Between the Sultan and the Boyars: Gifts in the Power Dynamic of Phanariot Investiture in Wallachia and Moldavia

This paper addresses the ritualized power-balancing act illustrated by investiture ceremonies of what in Romanian historiography are designated as Phanariot princes or hospodars. The discussion focuses on the specific gifts exchanged in the highly ritualized transfer of power from the sultan to the Phanariot throne contender in the Danubian Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in the 18th and 19th century. What are the symbols and meanings assigned to these gifts? What does sharing food at the sultan’s table and replicating the custom in Wallachia and Moldavia represent in terms of the Ottoman system and the local power dynamic? What do the textiles used in the ceremonial investiture signify in terms of regulating the relation between the sultan and the throne contender? The use of specific markers for each stage has an anthropological value; however, the emphasis on material culture in a symbolical setting would make it more suitable for a cultural history methodology. Given the recent contribution of Romanian scholars on the topic of the mobility of material culture, especially in the confirmation of post-1821 rulers of Moldavia, the paper also engages with how the historiographical discourse has constructed the interval between 1711/1716 and 1821 as a particular historical period.