Claudiu-Lucian TOPOR

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0016

Abstract: Although it had ended up on the winning side at the end of the Great War, Romania had to find answers to a host of difficult questions. Probably the most pressing of these was the issue of armaments. Thrown by nationalist politicians into the midst of an industrial war, Romania, a medium-sized agricultural country, found few resources to adequately equip its army in wartime. Detached from its German alliances and anchored in a neutrality that actually meant military expectant, Romania could no longer procure supplies from its usual (traditional) suppliers in Germany and Austria-Hungary. Old orders were blocked and no longer sent to Bucharest. The Entente forces remained the only option for supplying weapons, but the needs of France and Russia were so great that it was difficult to help Romania on time. Transport difficulties after the collapse of Serbia added to the problem, so that much of Romania’s ammunition remained in storage or arrived with long delays after transiting Russian ports on the North Sea. The issue of armaments and its political responsibilities is the subject of this research. It also brings back into focus the debate on the responsibility of the Romanians for the war, which has remained open since the interwar years. While government statistics sought (and partially succeeded) to justify the government’s armament policy with all its shortcomings, the testimonies of combatants brought to light dramatic sequences from the sad epic of this war. Two distinct models of discourse emerged, coexisting under a hidden tension in the postwar period: the institutional narrative and the private narrative of the war. By examining the two versions, this study differentiates between two antagonistic dimensions of the narrative of armament, revealing a dichotomy that dismantles the myth of the unity of meaning in perceptions during the war years.

Keywords: World War I; Romania; ammunition; army; defeat; responsibility.

Ciprian-Lucreţius SUCIU, Florin MARINESCU

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0015

Abstract: This paper analyzes the life and work of Archimandrite Antipa Dinescu (1859-1942), one of the most prominent Romanian spiritual fathers at Mount Athos and the superior of the Prodromou Skete between 1900 and 1914. The study focuses on his monastic formation, the organization and development of the skete, and his administrative, cultural, and diplomatic contributions to the Romanian monastic community at Athos. It examines his activities within the “Society of the Colony of Romanian Monks at Athos,” his relations with Romanian and Greek authorities, and the internal conflict that led to his dismissal in 1914. The paper also highlights his writings and their subsequent impact on Romanian monastic tradition, emphasizing Antipa Dinescu’s complex personality, marked by spiritual authority, administrative vigor, and his significant role in the history of Romanian Athonite monasticism.

Keywords: Antipa Dinescu; Mount Athos; Prodromou Skete; Romanian monasticism.

Tamara BOTEZ

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0014

Abstract: The study addresses the use of traditional folk costumes by members of the Romanian Royal Family as a factor intended to strengthen the bond between the sovereign and the nation. By adopting and promoting traditional costumes, the monarchy, initially perceived as foreign, demonstrated its roots in Romanian culture and tradition. National attire became a symbol of identity and representation, consolidating the legitimacy of royal authority. The women of the royal family played an essential role, especially Queen Elisabeth (wife of Charles I) and, later, Queen Mary (wife of Ferdinand I, grandson and successor of Charles I). They frequently adopted and promoted traditional dress at official events and charity events. Promoted at the highest level, traditional dress represented an element of unified national identity at a time when the modern Romanian state was in the process of defining itself. Traditional dress became a symbol that conferred national identity on the wearer. Under the reign of Charles I, folk costume evolved from simple peasant clothing to a national symbol embraced by the ruling elite, used strategically by the monarchy to strengthen its position and align itself with the nationalist trend of the era.

Keywords: Romania; performing monarchy; national attire; national identity; legitimacy.

Simion CÂLŢIA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0013

Abstract: Our research aims to analyse how the Bucharest municipality regulated the price of bread between 1864 and 1912. In the first part of the article, we explain why bread had a special status, different from most other foods, which resulted in special interest from the authorities. We also present the administrative tools available to the City Hall, as well as the existing technological constraints. In the second part of the text, we analyse chronologically the various measures taken by successive City Hall administrations, highlighting the hesitations and reversals, the authorities’ efforts to ensure cheap bread, but also the limits of the enacted measures. Finally, we discuss some general aspects related to the political concepts and administrative practices of the municipality.

Keywords: City policy; bread; price; food security; municipal administration; regulations; bakers.

Simion-Alexandru GAVRIŞ

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0012

Abstract: The political stability of the conservative government led by Lascăr Catargiu (1871-1876) allowed the introduction of several important reforms. The present text focuses on three administrative projects adopted during this period: The Maximum of Local Taxes Act (1871); the revision of the County Councils Act (1872); the revision of the Communal Act (1874). The analysis of these texts and of the speeches of Lascăr Catargiu – also head of the Interior Ministry, at the time – shows that the conservatives did not rigidly adhere to a program of centralization or local autonomy. The government preferred a pragmatic approach, dictated primarily by the principles of administrative efficiency and reduction of public spending.

Keywords: conservatism; centralization; local autonomy; local taxes; County Councils Act; Communal Act; political pragmatism.

Laurenţiu RĂDVAN

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0011

Abstract: Among the plans discovered at Military-Historical Archive in Moscow is one drawn up by Russian surveyors in the first year of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829. After working in Iaşi and Galaţi, the specialists moved to Focşani, where not one but two towns (one for each country) had developed at the customs post on the border between Moldavia and Wallachia, separated only by a branch of the Milcov River. Of the two, Focşanii Moldoveni was more developed, as evidenced by the larger number of churches. The surveyors led by first-class surveyor Rujiţki covered not only the area of the two towns, but also the surrounding territory, including several neighboring villages. The urban space is captured primarily with the main buildings, i.e., churches and monasteries; added to this is the built environment, houses and shops made of stone and wood, without naming the owners. There are a few errors when identifying some churches, due to the fact that they had identical patron saints (there are no fewer than five churches dedicated to St. Nicholas in the two towns), a situation that can be explained by the short time available to the surveyors; however, the locals knew the churches very well and identified them by their founders and neighborhoods. The main streets (uliţe) and neighborhoods (mahalale) are noted. The number of courtyards is given, both in the two Focşani (a total of 1,579, of interest because they were taxable units) and in the neighboring villages. The hydrography of the area is also well captured. The plan is valuable in that it captures the two towns of Focşani before the modernization process triggered by the Organic Regulation, adopted in 1831-1832.

Keywords: Focşani; Moldavia; historical cartography; plan; Rujiţki.

Alexandru GOREA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0010

Abstract: This study examines the consequences of the devastating fire that broke out in December 1784, which completely affected the Princely Court of Iaşi and brought an end to its medieval configuration. The research focuses on how this critical event influenced the physical arrangements used for the exercise of princely authority, analyzing the immediate reactions of the community and the princely administration, the provisional solutions adopted after the crisis, and the establishment of temporary residences for the rulers of Moldavia. Particular attention is given to the period 1795-1804, when the princely administration became the owner of houses purchased from Costache Ghica. The interpretation of historical sources highlights several aspects of this interval: the exact date of the sale of those houses, their use as official residences of the princes until the reconstruction of the new princely palace by Alexandru Moruzi, and the temporary use of the Church of Saint Spiridon as a princely church. By bringing together these documentary data and observations, the study provides a perspective on the impact and consequences of the 1784 fire on the physical presence and functioning of princely authority in Moldavia at the end of the eighteenth century.

Keywords: Iaşi; Moldavia; Princely residence; urban fire; Saint Spiridon Church.

Iulian MOGA

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0009

Abstract: Foolishness for Christ is a rare charism of the Holy Spirit. Few are called to perfect themselves through this path of extreme asceticism, but even fewer are those who manage to complete this incredibly difficult endeavour. Following the path of self-sacrifice and assuming the identity of her unexpectedly deceased husband, Saint Xenia continued to live for countless years without a permanent dwelling, enduring fierce cold, heat, thirst, hunger, mockery, insults, and temptations of all kinds, for the sake of her boundless love for God and her husband. Differences in perception between the initial sparse information available in the press at the time and other contemporary works and current perception are noticeable and worth emphasizing.

Keywords: St Xenia; Russia; Peter the Great; prophecies; self-sacrifice; holy fool.

Elena BEDREAG

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0008

Abstract: Based on a series of archival sources, this paper aims to bring into the academic circuit a number of heritage sources (wills, dowry lists, lists of expenses and goods used for funerals and memorial services, inventories after death) that provide important details and information about social history in general and family history in particular. These documents offer valuable insights into social and family history. In addition to revealing the feelings and mentality of the people of that time, all these sources provide information about the kinship between the various analysed characters.
Therefore, this study considers a series of genealogical additions and corrections relating to several 18th-century families. This research uncovers other untold stories about the boyars and noblewomen of that time. It examines the behaviour of these people and how they divided their wealth, managed family affairs and dealt with problems. The investigation of kinship and legal behaviour was naturally complemented by observations of a material nature. Beyond the testaments’ details, lists of funeral and memorial service expenses and dowry lists provide important information about the material world surrounding these families.

Keywords: family; Moldavia; wills; dowry; inventories after death; genealogy.

Gheorghe LAZĂR

DOI: 10.47743/asui-2025-0007

Abstract: The knowledge and understanding of how the princely chancellery functioned represents an important objective, one that can offer multiple answers regarding the institutional evolution of the extra-Carpathian Romanian states. However, achieving such an objective requires not only an exhaustive and long-term research of the documents issued by this institution, but also prosopographical research focused on capturing the multiple dimensions of this professional category. Taking these prerequisites into account, the present study will highlight several relevant aspects of the activity and family of one such “servant of the pen”, Iane Dâmboviceanu.
Dâmboviceanu belonged to a professional group that is not only numerically limited, but also insufficiently researched – namely, “the secret logothetes”. Attested in documents beginning with the ascension of Constantin Brâncoveanu (1688-1714) to the Wallachian throne, these logothetes enjoyed a special status within the princely chancellery, being in the direct service of the ruler and entrusted with activities and missions known only to a small circle of political decision-makers. The first part of this study presents the activity carried out by Iane Dâmboviceanu, beginning in 1694 – the year he is first attested in sources as a simple logothete – and traces the various political missions and “services” entrusted to him by Constantin Brâncoveanu and the rulers who followed him until the middle of the 18th century. The loyalty and conscientiousness with which he accomplished the duties entrusted to him throughout this period earned him recognition and fiscal privileges granted by the ruler. However, there were also moments of turning point, if we take into account the fact that he had to accompany the family of prince Brâncoveanu in their exile from the Asian space of the Ottoman Empire (in Kutahya). The second part of the study provides interesting details from this princely logothete’s family life – particularly regarding his marriage to Maria Bălăcescu, his second wife, as well as his land acquisitions and his involvement in the foundation of the church of Dâmbovicioara, in Dâmboviţa County. In the annex of this study, a number of six documents are published, unknown to the existing scholarly literature, yet highly relevant to the present research.

Keywords: the princely chancellery; Walachia; the Secret Logothetes; Iane Dâmboviceanu; 18th century.