Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei

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Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei 1845

Prince Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei , also Știrbey , (* August 17 (?) 1799 in Craiova ; † April 13, 1869 in Nice ) came from a Romanian boyar family and was a long-time minister, then the last ruler of the Principality of Wallachia .

origin

Barbu Dimitrie Bibescu from the boyar family of the same name, whose founder Cernică Izvoranul, called Știrbei, once served Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu (1688–1714), was the son of voivod and Grand Chancellor of Wallachia Dimitrie Bibescu († 1831) and his wife Ecaterina Văcăcu . He was the older brother of the Wallachian ruler Gheorghe Bibescu (1802–1873). Barbu was adopted by his childless grandfather, the former Grand Chancellor of Barbu Știrbei, on December 20, 1811, took his family name and inherited the entire property.

biography

Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei after 1860

Political career

From 1817 the young nobleman studied law, economics and philosophy in Paris, where he was accepted into a Masonic lodge in 1819. After successfully passing his exams, he returned to his home country.

After staying in Transylvania during the unrest of 1821, he finally returned to Wallachia in 1826 and entered the service of Prince Grigore IV Ghica, where he was first head of the Interior Department, then in 1831 State Secretary and worked on the drafting the Regulamentul Organic initiated by the Russian Empire , which for the first time defined administrative, judicial and military tasks and was supposed to lead to an early form of parliamentarism. He then became the highest commissioner for church questions (1832) and for justice (1837). At that time he had twice applied for the throne of the principality (1834 and 1842), but had failed. Before he returned to Paris for two years, he held the office of Minister of the Interior between 1844 and 1847 under the rule of his brother Gheorghe.

He joined together with his brother Gheorghe in 1827 by Dinicu Golescu and Ion Heliade-Rădulescu brought into being "Soţietatea literară românească" ("Romanian Society for Literature") whose character was based on the principles of Freemasonry . In their program, the conversion of "Sfântul Sava" into a university was proposed, as well as the opening of another such institution in Craiova and the establishment of schools in almost all localities in Wallachia . The society also tried to promote the edition of Romanian-language newspapers and demanded an end to the state monopoly on printing machines. The head office was at Podul Mogoşoaiei in Bucharest.

Monument to Barbu D. Știrbei in the city park of Râmnicu Vâlcea

The ruler

After the revolutionary government was overthrown by Ottoman troops in 1848 and a new prince had to be appointed, Sultan Abdülmecid I supported Barbu Ştirbei for this office. According to the Balta Liman's Convention in 1849, he was to ascend the throne for seven years. His reign began after the occupation of the country by Ottoman and Russian troops, which ended in 1851. On this occasion, Tsar Nicholas I awarded him the Imperial Russian Order of St. Anne, 1st class .

Bust of Barbu D. Știrbei in Bucharest by Oscar Späthe

During his reign, Ştir initiated moderate reforms, such as a slight reform of the judiciary, which led to an increase in the number of legal disputes resolved. He took steps to push through a - still very conservative - land reform by enacting a law in 1851 declaring the peasants tenants of the cultivated land. Because of the enslavement of the Gypsies, he first limited the internal trade in slaves and forbade the frequent family separations in order to finally abolish the right to keep slaves completely. During this time he also dealt with the construction of the National Theater in Bucharest, the arrangement of the Cotroceni and Cișmigiu parks and the modernization of the administration, education, the army and agriculture. At the beginning of the Crimean War , in 1853, Wallachia was again occupied by Russian troops. The prince remained in Bucharest until the Ottoman Empire formally declared war, then fled to Vienna in October that year, but returned in September 1854 after the Russian withdrawal and the subsequent Austrian and Ottoman occupation.

After the end of the war in 1856, during the negotiations for the Treaty of Paris , he voted for the unification of the principalities of Moldova and Wallachia, hoping to become Prince of the United States. But after the end of his tenure as ruler of Wallachia, he withdrew and moved to Paris .

In 1857, he was elected ad hoc deputy to the manorial council, an assembly tasked with giving Wallachia a new constitutional order. After the unification of the two countries through the election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as "Domnitor", he returned to Paris with his brother Gheorghe (Bibescu).

Once again, trattirbei came into the political spotlight when he traveled to Bucharest in 1866 to support the newly elected Prince Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen of the Principality of Romania .

literature

  • Winfried Baumgart: Files on the History of the Crimean War , Series IV, Volume 1, Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003
  • Ioan C. Filitti: Catagrafia oficială de toţi boierii Țării Româneşti , in “Revista Arhivelor”, Seria I, Vol. II, No. 4–5 (1927–1929), Bucharest 1929
  • Nicolae Iorga: Viaţa și domnia lui Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei, Domn al Țării Românești (1849-1856) , Neamul Românesc Publishing House, Vălenii de Munte 1910
  • Mihai Dimitrie Sturdza: Famillile boierești din Moldova și Țara Românească , Simetria Publishing House, Bucharest 2004

Individual evidence

  1. Ioan C. Filitti "Catagrafia oficială de toţi boierii Ţării Româneşti" in "Revista Arhivelor", Volume 2, Bucharest 1929, page 7
  2. a b Center d'Etudes Internationales sur la Romanité (ed.): “La coutume, la tradition, la pratique et le droit écrit” in “Méditerranées”, Revue d'Association méditerranée, No. 37, 2004
  3. a b c http://tratatuldeistorieamasoneriei.ro/ilustiri_fm.html
  4. Dieter Beyrau, Michael Stolleis (ed.): "Reforms in Russia in the 19th and 20th centuries.", Verlag Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt a. M. 1996. pp. 79f.
  5. Constantin C. Giurescu: "Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre “, Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest 1966, p. 120
  6. Constantin Maciuca "Prefaţă", "Tabel cronologic" p V-XL, here p VII, X, XXXVII f
  7. http://www.romanialibera.ro/cultura/aldine/stirbei-domnitorul-reformelor-193858.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.romanialibera.ro  
  8. Winfried Baumgart: "Files for the History of the Crimean War", Series IV, Volume 1, Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, pp. 207 ff.

Web links

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