Roxani Karatza-Soutzos ( or , also , , or , Cyrillic: Роѯандра [Караџѣ] Сȣцȣл, or ; 1783April 1868) was a Phanariote Greek cultural animator, initially active inside the Ottoman Empire; the daughter of John Caradja, sister of Rallou Karatza-Argyropoulos, and wife of Michael Soutzos, she served as Princess-consort of Moldavia in June 1819April 1821. This matrimonial arrangement united the powerful Caradjas with the more politically frail Soutzoses, but the two Phanariote clans were soon at odds with one another—Roxani favored her adoptive family. The break was initiated in late 1812, when Caradja was made Prince of Wallachia under Ottoman tutelage. Serving as the Great Dragoman, Michael also competed for that position, and worked to topple his father-in-law. The latter finally abandoned his throne in late 1818, but Michael lost the competition to his second-uncle, Alexandros; he was compensated with the Moldavian throne.
During her short reign, Roxani fully backed her husband's cooperation with the Filiki Eteria, and helped instigate the Greek War of Independence, which began on Moldavian soil in February 1821. As it became apparent that the Eterist cause would fail, Michael abdicated and decided to emigrate with his family—making Roxani the last-ever Phanariote Princess in Moldavia. The Soutzoses were evicted into the Russian Empire, settling for a while in Kishinev—where Roxani networked with two literary figures, Alexander Pushkin and Jean Alexandre Buchon. They were allowed to live there only until 1822, when the Ottomans asked for Michael to be extradited. After a three-year detention in the Austrian Empire, from 1825 they settled together with the Caradjas in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, and involved themselves in political intrigues. They were left financially destitute after the Eterist adventure, obtaining intercessions on their behalf from Swiss banker Jean-Gabriel Eynard; for a while, Michael took his family to Geneva.
The newly proclaimed Greek Republic, which was generally anti-Phanariote in sentiment, ignored the Soutzoses throughout the 1820s, even as they pledged their allegiance to its government. Following Eynard's interventions, Michael was assigned to be a Greek diplomatic envoy in Bourbon France (which became the July Monarchy during his tenure), but ultimately marginalized as a dangerous supporter of the Russian Party. The subsequently established Greek kingdom assigned Michael to various positions, including that of Ambassador to Russia. Roxani lived with him in Paris and Saint Petersburg in the 1830s, as did their first-born son, Ioannis "Michalvoda", who was the legation secretary. The princely couple spent their final decades in Athens, where Roxani was heading a literary salon. By the time of her death in 1868, her in-laws included Greek academic and Romanian politician Dimitrie Sturdza.
Biography Early life and ascendancy Roxani was born in 1783,Korsakova & Noskov, p. 54 which made her slightly older than her future husband.Rizo-Rangabé, p. 132 She descended not just from the Caradjas, but also from other major Phanariote clans of the Ottoman realm; her paternal grandmother Sultana was a Mavrocordatos—making Roxani the great-granddaughter of John II Mavrocordatos, who was Moldavia's Prince in the 1740s,Rizo-Rangabé, pp. 39, 73, 74 as well as a distant descendant of pre-Phanariote Moldavian royalty (including 15th-century Prince Stephen the Great).Karadja & Soutsos, p. 237 Roxani's mother was Eleni Skanavi, daughter of a Phanariote banker.Ioan-Nicolae Popa, "Primul text dramatic tipărit în românește — Sibiu, 1797", in Transilvania, Issues 6–7/2015, p. 32 The couple had four other children. The best known among them is Princess Rallou, born in 1799 at Istanbul, who married Georgios Argyropoulos (or Arghiropol). John and Eleni's youngest daughter, Smaragda, married Spyridon Demetrios Mavrogenis; they also had two sons, Georgios and Konstantinos (the latter of whom was born "around 1799").Rizo-Rangabé, pp. 40–41, 82–84, 132–133
Roxani's father ascended to the position of Great Dragoman in 1812, and appointed Michael "Michalakis" Soutzos as his secretary. Michael and Roxani were known to have been married the same year,Korsakova & Noskov, p. 5 though genealogist Constantin Gane argues that they may have already been wed around 1800.Gane, pp. 284, 341 Their first child, Ioannis "Michalvoda" Soutzos, was born on 30 August 1813.Rizo-Rangabé, p. 138 He was followed by three more sons—Gregorios, Georgios, Konstantinos—and three daughters—Rallou (married Paparrigopoulos), Eleni (Soutzos), Maria (Zographos).Gane, p. 343; Rizo-Rangabé, pp. 138–139 Of these, Georgios is known to have been born in 1817,Székely, p. 374 and Konstantinos in 1820.Dan Cernovodeanu, Știința și arta heraldică în România, p. 374. Bucharest: Editura științifică și enciclopedică, 1977. According to an 1817 report by Prussian diplomat Alexander Freiherr von Miltitz, Michael, a "singularly handsome man", had, before his marriage, "barely had the means to support himself; since his marriage, he receives from his father-in-law a monthly stipend of seventy thousand piasters, and at times extraordinary installments of another fifty to a hundred and twenty thousand piasters each."Iorga (1896), pp. 510–511
In late 1812, Roxani's father had obtained the throne of Wallachia, a Romanian-inhabited client-state of the Ottoman Empire, like neighboring Moldavia (the two "Danubian Principalities"). This also meant a political rise for Argyroupoulos, who seconded his father-in-law as Caimacam,Rizo-Rangabé, p. 4; Arnold Winckler, "Inceputul domniei lui Vodă Caragea. După actele Archivelor Statului din Viena", in Revista Istorică, Vol. X, Issues 1–3, January–March 1924, pp. 3–4 and was later Great Ban over the Wallachian fief, Oltenia.Paul Cernovodeanu, "Ofițeri englezi din perioada războaielor napoleoniene despre țările române (1802—1813)", in Revista de Istorie, Vol. 41, Issue 7, July 1988, pp. 667, 672; Constantin Moisil, "Studii de sigilografie românească", in Revista Arhivelor, Issue 4, 1927, p. 148 As reported by Prussian diplomats in October 1815, at a time when Caradja had disappointed Sultan Mahmud II, Michael Soutzos was a favorite for the throne in Bucharest.Iorga (1896), p. 500 He finally took over as Great Dragoman in October 1817, after purchasing support from Halet Efendi, the influential Ottoman courtier, who was also his alleged partner in fraudulent deals.Iorga (1896), pp. 509–511 He saw this position as a stepping stone toward the Wallachian throne, and spend money on bribes to obtain his appointment.Iorga (1896), pp. 509–510, 521–524, 535
In Wallachia, the Caradjas were promoting Greek culture—in late 1817, Princess Rallou founded in Bucharest "the first professional (Greek-language) theatrical troupe in the Romanian lands." Such initiatives were increasingly manifestations of Greek nationalism, supported by Filiki Eteria, the anti-Ottoman secret society. 1817 was also the year when Bucharest was visited by Eterist Nikolaos Galatis—although he did not manage to recruit John Caradja for his cause, he initiated Roxani's brother Konstantinos;Karadja & Soutsos, pp. 238–239 her Argyropoulos brother-in-law was also a member, and as scholar Elisavet Papalexopoulou suggests, there is reason to assume that Princess Rallou was also an Eterist, or at least an applicant.Papalexopoulou, p. 16 In late 1818, anticipating Ottoman revenge, Prince John fled Wallachia, finding safety in the Austrian Empire, and then in the Swiss Confederacy. This incident exposed Halet and his retinue to persecution by the angered sultan; as Prussian Leopold von Schladen argued at the time, Halet was not entirely neutralized, and it was still possible for Michael Soutzos to take over in Bucharest.Iorga (1896), pp. 529–530 The throne went instead to Alexandros Soutzos,Iorga (1896), pp. 536–537, 552 who was Michael's aged second-uncle.Rizo-Rangabé, p. 130–133 The Sultan's decree barred almost all Phanariotes, but not the Soutzoses, from holding princely offices in either Wallachia or Moldavia.Iorga (1896), p. 551
By 1819, Michael had started business as a restaurateur in Bucharest, being granted Dudeasca Inn by his boyaress mother, Safta Dudescu.Potra, p. 119 He was finally appointed Prince of Moldavia on 24 June 1819, with the expiration of Scarlat Callimachi's seven-year term of office;Iorga (1896), pp. 553–554 Smaragda Mavrogenes-Callimachi, who was Roxani's maternal aunt,Sturdza, pp. 15–16 had been her predecessor as the princely consort.Gane, pp. 247–261; Rizo-Rangabé, pp. 12, 82 Upon his departure to Moldavia, the new ruler had already caused scandal with his extravagant spending and his toleration of corrupt practices.Iorga (1896), pp. 554–556 As noted by Gane, the Soutzos ascendancy remains poorly documented in traditional sources, but is somewhat rich in visual documents. This is thanks to Moldavia being visited by an artist from the Frenchman Louis Dupré, who drew portraits of Michael, Eleni, and, more unusually, a picture of the princely tent, which includes Roxani and two of her daughters.Gane, p. 342. See also Oprescu, pp. 305–306 This itinerant court welcomed the last arrivals in the Phanariote clientele of Moldavia, such as the Romalo and Cozadini families,Sturdza, p. 17 and including Sultana Cozadini, who was Roxani's chambermaid.Iftimi, p. 43 As the junior Prince (or Beizadea), Georgios Soutzos performed as godfather at Sultana's wedding to a Moldavian boyar, Ioan Cuza.Iftimi, p. 12
Eterist revolt and exile Despite Ottoman expectations, Soutzos' short reign was marked by his full support for the Eteria, which had established bases in the Bessarabia Governorate (on Russia's new border with Moldavia). The Prince and the Eterist chief Alexander Ypsilantis conspired together to start a Greek War of Independence from Moldavia, with Soutzos pledging his wealth, as well as the entire military forces of Moldavia, to the realization of this goal.Gane, pp. 342–343; Rizo-Rangabé, p. 132. See also Iorga (1896), p. 685 In February 1821 a Russian spy, Pavel Pestel, recorded rumors that Soutzos was made aware that the Eterists and the Arnauts were preparing a revolt, but had asked his boyars to keep quiet.Zabolotskiy-Desyatovskiy, p. 11 According to his own testimony, Michael was not informed in advance when, later that month, Ypsilantis and his Sacred Band invaded Moldavia, thus initiating war with the Ottomans.Camariano, p. 229 Pestel reports that the Moldavian ruler visited the Eterist commander soon after his arrival, tolerated his pillaging of his subjects' property, and took personal charge of the Eterist recruitment drive.Zabolotskiy-Desyatovskiy, p. 12 He was also in the audience at Iași when Ypsilantis recited his proclamation to the Greeks.P. Ollivry, "Bulletin diplomatique", in Le Mémorial Diplomatique, Vol. II, Issue 29, July 1864, p. 470
The princely couple followed news of the Eterist advances, as well as of the parallel uprising in Wallachia. The Freiherr von Miltitz alleges that the revolt was helped along by Michael, who ordered his more cautious great-uncle to be poisoned, ensuring a power-vacuum in Bucharest.Bezviconi, p. 225; Iorga (1896), p. 574 In a letter to her father, dated 19 March, Roxani expressed the hope that the new government in Bucharest, formed around Postelnic Constantin Negri, would be fully Eterist.Papalexopoulou, pp. 16–17 She optimistically urged Prince John to leave his place of exile and join them in Bessarabia or Moldavia-proper, claiming that the Imperial Russian Army was readying itself to join the war on the Greek side, and that Moldavian Greeks had collected 3 million piasters to help the cause.Camariano, p. 228 As noted by historian Nestor Camariano, John Caradja had no way of passing through Austria without being arrested, and probably no intention of even attempting the journey.