Soutzos family

The House of Soutzos or Soutsos (Greek: Σούτσος or Σούτζος, Romanian: Suțu or Sutzu) was a Phanariote family which grew into prominence and power in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) during the last centuries of Ottoman Empire and gave several hospodars to the Danubian Principalities, like Alexandros Soutzos, Michael (I) Drakos Soutzos and Michael (II) Soutzos.^[1][2][3]

Soutzos arms, in the variant used by Konstantinos (Constantin Suțu), son of Michael Soutzos

History

The origins of the Soutzos family are unclear. Some authors theorize Albanian^[4] or Byzantine Greek descent^[5] for the family. Its first members appear in the 17th century in Constantinople, while it is assumed that it descended from the Drakos family of Epirus.^{[citation needed]} It is speculated that one of the members had an important role in the plumbing of Constantinople. Since then the Turks called the Drakos Soutzides and the Greeks used the more Greek Soutsos.^[6] Another suggested region of origin is the island Chios.^[7][8][9]

Konstantinos Drako, son of a rhetor of the patriarchate (Diamantaki Drako), was the first Soutzos to rise to prominence.^{[citation needed]} In 1714, he married Princess Maria Rusetaina, daughter of a long-established Phanariote family (her mother was Helena Mavrokordataina and her paternal grandfather Antonie had even held the princely rule in the Danubian countries under Ottoman overlordship).^{[citation needed]} Konstantinos' in-laws raised Konstantinos to high positions in Danubian principalities, and his sons were kin with everybody who mattered in Phanar. Later, in the 1780s—1790s, one of the sons (Mihai Draco-Sutzu) rose to the thrones of Walachia and Moldavia and was the first Prince of their surname.^{[citation needed]}

After prince Mihai, his nephew Alexandru Suțu, and his namesake grandson Mihail Suțu also ruled as Princes.

Significant members of the family include the two brother poets Panagiotis Soutsos and Alexandros Soutsos, of whom the first set the cornerstone for the revival of the Olympic Games and the latter was the founder of the Greek Romantic school of poetry. The main branch of the above family is now found in Athens, Greece. Alexandru A. Suțu and Mihail C. Suțu both became members of the Romanian Academy in the 1880s.

References

Alexandre Negresco-Soutzo (ro), Livre d’Or de la Famille Soutzo, chez l'auteur, Paris, 2005.

1. http://ghika.org/Familles/Soutzo/Sutzu_01.pdf ^{[bare URL PDF]}
2. Livre d'or de la noblesse phanariote et des familles princières de Valachie et de Moldavie. Par E. R. R. [i.e. E. Rhizos Rhankabej.] Deuxième édition. Athenes, 1904
3. Dictionnaire historique et généalogique des grandes familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople, Paris: L'Auteur, 1983
4. A ́goston, Ga ́bor; Masters, Bruce Alan (2008). Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire. Infobase Publishing, NY. p. 458. ISBN 978-0-8160-6259-1. "...the Ghikas and Soutsos families were of Albanian origin..."
5. Newman, Peter C. (1989). The Canadian Establishment. McClelland & Stewart. p. 474. ISBN 978-0-7710-6778-5. The Soutzo family were Phanariots, Greeks of Byzantine descent
6. Πολυχρόνης Ενεπεκίδης, Οι Σούτσοι εις το Παρίσι, στο: Ρήγας-Υψηλάντης-Καποδίστριας. Έρευναι εις τα αρχεία της Αυστρίας, Γερμανίας, Ιταλίας, Γαλλίας και Ελλάδας, ed. Βιβλιοπωλείον της Εστίας, Athens, 1965, p. 268
7. Fermor, Patrick Leigh (2021). Μάνη (in Greek). Metaichmio Publications. pp. Οι πιο αντιπροσωπευτικοί από τους Φαναριώτες είναι οι οικογένειες Γκίκα (νοτιοαλβανικής καταγωγής), Μαυροκορδάτου και Σούτσου (από τη Χίο). ISBN 978-618-03-2837-0.
8. Sitwell, Sacheverell (2011). Roumanian journey. London: Bloomsbury Reader. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4482-0468-7. OCLC 793201669. the Ghika family were originally Albanian; Mavrocordato, Soutzo are Phanariots.
9. Daskalov, Roumen Dontchev (2013). Entangled Histories of the Balkans : Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies. Brill. p. 547. ISBN 1-299-69103-X. OCLC 851157146. Soutzos family (Phanariote Greeks)