Diamandi Djuvara

Diamandi or Iamandì Djuvara, also known as Giuvara, Juvara or Tzouvara (Greek: Διαμαντή Τζουβάρα, romanized: Diamantí Tzouvára;^[1] died 14 August 1821), was an Ottoman–Wallachian mercenary and boyar, with the rank of Serdar. Greek-speaking, he originated from the ethnically diverse Sanjak of Ioannina, and had various Balkan identities ascribed to him; some historians conclude that he was an Aromanian, like other carriers of the name "Djuvara", with whom he was likely related. He arrived to Wallachia during the final stages of Phanariote rule over that country. By the 1810s, as a military expert, he was serving Prince John Caradja in dealing with the emergence of anti-state brigandage in Oltenia. Djuvara never managed to capture in combat the celebrated hajduk Iancu Jianu, but used deceitful tactics in apprehending two of Jianu's allies, Nikola Abraš and Receb Ağa. He honored a peace agreement with Jianu, but was unable to prevent Jianu's imprisonment by Caradja.

Djuvara's activities allowed him to amass personal wealth, which allegedly included Abraš's confiscated loot; he used the gold to purchase land in Romanați County, where he created the eponymous village of Giuvărăști. Initially disliked by Romanian nationalists as an incompetent "Greek", he was removed from his executive position by the last Phanariote Prince, Alexandros Soutzos, who appointed the local Ioan Solomon as Serdar in early 1821. Djuvara may have by then entered conspiratorial politics with the Filiki Eteria, and is sometimes seen as a participant in Soutzos' alleged assassination. Immediately after Soutzos' death, political life in Wallachia was disturbed by the twinned effects of the Greek War of Independence and the anti-Phanariote uprising. The Wallachian Boyars' Divan counted on Djuvara to crush the latter rebellion, but he negotiated a deal with rebel leader Tudor Vladimirescu, joined the insurgency alongside Solomon and Dimitrie Macedonski, and captured Craiova from the Divan.

Djuvara then participated in Vladimirescu's march on Bucharest. He was also in contact with the Sacred Band, which had penetrated into northern Wallachia and was claiming it on behalf of the Greek Revolution. Djuvara negotiated between the two revolutions, and formally joined the Band in early May, presenting his homages to Alexander Ypsilantis and the Filiki Eteria. He sought to obtain control over the fortifications at Cozia Monastery on Ypsilantis' behalf, but was instantly met with Vladimirescu's opposition. Unlike Macedonski, who supported the Eteria, Djuvara remained generally loyal to Vladimirescu; by late May, he was guarding Vladimirescu's personal fortress in Cerneți, unaware that Ypsilantis had kidnapped Vladimirescu and had placed Wallachia under Eterist control. As the Ottoman Army moved in to punish the rebels, Djuvara assisted in what he thought was a common Wallachian–Eterist effort to defend Drăgășani, managing an initial victory as commander of the unified cavalry. On 29 May, he was informed of Vladimirescu's killing by the Eterists, and, enraged by this, left the battle scene.

Though labeled a traitor by Macedonski and others, the Serdar returned to fight for Ypsilantis during the second and final battle at Drăgășani, in June. He accompanied Ypsilantis on his trek toward the Austrian Empire, but stopped with his garrison at Bistrița Monastery, preparing to delay the Ottomans by sustaining a siege. A former Eterist, Sava Fochianos, convinced him to surrender, with his second wife and his three half-Romanian sons, assuring him of Sultan Mahmud II's generosity. He was treated fairly as a prisoner in Bucharest, and later in Silistra, though he was ultimately decapitated, after an elaborate humiliation ritual, in Istanbul; it is unclear whether his direct descendants outlived the massacre of his army, but he was survived by a collateral branch, which preserved control of Giuvărăști.