Alexander Mavrocordatos Delibey Explained

Alexander Mavrocordatos Delibey
Succession:Prince of Moldavia
Reign1:8 June 1782 – 12 January 1785
Predecessor1:Constantine Mourouzis
Successor1:Alexander Mavrocordatos Firaris
House:Mavrocordatos family
Father:Constantine Mavrocordatos
Birth Date:1742
Birth Place:Istanbul
Death Date:27 March 1812
Religion:Orthodox

Alexander (I) Mavrocordatos (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Αλέξανδρος Μαυροκορδάτος; 1742 – 27 March 1812), nicknamed Delibey for his cunning, was a Phanariote who served as Prince of Moldavia from 1782 to 1785.

Life

Son of Constantine Mavrocordatos and Catherine Rosetti, he succeeded in May 1782 to Constantine Mourouzis, deposed by the Sublime Porte following the intrigues of the Russian ambassador in Constantinople. He owes his appointment to this same ambassador.

Mavrocordatos was dismissed in January 1785 at the request of Rajtschewitsch, consul of Austria in Moldavia, who complained to the Ottoman government to have been badly received by Mavrocordatos, despite being the representative of the Holy Roman Emperor. But it is possible that in fact this is only one aspect of the Austro-Russian struggle for influence in Moldavia: the Habsburgs already had occupied Bukovina since 1775, and the Russian czars coveted the Budjak and the mouths of the Danube, and each Empire advanced its pawns in the region.

According to Alexandre A.C. Sturdza, Mavrocordatos was known for his "versatility and difficult character" which gave rise to his Turkish nickname "Delibey".

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