Brancoveanu's foreign policy
An important reference point of the reign of Constantin Brancovan was that of an exceptional diplomacy which put a special emphasis on establishing personal relationships with the great leaders of his time.
Political circumstances which determined to the granting of the title of Count in 1688 by Leopold I are related to earlier contacts maintained by Serban Cantacuzino with the Habsburg Empire and the incurred negotiations for a political alliance, negotiations which apparently Brancoveanu was no stranger.
Throughout his reign, both Constantin Cantacuzino and Constantin Brancoveanu have maintained a friendly correspondence with foreign ambassadors as Lord William Paget and Count Jacob Colyer and agreed to mediate negotiations with the imperial ministers in Vienna. Meanwhile, Brancoveanu received secretly in Bucharest the imperial negotiators, such as Count Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli or auditorium advisor Franz Ulrich von Kinsky in 1691-1692, to which he submitted some particular information with political character about the Turks.
Habsburg’s diplomatic relations was resumed in secret, and Brancoveanu skillfully managed to avoid the involvement of the Romanians to the War of the Holy League with the Ottoman Empire. His skillful diplomacy irritated the French King Louis XIV of France, hostile to Habsburgs, which was in conflict to increase the sphere of influence in Southeastern Europe, and therefore the French ambassador to Constantinople acted to obtain the removal of Prince Brancoveanu and replaced by a foreign prince, devoted to French political interests.
On the other hand, to appease the suspicions of the Sublime Porte, where he had many opponents, Brancoveanu has endeavored to gain the goodwill of many influential Ottoman officials with rich gifts in money and luxury objects.
After the account of Anton Maria del Chiaro, the accusation against Romanian prince sent to the Ottoman Empire was, first of all, that he was entertaining a secret correspondence with the emperor of Austria, Moscow, Poland and the Republic of Venice, that he provide political and military information about Turks, and the Emperor Leopold, by given the diploma in which he declare in all form the Prince Brancoveanu Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, recognize the services rendered to his Caesarian Majesty.
These accusations have led to the extermination of one of the best ruler whom he had Wallachia, with all his family.
1701 April 30, Vienna
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia… commands to all that the Romanian ruler Constantin Brancoveanu not be prevented to transform the houses that wants to buy in Brașov.
Latin in the original; parchment, Seal in wooden capsule. B. A. R., Seal 470
1701 April 31, Vienna
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia… commands to all authorities to give protection and assistance to Constantin Brancoveanu, Prince of Wallachia if he or his family will come to imperial countries.
German in the original; parchment, Seal in wooden capsule. B. A. R., Seal 471
1706 May 27
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia ..., the archduke of Austria, gives a diploma of safeguard and protection in his empire for the Romanian ruler Constantin Brancoveanu.
German in the original; parchment, Seal in wooden capsule. B. A. R., Seal 472
1712 March 27, Vienna
Charles IV of Austria gives a protection diploma for Constantin Brancoveanu, the ruler of Wallachia, in case he comes in his empire countries.
German in the original; parchment, Seal in wooden capsule. B. A. R., Seal 473