Ypsilanti Family
YPSILANTI FAMILY, or HYPSILANTI, the name of a family of Phanariot Greeks claiming descent from the Comneni. ALEXANDER YPSILANTI (1725-1805) was dragoman of the Porte, and from 1774 to 1782 hospodar of Wallachia, during which period he drew up a code for the principality. He was again appointed hospodar just before the outbreak of the war with Austria and Russia in 1790. He allowed himself to be taken prisoner by the Austrians, and was interned at Briinn till 1792. Returning to Constantinople, he fell under the suspicion of the sultan and was executed in 1805. His son CONSTANTINE (d. 1816), who had joined in a conspiracy to liberate Greece and, on its discovery, fled to Vienna, had been pardoned by the sultan and in 1799 appointed by him hospodar of Moldavia. Deposed in 1805, he escaped to St Petersburg, and in 1806, at the head of some 20,000 Russians, returned to Bucharest, where he set to work on a fresh attempt to liberate Greece. His plans were ruined by the peace of Tilsit; he retired to Russia, and died at Kiev. He left five sons, of whom two played a conspicuous part in the Greek war of independence.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
