thumb|200px|Coat of arms of [[Gheorghe Cantacuzino (Ban of Craiova)|Gheorghe Cantacuzino, Great Ban of Craiova in 1719–1726]]

The House of Cantacuzino (; ) is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specifically from Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (reigned 1347–1354). After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11, a lateral branch of the family settled in Russia, receiving the princely (Knyaz, as opposed to Velikij Knyaz) status. In 1944, Prince Ștefan Cantacuzino settled in Sweden, where his descendants form part of the unintroduced nobility of that country.

Origin of the family

thumb|right|200px|Cantacuzino arms as used in the [[Kingdom of Romania, c. 1900]]

Members of the family claim that the genealogical links between the original House of Kantakouzinos and the subsequent House of Cantacuzino have been extensively researched. The family first appears among the Phanariotes in the late 16th century, with Michael "Şeytanoğlu" Kantakouzenos, after a gap of over a century from the Fall of Constantinople. Whether the family is indeed linked to the Byzantine imperial house of Kantakouzenos is disputed, as it was usual among wealthy Greeks of the time to assume Byzantine surnames and claim descent from the famous noble houses of their Byzantine past.

The eminent Byzantinist Steven Runciman considered the latter-day Kantakouzenoi "perhaps the only family whose claim to be in the direct line from Byzantine Emperors, as authentic", but according to the historian Donald Nicol, "Patriotic Rumanian historians have indeed labored to show that ... of all the Byzantine imperial families that of the Kantakouzenos is the only one which can truthfully be said to have survived to this day; but the line of succession after the middle of the fifteenth century is, to say the least, uncertain."

The origin of the Byzantine family can be traced to Smyrna. The Greek scholar Konstantinos Amantos suggested that "Kantakouzenos" derives from , ultimately from the locality of Kouzenas, a name for the southern part of Mount Sipylon near Smyrna. Donald Nicol agrees with this theory, and lists some connections the Kantakouzenoi had with the locale in the 11th and 13th centuries.

Origin of the Romanian branch

thumb|280px|[[Cantacuzino Palace in Bucharest, Romania]]

thumb|280px|[[Cantacuzino Castle in Bușteni, Romania]]

The Greek Kantakouzenos family had been active in Constantinople and Greece during the Greek War of Independence, but several branches of the original Greek family were created via the migrations and establishment of Kantakouzenos family members to different parts of Europe. Two of those new branches were the Romanian (Wallachian and Moldavian) Cantacuzino branch as well as the Russian branch (which is an offshoot of the Wallachian-Moldavian one, among the Russian branch's members Prince Michael who married in 1892 Olga Nikolaievna, daughter of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia). As a consequence of the Russian Revolution and the Soviet occupation of Romania after World War II, (between 1944 and 1947) the last two branches now mostly live in Western Europe and North America.

According to Jean-Michel Cantacuzène and Mihail Sturdza, the origin of the Cantacuzino family in Romania is traced to Andronikos Kantakouzenos (1553–1601; also known as Andronik),

  • Grigore (1800–1849)
  • Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (1833–1913), Prime Minister of Romania
  • Mihail G. Cantacuzino (1867–1928), Mayor of Bucharest and Justice Minister
  • Constantin Cantacuzino (1905–1958), World War II flying ace
  • Grigore Gheorghe Cantacuzino (1872–1930), Mayor of Bucharest; married to Alexandrina Cantacuzino (1876–1944), political activist
  • Alexandru Cantacuzino (1901–1939), politician
  • Matei (died 1742)
  • Pârvu Cantacuzino (died 1769), Ban of Oltenia, the leader of an anti-Ottoman rebellion in 1769
  • Constantin (died 1761)
  • Ioan (1756–1828)
  • Nicolae (1790–1857)
  • Vasile (1818–1906)
  • Matei B. Cantacuzino (1855–1925), Mayor of Iași, Education Minister and Justice Minister
  • Nicolae (1864–1948)
  • George Matei Cantacuzino (1899–1960), architect
  • Serban Cantacuzino (1928–2018), architect
  • Marie Cantacuzène (1820–1898), painter's model
  • Rodion Cantacuzino (1725–1774)
  • (1761–1841)
  • Rodion (1812–1880)
  • (1847–1894)
  • Prince Mikhail Cantacuzène (1875–1955), Russian diplomat; married to Julia Dent Cantacuzène Spiransky-Grant (1876–1975), granddaughter of Ulysses S. Grant and author
  • Alexander (1813–1857)
  • Olga Cantacuzène-Altieri (1843–1929), novelist
  • Ivan (1816–1888)
  • Pavel (1852–1922)
  • George (1881–1950)
  • Pierre (1922–1975)
  • Ambrose (1947–2009), Bishop of Vevey
  • Șerban Cantacuzino (1634–1688), Voivode of Wallachia 1678–1688
  • (1673–1739)
  • Toma (1714–1762)
  • Matei (1745–1817)
  • Iordache (1775–1827)
  • Constantin (1811–1876)
  • (1845–1898), Minister of Finance
  • Constantin (1847–1920), married to (1863–1944), writer
  • Gheorghe (1815–1890)
  • Ioan (1847–1911)
  • Gheorghe Cantacuzino-Grănicerul (1869–1937), politician
  • Ioan Radu (1885–1950), married to Maria Filotti (1883–1956), actress
  • Ion Filotti Cantacuzino (1908–1975), writer and film producer
  • Gheorghe I. Cantacuzino (1937–2019), historian
  • Șerban Cantacuzino (1941–2011), actor
  • (1895–1951)
  • (1685–1713), Princess of Moldavia
  • (1637–1699)
  • Constantin Cantacuzino (1639–1716), high official in Wallachia
  • Ștefan Cantacuzino (1675–1716), Voivode of Wallachia 1714–1716; married to Păuna Greceanu-Cantacuzino (died 1740)
  • Radu Cantacuzino (1699–1761)
  • (1640–1716)
  • Matei (died 1685)
  • Toma Cantacuzino (died 1721)
  • Ioannis (born 1570)
  • Bella Rosetti (Cantacuzino), wife of Lascaris Rosetti, high chancellor of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and mother of Constantin Rosetti and Prince Antonie Ruset

See also

  • Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia
  • Cantacuzino Bible

References

  • Romanian Society at the Dawn of Modern Ages (17th–18th Centuries)