Racoviţă

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Racoviţă or Racovitza family were a partially hellenized family of Wallachian boyars which gave the Danubian Principalities several hospodars, becoming influential inside the Ottoman Empire and the Phanariote kinship network. One of its branches remained present inside Romania.

By the 17th century, Racoviţăs were one of Wallachia's leading families. It later managed to penetrate into the Phanar nucleus in Istanbul, which facilitated and increased their chances to occupy the thrones in their native country, and later to successfully maintain their positions.