Însemnări despre începuturile familiei boierilor Catargiu şi biserica lor din Târgovişte
Notes on the origins of the Catargiu boyar family and its church in Târgoviște

Summary/Abstract: The history of the Wallachian boyar family of Catargiu is meteoric, as is the history of the church that could be attributed to them, located in the old princely residence of Târgoviște. The paper traces the emergence and rise of the family thanks to its first representatives. According to documentary evidence, during the time of the Great Ban Ianache Catargiu, boyar palace was built (or strengthened) in Târgoviște, not far from the princely palace complex, which speaks of the power and influence of this historical figure during the reigns of Alexandru Iliaş and Gavril Movilă. A document by Matei Basarab, dated 1637, considered in historiography in connection with the expulsion of the Catargiu boyars from Wallachia, indicates the location of their real estate, which, according to the custom of that time, also included the family church. Apparently, this religious building was located exactly on the site of the St. Mina church, which, according to some, disappeared by the middle of the 19th century and about which there is practically no documentary or archaeological data. It remains to be determined whether we can speak here of a single temple, of an older church of Saint Mina, on the site of which the church of the Catargiu boyars was later built, of a church of a boyar family that had this patron saint, or of a settlement that could have acquired this patron saint in the last period of its existence.

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