Editing Dimitrie Cantemir

{{Short description|Moldavian statesman and prince (1673–1723)}}
{{other uses|Dimitrie Cantemir (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox royalty
| name         = Dimitrie Cantemir
| image        = Dimitrie Cantemir - Portrait from Descriptio Moldaviae, 1716 (crop).jpg
| caption      = Portrait from the first edition of the ''Descriptio Moldaviae'', 1716
| succession   = [[List of monarchs of Moldavia|Prince of Moldavia]]
| reign        = March 1693 – April 1693
| reign1       = January 1710 – August 1711
| predecessor  = [[Constantin Cantemir]]
| predecessor1 = [[Nicholas Mavrocordatos]]
| successor    = [[Constantin Duca]]
| successor1   = Lupu Costachi
| birth_date   = 26 October 1673
| birth_place  = [[Dimitrie Cantemir, Vaslui|Silișteni]] (now Dimitrie Cantemir), [[Vaslui County]], [[Principality of Moldavia]]
| death_date   = 21 August 1723 (aged 49)
| death_place  = [[Dmitrovsk]], [[Oryol Oblast]], [[Russian Empire]]
| burial_place = [[Trei Ierarhi Monastery]], [[Iași]]
| spouse       = Casandra Cantacuzino<br/>[[Anastasiya Trubetskaya]]
| issue        = Matei<br/>Șerban<br/>[[Maria Cantemir]]<br/>Constantin
<br/>[[Antiochus Kantemir]]<br/>[[Ekaterina Golitsyna]]
| house        = [[Cantemirești]]
| father       = [[Constantin Cantemir]]
}}

'''Dimitrie''' or '''Demetrius<ref name=eb>{{cite EB9 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Demetrius Cantemir |volume=5  |ref={{harvid|''EB''|1878}} |page=28 }}; {{cite EB1911 |mode=cs2 |wstitle=Cantemir |volume=5|last= Gaster |first= Moses |author-link= Moses Gaster|ref={{harvid|''EB''|1911}} |page=209 }}</ref> Cantemir''' ({{IPA|ro|diˈmitri.e kanteˈmir|-|Ro-Dimitrie Cantemir.ogg}}; {{langx|ru| Дмитрий Кантемир|Dmitry Kantemir}}; 26 October 1673 – 21 August 1723),<!--full dates in infobox per MOS--> also known by [[#Name|other spellings]], was a [[Moldavia]]n prince, statesman, and man of letters.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y-OVDwAAQBAJ |title=The Great Cauldron: A History of Southeastern Europe – Marie–Janine Calic |publisher=Harvard University Press |pages=146–149 |date=2019 |accessdate=30 September 2021 |isbn=9780674983922}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last=Ciulei | first=Tomiţă | title=Profile of an East-European Thinker. Dimitrie Cantemir's Humanism | journal=Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences | volume=149 | year=2014 | doi=10.1016/j.sbspro.2014.08.186 | pages=189–194| doi-access=free }}</ref> He twice served as [[voivode of Moldavia]] (March–April 1693 and 1710–1711). During his second term, he allied his state with [[Tsardom of Russia|Russia]] in a [[Pruth River Campaign|war]] against Moldavia's [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] overlords; Russia's defeat forced [[Cantemir dynasty|Cantemir's family]] into exile and the replacement of the native [[voivode]]s by [[Greeks|Greek]] [[phanariots]]. Cantemir was also a prolific writer, variously a: [[philosopher]], [[historian]], [[composer]], [[musicologist]], [[linguistics|linguist]], [[ethnographer]] and [[geographer]]. His son, [[Antiochus Kantemir|Antioch]], Russia's ambassador to [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Kingdom of France|France]] and a friend of [[Montesquieu]] and [[Voltaire]], would become known as "the father of [[Russian poetry]]".

==Name==
Dimitrie is the [[Romanian language|Romanian]] form of the name [[latinisation of names|Latinized]] as Demetrius and, less often, [[anglicization|anglicized]] as '''Demeter'''.<ref name=eb/> The [[Russian language|Russian]] form of his name was {{nowrap|'''Dmitri Konstantinovich Kantemir'''}} ({{lang|ru|Дми́трий Константи́нович Кантеми́р}}). He is also known as ''Dimitri Kantemiroğlu'' in [[Turkish language|Turkish]] contexts, ''Dymitr Kantemir'' in [[Polish language|Polish]], and ''Dēmētrios Kantimērēs'' ({{lang|grc|Δημήτριος Καντιμήρης}}) in [[Greek language|Greek]]. His surname Cantemir (Kantemir) is of Turkic/Tatar origin, "kan" meaning "blood" and "temir" meaning "iron".<ref name=eb/>

{{anchor|History|Biography}}

==Life==
[[File:Dimitrie Cantemir 02.jpg|thumb|In [[Ottoman clothing|Ottoman dress]]]]
[[File:Demetrius Cantemirius Palatinus Moldaviæ.jpg|thumb|Portrait engraving, about 1710]]
[[File:100 PMR 2000 ruble obverse.jpg|thumb|On the 100 [[Transnistrian rubla|Transnistrian ruble]] note]]
Dimitrie was born in [[Silişteni]], [[Principality of Moldavia|Moldavia]] (now [[Vaslui County]], [[Romania]]) on 26 October 1673<ref name=eb/> to [[Constantin Cantemir]] and Ana Bantăș.<ref>Panaitescu, Petre P. (1958) ''Dimitrie Cantemir. Viaţa şi opera''. (In Romanian)</ref>  His mother was a learned daughter of a local noble family. In 1685, Constantin was named voivode of Moldavia by its Turkish overlords.<ref name=eb/>

Although Constantin himself was illiterate, he educated his sons Dimitrie and [[Antioh Cantemir|Antioh]] thoroughly. Dimitrie learned [[Greek language|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 [[Cantemir Palace in Istanbul|the palace]] he owned, where he learned [[Turkish language|Turkish]] and studied [[History of the Ottoman Empire|Ottoman history]] at the [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|Patriarchate]]'s [[Phanar Greek Orthodox College|Greek Academy]].{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} While there, he also [[musical composition|composed]] [[Ottoman music]].<ref>{{citation |last=Popescu-Judetz |first=Eugenia |author-link=Eugenia Popescu-Judetz |title=Prince Dimitrie Cantemir, Theorist and Composer of Turkish Music |publisher=Pan Yayıncılık |location=Istanbul |date=1999 |isbn=975-7652-82-2 }}</ref>

Upon Constantin's death in 1693, Dimitrie briefly succeeded him to the voivodeship but was passed over within three weeks in favour of [[Constantin Duca]], whose candidacy was supported by his father-in-law, the [[Principality of Wallachia|Wallachian]] [[voivode of Wallachia|voivode]] [[Constantin Brâncoveanu]].<ref>{{citation |last=Lemny |first=Stefan  |title=Les Cantemirs: L'Aventure Européene d'une Famille Princière au XVIIIe Siecle ''[''The Cantemirs: The European Adventure of a Princely Family in the 18th Century'']'' |publisher=Editions Complexes |location=Paris |date=2009 |language=fr|page=51}}</ref> When his brother Antioh eventually succeeded to the control of Moldavia, Dimitrie served as his envoy to the Porte.{{citation needed|date=June 2016}} During these years, he also served with distinction in the Turkish army on its campaigns.<ref name=eb/>

In 1710, Dimitrie was appointed voivode in his own right. Believing Ottoman Turkey to be collapsing,<ref name=eb/> he placed Moldavia under [[Russian Empire|Russia]]n control through a secret agreement signed at [[Lutsk]] ([[Treaty of Lutsk]]). Then he joined [[Peter the Great]] in [[Pruth Campaign|his war against the Turks]]. This ended in failure at [[Pruth River Campaign#Battle of Stănileşti|Stănilești]] (18–22 July 1711) and the [[Cantemir dynasty|Cantemirs]] were forced into Russian exile.<ref>{{citation |last=Stoica |first=Vasile |title=The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands |year=1919 |publisher=Pittsburgh Printing Co. |location=Pittsburgh |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/7314/view/1/19/ |page=19}}</ref> In 1712, Peter I presented [[Bogorodskoye District]] (Black Mud) to the former Moldavian ruler.

He travelled to Russia along with many other noble families, most important and close being [[Septilici family]] and Abaza, who were also made princely/noble in russian ranks. Dimitrie was made both a Russian prince (''[[knyaz]]'') by [[Peter the Great|Peter]] and a [[Reichsfürst|prince]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] by [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles VI]]. He lived on an estate at Dmitrovka near [[Oryol]], with a sizable [[boyar]] retinue (including the chronicler [[Ion Neculce]]). 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]].

==Family==
Cantemir was married twice: to Princess Cassandra [[Cantacuzino]] (1682–1713), daughter of Prince [[Șerban Cantacuzino]] and supposed descendant of the [[Kantakouzenos|Byzantine Kantakouzenoi]], in 1699, and to Princess [[Anastasiya Trubetskaya]] (1700–1755) in 1717. Cantemir's children were rather prominent in Russian history. His elder daughter [[Maria Cantemir]] (1700–1754) so attracted Peter the Great that he allegedly planned to divorce his wife [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine]] to be with her. Upon Catherine's own ascension to the throne, however, Maria was forced to enter a convent. Cantemir's son [[Antiochus Kantemir|Antioch]] (1708–1744) was the Russian ambassador at London and Paris, a friend of [[Voltaire]] and [[Montesquieu]], and so influential a poet, satirist, and essayist as to be considered "the father of [[Russian poetry]]". Another son Constantin (1703–1747) was implicated in the [[Golitsyn family|Golitsyn]] conspiracy against the empress [[Anna of Russia|Anna]] and was exiled to [[Siberia]]. Dimitrie's younger daughter [[Ekaterina Golitsyna|Smaragda]] (1720–1761), reckoned one of the great beauties of her time, was the wife of Prince [[Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Younger|Dmitriy Mikhailovich Golitsyn]] and a friend of the empress [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]].

==Historical works==
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,<ref>Cantemir, Demetrius (1714) [http://www.natura2000oltenita-chiciu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Die-europaische-Fama-1714-Demetrius-Cantemirius-Palatinus-Moldaviae-Dimitrie-Cantemir-pdf-Vladimir-Toncea.pdf Moldaviae].</ref> 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]]''<ref name=eb/> (the original title was in [[Latin]], ''Historia incrementorum atque decrementorum Aulae Othomanicae''<ref>[https://ottomanhistorians.uchicago.edu/en/historian/dimitrie-cantemir Ottoman Historians]. University of Chicago</ref>). This volume circulated throughout [[Europe]] in [[manuscript]] for a number of years. It was finally printed in 1734 in [[London]]<ref>Cantemir, Demetrius (1734) [http://www.natura2000oltenita-chiciu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Demetrius-Cantemir-History-of-Othman-Empire-1734-London-first-pages-processed-Vladimir-Toncea.pdf ''History of Othman Empire'']. London</ref> and was later translated and printed in Germany<ref>Cantemir, Demetrius (1745) [http://www.natura2000oltenita-chiciu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Demetrie-Kantemir-Geschichte-des-osmanischen-Reichs-nach-seinem-Anwachsen-und-Abnehmen-1745-bey-Christian-Herold-Hamburg-first-pages-processed-by-Vladimir-Toncea.pdf Geschichte des osmanischen Reichs nach seinem Anwachsen und Abnehmen]. Hamburg.</ref> and France.<ref>Cantemir, Demetrius (1743) [http://www.natura2000oltenita-chiciu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Robert-de-Vaugondy-Carte-de-la-Turquie-DEurope-1748-Histoire-de-lEmpire-Othoman-Demetrius-Cantimir-en-fran%C3%A7ais-par-M.-De-Joncqui%C3%A8res-1743-Paris-processed-by-Vladimir-Toncea.pdf Histoire de l'Empire Ottoman]. Paris</ref> It remained the seminal work on the [[Ottoman Empire]] up to the middle of the 19th century; notably, it was used as a reference for [[Edward Gibbon]]'s own ''[[The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire]]''. Later scholarship contests many points owing to the dubiousness of some of Cantemir's sources.

He also published the first critical history of [[Romania]] as a whole,<ref name=eb/> the ''Chronicle of the Antiquity of the Romano-Moldavo-Wallachians'' (''{{lang|ro|Hronicul vechimei a romano-moldo-vlahilor}}''), from 1719 to 1722. It asserted the [[Latin]] origin of the [[Romanian language]] and the Roman origin of the people living within the former land of [[Dacia]].<ref>Moldavian description prefaced by club Măciuca Constantine, Ed. Ion Creanga, Bucharest 1978.{{clarify|date=June 2016}}</ref>

Cantemir wrote his ''[[Descriptio Moldaviae]]'' ("Description of Moldavia" in Latin) in 1714<ref name=eb/> at the request of the Royal Academy in Berlin. Covering geographical, ethnographical, and economic aspects of Moldavia, it was similarly circulated in manuscript and only published much later. It appeared in a German geographical magazine in 1769 and was published as a book in 1771.<ref>Cantemir, Demetrius (1771) [http://www.natura2000oltenita-chiciu.ro/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Demetrius-Kantemir-Beschreibung-der-Moldau-Tabula-Geographica-MOLDAVIAE-1771-Frankfurt-und-Leipzig.-processed-Vladimir-Toncea.pdf Beschreibung der Moldau]. Frankfurt and Lepzig</ref> His {{circa|lk=no|1714}} manuscript map of Moldova was the first real map of the country, containing geographical detail as well as administrative information. Printed in 1737 in the [[United Provinces (Low Countries)|Netherlands]], it formed the basis of most European maps of the country for decades.

His 1705 [[roman à clef]] ''A Hieroglyphic History''<ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Dimitrie|title=[[:s:ro:Istoria ieroglifică|Istoria ieroglifică]]|language=ro}}</ref> was the first Romanian novel, representing the history of the Wallachian [[Craiovești|Brâncoveanu]] and [[Cantacuzino family|Cantacuzino]] dynasties through [[allegory|allegorical]] and [[bestiary|mythological]] animals.

He also wrote an introduction to [[Islam]] for Europeans, a biography of [[Jan Baptist van Helmont]],<ref name="Cantemir_1709">{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Demetrius|title=Ioannis Baptistae Van Helmont Physices Universalis Doctrine et Christianae Fidei Congrua et Necessaria Philosophia|date=1709|location=Wallachia|language=la}}</ref> a philosophical treatise in Romanian and Greek,<ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Dimitrie|title=Divanul sau Gâlceava Înțeleptului cu lumea sau Giudețul sufletului cu trupul|date=1698|location=Iași|language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Demetrius|title=Le Divan ou La Dispute du Sage avec le Monde ou Le Jugement de l'Âme avec le Corps|language=fr}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Demetrius|title=The Divan or The Wise Man's Parley with the World or The Judgement of the Soul with the Body}}</ref> and an unfinished second treatise on the ''Undepictable Image of Sacred Science''.<ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Dimitrie|title=Imaginea științei sacre, care nu se poate zugrăvi|date=1700|location=Constantinople|language=ro}}</ref><ref>{{citation|last=Cantemir|first=Dimitrie|title=Sacrosantae Scientiae Indepingibilis Imago|language=la}}</ref>

Due to his many esteemed works, he won great renown at the high courts of Europe. His name is among those who were considered to be the brightest minds of the world on a plaque at the Library of Sainte-Genevieve in [[Paris]], next to those of [[Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz|Leibniz]], [[Isaac Newton|Newton]], [[Alexis Piron|Piron]], and other great thinkers.

== Musical works ==
A few of Cantemir's roughly forty Ottoman compositions are still performed today as part of the Turkish repertoire, but his greatest service was in preserving 350 traditional instrumental pieces by publishing them in a musical notation he developed from the [[Ottoman Turkish alphabet]] in his work ''Edvar-i Musiki'', offered as a present to [[Ahmed III|Sultan Ahmed III]] in 1703 or 1704 and recently reprinted with modern explanations.<ref>''Kantemiroğlu, Kitâbu 'İlmi'l-Mûsiki alâ Vechi'l-Hurûfât, Mûsikiyi Harflerle Tesbit ve İcrâ İlminin Kitabı'', [[Yalçın Tura]], Yapı Kredi Yayınları, Istanbul 2001, {{ISBN|975-08-0167-9}}. {{in lang|tr}}</ref>

In 1999, the [[Bezmara]] ensemble recorded ''Yitik Sesin Peşinde'' ("In Search of the Lost Sound") from the Cantemir transcriptions using period instruments.<ref name="bezmara">{{cite AV media notes |title    = In Search of the Lost Sound |year     = 1999 |author   = [[Bezmara]] |type     = album booklet |publisher= [[Kalan Müzik]] |location = Istanbul |id       = EAN 8691834003576 }}</ref> His compositions, those of his European contemporaries and Moldavian folk music of the period were explored on ''Cantemir'' (Golden Horn Records, 2000) performed by [[İhsan Özgen]] and the Lux Musica ensemble under [[Linda Burman-Hall]]'s direction.<ref name="Lux Musica">{{cite AV media notes |title    = Cantemir: Music in Istanbul and Ottoman Europe around 1700 |year     = 2000 |author   = [[Lux Musica]] |type     = album booklet |publisher= [[Golden Horn]] |location = Santa Cruz, CA }}</ref> Seven of Cantemir's compositions were also featured on [[Hespèrion XXI]]'s 2009 ''Istanbul'', under the direction of [[Jordi Savall]], with focus on Cantemir's “Book of the Science of Music”.<ref name="Hesperion XXI">{{cite AV media notes|title    = Istanbul – Dimitrie Cantemir |year     = 2009 |author   = [[Hespèrion XXI]] |type     = album booklet |publisher= [[Alia Vox]] |location = [[Bellaterra, Spain|Bellaterra]] }}</ref>

==Istanbul Museum==
One of the houses inhabited by Dimitrie Cantemir during his exile in Constantinople was restored and opened as a museum in 2007.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Simina|first1=Stan|title=Dimitrie Cantemir are un muzeu în Istanbul|url=http://jurnalul.ro/timp-liber/casa/dimitrie-cantemir-are-un-muzeu-in-istanbul-313524.html|website=jurnalul.ro|access-date=29 July 2014|language=ro|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141026201136/http://jurnalul.ro/timp-liber/casa/dimitrie-cantemir-are-un-muzeu-in-istanbul-313524.html|archive-date=26 October 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> It lies in the [[Fener]] quarter of [[Fatih|the walled city]] between [[Phanar Greek Orthodox College|Phanar College]] and the [[Golden Horn]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{citation |last=Gusterin |first=Pavel |author-link=Pavel Gusterin |date=2008 |title=''Первый российский востоковед Дмитрий Кантемир / First Russian Orientalist Dmitri Kantemir'' |location=Moscow |isbn=978-5-7873-0436-7}}

==External links==
{{commonscat}}
* [http://greek-turkish-music.blogspot.nl/2009/05/introduction-to-dimitri-kantemiroglu.html Greek Turkish friendship through music]
* {{cite web |last=Marek |first=Miroslav |url=http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/cantemir.html |title= Genealogy of the Cantemir family |publisher= Genealogy.EU}}
{{S-start}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Constantin Cantemir]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title  = [[List of Moldavian rulers|Prince/Voivode of Moldavia]]|years  = 1693}} 
{{s-aft|after  = [[Constantin Duca]]}}
{{s-bef|before = [[Nicolae Mavrocordat]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title  = Prince/Voivode of Moldavia|years  = 1710–1711}} 
{{s-aft|after  = [[Kaymakam|Caimacam]] [[Lupu Costachi]]}}
{{S-end}}
{{Age of Enlightenment}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cantemir, Dimitrie}}
[[Category:1673 births]]
[[Category:1723 deaths]]
[[Category:Writers from the Principality of Moldavia]]
[[Category:Monarchs of Moldavia]]
[[Category:Princes of the Holy Roman Empire]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Privy Councillor (Russian Empire)]]
[[Category:18th-century writers in Latin]]
[[Category:18th-century male writers]]
[[Category:Romanian philosophers]]
[[Category:Enlightenment philosophers]]
[[Category:Moldavian and Wallachian chroniclers]]
[[Category:17th-century Romanian historians]]
[[Category:18th-century Romanian historians]]
[[Category:Romanian cartographers]]
[[Category:Linguists from Romania]]
[[Category:Romanian orientalists]]
[[Category:Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Romanian composers]]
[[Category:Composers from the Ottoman Empire]]
[[Category:Composers of Ottoman classical music]]
[[Category:Composers of Turkish makam music]]
[[Category:Cantemirești family|Dimitrie]]
[[Category:People from Vaslui County]]