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International Conference
The Phanariot Past and its Afterlives: Historicizing “Corruption” in Central-South-East Europe (1750s–1920s)
New Europe College – Institute for Advanced Study
Bucharest, 15–16 June 2026
PARTICIPANTS: Raluca ALEXANDRESCU, Mihai-Cristian AMĂRIUȚEI, Boriana ANTONOVA-GOLEVA, Constantin ARDELEANU, Elif BAYRAKTAR TELLAN, Osman Safa BURSALI, Aristide CHRYSSOULIS, Raymond DETREZ, Augusta DIMOU, Lucien FRARY, Simion-Alexandru GAVRIȘ, Aristides N. HATZIS, Paul KARRAS, Dimitrios M. KONTOGEORGIS, Kalliope LEIVADAROU, Myrto LAMPROU, Silvia MARTON, Nicolas NICOLAIDES, Ovidiu OLAR, Mária PAKUCS, Silvana RACHIERU, Leonidas RADOS, Andrei-Dan SORESCU, Alex R. TIPEI, Michał WASIUCIONEK
This conference is organized within the framework of “Transnational histories of ‘corruption’ in Central-South-East Europe (1750-1850).” Funded by the European Union (ERC, TransCorr, ERC-2022-ADG no. 101098095) and hosted by the New Europe College.
Monday, June 15, 2026
09h30–10h00
Welcome remarks: Valentina SANDU-DEDIU, Rector, New Europe College
Opening remarks & introduction: Silvia MARTON, Principal investigator, New Europe College
SESSION 1
The Phanariots and Their Era: Political and Social Networks
10h00–11h45
Chair and discussant: Constantin ARDELEANU, New Europe College / Institute for South-East European Studies, Bucharest
Mihai-Cristian AMĂRIUȚEI, ‘A.D. Xenopol’ Institute of History, Iași; Elif BAYRAKTAR TELLAN, History Department, Istanbul Medeniyet University; and Ovidiu OLAR, ‘Nicolae Iorga’ Institute of History, Bucharest
Short-Circuiting the Ottoman State: A Mid-Eighteenth-Century Phanariot Cartel
Paul KARRAS, Institut d’Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, Paris
“A disgraced hospodar can be bought, along with his entire family, for a modest sum”. Phanariots and the Trans-Imperial Political Economy of Brokerage in the Long Eighteenth Century
Nicolas NICOLAIDES, Centre for Asia Minor Studies, Athens
Between Reform and Patronage: The Patriarchal Academy of Kuruçeşme (1804–1821)
11h45–12h15 Coffee break
SESSION 2
The Phanariots and Their Era: Imperial Entanglements
12h15–13h30
Chair and discussant: Andrei-Dan SORESCU, New Europe College / Maynooth University
Mária PAKUCS, ‘Nicolae Iorga’ Institute of History, Bucharest / New Europe College
The K. K. Consular Agency in Phanariot Bucharest: Imperial Entanglements and Local “Intrigues” in the Late Eighteenth Century
Lucien FRARY, Rider University / New Europe College
The Traveling Balkan Orthodox Middlemen: Russian Impressions of the Phanariots (1711–1821)
13h30–14h30 Lunch at the NEC
SESSION 3
Institutional and Political Designs Before and After 1821
14h30–17h00
Chair and discussant: Alex R. TIPEI, Université de Montréal / New Europe College
Kalliope LEIVADAROU and Aristides N. HATZIS, University of Athens
Theodoros Negris between Empire and Revolution: Phanariot Legacies and Liberal Experiments
Osman Safa BURSALI, Marmara Law School, Istanbul
A Neo-Phanariot State? The Executive Branch of the Principality of Samos and its Transformation
Aristide CHRYSSOULIS, University of Cambridge
What did Princes Really do on Samos? Local Responses to Political and Legal Innovations in the Eastern Mediterranean
Simion-Alexandru GAVRIȘ, ‘A.D. Xenopol’ Institute of History, Iași
Bureaucracy after Byzantium: “Phanariot” Public Servants in Moldavia at the Beginning of the Organic Statute Regime
18h30 Dinner
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
SESSION 4
Phanariot Past and Post-Phanariot Present: Early (Re)Interpretations of Phanariot Rule
10h00–11h45
Chair and discussant: Augusta DIMOU, University of Leipzig / New Europe College
Dimitrios M. KONTOGEORGIS, University of Cyprus
“Enlightened” or “Despotic”? The Image of the Phanariot Princes in Greek and Romanian Historiography (c. 1770–1821)
Myrto LAMPROU, Hellenic Open University
Phanariotism, Corruption, and Political Identity: the Soutzos Brothers in Early Greek State Formation
Raluca ALEXANDRESCU, University of Bucharest
Inventing “Phanariotism”: Nationalistic Narratives, Political Polemics and the Populist Uses of a Corrupt “Ancien Régime” in Early Modern Romanian Discourse
11h45–12h15 Coffee break
12h15–13h00
From Istanbul to Bucharest: Court Music in the Early Nineteenth Century
Concert by
Nicolae GHEORGHIȚĂ, National University of Music Bucharest
Cătălin CERNĂTESCU, National University of Music Bucharest
13h00–14h00 Lunch at the NEC
SESSION 5
Corruption, Clerical Polemics, and Nation-Building
14h00–15h15
Chair and discussant: Andrei-Dan SORESCU, New Europe College / Maynooth University
Michał WASIUCIONEK, ‘Nicolae Iorga’ Institute of History, Bucharest / New Europe College
Corrupting Hierarchies: The “Phanariot Rule” in the Former Patriarchate of Peć and the Discourse of Corruption in the First Decades of the Nineteenth Century
Raymond DETREZ, University of Ghent
How – and Why – Was Corruption in the Orthodox Church Fought in the Ottoman Empire?
15h15–15h45 Coffee break
SESSION 6
(Corrupt) Phanariots Afterlives: National(ist) Narratives, Political Polemics
15h45–17h30
Chair and discussant: Silvia MARTON, New Europe College / University of Bucharest
Boriana ANTONOVA-GOLEVA, New Europe College / Institute for Historical Studies, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
The ‘Phanariotism’ in the Bulgarian Public Discourse after the Crimean War: Texts, Contexts, and Concepts
Leonidas RADOS, ‘A.D. Xenopol’ Institute of History, Iași
Casting the Perfect Villain: Phanariot Regime, Stereotypes, and Mid-Nineteenth-Century Romanian Nation-Building
Silvana RACHIERU, University of Bucharest
Post-Phanariot Relationship of Ottoman Rums and Romanians at the End of the Nineteenth Century: Cultural Interactions and Regional Networks
Concluding Remarks and Key Points
17h30–18h00