[14]. Chamberlain.
[15]. “It has been supposed that the Turks, to console the Greek descendants of the imperial family for the loss of empire, had bestowed on them the government of the two principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, an error which appears to have no other foundation than the assumption of the illustrious name of Cantacuzenus, by two persons of obscure family, born in Wallachia, who were raised to the administration of that principality in the seventeenth century.” Thornton’s present State of Turkey, p. 385, from Cantimir’s Ottoman Hist. p. 371.
[16]. A descendant of the Voïvode’s grandson above alluded to, is now living in Wallachia, and possesses all the landed property left by his ancestor, which gives him an annual income of upwards of 200,000 piasters. He is looked upon by his countrymen as the first and richest Boyar of Wallachia, and is acknowledged by the court of Vienna as prince of the Roman Empire, a title which, however, he cannot assume in his own country so long as the Turks are the possessors of it.
[17]. The formulæ of a Beratt will be found in the Appendix, No. 1.; it is the literal translation of the one given to the author by the present Sultan, shortly after his appointment to the official situation in the principalities. The original is written in golden letters, on a very long sheet of parchment, lined with green silk, and containing a variety of curious and rich ornaments.
[18]. Thornton’s present State of Turkey, p. 410.; and Cantimir’s Ottoman History, p. 189.
The Russian court was the first who entered into official intercourse with the Greek princes, and styled them by the title of Hospodars, from the Slavonic and Russian word Gospodin, or Lord. The Greeks, however, having the right to the title of prince from that of Beÿ conferred on them by the Sultan, on their nominations to the principalities, assume that of reigning princes, though they have only the power and prerogatives of Viceroys. They also claim that of Serene Highness, which the court of Vienna alone has consented to give them. Their subjects invariably give them that of υχηλοτατε most-high. Their sons are called by the Turkish tide of Beÿ-Zaaday, literally meaning prince’s son; their grandsons have no title.
[19]. The Prince Callimacki has sent by me a copy of his code to the university of Oxford. As Dr. Macmichael, in his “Journey from Moscow to Constantinople,” gives an account of this book, I abstain from any observations upon it.—Note of the Author.
[20]. In page 416, of the “Present State of Turkey,” Mr. Thornton says, “The Boyars of the most ancient families, indeed, assert that they are the descendants of the Slavi, and are of a distinct race from the people who have sprung from the alliances of the Romans with the original Dacians; but the chief distinction among the nobles is their wealth and possessions. The great majority of the Wallachian and Moldavian nobility owe their creation to the Sultan’s Voïvodes; for even these ephemeral beings, these fleeting shadows of royalty, are presumed to confer by their breath a permanency of dignity,” &c. I perfectly agree with Mr. Thornton as to the latter part of this observation; but at the same time I must beg leave to say, that although I am well acquainted with all the Boyars who are considered to belong to the most ancient families, I never could discover that their claims to antiquity went beyond the period of Raddo Negro’s and Bogdan’s establishment; nor indeed are there many sufficiently conversant with the history of their country, or with any other, to know that the Slaves ever came into it, or even that a nation of that name ever existed. Those who call themselves the oldest families merely date their origin from Voïvodes, who have reigned within the last five hundred years; and upon such origin alone they form their claims to ancient nobility.
[21]. £360,000. sterling.
[22]. The same who was Captain Pashah at Constantinople in 1810–11, and distinguished himself in that station by so many acts of cruelty.