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Case file s819 · Russia and Byzantium · 1714
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1714
The Votive Portrait of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu with Cyrillic inscription at Horezu Monastery (1709): Tabloul votiv din catoliconul Mănăstirii Hurezi: Constantin Brâncoveanu,
The Votive Portrait of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu with Cyrillic inscription at Horezu Monastery (1709). Dan Mihai Pitea. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
15 August 1714
Place
Istanbul (Constantinople), Turkey
Field
Prince of Wallachia; landowner · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Ottoman suzerain's power to depose, execute and confiscate from vassal princes · Islamic law
Historical event
Ottoman rule over Wallachia under Sultan Ahmed III
Russia and ByzantiumMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionEmpires and conquestMiddle EastTurkey

The Ottomans beheaded Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu and his four sons in Istanbul in 1714 after four months of torture over his fortune

Constantin Brâncoveanu ruled Wallachia, an Ottoman vassal state, from 1688 to 1714. Venetian reports put his fortune at over 2 million guruș. He inherited about 200 villages from his father, bought 123 more properties, and held land in Transylvania worth over 240,000 florins. The Ottomans called him Altan Beg, the prince of gold. In 1714 the sultan deposed him and named Ștefan Cantacuzino in his place. Brâncoveanu was taken to Istanbul with his four sons and his son-in-law Ianache Văcărescu and held in the Yedikule prison. They were tortured for four months to make them reveal where the fortune was hidden. On 15 August 1714, his 60th birthday, Văcărescu and then the sons Constantin, Ștefan, Radu and Matei were beheaded in front of him, and then he was beheaded. Sultan Ahmed III watched. The bodies were thrown into the Bosphorus and the heads displayed on stakes. Christians recovered the bodies and buried them at the monastery of the Theotokos on Halki. His widow Marica later brought his remains to Bucharest and buried them in the church of St George the New, which he had founded. Ottoman troops plundered his palace at Mogoșoaia. It later passed to the Bibescu family, was confiscated by the communist state in 1948, and is now a museum. The Romanian Orthodox Church canonized him and his sons in 1992. On 4 March 2026 relics of Marica and her sons Ștefan and Matei were uncovered at St George the New.

What the law took from it

Wealth held under a suzerain who can depose and execute at will is not protected by any title deed.

Sources
  1. adevarul.roPress
  2. adevarul.roPress
  3. oca.orgPress
  4. orthochristian.comPress
  5. uncover-romania.comPress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “The Ottomans beheaded Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu and his four sons in Istanbul in 1714 after four months of torture over his fortune,” story s819, https://www.celebrity.estate/brancoveanu-1714, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Russia and ByzantiumMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionEmpires and conquestMiddle EastIslamic lawTurkey