Dinicu Golescu

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Portretul lui Dinicu Golescu

Dinicu Golescu , actually Constantin Radovici Golescu , (born February 7, 1777 in Goleşti ; † October 5, 1830 in Bucharest ) was an enlightened Romanian boyar , Wallachian politician , man of letters and cultural reformer , known for his travel stories and his culture and travel journalism .

Origin and family

Constantine came from an old Muntenian boyar family. At the beginning of the 18th century, his great-grandfather Radu tried to bring the principality away from the dependence on the divan in Constantinople as well as the mostly Fanariotic princes and under Austrian rule. After the failure of the plan, however, only princes of Romanian descent were appointed at times.

The son of the great bans of Wallachia Radu Golescu and the boyaress Zoe (Zoița) Florescu married the Greek Zoe Farfara (1792–1879) in 1804. This marriage produced five children: Ana (1805–1878), Ștefan (1809–1874) and Nicolae (1810–1877), the later Romanian prime ministers , as well as the revolutionary leaders of 1848 Radu (1814–1882) and Alexandru (1818–1873) ). The four sons played an important role in Romanian politics.

biography

The young Golescu and his older brother Gheorghe (Iordache) received a solid education at the Greek Academy in Bucharest. Here the two made contact with ardent Greek patriots from the principalities, in which the liberation from the Ottoman yoke was raved about (1797). They indulged the idea of ​​the Enlightenment and the Josephine early liberalism .

During the Romanian uprising against the Turks, led by Alexander Ypsilanti , a grandson of the Wallachian prince of the same name, and Tudor Vladimirescu , Golescu acted as a mediator between the Greek and Romanian elite and the rebellious peasantry. The intrigue of Tsar Alexander I and the betrayal of the Eterie to Vladimirescu let the uprising fail. Dinicu felt compelled to flee together with his brother to the then Habsburg Kronstadt (Brașov) . After Prince Grigore Ghica was appointed ruler in 1822, the Kronstadt group protested loudly in word and writing. He declined the prince's request, but rather went to Russia in February 1823, where he participated in the planning for the occupation of Wallachia.

Together with Iordache he took part in the establishment of a secret literary society in Brașov and in 1825 he was accepted into a Swiss Masonic lodge while on a trip through Europe . When he returned to Bucharest after the Porte had allowed him to do so, Golescu began to work in a Bucharest lodge that same year.

Impressed by the elementary school system in Switzerland he founded in 1826 on his estate in Golesti a school where young people their money, regardless of social class could learn, also, he and Heliade the "Curierul românesc" out a magazine with Enlightenment Orientation.

In 1827, together with Ion Heliade-Rădulescu, he founded the "Soţietatea literară românească" ("Romanian Society for Literature"), in whose program the conversion of "Sfântul Sava" into a university was proposed and the opening of another such institution in Craiova and the establishment of schools in almost every locality in Wallachia . In addition, the company tried to promote the edition of Romanian-language newspapers and demanded an end to the state monopoly on printing machines. The group benefited from Golescu's experiences abroad, then two future princes Gheorghe Bibescu and Barbu Dimitrie Știr joined the organization, whose character was based on the principles of Freemasonry . The head office was in his villa on Podul Mogoşoaiei in Bucharest. In the same year he published “Fama Lipschii”, the first magazine in Romanian, it appeared monthly and was printed in Leipzig , and there was also an extensive correspondence with Professor Friedrich Thiersch from Munich .

First page of Golescu's travelogues 1826

At the end of 1828 he managed to get Russian financial support for the publication of the "Curierul Românesc", the first magazine in Romanian in the Romanian principalities, it was first published on April 8th . / April 20,  1829 greg. and was launched for 20 years. This journal made a decisive contribution to the final spread of a public literary culture in Romania.

In the midst of his creative urge and in anticipation of the Russian invasion with great hope, he was swept away by cholera .

Literary work

In addition to a world atlas in Romanian (Vienna 1800) and its maps with all important details about Wallachia (all circles with demarcation lines, cities, lakes, rivers, ports, villages with the mill locations, but also the names of the boyars, priests, families, foreigners, Jews, Armenians and Gypsies, and much more), his satires against Grigore Ghica, but above all his travel journal about his activities between 1824 and 1826, were among his most important works. The latter is the first to be printed in Romanian literature. It contains numerous critical comments on the state of social and cultural backwardness in Wallachia. He had started his notes in Romanian, but soon felt ashamed to continue writing in Greek because of the imperfect state of the Romanian language. There was a lack of grammars and textbooks, and the vocabulary for non-fiction of any kind was still insufficient. It was only in Bucharest that he made a Romanian version. This experience was the initial spark for his later cultural reforms.

This book as well as its translation of the work of the Greek Scolar Neophytos Vamvas "Elements of Moral Philosophy" was printed and published in Bucharest.

In terms of literary language, Golescu's work reflects the transition from ancient to modern Romanian literary language.

Works

  • Însemnare a călătoriei mele, Constantin Radovici din Golești, făcută în anul 1824, 1825, 1826, printed by the University of Budapest, Budapest 1826.

literature

  • Wendy Bracewell, Alex Drace-Francis (Eds.): "Balkan Departures - Travel Writing from South-Eastern Europe", Berghahn Books, USA 2009, ISBN 978-1-84545-254-4 .
  • Dicționarul literaturii române de la origini până la 1900, Editura Academiei, Bucharest 1979.
  • Emanuel Turczynski: "From Enlightenment to Early Liberalism: Political Supporting Groups and Their Catalog of Demands in Romania", Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-486-52781-9 .

Individual evidence

  1. a b c Wendy Bracewell, Alex Drace-Francis (ed.): "Balkan Departures - Travel Writing from South-Eastern Europe", Berghahn Books, USA 2009, p. 47ff.
  2. Ilustri franc Masoni Romani: Golescu, Dinicu (Constantin) (1777 to 1830) Cărturar şi memorialist iluminist , in Romanian
  3. Emanuel Turczynski: "From Enlightenment to Early Liberalism: Political Support Groups and Their Catalog of Demands in Romania", Oldenbourg Verlag GmbH, Munich 1985, p. 95ff.
  4. Constantin Maciuca "Prefaţă", "Tabel cronologic" p V-XL, here p VII, X, XXXVII f
  5. Constantin C. Giurescu: "Istoria Bucureştilor. Din cele mai vechi timpuri pînă în zilele noastre “, Editura Pentru Literatură, Bucharest 1966, p. 120
  6. Alexandru Piru: "Istoria literaturii române", Grai și suflet-Cultura națională publishing house, Bucharest 1994, p. 34
  7. Günter Holtus, Edgar Radtke (ed.): "Romanian Studies in Discussion - Language, Literature and History", Gunter Narr Verlag, Tübingen 1986, p. 41