Dimitrie Cantemir
1673 -1723
- Prince of Moldavia (historical province) as well as „universal“ humanist (linguist, ethnographer, musicologist, historian, writer
- As member of the Royal Academy in Berlin and at the request of this institution wrote two works :
- Description of his own country („Descriptio Moldaviae“)
- History of ottoman empire (History of Growth and Decay of Ottoman Empire)
- Original material written in Latin; Both originals were lost already by the end of 18th century
- Several copies were used as basis for translations into German, English, French, Russian and later in Romanian
Sometimes the translation relies on other translation (e.g. first Romanian translation of “Descriptio Moldaviae” was done after the German version from 1774
Biography
- Born in 1673 in Silişteni/ Vaslui, Son of Constantin Cantemir, Prince of Moldavia (1684-1693)
- 1687 sent to Istanbul as political hostage, Education in Enderun und Academy of Patriarchate
- 1693 Prince of Moldavia for 3 Weeks
- 1693-1710 a productive scholar-life in Istanbul (Works on music, history, philosophy, philologie); Representative of Moldavia in Istanbul
- 1710-1711 Prince of Moldavia
- 1711 Depiction to the Russian Tsardom in the War of Pruth
- 1711-1723 Privy Council of Tsar Peter I.
- 1714 Member of Preußische Societät (Berliner Akademie der Wissenschaften), - Historia incrementorum atque decrementorum Aulae Othomanicae (Geschichte des osmanischen Reichs nach seinem Anwachse und Abnehmen) - - Descriptio Moldavia (Beschreibung Moldaus)
- 1716 Prince of Holy Roman Empire of German Nation
- 1718-1722 Military operations with Peter I. in Caucasia