With the peak of serfdom in both countries, these "Feciori" were exclusively recruited from among free or manumitted peasants. According to historian Constantin Giurescu, the Wallachian "Păhărnicei", as a special set of "Feciori", might have been supporting themselves from "păhărnicie" revenues, which they collected for their patron. This practice is attested in Moldavia, where, following the drought of September 1663, Princess Ecaterina Dabija warned "Feciori" not to collect the tithe from Armenians and Jews, as this would have exhausted the supply. A Cantacuzino ally, Constantin Brâncoveanu, took the throne in 1688, replacing Șerban. He himself had for long been a regular boyar, first serving as a "Paharnic" when he was aged 17. During his subsequent reign, the "Păhărnicei" appear to have been almost exclusively confined to Râmnicu Sărat County, with some also present in Mehedinți County. Scholar Alexandru Ligor notes that, "during and especially after Brâncoveanu's era", the "Păhărnicei" and other such boyar retinues "will be more seriously engaged in productive life (in agriculture, in trades, etc.)." Brâncoveanu's reign was overall marked by a steady increase in taxation, but the "Păhărnicei" were explicitly excluded from some of the new duties, including a levy on vacated villages ("siliști"). Ligor proposes that this exemption reflected the Prince's military priorities, and his secret anti-Ottoman alliance with the Tsardom of Russia. Brâncoveanu's first "Paharnic" was Staico Bucșanu, whose scheming against the regime ended with his public hanging at Bucharest's Outer Market. His public humiliation and killing were received with hostility by the Bucharest populace. The period thus inaugurated came with a set of administrative reforms, recorded in the princely register, or "Anatefter". This shows "Paharnic" as one of the great offices, but also creates an overlapping function therein, as "Cupar" (from "cupă", "cup"); at the top of boyar advancement, these two offices coexisted with "Spatharios", "Stolnic", "Clucer", and another new office, that of "Șufar" (the intendant of kitchen staffs).