Michael Drakos Soutzos

Michael Drakos Soutzos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Δράκος Σούτζος; Romanian: Mihai Draco Suțu) was a Prince of Moldavia between 1792 and 1795. A member of the Soutzos family of Phanariotes, he was the uncle of Michael Soutzos, himself a ruler of Moldavia between 1819 and 1821.

Third ruler of Wallachia

His predecessor, Alexander Mourouzis, frightened by the incursions of Osman Pazvantoğlu asked to be dismissed and for that, he paid money to the Ottoman authorities. In April 1801, Pazvantoğlu's troops continued their raids in Wallachia under the command of Manef Ibrahim, defeating the Ottoman Army despite having only a thousand horsemen, compared to the Ottoman side which had 8,000 troops.^[1]

They took Râmnicu Vâlcea, Govora and moved toward Bucharest. By May 15, 1802 most of the inhabitants of the city fled toward Brașov and Vălenii de Munte.^[2]

On May 18, the Albanian and Turkish troops of Bucharest asked for their payment and Suțu promised them to pay in two days, after which he left to Colentina, outside the city. The boyars, who were supposed to wait for Soutzos, heard rumours about unrest at the Royal Court and thought that Suțu was killed, so they left toward Moldavia. Suțu, having not found the boyars at the Ghica house of Colentina, left for Transylvania.^[3]

As Bimbașa Sava, the commander of the Bucharest garrison, saw that Soutzos had left without paying them, he started following Soutzos. This left Bucharest without any troops, allowing tramps to organize in gangs, which robbed the Royal Court. Their leader, Melanos, took the royal hat and marched on the streets of Bucharest, wanting to set Bucharest on fire, which was prevented by the intervention of a Turkish unit from Cotroceni.^[4]

Due to his exile, Soutzos was deposed by the Ottomans in the summer of 1802.

Notes

References

• Ștefan Ionescu, Bucureștii în vremea fanarioților ("Bucharest in the Time of the Phanariotes"), Editura Dacia, Cluj, 1974.