- Mihai Suţu
Mihai Draco Suţu was a Prince of
Moldavia between 1792 and 1795. A member of theSoutzos family ofPhanariotes , he was the uncle ofMihail Suţu , himself a ruler of Moldavia between 1819 and 1821.Third rule of Wallachia
His predecessor,
Alexandru Moruzi , frightened by the incursions ofOsman Pazvantoğlu asked to be dismissed and for that, he paid money to the Ottoman authorities. In April 1801, Pazvantoğlu's troops continued their raids in Wallachia under the command ofManef Ibrahim , defeating the Ottoman Army despite having only a thousand horsemen, compared to the Ottoman side which had 8,000 troops. [Ionescu, p.255]They took
Râmnicu Vâlcea ,Govora and moved towardBucharest . ByMay 15 1802 most of the inhabitants of the city fled towardBraşov andVălenii de Munte . [Ionescu, p.255-256]On May 18, the Albanian and Turkish troops of Bucharest asked for their payment and Suţu promised them to pay in two days, after which he left to Colentina, outside the city. The boyars, who were supposed to wait for Suţu, heard rumours about unrest at the Royal Court and thought that Suţu was killed, so they left toward
Moldavia . Suţu, having not found the boyars at the Ghica house of Colentina, left forTransylvania . [Ionescu, p.257]As
Bimbaşa Sava , the commander of the Bucharest garrison, saw that Suţu left without paying them, he started following Suţu. This left Bucharest without any troops, allowing tramps to organize in gangs which robbed the Royal Court. Their leader, Melanos, took the royal hat and marched on the streets of Bucharest, wanting to set Bucharest on fire, which was prevented by the intervention of a Turkish unit fromCotroceni . [Ionescu, p.258]Due to his exile, Suţu was deposed by the Ottomans in the summer of 1802.
Notes
References
*Ştefan Ionescu, "Bucureştii în vremea fanarioţilor" ("Bucharest in the Time of the Phanariotes"), Editura Dacia, Cluj, 1974.
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