ALEXANDER YPSILANTIS AND THE REFORM OF THE STATE IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WALLACHIA
ALEXANDER YPSILANTIS AND THE REFORM OF THE STATE IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY WALLACHIA

Summary/Abstract: Alexander Ypsilantis was born in Constantinople, in 1724 or 1726; Dragoman of the Porte in August 1774; Prince of Wallachia 1774 September 15/26 – 1782 January 4/15 and 1796 August 17/28 – 1797 November 22/December 3; Prince of Moldavia 1787 January – 1788 April 8/19. He was executed through beheading in 1807 as punishment for the betrayal of his son, Prince Constantine Ypsilantis, who sided with Russia in the Russian-Ottoman War (1806‒1812). Contemporary sources describe Alexander Ypsilantis as an educated man, interested in metaphysics, logics, mathematics, and classical Greek philology. During his first tenure in Wallachia he introduced a series of measures aimed at overhauling the administration, justice and taxation and ordered the elaboration and publication of a legal code. Several urban improvements were due to Alexander Ipsilanti’s initiative, among which the construction of a canal to prevent flooding of Bucharest. The Prince’s penchant for culture and education is proved by his reorganization and generous funding of the Princely Academy in Bucharest, the establishment of a church school at the Metropolitanate and schools in the towns of Craiova and Buzău. He also supported the Great School of Constantinople and the Greek school of Arvanitovori near Veliko Târnovo.

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