| Roxani Soutzos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sketch byLouis Dupré,c. 1830 | |||||
| Princess-consort of Moldavia | |||||
| Reign | 24 June 1819 – 4 April 1821 | ||||
| Predecessor | Smaragda Callimachi | ||||
| Successor | None(Ecaterina Sturdza from 1822) | ||||
| Born | Roxani Karatza Ρωξάνη Καρατζά 1783 | ||||
| Died | April 1868(1868-04-00) (aged 84–85) Athens,Kingdom of Greece | ||||
| Spouse | Michael Soutzos | ||||
| Issue |
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| House | |||||
| Father | John Caradja | ||||
| Mother | Eleni Skanavi | ||||
| Occupation | Cultural promoter | ||||
Roxani Karatza-Soutzos (Greek:Ρωξάνη Καρατζά Σούτσου orΣούτζου, alsoΡωξάνη Βόδα Σούτσου,Roxani Voda Soutsou,Romanian:Roxandra orRoxana Caragea Suțu[l],Cyrillic: Роѯандра [Караџѣ] Сȣцȣл, French:Roxane Soutzo orSuzzo; 1783 – April 1868) was aPhanarioteGreek cultural animator, initially active inside theOttoman Empire; the daughter ofJohn Caradja, sister ofRallou Karatza-Argyropoulos, and wife ofMichael Soutzos, she served asPrincess-consort ofMoldavia in June 1819 – April 1821. This matrimonial arrangement united the powerfulCaradjas with the more politically frailSoutzoses, but the two Phanariote clans were soon at odds with one another—Roxani favored her adoptive family. The break was initiated in late 1812, when Caradja was madePrince of Wallachia under Ottoman tutelage. Serving as theGreat Dragoman, Michael also competed for that position, and worked to topple his father-in-law. The latter finally abandoned his throne in late 1818, but Michael lost the competition to his second-uncle,Alexandros; he was compensated with the Moldavian throne.
During her short reign, Roxani fully backed her husband's cooperation with theFiliki Eteria, and helped instigate theGreek War of Independence, which began on Moldavian soil in February 1821. As it became apparent that the Eterist cause would fail, Michael abdicated and decided to emigrate with his family—making Roxani the last-ever Phanariote Princess in Moldavia. The Soutzoses were evicted into theRussian Empire, settling for a while inKishinev—where Roxani networked with two literary figures,Alexander Pushkin andJean Alexandre Buchon. They were allowed to live there only until 1822, when the Ottomans asked for Michael to be extradited. After a three-year detention in theAustrian Empire, from 1825 they settled together with the Caradjas in theGrand Duchy of Tuscany, and involved themselves in political intrigues. They were left financially destitute after the Eterist adventure, obtaining intercessions on their behalf fromSwiss bankerJean-Gabriel Eynard; for a while, Michael took his family toGeneva.
The newly proclaimedGreek Republic, which was generally anti-Phanariote in sentiment, ignored the Soutzoses throughout the 1820s, even as they pledged their allegiance to its government. Following Eynard's interventions, Michael was assigned to be a Greek diplomatic envoy inBourbon France (which became theJuly Monarchy during his tenure), but ultimately marginalized as a dangerous supporter of theRussian Party. The subsequently establishedGreek kingdom assigned Michael to various positions, including that ofAmbassador to Russia. Roxani lived with him in Paris andSaint Petersburg in the 1830s, as did their first-born son, Ioannis "Michalvoda", who was the legation secretary. The princely couple spent their final decades inAthens, where Roxani was heading a literary salon. By the time of her death in 1868, her in-laws included Greek academicPetros Paparrigopoulos [el] and Romanian politicianDimitrie Sturdza.
Roxani was born in 1783,[1] which made her slightly older than her future husband.[2] She descended not just from the Caradjas, but also from other major Phanariote clans of the Ottoman realm; her paternal grandmother Sultana was aMavrocordatos—making Roxani the great-granddaughter ofJohn II Mavrocordatos, who was Moldavia's Prince in the 1740s,[3] as well as a distant descendant of pre-Phanariote Moldavian royalty (including 15th-century PrinceStephen the Great).[4] Roxani's mother was Eleni Skanavi, daughter of a Phanariote banker.[5] The couple had four other children. The best known among them is Princess Rallou, born in 1799 atIstanbul,[5] who married Georgios Argyropoulos (or Arghiropol). John and Eleni's youngest daughter, Smaragda, married Spyridon Demetrios Mavrogenis; they also had two sons, Georgios and Konstantinos (the latter of whom was born "around 1799").[6]
Roxani's father ascended to the position of Great Dragoman in 1812, and appointed Michael "Michalakis" Soutzos as his secretary.[2] Michael and Roxani were known to have been married the same year,[7] though genealogistConstantin Gane argues that they may have already been wed around 1800.[8] Their first child, Ioannis "Michalvoda" Soutzos, was born on 30 August 1813.[9] He was followed by three more sons—Gregorios, Georgios, Konstantinos—and three daughters—Rallou (married Paparrigopoulos), Eleni (Soutzos), Maria (Zographos).[10] Of these, Georgios is known to have been born in 1817,[11] and Konstantinos in 1820.[12] According to an 1817 report byPrussian diplomat Alexander Freiherr von Miltitz, Michael, a "singularly handsome man", had, before his marriage, "barely had the means to support himself; since his marriage, he receives from his father-in-law a monthly stipend of seventy thousandpiasters, and at times extraordinary installments of another fifty to a hundred and twenty thousand piasters each."[13]
In late 1812, Roxani's father had obtained the throne of Wallachia, a Romanian-inhabitedclient-state of the Ottoman Empire, like neighboring Moldavia (the two "Danubian Principalities"). This also meant a political rise for Argyroupoulos, who seconded his father-in-law asCaimacam,[14] and was laterGreat Ban over the Wallachian fief,Oltenia.[15] As reported by Prussian diplomats in October 1815, at a time when Caradja had disappointedSultanMahmud II, Michael Soutzos was a favorite for the throne inBucharest.[16] He finally took over as Great Dragoman in October 1817, after purchasing support fromHalet Efendi, the influential Ottoman courtier, who was also his alleged partner in fraudulent deals.[17] He saw this position as a stepping stone toward the Wallachian throne, and spend money on bribes to obtain his appointment.[18]
In Wallachia, the Caradjas were promoting Greek culture—in late 1817, Princess Rallou founded in Bucharest "the first professional (Greek-language) theatrical troupe in the Romanian lands."[5] Such initiatives were increasingly manifestations ofGreek nationalism, supported by Filiki Eteria, the anti-Ottoman secret society. 1817 was also the year when Bucharest was visited by EteristNikolaos Galatis—although he did not manage to recruit John Caradja for his cause, he initiated Roxani's brother Konstantinos;[19] her Argyropoulos brother-in-law was also a member, and as scholar Elisavet Papalexopoulou suggests, there is reason to assume that Princess Rallou was also an Eterist, or at least an applicant.[20] In late 1818, anticipating Ottoman revenge, Prince John fled Wallachia, finding safety in theAustrian Empire, and then in theSwiss Confederacy. This incident exposed Halet and his retinue to persecution by the angered sultan; as PrussianLeopold von Schladen argued at the time, Halet was not entirely neutralized, and it was still possible for Michael Soutzos to take over in Bucharest.[21] The throne went instead toAlexandros Soutzos,[22] who was Michael's aged second-uncle.[23] The Sultan's decree barred almost all Phanariotes, but not the Soutzoses, from holding princely offices in either Wallachia or Moldavia.[24]
By 1819, Michael had started business as a restaurateur in Bucharest, being granted Dudeasca Inn by his boyaress mother, Safta Dudescu.[25] He was finally appointed Prince of Moldavia on 24 June 1819, with the expiration ofScarlat Callimachi's seven-year term of office;[26] Smaragda Mavrogenes-Callimachi, who was Roxani's maternal aunt,[27] had been her predecessor as the princely consort.[28] Upon his departure to Moldavia, the new ruler had already caused scandal with his extravagant spending and his toleration of corrupt practices.[29] As noted by Gane, the Soutzos ascendancy remains poorly documented in traditional sources, but is somewhat rich in visual documents. This is thanks to Moldavia being visited by an artist from the FrenchmanLouis Dupré, who drew portraits of Michael, Eleni, and, more unusually, a picture of the princely tent, which includes Roxani and two of her daughters.[30] This itinerant court welcomed the last arrivals in the Phanariote clientele of Moldavia, such as the Romalo and Cozadini families,[31] and including Sultana Cozadini, who was Roxani's chambermaid.[32] As the junior Prince (orBeizadea), Georgios Soutzos performed as godfather at Sultana's wedding to a Moldavian boyar, Ioan Cuza.[33]
Despite Ottoman expectations, Soutzos' short reign was marked by his full support for the Eteria, which had established bases in theBessarabia Governorate (on Russia'snew border with Moldavia). The Prince and the Eterist chiefAlexander Ypsilantis conspired together to start aGreek War of Independence from Moldavia, with Soutzos pledging his wealth, as well as the entiremilitary forces of Moldavia, to the realization of this goal.[34] In February 1821 a Russian spy,Pavel Pestel, recorded rumors that Soutzos was made aware that the Eterists and theArnauts were preparing a revolt, but had asked his boyars to keep quiet.[35] According to his own testimony, Michael was not informed in advance when, later that month, Ypsilantis and hisSacred Band invaded Moldavia, thus initiating war with the Ottomans.[36] Pestel reports that the Moldavian ruler visited the Eterist commander soon after his arrival, tolerated his pillaging of his subjects' property, and took personal charge of the Eterist recruitment drive.[37] He was also in the audience atIași when Ypsilantis recited his proclamation to the Greeks.[38]
The princely couple followed news of the Eterist advances, as well as of the paralleluprising in Wallachia. The Freiherr von Miltitz alleges that the revolt was helped along by Michael, who ordered his more cautious great-uncle to be poisoned, ensuring a power-vacuum in Bucharest.[39] In a letter to her father, dated 19 March, Roxani expressed the hope that the new government in Bucharest, formed aroundPostelnic Constantin Negri, would be fully Eterist.[40] She optimistically urged Prince John to leave his place of exile and join them in Bessarabia or Moldavia-proper, claiming that theImperial Russian Army was readying itself to join the war on the Greek side, and thatMoldavian Greeks had collected 3 million piasters to help the cause.[41] As noted by historian Nestor Camariano, John Caradja had no way of passing through Austria without being arrested, and probably no intention of even attempting the journey.[36]
Both theOttomanist segment of the Phanariotes and theMoldavian boyardom violently rejected Ypsiliantis and Soutzos; the latter was excommunicated by theOttoman Greek synod.[38] Prince Michael, who had unsuccessfully asked for Moldavia to be remade into a Russian protectorate, handed in his resignation on 29 March (New Style: 4 April); he then asked the Russian consul, Andrey Pizani, to protect him and his family—this request was granted.[42] On the night of 11 April,[38] the Soutzoses evacuated Moldavia, settling in Russian Bessarabia. They lived inKishinev, the gubernial capital, bunking with the Bessarabians Bogdan and Petrache Mavrogheni, in whose home they met Russian poetAlexander Pushkin.[43] The Princess also met and befriended French scholarJean Alexandre Buchon, who lived atOvidiopol, and who later dedicated her hisChronique de la conquête de Constantinople. As Bouchon notes therein, he often discussed thehistory of Greece with his Phanariote host.[44]
The Ypsiliantis interregnum and its aftermath saw the definitive end of Phanariote rules. In Moldavia, a senior boyar,Ioan Sturdza, took over as Prince, with Ecaterina Rosetti-Sturdza as his consort.[45] The Greek rebels of thePeloponnese, meanwhile, sought to recognize both Caradja and his Soutzos son-in-law. On 9 January 1822, thePeloponnesian Senate opted for a Phanariote monarchy, and elected itself a 12-member regency council ("Greek Central Government"). Caradja was appointed its chairman, and Soutzos its vice-chairman, with a boat being sent in to pick them up from theGrand Duchy of Tuscany, which was Caradja's country of residence.[46]Russian EmperorAlexander I's turn against the Eterists ensured that the Ottomans could ask for Michael to be extradited; this in turn led to his expulsion from Russia, also in January 1822.[47] On 2 March, he was apprehended atBrünn, inAustrian Bohemia, reportedly trying to make his way toLivorno in Tuscany.Chancellor Klemens von Metternich, who "would not allow any Greek to cross over from his states into Greece", had Michael deported toGorizia, in theKingdom of Illyria.[48] His family also joined him in this Austrian exile, and were by his side as he crossed throughLaibach on 26 March.[49] Initial rumors, that Michael had been granted aRussian passport allowing him safe passage to Livorno, and then by sea to the Peloponnese, were officially dismissed that April.[50] The runaway Prince spent the following three years as a prisoner in Gorizia.[38][51]
Michael was allowed to leave for Tuscany in early 1825,[52] joining the Caradjas in Pisa. In a letter from 1826, John Caradja speaks about "my unfortunate son-in-law Michalakis [Soutzos]", a man of "complete stupidity", as aspiring to becomeKing of Greece. As Caradja notes, this project was supported byLord Cochrane, after Soutzos' coaxing of Cochrane's wife—to whom he gifted dresses owned by Roxani. The indignant Caradja asked his nephew,Alexandros Mavrokordatos, to continue taking care of the Soutzos children, implying that Michael was incompetent.[53] TheCountess of Blessington befriended John's son Konstantinos, as well as the Argyropoulouses and the Soutzoses, during her passage through Pisa in January–April 1827; the three families dined together, but never discussed politics.[54] She describes Michael as having "superior abilities", and Roxani as a "very amiable woman".[55]
During the mid-1820s, aGreek Republic was consolidating in the Ottoman-liberated areas. According to Buchon, Roxani was fully supportive of this polity and its egalitarian agenda, since:Mieux être servante dans la Grèce libre que princesse dans la Grèce esclave ("Better to be a servant in Greece liberated than a princess in Greece enslaved").[56] The Greek executive leader,Ioannis Kapodistrias, explained in 1829 that the former Prince was regarded with suspicion in the new country: "they don't even view him as a Greek. Perhaps later they will accept him."[57] In June 1828, Michael, described inLe Figaro as "Moldavia's last Greekhospodar",[58] was inGeneva, where he enlisted three of his sons at Rodolphe Töpffer's Lyceum. He obtained several letters of recommendation: one fromAlphonse de Lamartine, the celebrated French poet, and his wifeElisa, another fromIgnatios Babalos, the exiled formerMetropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia, and several from the Swiss bankerJean-Gabriel Eynard.[59] Eynard also proposed that Soutzos take over as the Greek ambassador toBourbon France. In his thank-you letters, Michael describes his own destitute condition, which meant living in thePlainpalais, a working-class area, alongside his two parents, his daughters, and his youngest boy, Konstantinos.[60] In July–August, Roxani vacationed alone inTurin, theSardinian capital, where she was known as: "Princess Soutzo Rosandre, Russian, arriving in fromFlorence".[61]
In November 1829, Michael arrived in France, still in his private capacity (though backed by Eynard). He was received by theKing of France,Charles X, as well as by theDauphin Louis.[62] The other Soutzoses continued to live on Swiss territory to April 1830, when Charles offered to provide for the education of Michael's first two sons.[63] Michael moved permanently toParis around 18 April, with the press calling him a diplomatic envoy of the new Greek state;[64] this status was only acknowledged by Kapodistria in late June.[65] His last activity in Switzerland was his attempt to contactLeopold of Saxe-Cobourg, who was visiting Geneva, and whom Greeks politicians intended to appoint as their king.[66] Roxani and her children joined him on his new mission in May, when they registered in Paris at the Hôtel de Bruxelles;[67] two months after their arrival, France went through aliberal revolution which toppled Charles X and created theJuly Monarchy. At some point during the following decade, the entire family posed for a portrait by Dupré, this time in their Western costume.[68] One of Kapodistrias' letters to Eynard shows that, in November 1830, Soutzos and his "large family" were still struggling financially: "You plead that we grant him 36,000francs each year, by act of government. [Yet] there is not one French-speaking Greek who wouldn't fancy himself capable of being our diplomatic agent in Paris. There is not one Greek who doesn't detest those Phanariote Greeks, and from the very bottom of his heart."[69]
Michael ultimately received his pension from May 1831, as recognition for his services in obtaining a loan from theUnited Kingdom (and just months before Kapodistrias' assassination).[70] From October 1833, he served the newly recognizedKingdom of Greece as itsenvoy to Russia. His appointment doubled as a demotion—it came shortly after the attempted coup byTheodoros Kolokotronis, which had revealed the spread and power held by Greece'sRussian Party; as an adherent of the latter, Soutzos could not be sacked, but he also could not continue to serve in Paris.[71] He was known to be residing inSaint Petersburg with his wife, in November 1833, and again in 1837; Ioannis "Michalvoda", their son, was legation secretary in 1835–1837.[72] A branch of the family, headed by Roxani's mother-in-law Safta Dudescu, had remained in Bucharest; in February 1836, Michael called on her to sell Dudeasca Inn. It was finally acquired in 1839 by Roxani's brother-in-law, Konstantinos.[73]
Michael returned to take up a position in theGreek Council of State, but, after renewed scandal over his Russian commitments,[74] resigned all his public offices in 1839.[75] Of Roxani's sons, Konstantinos (also known as "Suțu-Dudescu") was an officer in both theHellenic[9] andFrench Navies, seeing action with the latter during thePastry War ofMexico.[38] The Soutzoses lived inAthens, as did the Argyropulouses; both Roxani and her sister Rallou set up "philological salons" to provide for the education of Greek women.[76] Ioannis "Michalvoda" continued to serve as a diplomat in Russia, where he married Yekaterina Dmitrievna Obreskova, daughter of aPrivy Councillor,[77] and herself noted for sponsoring composerFrédéric Chopin.[78] Obreskova was a presence at the court ofOtto andAmalia, alongside Roxani's daughters Maria Zographos and Eleni Soutzos;[79] through her daughter Rallou, Roxani was the mother-in-law of juristPetros Paparrigopoulos [el].[80]
Prince John also retired to Greece, finally settling in Athens. A longtime sufferer fromasthma, he died there on 27 December 1844.[81] His son-in-law returned to anti-Ottoman activities, and, in 1854, took charge of an insurrectionist committee organizing theEpirote Revolt—prompting Western intervention on the Ottomans' side.[38] Michael died in Athens on 12 June 1864,[75] leaving Roxani a widower to her death, which occurred in that same city in April 1868,[82] 47 years after the end of her stint as Princess-consort. A death notice in theAllgemeine Zeitung added: "[She] sacrificed throne and property in 1821 in favor of the Greek uprising and since then had resided in Athens. She was a benefactor to the poor of Athens and was buried with princely honors."[82]
The Phanariotes had by then divided themselves into various branches, generally split between Greece and theUnited Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, whose first ruler, orDomnitor, wasAlexandru Ioan Cuza, son of Roxani's chambermaid. Among the naturalized Romanian category,Constantin N. Suțu, who was Alexandros Soutzos' great-grandson and Michael's distant nephew,[83] led the Phanariote-and-Ottoman resistance to Cuza'sRomanian nationalism in the 1860s.[84] Roxani's sailor son, Konstantinos, died in 1869, and was buried atIzvorul Tămăduirii Church, Bucharest.[12] The Princess was also survived by her sister, Rallou Argyroupoulos, who died in 1870 atThonberg, in theKingdom of Saxony.[5][85] Georgios Soutzos, known to Romanians as "Iorgu Suțu", remained active in the United Principalities to his death in 1875.[11] He was a prominent figure in theRomanian Freemasonry, a racehorse breeder, and, from 1861, brother-in-law ofDimitrie Sturdza (himself a major political figure in the Principalities, and, from 1881, theKingdom of Romania).[86] The Soutzos–Obreskova union produced two sons and two daughters; Iorgu, meanwhile, left a son, George G. Suțu, who served in theRomanian Land Forces.[9]