Соратник Петра Великого. История жизни и деятельности Томы Кантакузино в письмах и документах

This study is devoted to the history of life and work of one of the most bright and undeservingly forgotten personalities of the fi rst quarter of the 18th cc – Toma, in Russian transcription – Foma, Cantacuzino. Belonging to one of the branches of the Byzantine emperors’ descendants that have settled in the principality of Walachia, he reached high administrative positions in this country. However, politic al priorities and personal ambitions forced him to drastically change his life. In the midst of the Russian-Turkish war, during the Prut campaign of 1711, he changed to Peter the Great’s side and was part of the military actions against the Ottoman troops. As he joined the Russian military service in the rank of Major General, T. Cantacuzino made a signifi cant contribution to the creation and development of land militia regiments on the southern and south-western borders of Russia. His work in the consrtaction of the Ladoga Canal is also of particular interest.

Throughout the last years of the past century up till present, researchers of the Moldovan, Romanian and Russian genealogies have done an impressive job. Dozens of books and hundreds of articles on the history of the nobility, merchants and banker families, as well as scientifi c and science fi ction publications devoted to specifi c historical fi gures point out to a real surge of interest to their past and historical roots.

Scholar’s attention did not pass by the centuries-old history of the Cantacuzino family, the descendants of the last Byzantine emperors. However, for all the interest and respect to the legendary past of the numerous representatives of this fi ne family, each of them deserving a separate narration, not all of them became subject of an independent historical research. For a very long period of time, among these was Toma Cantacuzino. Only in recent years, a number of monographs and articles were published that shed light on the life and work of this outstanding fi gure of the fi rst quarter of the 18th cc. Unlike the previous publications, the present edition is the result of the author’s lengthy research in the state archives of the Russian Federation. The basis is composed of documents found in the collections of the Russian Archive of Ancient Acts. First of all, the fund of count Alexander Menshikov, where one fi nds most of the documents and papers referring to the military work and daily life of the General Major Toma Cantacuzino, as well as his family members.

The preserved correspondence between the Serene Prince of the Russian state and the count of Walachia, presents a unique opportunity to restore and describe many pages of this extraordinary man and a brave warrior. At the same time, the documents discovered have allowed to substantially revise and supplements the biographies of the other members of the Cantacuzino family, particularly of the fi rst quarter of the 18th cc.

Along with the biographical information, the recovered documents shed light on the pages of history of the Moldovan and Walachian principalities and their military-political ties with the Russian state, which were unjustly forgotten or poorly presented. To these we should include prerequisites and the course of the Prut campaign of 1711 and one of its most striking episodes – the siege and storming of the Brail fortress; organization of the military fortifi cations on the southern borders of Russia; formation of the cavalry units within the Russian army from the Moldovan, Serbian and Walachian immigrants; construction of the Ladoga Canal and many other.

The collection of letters and appeals of Toma Cantacuzino addressed to the Russian Monarch, that are stored in the fund of Peter the Great, is of a great value. Based on them, it became possible to certify the history of the arrival and residence of the Cantacuzino family in Russia, as well as their property and fi nancial situation in the new homeland.

Valuable information is also contained in the documents in the Fund of Prince A. D. Menshikov in the Archive of the Institute of Russian History in St. Petersburg, as well as in the fund of the General Admiral F. M. Apraksin in the Russian State Archive of the Navy. Due to these documents, it was possible to obtain new data on the military-political ties of Russia with the Danubian Principalities and the Balkans, on the campaigns and military operations which Toma Cantacuzino was involved in.

Of particular signifi cance are the documents discovered in the funds of the Military Research Archive, which nowadays is the Fund No: 846, of the Russian Military Historical Archive, which stores the correspondence of Major General T. Cantacuzino with the Hetman of Ukraine I.I Skoropadsky and the Ukrainian regimental offi cers. The letters and dispatches contain valuable information on the beginning of construction works of the Ladoga Canal, and the active participation of the Ukrainian hetman and suburban regiments, that were under the command of T. Cantacuzino.