Nicolae Pătrașcu
Prince of Wallachia / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Nicolae Pătrașcu, Petrașco, or Petrașcu, also styled Nicolae Vo(i)evod (Church Slavonic and Romanian Cyrillic: Нєколає or Николає Воєвод; ca. 1580 – late 1627), was the titular Prince of Wallachia, an only son of Michael the Brave and Lady Stanca, and a putative grandson of Pătrașcu the Good. His early childhood coincided with Michael's quick rise through the ranks of boyardom, peaking in 1593, when Michael became Prince and Nicolae his heir apparent. As he began a quest to emancipate Wallachia from the Ottoman Empire, Michael used his son as a party to alliances with the Holy Roman Empire and the Principality of Transylvania, proposing him as either a hostage or a matrimonial guarantee. While entering the Long Turkish War on the Christian side, Michael also negotiated a settlement with the Ottomans, again offering Nicolae as a guarantee.
Nicolae Pătrașcu | |
---|---|
Prince of Wallachia | |
Reign | December 1599–September 1601 (de facto October 1600) |
Predecessor | Michael the Brave |
Successor | Simion Movilă (1600) Radu Șerban (1601) |
Born | ca. 1580 |
Died | late 1627 (aged 47 or younger) Archduchy of Austria or Pressburg, Habsburg Hungary |
Burial | |
Spouse | Ana (Ancuța) Radulea |
Issue | Gavril Pătrașcu Mihai Pătrașcu Ilinca Leurdeanca |
Dynasty | Drăculești? |
Father | Michael the Brave |
Mother | Lady Stanca |
Religion | Orthodox |
Signature |
With the strengthening of Michael's alliance with the Habsburg monarchy in 1599, Nicolae participated in Michael's conquest of Transylvania. In December 1599 he was sent back to Wallachia to rule as Prince, while Michael took direct charge of Transylvania and then conquered Moldavia. Some records suggest that Nicolae was considered, or considered himself, a Prince of Moldavia, though that title was more likely held by a cousin, Marcu Cercel. In late 1600, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Moldavia invaded Wallachia and chased out Nicolae, replacing him with Simion Movilă. Michael was also chased out of Transylvania by his former ally Giorgio Basta and a large faction of the Hungarian nobility. In negotiating his peace with the latter, he sent Nicolae and Stanca as hostages. They were assigned ownership of Gilău, but, following clashes between Basta and the Hungarians, were taken by the latter to a harsher imprisonment in Făgăraș Citadel. Basta assassinated Michael in August 1601, but then liberated the family, with the ostensibly pro-Habsburg Nicolae still vying for the Wallachian throne.
In 1602, the Wallachian crown went to Radu Șerban of Coiani, who had previously been Nicolae's Paharnic. Mutilated by his rival, Nicolae settled in the Archduchy of Austria, joining the regional court of Ferdinand Habsburg. He later moved to Habsburg Hungary, living mostly in Tyrnau with his own retinue. He litigated over his father's assets, which had been confiscated by the Empire, and set out to redeem his memory, while also involving himself in conspiracies for the recovery of Wallachia. From 1610, he reconciled with Radu Șerban, becoming his Postelnic and assisting with his expedition into Burzenland. He welcomed the older Prince in exile, after he was deposed by the Ottomans in 1611, and two years later married his daughter, Ana. From then until 1620, the two former Princes participated in anti-Ottoman projects that also involved the Duke of Nevers, the Movilești, and Gaspar Graziani.
During the Thirty Years' War, which began after Ferdinand took the imperial throne in 1619, Nicolae and Radu Șerban joined a Habsburg coalition against Gabriel Bethlen's Transylvania. They themselves were chased out of Tyrnau by Bethlen's offensive, and both died of gout within seven years of each other, leaving the family in destitution. In the 1640s, Nicolae's son Mihai was asked by Wallachian Prince Matei Basarab to become his crown prince, but this request did not suit Habsburgs policies, and was dropped. Nicolae's widow and his daughter Ilinca were allowed passage, and repatriated both Princes' remains, which were buried together at Comana Monastery. Ilinca went on to marry a high-ranking boyar, Istratie Leurdeanu.