| Emanuel Mirzoyan Էմանուել Միրզոյան | |
| Birth Date: | 1769 |
| Birth Place: | Rusçuk, Ottoman Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire |
| Death Date: | 1817 |
| Death Place: | Hîncești, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Resting Place: | Armenian Church in Chișinău |
| Nationality: | Armenian |
| Occupation: | merchant, diplomat, and inn-keeper |
| Signature: | Manuc Bei's Romanian Cyrillic signature.svg |
Knyaz Manuc Bey (the common Romanian rendering of Manuk Bey, the Armenian name of Emanuel Mârzayan; 1769 - 1817) was an Armenian merchant, diplomat, and inn-keeper.
He was born in Rousse (modern-day Ruse, Bulgaria), at that time subject of the Ottoman Empire, as a son of Mardiros Mârzayan and his wife, Mamilia Oglu, daughter of Hamum Oglu. A grain merchant, he amassed considerable wealth, and was rumored at the time to be the wealthiest man in the Balkans. In 1803, he was awarded the boyar rank of paharnic by Constantine Ypsilanti, Prince of Wallachia.
On 24 October 1808, by Firman of Sultan Mahmud II Moldavian and Wallachian boyars were required to recognize the primacy of Manuk Bey and therefore recognize the rank of Prince in Moldova as a reflection of the status of a member of the government of the Sublime Porte, as Grand dragoman, Deputy minister of foreign affairs and Grand Treasurer.[1] In late 1808, the highly influential Manuc was advanced by his protector, the Ottoman general Alemdar Mustafa Pasha, to occupy the Moldavian throne, but was prevented from taking the throne by the fall of his protector; he himself had to flee Istanbul to avoid execution. Settling in Bucharest (after a short period of refuge in Transylvania), Manuc-Bey kept the inn known today as Manuc's Inn; in time, he also acquired estates in Bessarabia, near Hîncești and Reni, and was to remain the main financial backer of Ypsilanti, lending the treasury 160,000 thalers in all.
During the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, he was also a mediator (1809) between the Russian Imperial Army of Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich and a rebel Ottoman garrison in Giurgiu. A Russian agent, Manuc took part in the negotiations for the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Russian and Ottoman empires, which were held in his inn in Bucharest.
Towards the end of his life, he retired to his estate of Hîncești, where his son later built a manor house.
Manuc died in an accident in 1817, and was buried in the Armenian Church in Chișinău.
Manuc-Bei married two times. His first wife was daughter of a rich Armenian merchant, whom he married in 1786. It is not recorded that there were any children born out of this marriage. In 1794, he married secondly Maria Harutyun (d. 17 September 1828), daughter of Hagi Harutyun. Together, they had two sons and four daughters: