1799: Constantine Hangerli, tax man
February 18th, 2012 Headsman
On this date* in 1799, Constantine Hangerli was deposed from his post as Prince of Wallachia by a Moorish executioner.
A veritable watchword for bad times, Hangerli was one of a clutch of disposable puppet rulers situated on the Wallachian throne by the Ottomans around the turn of the 19th century.
As had often before been the case, Wallachia was sorely pressed at this time by the cumulative exactions of its native boyars, the Ottoman Porte, and the plunder taken by the expeditions of rising Bosnian warlord Osman Pasvan Oglu.
Our man is famous, in particular, for the “Hangerli winter” of 1798, just after his elevation — when a confiscatory tax regime seized most of the countryside’s lifestock. Hangerli had a message for the generally currency-poor common man who objected to the much-despised per-head duty on cattle.
Pay the taxes, and you won’t be killed.
Hangerli’s real problem this year wasn’t the unmourned misery of his overtaxed serfs, but the Ottoman commander sent to rein in the Bosnians. Pasvan Oglu whipped that expedition, and its general Hussein Kucuk turned up at Hangerli’s doorstep late in 1798.**
Since it was dangerous for Ottoman generals to lose, Kucuk evidently arrived intending to put some blame on Hangerli — or at least, Hangerli thought that was the case. Secret dispatches from both parties to Istanbul ensued.
Whoever it was who schemed first, Kucuk schemed best. Selim III (later to die of palace scheming himself) decreed Hangerli’s immediate execution and dispatched a kapucu, one of the frightening envoy-executioners (two different men, in this case) who carried such decrees to their victims.
* I believe this may be per the Old Style/Julian date still in use in the Orthodox world.
** Having executed Rigas Feraios in Belgrade en route.
On this day..
- 1935: Benita von Falkenhayn and Renate von Natzmer, Germany's last beheadings by axe - 2020
- 1820: John and Lavinia Fisher - 2019
- 1974: Khosrow Golsorkhi and Keramat Daneshian, Iranian revolutionaries - 2018
- 1836: Felipe Santiago Salaverry, President of Peru - 2017
- 1719: Collmore, Hang'd, Quarter'd and his Intrals burn'd - 2016
- Corpses Strewn: Collmore and his gang - 2016
- 1813: W. Clements, War of 1812 deserter - 2015
- 1478: The Duke of Clarence, in a butt of malmsey - 2014
- 1862: Margaret Coghlan, the last woman hanged in Tasmania - 2013
- 1957: Walter James Bolton, the last hanged in New Zealand - 2011
- 1960: Oliviu Beldeanu, for the Berne incident - 2010
- 1957: Dedan Kimathi, Mau Mau commander - 2009
- 1873: Vasil Levski, for Bulgarian independence - 2008
Entry Filed under: 18th Century,Beheaded,Borderline "Executions",Death Penalty,Execution,Heads of State,History,Nobility,Occupation and Colonialism,Ottoman Empire,Politicians,Power,Romania,Strangled,Summary Executions
Tags: 1790s, 1799, bucharest, constantine hangerli, february 18, pasvan oglu, rigas feraios, selim iii
