| Prince Alexander Mourouzis | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byNikiforos Lytras | |
| Prince of Moldavia (1st reign) | |
| Reign | March 1792 – January 1793 |
| Predecessor | Emanuel Giani Ruset |
| Successor | Michael Drakos Soutzos |
| Prince of Wallachia (1st reign) | |
| Reign | January 1793 – August 1796 |
| Predecessor | Michael Drakos Soutzos |
| Successor | Alexander Ypsilantis |
| Prince of Wallachia (2nd reign) | |
| Reign | March 1799 – October 1801 |
| Predecessor | Constantine Hangerli |
| Successor | Michael Drakos Soutzos |
| Prince of Moldavia (2nd reign) | |
| Reign | 4 October 1802 – August 1806 |
| Predecessor | Iordache Conta |
| Successor | Scarlat Callimachi |
| Prince of Moldavia (3rd reign) | |
| Reign | 17 October 1806 – 19 March 1807 |
| Predecessor | Scarlat Callimachi |
| Successor | Alexander Hangerli |
| Born | 1750 (1750) Istanbul |
| Died | 1816 (aged 65–66) Istanbul |
| Issue | Constantine MourouzisDumitrache Mourouzis Nicholas Mourouzis Gheorghiu Mourouzis[1] |
| Religion | Orthodox Christian |
Prince Alexander Mourouzis (Greek:Αλέξανδρος Μουρούζης;Romanian: Alexandru Moruzi; 1750/1760 – 1816) was aGrand Dragoman of theOttoman Empire who served asPrince ofMoldavia andPrince ofWallachia. Open toEnlightenment ideas, and noted for his interest inhydrological engineering, Mourouzis was forced to deal with the intrusions ofOsman Pazvantoğlu's rebellious troops. In a rare gesture for his period, he renounced the throne in Wallachia, and his second rule in Moldavia was cut short by the intrigues ofFrench diplomatHorace Sébastiani.
A member of theMourouzis family ofPhanariotes and the son ofConstantine Mourouzis (one of the few Ottoman-appointed Princes to die in office),[2] he was educated to speak six languages in addition toGreek. His mother was a member of theGhica family.[3] Alexander wasGrand Dragoman of the Porte underSultanSelim III, in which capacity he helped mediate the 1791Treaty of Jassy, ending theRusso-Turkish War of 1787–1792.[4] Selim rewarded his service by appointing him to the throne inIași (Moldavia) in January 1792,[5] and transferred a year later to the throne ofBucharest (1793–1796), where his first year in office coincided with abubonic plague outbreak (which he dealt with byquarantining and confining the ill to the village ofDudești).[6]
Dismissed owing to intrigues at the Ottoman court, he was reinstated in Bucharest (1798–1801). In 1799, he passed a resolution ending the labor conflict at the cloth factory in Pociovaliște (presently part of Bucharest).[7] After reforming its system of worker employment and payment, as well as hiringSaxon experts fromTransylvania to manage the industry, he denied the workers' request to institute two weeks off for each week of labor, and ordered activities to be resumed, while stressing that it was imperative to respect the Ottoman demand fortextiles (seeLabor movement in Romania).[8] At the time, the employees did not receive payment, but worked in exchange fortax exemptions.[8]
Over the following year, Mourouzis had to deal with the incursion of Pazvantoğlu's rebellious troops inOltenia, which resulted in the plundering and burning down much of the city ofCraiova.[9] News of the Craiova's destruction reached Bucharest and Mourouzis forbade fleeing the city; however, this did not prevent theboyars from sending their wealth intoHabsburg lands for safekeeping.[10] Mourouzis built fortifications on the road to Craiova and on the banks ofOlt River; he attacked Pazvantoğlu's troops, who used the city's ruins asbarricades — after several days of fighting, Pazvantoğlu and his troops fled Craiova and returned toVidin.[11] Powerless against the latter's destructive attacks, he asked to be relieved of his position, and, in a highly unusual gesture, paid off Ottoman authorities in exchange for his own replacement.[12]
At the insistence of theFrench Empire, he was again appointed Prince of Moldavia (1802–1806 and 1806–1807), but was ultimately dismissed through another French intervention at thePorte - on August 12, 1806,Horace Sébastiani, theFrench Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, called on Selim III to punishConstantine Ypsilantis' pro-Russian activities in Wallachia, and to prevent a Moldavian-Wallachian-Russian alliance.[13] This last event constituted one of the causes for theRusso-Turkish War of 1806–1812.
Mustafa IV ordered Mourouzis to be sent to thegalleys, but he was pardoned soon after.[5] He died at his home inConstantinople, and rumor had it that he was poisoned.[5]
Mourouzis was anEnlightenment prince, whose time on the two thrones was connected withmodernization. The prince belonged to theFreemasonry, having affiliated with two separateLodges: in 1773, he was a member of the one active in theTransylvanian city ofHermannstadt, and, after 1803, belonged to the Moldavian Freemason branch inGalați.[5] His Western contacts and his political ideals were probably connected with the goal of uniting the twoDanubian Principalities under a single prince, as a symbolic legacy ofDacia: an 1800atlas published inVienna referred to his two rules as a single leadership of "the two Dacias".[5] As local legislation was primarily based onByzantine law, he acknowledged the importance given to theHexabiblos of 14th centuryByzantine juristKonstantinos Armenopoulos, and ordered it to be translated intoRomanian — although it failed to become official law in Wallachia, theHexabiblos was widely used for reference by theBucharest Divan.[14]
During his rules in Bucharest, Mourouzis notably rebuilt the princely residence ofCurtea Nouă, instituted aboyar office as centralizedtax collection in the capital city, and increased the water supply by tapping sources in theCotroceni area.[15] His interest in waterworks was also manifested during his stay in Moldavia, where he tapped water and built areservoir for the capital Iași[16] (through a system leading up toGolia Monastery)[17] and providedFocșani with water from over theMilcov River (achieved following an understanding with Wallachia'sAlexander Ypsilantis).[5] It was in 1793 that the first modernretailing firm was inaugurated in Wallachia, maintained by the Frenchman Hortolan.[5]
Under his rules, Wallachian and Moldavian ships for navigation on theDanube were built at newly createdshipyards.[5] He also organized the firstmail delivery system in Moldavia.[5] Like his father before him, Alexander Mourouzis founded schools and donated six-yearscholarships for disadvantaged children.[18] Among the educational institutions he created was theOrthodoxseminary in Iași'sSocola Monastery.[5] He took a personal interest in scientific education, and attended experiments inphysics at the Moldavian capital's Princely School.[5]
During his first reign over Moldavia, Mourouzis notably passed a resolution clarifying the surface of land which boyars were required to allocate to peasants working on their estates. It is the first document to divide agricultural workers into the three traditional categories, based on the number of oxen owned, offruntași ("foremost people"),mijlocași ("middle people") andcodași ("backward people").[19] At the time, it was recorded that associations offruntași could function asestate leaseholders in the service of boyars or Orthodox monasteries.[20] This right was suppressed in 1815.[21]
Mourouzis was the recipient of apanegyric authored by the Moldavian boyar poetCostache Conachi, who praised the prince's achievements in hydrotechnics.[17] Comments made on the poem, published by theRomantic nationalistGheorghe Sion, were the subject of an 1873 disagreement between him and literary criticTitu Maiorescu. The latter placed Sion's essay among his examples of "inebriation with words" (a term which he and theJunimea society had coined as a definition for incoherent and needlessly subjective criticism).[17]
| Preceded by | Grand Dragoman of the Porte 1790–1792 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by Russian occupation | Prince of Moldavia 1792 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince of Moldavia 1802–1806 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince of Moldavia 1806–1807 | Succeeded by Russian occupation |
| Preceded by | Prince of Wallachia 1793–1796 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince of Wallachia 1799–1801 | Succeeded by |