O alianță matrimonială franco-moldavă, Ecaterina Balș, baroană de Thorenc
A French-Moldovan matrimonial alliance, Ecaterina Balş, baron of Thorenc

Summary/Abstract: A French letter written by a lady in 1822, sealed with a small emblazoned cachet, set us on the trail of a matrimonial alliance between Moldova and France at the beginning of the 19th century. The lady was Ecaterina Balche, born from one of the greatest Moldovan families, the daughter of the great vestiar Iordaki Balsche and Princess Marie Mavrocordato. She married in the second marriage the French baron Sébastien de Riouffe de Thorenc, colonel in the French army and knight of the Order of Malta. The services which the Provencal family of Riouffe de Thorenc rendered to King Louis XIV. Were recorded in the Letters Patent of April, 1708, in favor of Jean de Riouffe de Thorenc. His successors made themselves known to the services of the Bourbons for two centuries. Two offspring of the younger branch lived a part of their life in Moldavian soil (Sébastien, the husband of Ecaterina Balche, as well as his frivolous junior, Joseph)

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