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Dimitrie Cantemir

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Born: October 25 1673

Died: 2020 08 17231723

Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir (Romanian pronunciation: [diˈmitri.e kanteˈmir], also known by other spellings, was a Moldavian soldier, statesman, and man of letters. He was twice voivode of Moldavia . During his second term, he allied his state with Russia in their war against Moldavia's Ottoman overlords; Russia's defeat forced Cantemir's family into exile and the replacement of the native voivodes by the Greek phanariots. Cantemir was also a prolific writer, variously a philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer. His son Antioch, Russia's ambassador to Great Britain and France and a friend of Montesquieu and Voltaire, would go on to be known as "the father of Russian poetry".
Dimitrie was born in Silişteni, Moldavia on 26 October 1673 to Constantin Cantemir and Ana Bantăș. His elderly father was from a noble family of Crimean Tatar extraction, which came to Moldavia in the mid-17th century. One of the explanations for the name "Cantemir" is that it's derived from "Can Temur", meaning "the blood of Timur", marking a direct descent from the conqueror Tamerlane. His mother was a learned daughter of a local noble family.[citation needed] In 1685, Constantin was named voivode of Moldavia by its Turkish overlords.
Although Constantin himself was illiterate, he educated his sons Dimitrie and Antioh thoroughly. Dimitrie learned Greek and Latin to read the classics as a child. One of his tutors was the scholar John Komnenos Molyvdos. Between 1687 and 1710, Dimitrie spent most of his time as a hostage or envoy in Constantinople, living in the palace he owned, where he learned Turkish and studied Ottoman history at the Patriarchate's Greek Academy.[citation needed] While there, he also composed Turkish music.
Upon Constantin's death in 1693, Dimitrie briefly succeeded him to the voivodeship but was passed over within three weeks in favor of Constantin Duca, whose candidacy was supported by his father-in-law, the Wallachian voivode Constantin Brâncoveanu.[6] When his brother Antioh eventually succeeded to the control of Moldavia, Dimitrie served as his envoy to the Porte.[citation needed] During these years, he also served with distinction in the Turkish army on its campaigns.
In 1710, Dimitrie was appointed voivode in his own right. Believing Ottoman Turkey to be collapsing,[2] he placed Moldavia under Russian control through a secret agreement signed at Lutsk.[citation needed] He then joined Peter the Great in his war against the Turks. This ended in failure at Stănilești and the Cantemirs were forced into Russian exile. Turkey then replaced the voivodeship with the rule of Greek phanariots.
In Russia, Dimitrie was created both a Russian prince by Peter and a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Charles VI. He lived on an estate at Dmitrovka near Oryol, with a sizable boyar retinue . There he died on 21 August 1723, on the very day he was awarded his German title. In 1935, his remains were returned to Iași.
Cantemir was a polyglot known as one of the greatest linguists of his time, speaking and writing eleven languages. Well versed in Oriental scholarship, his oeuvre is voluminous, diverse, and original, although some of his scientific writings contain unconfirmed theories or simple inaccuracies. Between 1711 and 1719 he wrote his most important creations. In 1714, he was named a member of the Royal Academy of Berlin.
Cantemir's best-known history work was his History of the Growth and Decay of the Ottoman Empire . This volume circulated throughout Europe in manuscript for a number of years. It was finally printed in 1734 in London and was later translated and printed in Germany and France. It remained the seminal work on the Ottoman Empire up to the middle of the 19th.

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Dimitrie Cantemir

Dimitrie Cantemir

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Descrierea Moldovei

Istoria ieroglifică

Divanul sau Gâlceava înţeleptului cu lumea

Istoria creşterilor si a descreşterilor curţii othman[n]ice / Historia incrementorum atque decrementorum aulae Othomanicae

Integrala Manuscriselor Cantemir. vol. I Sacro-sanctae Scientiae Indepingibilis Imago

Integrala Manuscriselor Cantemir. vol. III. Institutio Logices Idest De philosophiae instrumentali Arte Habitus

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Integrala Manuscriselor Cantemir. vol. II Loca Obscura in Cathechisi, quae ab anonymo authore slaveno idiomate edita et Pervoe ucenie otrokom intitula est, dulucidata authore Principe Demetrio Cantemirio

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O cercetare naturală a monarhiilor / Monarchiarum Physica Examinatio

Antologie de Filosofie Românească, Volume I

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