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The Wallachian Cantacuzino family, a family of great boyars and rulers of Byzantine origin, descendants of Constantin Cantacuzino and his wife Elina, daughter of the Wallachian prince Radu Şerban, distinguished themselves as leading members of the Romanian elite in the XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries. They had a clear conscience of their noble origin, which legitimated their prominent position in society. They led the political affairs of Wallachia for more than half a century and three of them became rulers of the country. Cultivated noblemen, they were the most important founders of churches and monasteries in their time, the monuments they erected being representative for Romanian art. Their principal foundation is Cotroceni monastery, built by Şerban Cantacuzino a short time after his accession to the Wallachian throne, as a thanksgiving for divine protection and for his new status. He endowed it with precious vessels and liturgical vestments, with villages and land, and he subordinated it to the monastic communities on Mount Athos. It became, together with Mărgineni monastery, a necropolis of the Cantacuzino family. Apart from Şerban Cantacuzino, two sisters, nieces and nephews were burried here. For the memorial services of these members of the Cantacuzino family, their relatives donated properties and cult objects to the monastery. |
