Catherine Salvaresso, or ''Ecaterina Salvaresso'' (died 1590 in

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

) was a princess consort of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

. She was married to

Alexandru II Mircea Alexandru II Mircea (3 March 1529 – 11 September 1577) was a Voivode or Prince of Wallachia from 1568 to 1574 and 1574 to 1577. He was the father of Mihnea II Turcitul. His parents were Mircea III Dracul and Maria Despina. Raised by the Turks i ...

and was the mother of

Mihnea Turcitul Mihnea II Turcitul ("Mihnea the Turned-Turk"; July 1564 – October 1601) was Prince (Voivode) of Wallachia between September 1577 and July 1583, and again from April 1585 to May 1591. The only son of Alexandru II Mircea and Ecaterina Salvares ...

. She was the regent of Wallachia during the minority of her son from 1577 until 1583. Salvaresso was from a Catholic Italian family and a resident of the Italian quarter in Constantinople, where she met Alexandru II Mircea during his pilgrimage. They married in Pera in 1558, and she converted to the Orthodox faith. She founded the convent Slătioarele and imported to first printing press in Bucharest in 1573. In 1577, her spouse died and she became the regent of her son, who was at that time a hostage of the Ottomans.

Sources

*Ileana Cazan, Eugen Denize: Marile puteri și spațiul românesc în secolele XV-XVI, Editura Universității din București, 2001 *Gh.T. Ionescu: Nou despre doamna Ecaterina Salvaresso a Țării Românești, în Istros, VII, Brăila, 1994, p.189-199. 1590 deaths 16th-century women rulers Regents and governors of Wallachia 16th-century Romanian people Royal consorts of Wallachia Place of birth missing Year of birth unknown Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism Eastern Orthodox Christians from Italy 16th-century Romanian women {{Romania-bio-stub