The House of Mavrogheni or Mavrogenis () is a noble family of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

origin, whose members occupied many important positions in

Paros Paros (; ; ) is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. Part of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos (island), Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Co ...

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. At the 2021 census, there were 10,704 inhabitants, most of ...

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Ikaria Ikaria, also spelled Icaria (; ), is a Greece, Greek island in the Aegean Sea, 10 nautical miles (19 km) southwest of Samos. Administratively, Ikaria forms a separate municipality within the Ikaria (regional unit), Ikaria regional unit, ...

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 ...

, the

Principality of Samos The Principality of Samos (, ; ; ) was an autonomous tributary state of the Ottoman Empire from 1834 to 1912. The island of Samos had participated in the Greek War of Independence since 1821 and successfully resisted several Turkish and Egyptian a ...

, as well as in

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

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 in the

Kingdom of Romania The Kingdom of Romania () was a constitutional monarchy that existed from with the crowning of prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen as King of Romania, King Carol I of Romania, Carol I (thus beginning the Romanian royal family), until 1947 wit ...

History

A reputed origin in the Venetian patrician

Morosini family The House of Morosini was a powerful Venetian noble family that gave many doges, statesmen, generals, and admirals to the Republic of Venice, as well as cardinals to the Church. History One legend says the family reached the Venetian lagoon ...

, though widely claimed, is not substantiated. After the conquest of Karystos by the Turks, the Mavrogenides fled to the

Cyclades The CYCLADES computer network () was a French research network created in the early 1970s. It was one of the pioneering networks experimenting with the concept of packet switching and, unlike the ARPANET, was explicitly designed to facilitate i ...

. In 1715 two brothers, Petros and Stefanos, bought large lands in Paros and rebuilt the island's church. Stefanos left for Constantinople and served as

Dragoman of the Fleet The Dragoman of the Fleet (; ) was a senior office in the Ottoman Empire, held by Phanariote Greeks during the 18th and early 19th centuries. As the chief deputy of the Kapudan Pasha, the Dragoman of the Fleet played a leading role in the administ ...

, while Petros remained in Paros. The family then expanded to Mykonos, of which they owned 3/4 of the land. The highlight of the family fortune culminated with the appointment of

Nikolaos Mavrogenis Nicholas Mavrogenes (or Mavrogenous; ''Nikolaos Mavrogenis'' (Greek: "Blackbeard"), ), (1735 – 30 September 1790) was a Phanariote List of rulers of Wallachia, Prince of Wallachia (reigned 1786–1789). He was the great-uncle of Manto Mavroge ...

as the ruling

Prince of Wallachia This is a list of princes of Wallachia, from the first mention of a medieval polity situated between the Southern Carpathians and the Danube until the union with Moldavia in 1859, which unification of Moldavia and Wallachia, led to the creation of ...

, since he had previously served as Dragoman of the fleet. The prominent path of the family was continued by other members, such as Stefanos Mavrogenis, nephew of Nikolaos, who served as Grand Logothete of the

Patriarchate Patriarchate (, ; , ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, referring to the office and jurisdiction of a patriarch. According to Christian tradition, three patriarchates—Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria—were establi ...

. But even after the revolution in 1821, members of the family distinguished themselves in the social life of the Ottoman and Greek states. Such were Alexandros Mavrogenis the

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

of Turkey (Stephanos' nephew), Spyridon's son, the sultan's arch-physician, etc. In the Greek revolution, the Mavrogenis family was glorified once again thanks to the contribution of Manto Mavrogenous (Stephanos' niece), who donated all her wealth for the struggle. In free Greece, many members of the family were lieutenant generals, mayors, parliamentarians, etc. A branch of the family also existed in Crete, which in fact became particularly famous with the revolution of Mavrogenis in 1858.Θεόδωρος Μπλανκάρ, Ο οίκος των Μαυρογένη, 2006, εκδόσεις Εστία, γενεαλογικό δέντρο

Notable members

* Nicholas Mavrogenes (1735–1790),

* Manto Mavrogenous (1796–1848), heroine of the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. In 1826, the Greeks were assisted ...

* Petre Mavrogheni (1819–1887), Romanian politician

References

Sources

* * * {{cite journal , last = Chalandon , first = Ferdinand , title = Théodore Blancard. Les Mavroyeni. Histoire d'Orient de 1700 à nos jours. Paris, Leroux, 1909 , journal = Bibliothèque de l'école des chartes , year = 1910 , volume = 71 , page = 382 , language = French , url = http://www.persee.fr/doc/bec_0373-6237_1910_num_71_1_461002_t1_0382_0000_001 Phanariotes Romanian noble families Greek noble families