Prince Constantine Demetrius Mourouzis (, ; 1730 – 1 May 1787) was a Phanariote

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 ...

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

, and member of the Mourousis family. A remarkable polyglot, he spoke five languages: Greek,

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

, French,

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and Turkish. In 1761, he became Grand '' Postelnic'' (foreign minister) in Moldavia, and soon after Dragoman of the Fleet (deputy minister) of the Ottoman Admiralty, and eventually Grand Dragoman. There are indications that he was politically involved in the dismissal and assassination of his predecessor, Grigore III Ghica, by the Porte.Brezianu, Andrei and Spânu, Vlad (eds.) (2007) "Moruzi. Constantin" ''Historical Dictionary of Moldova'' (2nd ed.) Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, USA, p. 250, Trusted by the Porte, he obtained the throne of Moldavia on October 12, 1770. Mourouzis spent much of his time in Iaşi, supervising the gathering of agricultural resources demanded by the Porte, but also fought extravagant luxury and surrounded himself with scholars, paying particular attention to schools and founding scholarships. He was deposed on June 7, 1782, and exiled to the island of

Tenedos Tenedos (, ''Tenedhos''; ), or Bozcaada in Turkish language, Turkish, is an island of Turkey in the northeastern part of the Aegean Sea. Administratively, the island constitutes the Bozcaada, Çanakkale, Bozcaada district of Çanakkale Provinc ...

. He returned in 1783, but died soon after.

Notes

1783 deaths Dragomans of the Porte Constantine Monarchs of Moldavia Postelnici of Moldavia Year of birth unknown Dragomans of the Fleet 1730 births 18th-century translators Constantinopolitan Greeks Diplomats from Istanbul 18th-century Moldavian people {{Romania-bio-stub