Mihnea III Radu (; 1613 – 5 April 1660) was the

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 ...

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 ...

from March 1658 to November 1659. His father was alleged to have been the

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

Radu Mihnea Radu Mihnea (1586 – 13 January 1626) was the voivode (prince) of Wallachia between September 1601 and March 1602, and again between March and May 1611, September 1611 and August 1616, and August 1620 and August 1623. He was also the voivode ...

Family

Ancestry claims

Radu's ancestry is uncertain. During his life, Radu claimed to be the son of

, but other versions of his history give different accounts of his ancestry, such as claiming his true father was Radu Șerban or Mircea Ciobanu. Pârvu Cantacuzino claims that "Mihnea was originally a

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 ...

money-lender In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the debt ( ...

. His father was called Iane the Deaf (Rom. “Surdul”), and he himself was baptized Franți. Thus, showing from a young age a propensity to follow Ishmael, Hagar's son, he ran away from his parents, went to Țarigrad, and bowed in allegiance to Kinan-pașa, telling him that he was the son of Radu-voivode and the grandson of Mihnea-voivode. And thus he spent his life with the Turks, around 40 years". However, the lack of contemporary evidence makes it hard to pinpoint his true ancestry.

Descendants

There is no confirmed historical evidence regarding the descendants of Mihnea III Radu. Some genealogical sources have speculated that he may have had a son, but these claims are not supported by primary documents.

Biography

Early life

According to a Turkish traveller, Mihnea was raised in the Greek community of Istanbul. He was a good friend of Grand Vizier Kenan Pasha and his wife, and his status was reportedly comparable to that of an adopted son.

Rise to power

In July 1653, Mihnea was probably behind an assassination attempt on

Matei Basarab Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was the voivode (prince) of Wallachia from 1632 to 1654. Reign Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1 ...

's life. On 29 January 1658, Mihnea swore allegiance to Ottoman Sultan

Mehmed IV Mehmed IV (; ; 2 January 1642 – 6 January 1693), nicknamed as Mehmed the Hunter (), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687. He came to the throne at the age of six after his father was overthrown in a coup. Mehmed went on to b ...

. A little over a month later, Ottoman troops invaded Wallachia and overthrew then-voivode Constantin Șerban, installing the more compliant Radu in his place on 5 March 1658.

Death

Mihnea most likely died on April 5, 1660, the day after attending a banquet in Sătmar hosted by Constantin Șerban.

References

Bibliography

* * * * * 1613 births 1660 deaths 17th-century princes of Wallachia {{Europe-noble-stub