Michael Soutzos

Michael Soutzos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Σούτζος, Romanian: Mihail Suțu, Constantinople, 1778 or 1784 – Athens, 12 June 1864 ), was a member of the Soutzos family of Phanariotes, he was the nephew of Michael Drakos Soutzos; he was in turn a Prince of Moldavia, between 12 June 1819 and 29 March 1821. He was initiated into Filiki Eteria, he supported the Greek revolution in Moldavia and Wallachia and after the creation of the Greek state, he served as ambassador of the country abroad.

He was born in Istanbul in 1778 or according to other sources in 1784. His parents were the Phanariot Grigorios Soutzos and Sevasti Tedeskou. During his adolescence he lived in the courtyard of his grandfather Michael Drakos Soutzos, who was ruler of Wallachia and later, he served as secretary to the Grand Interpreter of the Sublime Porte, Ioannis Karatzas, whose daughter, Roxanne, he married in 1812. In the same year, thanks to his knowledge of languages and the favor of his father in law, he was appointed to the position of the Grand Interpreter.

In 1819 he was placed by the sultan as ruler of Moldavia, position he held until 1821. He also had a position in the council of Sultan Mahmud II and he was one of the consultants that in 1820 supported the rebellion of Ali Pasha. In November 1820 he was initiated into the Filiki Eteria by Iakovos Rizos Neroulos.

In January 1821, he finalized his collaboration with Alexander Ypsilantis and with the invasion of Ypsilantis in Moldova on 22 February, Michael Soutzos-Vodas raised the guard in command of the rebels and paid substantial amounts of money for the needs of the army. When after a short time, the movement in Moldova-Wallachia began to ebb, Soutzos forced under the pressure from the boyars, who declared him as downfallen by the time he had help the rebels and had repudiated Ottoman domination, to leave his position in Iași. At first, he moved at Skouleni and then (March 31st 1821) in Chișinău of Russian Empire. During the same period the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople excommunicated him and Ypsilantis.

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