Grigore II

Ghica The Ghica family ( ro, Ghica; sq, Gjika; el, Γκίκας, ''Gikas'') was a noble family active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Ghica family produced many voivodes of Wallachia and ...

(1695 – 3 September 1752) was Voivode (

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

) of

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Cent ...

at four different intervals — from October 1726 to April 16, 1733, from November 27, 1735 to 14 September 1739, from October 1739 to September 1741 and from May 1747 to April 1748 — and twice Voivode (

) of Wallachia: April 16, 1733 – November 27, 1735 and April 1748 to September 3, 1752. He was son of Matei Ghica (son of Grigore I Ghica).

Reigns

He was helped to gain the throne in

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionall ...

by previous Prince Nicolae Mavrocordat, upon Mihai Racoviță's deposition by the Ottoman overlord. He decreased taxes, but chose to continue the established policy of awarding offices to

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, oth ...

and

Levant The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is eq ...

ines instead of local

boyars A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were se ...

. Thus, he faced mounting opposition from Dimitrie Racoviță, who tried to remove Scarlat by enlisting

Budjak Budjak or Budzhak ( Bulgarian and Ukrainian: Буджак; ro, Bugeac; Gagauz and Turkish: ''Bucak''), historically part of Bessarabia until 1812, is a historical region in Ukraine and Moldova. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danub ...

Tatars The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

' help – he was however rejected after clashing with Ghica and his Wallachian and Ottoman allies. With the outbreak of the

Russo-Turkish War The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

came

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

n occupation, forcing Grigore II Ghica to leave Moldavia briefly, in September–October 1739. Although he tried to counter Constantin Mavrocordat's intrigue at the

Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

, Ghica was deposed and exiled in 1741, gaining the throne for a final, brief time in 1747–1748. He effectively purchased the throne in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

— the exorbitant payment made him rely on further increased taxation.

Legacy

He repaired several

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...

and built the Frumoasa one in Iași, and the one at Pantelimon – the church's

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person. I ...

, Panteleimon, is the eponym for both the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Pantelimon, Ilfov, on the edge of Bucharest, and the Pantelimon Quarter of the capital. Ghica also built and furnished the area's hospital (staffed with

Eastern Orthodox Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedicat ...

s), the basis for the modern one. He had two sons: * Scarlat Ghica and *

Matei Ghica Matei Ghica (1728 – 8 February 1756), a member of the Ghica family, was the Prince of Wallachia between 11 September 1752 and 22 June 1753, and Prince of Moldavia between 22 June 1753 and 8 February 1756. He was son of Grigore II Ghica and bro ...

References

{{authority control Ghica family Ghica, Grigore II Ghica, Grigore II Rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia 18th-century Romanian people 18th-century monarchs in Europe Romanian people of Albanian descent Dragomans of the Porte