Origins The Ghica family is of
Albanian origin. Gheorghe Ghica was engaged in commerce in
Constantinople and traveled as a merchant to
Iași in the Romanian principalities. Ghica quickly moved upwards in the Romanian principalities mainly because he supported and was supported by other Albanians in the central and regional Ottoman administration. Ghica joined
Vasile Lupu, an Albanian emigre who was
Voivode of Moldavia and became his most trusted officer and representative in the
Ottoman court.
Miron Costin (1633–1691), a contemporary Romanian historian wrote about the clientelist relations in Ottoman hierarchy between figures of the same origin and noted that
being of the same origin as him [Ghica] – that is Albanian – voievode Vasile brought him to the court and entrusted him some minor offices, and later [Ghica] reached the position of the Chief Judge of Lower Moldavia. Lupu's fall brought Ghica to an alliance with another Albanian, the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, Köprülü Mehmed Pasha. In the Romanian principalities, Mehmed Pasha promoted an 'ethnicity-based patronage system' and chose to appoint Albanians as a means to strengthen his apparatus in the region. Gheorghe Ghica (voivode of Moldavia (1658–59), voivode of Wallachia (1859–1860)), his son Grigore (voivode of Wallachia, 1660–64), and Vasile Lupu's son,
Ștefăniță Lupu (voivode of Moldavia, 1659–61) all were appointed by Köprülü Mehmed Pasha.
Ion Neculce (1672–1745), another contemporary Romanian historian who continued the tradition of Miron Costin, recorded a tale about Gheorge Gica and Mehmed Pasha. According to the tale, they came from poor families and had met when they were children in Constantinople. The future Mehmed Pasha promised that he would help Ghica when he became powerful. Years later when they met again Mehmed Pasha supposedly remembered their meeting and made Ghica, voivode of Moldavia. The tale is definitely a literary construction, but it has historical value because its narration highlights the existing patronage ties of its era. Ghica married Smaragda (Smada) Lână, daughter of Stamate Lână, the
Stolnic (
Seneschal) of Broşteni. Ghica rooted his family in the feudal class of Romania via the marriage of his son Grigore to the niece of
Gheorghe Ștefan.
Rise Following the
power vacuum resulting from the failed
Transylvanian-Wallachian-Moldavian anti-Ottoman uprising organized by Prince
George II Rákóczi, Gheorghe Ghica managed to secure his position as Voivode of Moldavia, a position he held between 1658–1659 and 1659–1660. Unable to cope with the financial burdens imposed by the Porte, he was dismissed; nonetheless, following the intervention of Mehmed Pasha his son Grigore I Ghica became the new voivode. He was Gheorghe Ghica's oldest surviving son, born in Constantinople from a relationship he had with Ecaterina Vlasto, a Catholic from
Pera. He had followed his father to Moldavia, where he further raised his family into the ranks of the indigenous Great
Boyars, by marrying Maria Sturdza, daughter of
Vistiern (
Treasurer) Mateiaș Sturdza of the
Sturdza family, and niece of the Moldavian Prince
Gheorghe Ștefan. His son
Grigore II Ghica, initiated in the intricacies of the Ottoman politics due to his rank as Dragoman, succeeded in acquiring the Moldavian throne on 26 September 1726. During his rule in Moldavia, Grigore II Ghica made proof of great diplomatic skills by leveling an unfortunate conflict with the
Crimean Khanate who threatened to ravage the country. In 1733 a swap of thrones took place, with Grigore II going to Wallachia in place of his cousin
Constantine Mavrocordatos. Grigore II Ghica's diplomatic skills proved even more remarkable during the
Russo-Austrian-Turkish War, when the Prince of Moldavia, at the request of the Porte, acted as the intermediary and mediator between the Ottomans and Russians through correspondence and exchange of envoys with the Russian
Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, with John Bell, the secretary of the British embassy in St. Petersburg, with the French ambassador to Constantinople,
Louis Sauveur Villeneuve, as well as with the great Ottoman dignitaries. ==Notable members of the family==