Despre antecesorii lui Andronic Cantacuzino

The present study contributes to clarifying the ancestry of the two members of the Cantacuzino family that played such an important role at the end of the 16th century in the history of the Ottoman Empire and of Wallachia: Michael Kantakouzenos Şeytanoğlu and Andronikos Cantacuzino. Andronikos had been the great treasurer of the Wallachian prince Michael the Brave and, most likely, his maternal relative. The centrepiece of this study is a document from the 19th of November 1590, written in the chancellery of the Venetian bailo Girolamo Lipomano. According to this Venetian document Andronikos was “a true and legitimate descendant of the House of Kantakouzenos from Constantinople”. The reason for the unusual request that led to this act seems to be revealed by a letter addressed to the Roman pontiff around the same time. After referring to the misfortunes that had befallen his family, Andronikos requested the pope’s protection.