Șerban Cantacuzino (), (1634/1640 – 29 October 1688) was a

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. T ...

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 s ...

between 1678 and 1688.

Life and career

Cantacuzino took part in the Ottoman campaign which ended in their defeat at the Battle of Vienna. According to Gaster (1911) it was alleged that he conceived the plan of marching on Constantinople to drive the Turks out of Europe, the western powers having promised him their moral support. Cantacuzino introduced

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

to Wallachia and present-day Romania, in time the staple food—it was not yet extensively cultivated during his reign. He agreed to the establishment of various

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...

es, and ordered the famous Romanian edition of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...

(the ''

Cantacuzino Bible The Bucharest Bible ( ro, Biblia de la București), also known as the Cantacuzino Bible, was the first complete translation of the Bible into the Romanian language, published in Bucharest in 1688. It was ordered and patronized by Șerban Cantac ...

''), first published in Bucharest (1688). Through his influence also the

Slavonic language The Slavic languages, also known as the Slavonic languages, are Indo-European languages spoken primarily by the Slavic peoples and their descendants. They are thought to descend from a proto-language called Proto-Slavic, spoken during the Ear ...

was officially and finally abolished from the liturgy and the Romanian language substituted for it. He also founded the first Romanian school 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 ...

. His son Gheorghe Cantacuzino later ruled as Ban of Oltenia, and was married to Ruxandra Rosetti. He died suddenly, and there is further speculation that he was in fact poisoned by boyars who resented his vast, unrealistic and dangerous projects (presumably by his brother and nephew). His descendants include members of the Rosetti family, and the Romanian actor, Șerban Cantacuzino.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantacuzino, Serban 1640 births 1688 deaths Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church Serban Rulers of Wallachia People of the Great Turkish War Translators of the Bible into Romanian Craiovești Double agents 17th-century translators

Life and career

See also

References