The figure of Alexandru Moruzi holds a special place in Romanian history. Unlike other Phanariot rulers, he is remembered not only for his multiple reigns in Wallachia and Moldavia but above all for an unprecedented act: he voluntarily asked to be deposed and even paid a fortune to be released from the burden of the throne. Such a gesture was unthinkable in an era when ruling was synonymous with life itself, and losing the throne often meant death.

A Phanariot ruler with a unique destiny

The 18th and early 19th centuries were troubled times for the Romanian Principalities. After the betrayals of Constantin Brâncoveanu and Dimitrie Cantemir, the Ottoman Empire decided to tighten its control by appointing Phanariots, members of wealthy Greek or Albanian families from the Phanar district of Istanbul. 

These rulers, appointed directly by the Sultan, were tasked with managing the country, collecting exorbitant taxes, and maintaining order, while also safeguarding their own fortunes and political standing.

In reality, the Phanariot era brought economic collapse, exploitation, and corruption. Peasants were overtaxed, boyars grew richer, and the Romanian lands sank deeper into Ottoman dependency. Amid this decay and instability, Alexandru Moruzi initially tried to be a different kind of ruler.

The origin and education of an enlightened Phanariot

Alexandru Moruzi was born in 1750 in Istanbul’s Phanar district, into a high-ranking family. His father, Constantin Moruzi, had also ruled Moldavia, and his mother, Smaranda Sulgearoglu, came from an equally prominent lineage.

As a young noble, Alexandru received a distinguished education. He studied under Tupet, the secretary of the great philosopher Voltaire, and under other renowned scholars such as Nicolas Varcosi.

By the time he reached adulthood, Moruzi was fluent in six languages: French, Italian, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and Turkish. A cultivated man with a passion for reading, he owned an impressive library. 

His intelligence and diplomatic skills soon brought him success — he was appointed Grand Dragoman of the Ottoman Empire, a position equivalent to foreign minister. Between 1790 and 1792, he played a key role in negotiating the Treaty of Sistova, which ended the Russo-Austro-Turkish War, securing favorable terms for the Ottomans.

At the age of 26, in 1776, Alexandru Moruzi was initiated into the Masonic lodge Saint Andreas in Sibiu, a clear sign of his connection to Enlightenment ideals and Western thought.

Alexandru Moruzi’s reigns and his drive for modernization

After his diplomatic success, Moruzi was appointed ruler of Moldavia in 1792. His personality proved complex: on one hand, he was an enlightened prince eager to modernize his country; on the other, he eventually fell into the same patterns of greed and corruption that plagued most Phanariot rulers.

During his first reign in Moldavia, Moruzi introduced several important reforms. He built the Casa Apelor (Water House) at Golia Monastery — the first modern water supply network in Iași, which captured springs from the Ciric area. He also ordered the paving of streets with oak beams and river stones, introduced street lighting, and established night guards known as culuccii.

When he became ruler of Wallachia in 1793, he continued his modernizing efforts by building a hospital for plague victims and a paper factory in Afumați — signs of his desire to bring a trace of progress to a society deeply scarred by wars and corruption.

From enlightened prince to corrupt ruler

However, his idealistic goals quickly clashed with the harsh realities of the Phanariot system. To secure his throne and satisfy the demands of the Ottoman Porte, Moruzi was forced to collect massive sums of money, placing unbearable burdens on the population. During a famine, he bought grain cheaply from peasants and resold it at exorbitant prices, enriching himself while worsening the suffering of his subjects.

After 1799, his fiscal policies became even more oppressive. He collected taxes both for the Sultan and for his personal wealth, driving the population into extreme poverty. Villages were desolate, and the land was ravaged by conflicts between Turks, Russians, and Balkan rebels.

At that time, a fearsome figure — Osman Pasha Pazvantoğlu, the rebel pasha of Vidin — began attacking Wallachia. His kardjali, bands of Balkan mercenaries turned brigands, looted villages and towns, leaving behind destruction and hunger.

To defend the country, Moruzi assembled an improvised army of arnauts, pandurs, and local militias, led by Sava Fokianos. Although they managed to temporarily repel the attacks, the economic disaster remained total.

The request for deposition and the end of his rule

Facing chaos, ruin, and widespread misery, Alexandru Moruzi realized he could no longer control the situation. The constant raids, the pressure from the Ottoman Porte, and the lack of resources made his reign unbearable.

In a gesture without precedent, he voluntarily asked to be deposed (mazilit), offering a large portion of his fortune to the Ottomans to accept his resignation. This act, unique in Romanian history, revealed not only his exhaustion as a ruler trapped between two worlds — the corrupt Ottoman system and the impoverished Romanian lands — but also his lucid understanding that reform was impossible within such a structure.

After his removal, Moruzi briefly ruled Moldavia again during the Russo-Turkish War, attempting to maintain a delicate balance between the two powers. He died in 1816, leaving behind an ambiguous legacy: a cultivated and visionary ruler, yet also a typical representative of the Phanariot age.

The legacy and memory of Alexandru Moruzi

Today, Alexandru Moruzi’s name lives on in a street in central Bucharest — a small tribute to a complex historical figure. Although history often judges him harshly for his greed and corruption, his efforts as a modernizer and accomplished diplomat should not be forgotten.

He was a man of contradictions: educated in the spirit of reason and progress, yet trapped in a political system dominated by greed and oppression. The street bearing his name thus commemorates not just a Phanariot ruler, but a symbol of a transitional era — a time of turmoil, failures, and faint hopes for modernization in a region caught between East and West.

The story of Alexandru Moruzi is not merely that of a ruler who renounced power, but also of a man who tried, unsuccessfully, to reform a broken system. He remains the only voivode in Romanian history who bought his freedom from the throne, paying dearly to escape a reign turned into torment.

For this reason, Alexandru Moruzi Street in Bucharest stands not only as a reminder of a Phanariot ruler, but as a marker of a unique historical moment — when a voivode, overwhelmed by the weight of his times, chose peace over power.

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