Voivode George Ducas (Greek: Γεώργιος Δούκας, Geórgios Doúkas; Romanian: Gheorghe Duca; old Romanian: Георге Дука; c. 1620 – 31 March 1685) was three times prince of Moldavia (1665–1666, 1668–1672, 1678–1684), one time prince of Wallachia (1674–1678) and one time Hetman of Ottoman Ukraine (1681–1683).

George Ducas
Ducas on a mural of the Cetățuia Monastery
Prince of Moldavia
(1st reign)
Reign11 September 1665 – 21 May 1666
PredecessorEustratie Dabija
SuccessorIliaș Alexandru
Prince of Moldavia
(2nd reign)
Reign8 November 1668 – 10 August 1672
PredecessorIliaș Alexandru
SuccessorȘtefan Petriceicu
Prince of Wallachia
ReignNovember/December 1674 – 29 November 1678
PredecessorGrigore I Ghica
SuccessorȘerban Cantacuzino
Prince of Moldavia
(3rd reign)
Reign28 November 1678 – 25 December 1683
PredecessorAntonie Ruset
SuccessorȘtefan Petriceicu
Hetman of Ottoman Ukraine
Reign11 February 1681 – 25 December 1683
PredecessorYurii Khmelnytsky
SuccessorTeodor Soulymenko
Bornca. 1620
Ottoman Albania
Died31 March 1685
Lwów, Poland
Burial
SpouseAnastasiya Dabizha, then Dafina Doamna
IssueConstantine Ducas (prince of Moldavia)
Matei
Maria (engaged to Prince Antioh Cantemir)
Catrina (wife of Prince Ștefan Tomșa)
Ileana (wife of chronicler Nicolae Costin)
Sanda
Safta
Anastasia
ReligionOrthodox
SignatureGeorge Ducas's signature

He was married to Anastasiya Dabizha, the daughter of Prince Eustratie Dabija, and later to Dafina Doamna; George Ducas fathered Constantine Ducas.

Prince Gheorghe Duca built the Cetățuia Monastery in Iași (capital of the Principality of Moldavia). It was completed in 1672.

First two rules in Moldavia

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The fortified palace of the monastery was destined to the lodging of the Prince. It houses a typical 17th century Turkish Bath.

Gheorghe Duca was of Greek Albanian origin and like many others of his generation who had migrated to the Danubian principalities he rose thanks to his links to other Albanians of high positions. In his youth, another Albanian, Vasile Lupu (voivode of Moldavia) took him to his court where Duca was raised.[1]

Supported by Dafina Doamna and some of the boyars, he came to the throne in Iaşi after Dabija's death, but was soon ousted after his opponents appealed to the Ottomans, unjustly claiming Duca's rule was corrupt.

 
The monastery church.
 
Gheorghe Duca, his wife Anastasia Dabizha and some of their children on a mural of the church.

He contracted large debts in order to reclaim the throne, which he managed to following Iliaș Alexandru's rule. The policy of increased taxation led to the uprising of Mihalcea Hâncu in October 1671, crushed the next year after Ducas received Ottoman help. But, as Ducas failed to provide supplies needed for the War against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with the Sultan Mehmed IV's life placed in peril at the attack of Kamianets-Podilskyi, the Ottomans swiftly replaced him with Ștefan Petriceicu.

 
Sultan Mehmed IV, ruler of the Ottoman Empire from 1648 to 1687.

Rule in Wallachia

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In 1674, through the intervention of the Cantacuzino boyars, he was awarded the throne in Bucharest; soon however, the alliance between the Cantacuzinos and Ducas crumbled, the prince being replaced by Șerban Cantacuzino.

Last rule in Moldavia and rule in Right-bank Ukraine

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The battle of Vienna in 1683, by Frans Geffels (1625–1694)

He was soon back on the Moldavian throne, following Antonie Ruset (Rosetti)'s reign. George Ducas had plans of extending his rule over right-bank Ukraine, where Ottoman gains had started with the acquisition of Podolia in 1672. His overlord appointed him as hetman over the newly gained regions, in 1680 or 1681, after much bribery strained the Moldavian treasury as much as the request that Ducas had placed on the taxed categories that they contribute to his daughter's dowry.

In 1683, Ducas joined the Ottomans in their march at the Battle of Vienna. Helped by his absence and aware of the complete failure of the Ottoman plans, boyars throughout the land rebelled, following Ștefan Petriceicu's command, and welcomed the invading Poles and Cossacks.

On his way back, Ducas was captured on 25 December 1683 and sent to a prison in Poland, where he died one year later.

 
Burial of Prince Gheorghe and his daughter Maria, at the Cetățuia Monastery.
 
Ducas Voda, Prince of Moldavia and hetman of Ukraine, on Romanian stamps from 1941

Bibliography

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  • Cernovodeanu, Paul (1982). "Ştiri privitoare la Gheorghe Ghica vodă al Moldovei ( 1658– 1659 ) şi la familia sa (I)". Anuarul Institutului de Istorie și Arheologie "A.D. Xenopol." (in Romanian). 19. Institutul de Istorie și Arheologie "A.D. Xenopol.".
  • Wasiucionek, Michal (2012). "Ethnic solidary in the wider Ottoman Empire revisited: cins and local political elites in 17th century Moldavia and Wallachia". In Sariyannis, Marinos (ed.). New Trends in Ottoman Studies: Papers presented at the 20th CIÉPO Symposium Rethymno, 27 June – 1 July 2012. University of Crete – Department of History and Archaeology.
  • Wasiucionek, Michal (2016). Politics and Watermelons: Cross-Border Political Networks in the Polish-Moldavian-Ottoman Context in the Seventeenth Century (PDF) (Thesis). European University Institute.
Preceded by Prince/Voivode of Moldavia
1665–1666
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prince/Voivode of Moldavia
1668–1672
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prince/Voivode of Moldavia
1678–1684
Succeeded by
Preceded by Prince/Voivode of Wallachia
1673–1678
Succeeded by
  1. ^ Wasiucionek 2016, p. 106.