ALESSANDRO MAUROCORDATO. — Also known as the *Expositio*, born on 7 November 1641 in Constantinople, died there on 23 December 1709. He pursued his studies first at the patriarchal school, then for three years at the Greek College of St. Athanasius in Rome, and later at the Universities of Padua and Bologna; at the latter, he obtained his degree in medicine and philosophy in May 1664 in the presence of Ferdinand II, Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Returning to Constantinople in 1665, he became a professor at the patriarchal school and there received the title of *μήνας δήτωρ*. After marrying Sultana, daughter of Giovanni Chrysocolos, a descendant of the Moldavian prince Ilia Vodă, M., in 1671, became private secretary to the Grand Interpreter of the Ottomans, Nikusios, in Adrianople, and from 1673 to his successor; in 1688 he is found as ambassador of the Ottoman court to Emperor Leopold I in Vienna, and later as secret secretary of the Sublime Porte, where he exercised great influence over Turkish politics. M. conducted the negotiations for the Peace of Karlowitz on 26 January 1699. His influence proved beneficial for the cause of Christians within the Muslim Turkish Empire and for the rights of Catholics in the Holy Places of Palestine. M. authored many writings, largely still unpublished, on philosophy, theology, and especially contemporary history.