The work is devoted to the first Greek ruler to occupy the throne of the Principality of Moldavia, Iakovos Vasilikos (1561-1563), a.k.a. Prince Despot. A humanist scholar who studied in the West, an apostle of Renaissance ideas, condottiere who stood out on the time’s battlefields, and exponent of the Byzantine imperial idea, Prince Despot was also the founder of the Latin Language College of Cotnari, the first humanistic institution in Moldavia. The figure of the Moldavian ruler with alleged roots in Samos Island and his meteoric destiny fascinated his contemporaries, echoes about him being found in the chronicles of three centuries. The author undertakes a critical analysis of the many narrative sources, from Romanian or Polish to Western ones (French, English etc.), from those contemporary with the Moldavian ruler to the 18th century. A careful examination of the documents and of the comprehensive Romanian and foreign bibliography devoted to Prince Despot accounts for this work being a reference title in the field, possibly the most important on the subject.
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