The House of Soutzos or Soutsos ( or , or ) was a Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(present-day

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) during the last centuries of

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and gave several ''

hospodar ''Gospodar'' or ''hospodar'', also ''gospodin'' as a diminutive, is a term of Slavic origin, meaning "lord" or " master". The compound (, , , sh-Latn-Cyrl, gospodar, господар, ) is a derivative of ''gospod'' / ''gospodin'', , or when spe ...

s'' to the Danubian Principalities, like Alexandros Soutzos, Michael (I) Drakos Soutzos and Michael (II) Soutzos.

History

The origins of the Soutzos family are unclear. Some authors theorize Albanian or

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

descent for the family, with a suggested region of origin being the island

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

. Its first members appear in the 17th century in Constantinople, while it is assumed that it descended from the Drakos family of

Epirus Epirus () is a Region#Geographical regions, geographical and historical region, historical region in southeastern Europe, now shared between Greece and Albania. It lies between the Pindus Mountains and the Ionian Sea, stretching from the Bay ...

. It is speculated that one of the members had an important role in the plumbing of Constantinople. Since then the Turks called the Drakos ''Soutzides'' and the Greeks used the more Greek ''Soutsos''.Πολυχρόνης Ενεπεκίδης, ''Οι Σούτσοι εις το Παρίσι'', στο: Ρήγας-Υψηλάντης-Καποδίστριας. Έρευναι εις τα αρχεία της Αυστρίας, Γερμανίας, Ιταλίας, Γαλλίας και Ελλάδας, ed. Βιβλιοπωλείον της Εστίας, Athens, 1965, p. 268 Konstantinos Drako, son of a rhetor of the patriarchate (Diamantaki Drako), was the first Soutzos to rise to prominence. In 1714, he married Princess Maria Rusetaina, daughter of a long-established Phanariote family (her mother was Helena Mavrokordataina and her paternal grandfather Antonie had even held the princely rule in the Danubian countries under Ottoman overlordship). Konstantinos' in-laws raised Konstantinos to high positions in Danubian principalities, and his sons were kin with everybody who mattered in Phanar. Later, in the 1780s—1790s, one of the sons (Mihai Draco-Sutzu) rose to the thrones of Walachia and Moldavia and was the first Prince of their surname. After prince Mihai, his nephew Alexandru Suțu, and his namesake grandson Mihail Suțu also ruled as Princes. Significant members of the family include the two brother poets Panagiotis Soutsos and Alexandros Soutsos, of whom the first set the cornerstone for the revival of the

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and the latter was the founder of the Greek Romantic school of poetry. The main branch of the above family is now found in Athens, Greece. Alexandru A. Suțu and Mihail C. Suțu both became members of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its bylaws, the academy's ma ...

in the 1880s.

References

Alexandre Negresco-Soutzo (ro), Livre d’Or de la Famille Soutzo, chez l'auteur, Paris, 2005. {{Authority control Greek noble families Greek families Romanian people of Greek descent Phanariotes Romanian noble families