The House of Ypsilantis or Ypsilanti (; ) was 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 ...

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 ...

during the last centuries of

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

and gave several short-reign '' hospodars'' to the Danubian Principalities.

History

First mentioned in 1064, the family was originally from the

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

region in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

. They became prominent during the

Empire of Trebizond The Empire of Trebizond or the Trapezuntine Empire was one of the three successor rump states of the Byzantine Empire that existed during the 13th through to the 15th century. The empire consisted of the Pontus, or far northeastern corner of A ...

. In 1655, Antiochus Ypsilantis left

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

and settled in Constantinople. Since the end of the Ottoman Empire, members of the Ypsilanti family can be found all over the world.

Notable members

Alexander Ypsilantis Alexandros Ypsilantis (12 December 1792 – 31 January 1828) was a Greek nationalist politician who was member of a prominent Phanariot Greeks, Phanariot Greek family, a prince of the Danubian Principalities, a senior officer of the Imperial R ...

(1725–1805), Prince of

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 ...

and

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 ...

Constantine Ypsilantis Constantine Ypsilantis ( ''Konstantinos Ypsilantis''; ; 1760 – 24 June 1816) was the son of Alexander Ypsilantis, a key member of an important Phanariote family, Grand Dragoman of the Porte (1796–1799), hospodarEast, ''The Union of Molda ...

(), son of the above, Prince of Moldavia, fled to the Russian court * Elisavet Ypsilanti (1768–1866), wife of the above *

(1792–1828), eldest son of the above. A General in the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army () was the army of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of Regular army, regular troops and ...

, he became the leader of the ''

Filiki Eteria Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...

'', and began the Greek Revolution in 1821 by crossing over with his followers into the Danubian Principalities. Defeated by Ottoman forces, he retreated to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, where he died in 1828. *

Demetrios Ypsilantis Demetrios Ypsilantis (alternatively spelled Demetrius Ypsilanti; , ; , ; 179316 August 1832) was a Greek army officer who served in both the Hellenic Army and the Imperial Russian Army. Ypsilantis played an important role in the Greek War of I ...

(1793–1832), second son of Constantine Ypsilantis, one of the early leaders of the Greek Revolution, later General under John Capodistria. The city of

Ypsilanti, Michigan Ypsilanti ( ), commonly shortened to Ypsi ( ), is a college town and city located on the Huron River in Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city's popu ...

is named after him.

References

* {{Authority control Ypsilantis family Phanariotes Greek noble families Romanian noble families Romanian boyar families Romanian people of Greek descent