Petronel ZAHARIUC

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0007

Abstract: Despite appearances, the history of the Balş family, one of the most important families of medieval and modern Moldavia, still offers historians a rich field of work. With this article, which starts from the Balş Family Register („Condica de la Dumbrăveni”), which was the basis for the family tree of 1813, I shed some light on the history of the Balş family in the 18th and early 19th centuries and publish some of the unknown documents that I considered most important (wills, dowry papers and estate divisions).

Keywords: Balş family; Moldavia; wills; dowry papers.

Ştefan LEMNY

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0006

Abstract: A part of European culture since the 18th century, the “History of the Ottoman Empire” of Dimitrie Cantemir calls for a new reading, especially since the erudite historian Virgil Cândea discovered its original manuscript, which scholars have long sought. Beyond the historiographical value of the work as documentation and critical wit, its clear and flowing “story-like” writing illustrates the indissoluble link between history and storytelling mentioned by Paul Ricœur. It is easier to understand why, thanks to this condition, it did not pose too complicated problems of translation, easing the effort of translators and offering itself to 18th-century (and later) readers as an instructive and enjoyable read. The criticism came especially from the angle of scholarship with the development of the critical spirit in historiography in the 19th century and the formation of new generations of scholars specializing in Ottoman studies. However, while Cantemir’s history of the Ottomans has given way to other later works as documentation and analysis, it retains the same interest as a narrative discourse, the mark of time contributing no less to its fascination.

Keywords: Dimitrie Cantemir; History of the Ottoman Empire; One Thousand and One Nights; narrative discourse.

Mihai-Bogdan ATANASIU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0005

Abstract: Regarded as a real research direction concerning the history of medieval and pre-modern Moldavian history, research on family burials and necropolises has already brought numerous additions and corrections to the genealogies of the ancient families, as well as to their mentalities and privileges. Through a succession of burials of related individuals, the graves became necropolises of the lineage, which were true expressions of family solidarity and genealogical awareness. With the present study, which in fact represents an unprecedented inventory of the tombs of the Moldavian Cantacuzins of the 17th-19th centuries, we have sought to identify the reasons for the choice of certain burial places, as well as the way in which the representatives of this extremely diverse family (Deleanu, Paşcanu, Şerbeşti, Băleni), became aware of the symbolic dimension of this aspect of everyday life. So far, in the above-mentioned time frame, we have identified more than 100 Cantacuzine burials, both male and female, made in churches and monastic sites in Moldova, but also in various places in Transylvania, Russia, Germany or Greece.

Keywords: Cantacuzino family; tombs; necropolis; genealogy; daily life; Moldavia.

Andrei Constantin SĂLĂVĂSTRU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0004

Abstract: The second half of the sixteenth century saw France descend into civil war, after several decades of increasing religious tensions brought about by the Reformation. It was an outcome which traditional political thought dreaded, because internal union was one of the most prized features of a healthy political body. Civil war, the line went, was much worse than any other calamity which might befall a polity and threatened it with complete dissolution. Therefore, once France found itself in such a situation from 1562 onwards, one of the main issues in French political discourse became the restoration of internal peace: all the parties involved in the conflict paid at least lip service to it, although each envisioned their own path in order to achieve this goal. For the radical Catholics, internal peace could not be divorced from religious unity, therefore, the Protestants had to be exterminated, chased out or brought back into the Catholic fold. A more moderate group of Catholics came to argue that this was not possible without doing irreparable damage to the country and that coexistence with Protestants had to be accepted at least temporarily, looking to the king to impose such a solution. Finally, the Protestants, who envisioned at the beginning of the wars the possibility of converting the whole France to the Reformation, came to embrace the second point of view, as well, under the pressure of political realities. This paper aims to analyze the discourse of peace in the propaganda issued during the French Wars of Religion, examining its main themes and how it unfolded over this period of more than thirty years.

Keywords: France; Wars of Religion; Huguenots; Catholics; Propaganda; Peace.

Ioan-Aurel POP

Alexandru SIMON

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0003

Abstract: Alexander, the son and – first – heir of Stephen III the Great of Moldavia, remains a highly controversial figure. Officially, he died on 26 July 1496, whilst with the host. The reports sent from Hungary to Stephen’s ally, Maximilian I of Habsburg (prior to 22-24 August 1496), and – most importantly – to his royal councillor Johannes Fuchsmagen (14 July 1496), show however that Alexander died at least a month earlier. He probably died on 26 June, as recorded in one of the chronicles of the Putna Monastery, Stephen’s necropolis, but not the burial place of Alexander (who was laid to rest at the Bistriţa Monastery). The impact of Alexander’s demise was considerable. His death was initially deemed that of Stephen himself, to the utmost concern of the House of Habsburg. Allegedly, both the Ottoman Turks and Sigismund Jagiello, the brother of Wladislaw II, king of Hungary and Bohemia, and of Jan Albert, king of Poland, were ready to occupy Moldavia. Within a year, Jan Albert did indeed attack Stephen, who had to be replaced with Sigismund as ruler of Moldavia. The Jagellonian plan was foiled by the conspiracy of Maximilian and Stephen, supported by the military intervention of Bartholomew Drágffy, the voivode of Transylvania as well as – between 1489 and 1496 – the father-in-law of the late Alexander.

Keywords: Alexander (of Moldavia); Stephen III the Great; Maximilian I of Habsburg; Wladislaw II Jagiello; Sigismund (I) Jagiello; Moldavia; Hungary; Ottoman Empire; Putna; succession; conspiracy.

Lucreţiu MIHAILESCU-BÎRLIBA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0002

Abstract:The author analyzes the state of art concerning the salt resources in the area, trying to establish a connection between the presence of the Roman troops and the salt exploitation. The army secured salt not only for its own uses, but also to distribute it across the province. Some castra were important not only for this purpose, but especially since they were part of the defense strategy along the limes.

Keywords: Ocna Dejului-Sic-Cojocna-Gherla; salt exploitation; Roman Dacia; ala II Pannoniorum.

Ana HONCU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2023-0001

Résumé: Cet article passe en revue les inscriptions qui mentionnent l’initiative édilitaire féminine dans les provinces de Dacie et de Mésie Inférieure. À partir de leur exemple, nous avons tenté de présenter les raisons qui étaient à la base d’un tel phénomène. Liée ou non à un office ou prêtrise, la présence des femmes sur la scène publique des cités en assurant le financement des projets de construction était motivée par le désir de reconnaissance sociale et prestige public, mais aussi par l’absence d’hommes disponibles pour assurer, à un moment donné, les générosités qu’on attendait de leur famille. Les bienfaitrices ne forment pas un ensemble homogène, il y a d’affranchies jusqu’à femmes de l’élite municipale. On observe une tendance pour les monuments de l’architecture sacrée.

Mots-clés: femme; constructions; évergétisme; Dacie; Mésie Inferieure.

Dragoş JIPA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2024-0021

Abstract: The article discusses the work of Professor Michel Dard, deputy director of the French Institute in Bucharest during World War II. Although he was not involved in military action, his work as a professor of literature, both at the French Institute and at the University of Bucharest (as a lecturer in the French language and literature department), can be seen as a participation in the French Resistance, through his involvement in cultural propaganda in Romania in support of Charles de Gaulle’s movement. At the same time, his case illustrates the ambiguity and duplicity of the cultural diplomacy action carried out by the French Institute in Romania between 1940 and 1944, which was apparently apolitical in its outward appearance, but secretly supported the Gaullist movement.

Keywords: Michel Dard; French Institute; Romania; cultural diplomacy; French literature; Resistance.

Cătălin BOTOŞINEANU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2024-0020

Abstract: This text is part of a series of studies focusing on the extracurricular activities of primary school establishments in modern Romania. Spiru Haret is the one who closely associated students’ activities outside of school hours with absenteeism rates. Romanian rural communities did not fully embrace school despite being mandatory and free. Nearly half a century after Al. I. Cuza’s primary education law, absenteeism exceeded 50% of the total number of school-aged children. How much of the absenteeism was due to students’ families, the school, the teachers’ training, or the lack of teaching materials remains an open matter. The image of a rural student owning a school textbook remained unfamiliar in the countryside. Aware of the rural population’s resistance to schooling, Spiru Haret sought to shift the perception of rural families regarding primary education, which was often seen as a private endeavour, particularly regarding the teaching job as a qualified profession. Extracurricular education, especially practical hours in school gardens and experimental fields, aimed to reduce the potential for such opposition. Lacking primary instructional materials for formalised education, rural students could take care – through extracurricular education – of their own fruit trees or vegetable garden seeds, all provided by the school. At the same time, the rudiments of a small household industry were intended to compensate for the school absences within primary education. Inspection reports from school supervisors and inspectors in Iaşi County painted a specific picture of how the primary school participated in transforming rural realities.

Keywords: rural schools; primary education; farming practices; extracurricular activities; Iaşi.

Claudiu-Lucian TOPOR

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2024-0019

Abstract: The occupation policies and the interaction of the Germans with the populations of Eastern Europe have become a topic of interest especially in postWorld War II research interested in observing the continuity or discontinuity with the policies adopted by the German authorities in the context of the First World War. But what about Romania? With the attack in the summer of 1916, the Reich Germans’ perceptions of Romanians changed fundamentally as it became necessary to inculcate a new image of Romania as an aggressor nation. The official propaganda presented the German combatants with the image of a treacherous Romania and a people dominated by pretense. The German military occupation of Romania ended in the fall of 1918, but the publication of the memoirs of the former combatants did not take the end of the war into account. The memoirs were enriched every year after 1916. In the inter-war years, however, there was also a new impetus in the publicity generated by the need to justify the reasons for the war. German memoirs portray the Romanians as dirty, fickle, cunning and treacherous. Germany’s war in Eastern Europe is thus transformed into a struggle that ultimately reveals the supremacy of German culture. Occupied Romania was not only to be exploited economically but also entrusted to a cultural mission. As is evident from many of the writings written during the war, the victorious Germany discovered a new colonial mission in the East: to transform the backward natives from a savage mob into a civilized people of Europe.

Keywords: Germany; War; Military occupation; civilization; Romanian people.