MAVROCORDATO, MAVROCORDAT or MAVROGORDATO, the name of a family of Phanariot Greeks, distinguished in the history of Turkey, Rumania and modern Greece. The family was founded by a merchant of Chios, whose son Alexander Mavrocordato (c. 1636-1709), became dragoman to the sultan in 1673, and drew up the treaty of Karlowitz (1699). He became a secretary of state, and was created a count of the Holy Roman Empire. His authority, with that of Hussein Kupruli and Rami Pasha, was supreme at the court of Mustapha II., and he ameliorated the condition of the Christians in Turkey. He was disgraced in 1703, but was recalled to court by Sultan Ahmed III. He left some historical, grammatical, etc. treatises of little value.
His son NICHOLAS MAVROCORDATO (167a-173o) was grand dragoman to the Divan (1697), and in 1708 was appointed hospodar (prince) of Moldavia. Deposed, owing to the sultan's suspicions, in favour of Demetrius Cantacuzene, he was restored in 1711, and soon afterwards became hospodar of Walachia. In
1716 he was deposed by the Austrians, but was restored after the peace of Passarowitz. He was the first Greek ruler of the Da nubian principalities, and established the system which for a hundred years was to make the name of Greek hateful to the Rumanians. He introduced Greek manners, the Greek language and Greek costume, and set up a splendid court on the Byzantine model. Nicholas founded libraries and was himself the author of a curious work entitled ITEpi K a0ipcovr coy (Bucharest, 1719). He was succeeded as grand dragoman (1709) by his son John (Ioannes), who was for a short while hospodar of Moldavia, and died in 173o.
Nicholas Mavrocordato was succeeded as prince of Walachia in 1730 by his son Constantine who ruled with intervals from 1735 to 1749. He was wounded and taken prisoner at Galati during the Russo-Turkish War, on Nov. 5, 1769, and died in captivity.