Alexandru Coconul

Alexandru Radu, better known as Alexandru Coconul or Alexandru Corvin, was the Prince of Wallachia from 1623 to 1627, and then the Prince of Moldavia from 1629 to 1630. He was the son of Radu Mihnea, who reigned several times in both countries the 1600s and 1610s; this connection also made Alexandru among the last of Vlad the Impaler's Romanian bloodline within the House of Drăculești. The dynasty's apex coincided with the tightening of control by the Ottoman Empire over both principalities, leading to their direct appointment or demotion by the Ottoman Sultan, in exchange for gifts and promises to pay up in taxes. Radu Mihnea contemplated ways to decrease the Ottoman-imposed burdens, and had a cautious foreign policy, aligning himself with the Republic of Venice; he was part-Venetian himself, while Alexandru's mother was Italo-Levantine. The family also favored Catholicism, possibly to the point of secretly embracing it—while continuing to act as nominal protectors of the Eastern Orthodox Church.