Dimitrie Cantemir

Dimitrie or Demetrius Cantemir, also known by other spellings, was a Moldavian prince, statesman, and man of letters. He twice served as voivode of Moldavia. During his second term he allied his state with Russia in a war against Moldavia's Ottoman overlords; Russia's defeat forced Cantemir's family into exile and the replacement of the native voivodes by Greek phanariots. Cantemir was also a prolific writer, variously a philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer. His son Antioch, Russia's ambassador to Great Britain and France and a friend of Montesquieu and Voltaire, would become known as "the father of Russian poetry".

26 October 1673

Born on the same birth day (26 October): Adam Mars-Jones • Anna of Hesse • Jefferson Farfán • Joseph Cramarossa • Karl Leonhard Reinhold • Lisa Ryder • Mathieu Crépel • Nicola Adams • Patrick Breen • Primo Carnera • Reg Empey • Ronnie Irani • Tom Cavanagh • William Kissam Vanderbilt II