 His behavior was otherwise incompatible with either Catholic or Orthodox norms.Ottoman sources of the period suggest that he was a polygamist, keeping three mistresses, all of whom were Turkish and Muslim apostates; this would also make Marcu, and possibly his two brothers as well, half-Turkish.As described by Rezachevici, Marcu was "the son of Petru Cercel and of a (baptized) Turkish wife, Sultana".