Constantin Brâncoveanu ruled Wallachia from 1688 to 1714, overseeing one of the most culturally productive periods in Romanian history before Ottoman authorities arrested him on suspicion of diplomatic dealings with the Habsburgs and Russians. He was taken to Constantinople with four of his sons and, after refusing to convert to Islam, all five were executed on the shores of the Bosporus on August 15, 1714 — a date that fell deliberately on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin. The Romanian Orthodox Church canonized Brâncoveanu and his sons in 1992, three hundred years after the start of his reign.
Constantin Brâncoveanu ruled Wallachia from 1688 to 1714, overseeing one of the most culturally productive periods in Romanian history before Ottoman authorities arrested him on suspicion of diplomatic dealings with the Habsburgs and Russians. He was taken to Constantinople with four of his sons and, after refusing to convert to Islam, all five were executed on the shores of the Bosporus on August 15, 1714 — a date that fell deliberately on the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin. The Romanian Orthodox Church canonized Brâncoveanu and his sons in 1992, three hundred years after the start of his reign.