservative statesman Petre P. Carp.
***The modern-era members of this family are descendants of two of Great Ban Gheorghe's descendants, namely brothers 1) Prince Constantin G. and 2) Prince Gheorghe G. Cantacuzino(-Rafoveanu).
***1) Prince Constantin G. Cantacuzino was the father of:
******- Prince Gheorghe ( 'Ghita', 'Gogu' ) C. Cantacuzino ( 1845-1898 ), important figure of the National Liberal Party, General Manager of the Romanian Railroads ( 1883-1888 ), chief editor of Vointa Nationala ( i.e. 'The National Will', 1888-1895 ), Finance Minister ( 1895-1898 ). He was owner of the Rafov estate. His house can still be found on Polish Street and across the road from it, in Icon's Garden, there is his bust. The square in front bears his name, as did some time ago Polish Street itself. One of his descendants, Prince Serban Constantin Cantacuzino ( see ), has managed to regain possession of the famous Manuk's Inn ( see outside and inside ), one of Bucharest's oldest civil buildings, of which he is rightful owner through a great-grandmother. A daughter of Prince Gheorghe, Princess Elena, married Ion ( Iancu ) D. Ghica, grandson of the famous Ion Ghica.
******- Prince Constantin C. Cantacuzino, physician, who owned a house still extant on C.A. Rosetti Street and married Sabina Bratianu, author of some famous memoirs and daughter of Ion C. Bratianu ( 1821-1891 ), one of Romania's most important statesmen ever. Their son, Prince Ioan C. Cantacuzino was also a physician.
***2) Prince Gheorghe G. Cantacuzino and Eliza Florescu ( sister of - among others - Luxita Florescu ) were founders of the so-called Corneanu sub-branch; they founded an asylum in Bucharest. Their children were Prince Alexandru ( General Director of the State Publishing Company and numismatist ), Prince Ioan, Prince Gheorghe ( married to Elena, daughter of politician Gheorghe Costa-Foru, see ) and Princess Ana, wife of dr. Nicolae Kalinderu, brother of Ioan Kalinderu, known as General Manager of the Crown Estates under King Carol I. Prince Ioan ( Iancu ), engineer, was one of the first Romanian industrialists, involved in the concrete business ( he might have owned the Fieni plant, but I'm not sure ). From a first marriage he had:
******- Prince Gheorghe Cantacuzino ( 'the Frontier Guardian' or colloquially 'Zizi'; see ) ( 1869-1937 ), who produced a big scandal in ca. 1898 when it was rumoured ( it's not known whether rightly or wrongly ) that he was having an affair with Princess ( later Queen ) Marie. Later on he became a general, famous for his bravery and martial drive. In the last years of his life he was associated with the Iron Guard. After being outlawed in 1933 ( for which Prime Minister I.G. Duca was assassinated ), the movement reorganized itself as the All-for-the-Fatherland Party in 1934, with Prince Gheorghe Cantacuzino as nominal leader. His family's house on Gutenberg Street, recently demolished, was a rallying place for Legionaries and the nearby St Elijah's Church on-the-Hill ( 'Sfantul Ilie-Gorgani' ) a sort of chapel of the movement. His funeral at the church in 1937 was a lavish display of Legionary propaganda. He was married to cousin Elena Kalinderu.
******From a second marriage, to Zoe Warthiadi, he had:
******- Princess Elisabeta ( 'Zetta' ), wife of Ioan G. Manu, daughter-in-law of statesman General Gheorghe Manu and mother of chemist and Iron Guard militant ( like his uncle and aunt ) George I. Manu. From her dowry, her husband built their house on Jianu Road ( nowadays Aviators' Avenue; see )
******- Prince Serban, who was known to be so haughty as to return any correspondence that didn't address him as 'Prince'.
******- Prince Ioan, known colloquially as 'Papanel', married to Alexandra Florescu; from an affair with the great actress Maria Filotti he had an illegitimate but acknowledged son, Ion I. Cantacuzino, psychiatrist, film historian and critic, host of a TV programme; the little square in front of St Elijah's Church on-the-Hill bears his name. This latter's sons from the marriage with his cousin Elena Warthiadi are:
*********- Mr. Gheorghe Cantacuzino ( see ), historian and archaeologist of the Middle Ages;
*********- Mr. Serban Cantacuzino ( see article ), actor, like his grandmother, who groomed him for this career.
******- Princess Ioana, from a third marriage to Maria Falcoianu, Lili Falcoianu's sister and niece of Zoe Warthiadi, the second wife; she too was an Iron Guard militant, assassinated by Police in 1939 in the same circumstances as Alexandru Cantacuzino ( see second paragraph, sixth child ).Married to Grigore Carp, son of the renowned Conservative statesman Petre P. Carp.
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