pre-wedding gifts in addition to the most distinguished reception. Her brother and her maid were lodged in a separate residence, especially built for them. The wedding was of major political importance. Official activities Doamna Ecaterina Cercheza undertook official engagements in Moldavia. She participated alongside Vasile Lupu at all official celebrations, including the weddings of Princess Maria and Princess Ruxandra whose fates were determined by Ecaterina herself. Doamna Ecaterina also made cash donations to the Golia and Hlincea monasteries, among others. She equipped the Golia Monastery with pews brought from Constantinople. Because of the battle for the throne between Gheorghe Ştefan and Vasile Lupu, Doamna Ecaterina left her family to Kamianets-Podilskyi. During the Ottoman deposition of her spouse in 1653, she was evacuated to the city of Suceava. The historian Georg Krauss states that although she initially refused to surrender, defending Suceava during the Ottoman siege, Doamna Ecaterina was forced to capitulate and compelled to give her jewels as well as five of her most beautiful horses. Then she was taken captive to Bistrița, where she was imprisoned until 1658. When her son ascended to the throne in November 1659, she accompanied him to Iaşi and supervised his activity. In 1661, after the death of her husband and son, Doamna Ecaterina Cercheza moved to Constantinople and spent four years in the family palace on the Bosphorus. In 1665, she returned to Moldavia. Her last attestation appears in a donation document issued on 1 March 1666. Issue The couple had three children together: Ştefăniţă (d. 1661), Ioan (d. 1648), and Alexandru (d. 1648). In 1659, Ştefăniţă became Voivode of Moldavia under the name Ştefăniţă Lupu. See also Circassian beauties References 1620 births 1666 deaths 17th-century Romanian people Circassian nobility Converts to Eastern Orthodoxy from Islam Romanian former Muslims Romanian people of Circassian descent Royal consorts of Moldavia Women in 17th-century warfare Women in European warfare 17th-century slaves