Alexander Mourousis
Encyclopedia
Alexander Mourousis was a Great Dragoman
of the Ottoman Empire
who served as Prince of Moldavia
and Prince of Wallachia
. Open to Enlightenment
ideas, and noted for his interest in hydrological engineering, Mourousis was forced to deal with the intrusions of Osman Pazvantoğlu
's rebellious troops. In a rare gesture for his period, he renounced the throne in Wallachia, and his second rule in Moldavia was cut short by the intrigues of French
diplomat Horace Sébastiani
.
of Phanariotes
and the son of Constantine Mourousis
(one of the few Ottoman-appointed Princes to die in office), he was educated to speak six languages in addition to his native Greek. Alexander was Great Dragoman under Sultan
Selim III
, in which capacity he helped mediate the 1791 Treaty of Jassy
, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. Selim rewarded his service by appointing him to the throne in Iaşi
(Moldavia) in January 1792, and transferred a year later to the throne of Bucharest
(1793–1796), where his first year in office coincided with a bubonic plague
outbreak (which he dealt with by quarantining
and confining the ill to the village of Dudeşti
).
Dismissed owing to intrigues at the Ottoman court, he was reinstated in Bucharest (1798–1801). In 1799, he passed a resolution ending the labor conflict at the cloth factory in Pociovalişte (presently part of Bucharest). After reforming its system of worker employment and payment, as well as hiring Saxon
experts from Transylvania
to manage the industry, he denied the worker' request to institute two weeks off for each week of labor, and ordered activities to be resumed, while stressing that it was imperative to respect the Ottoman demand for textiles (see Labor movement in Romania). At the time, the employees did not receive payment, but worked in exchange for tax exemption
s.
Over the following year, Mourousis had to deal with the incursion of Pazvantoğlu's rebellious troops in Oltenia
, which resulted in the plundering and burning down much of the city of Craiova
. News of the Craiova's destruction reached Bucharest and Mourousis forbade fleeing the city; however, this did not prevent the boyar
s from sending their wealth into Habsburg
lands for safekeeping. Mourousis built fortifications on the road to Craiova and on the banks of Olt River
; he attacked Pazvantoğlu's troops, who used the city's ruins as barricade
s — after several days of fighting, Pazvantoğlu and his troops fled Craiova and returned to Vidin
. Powerless against the latter's destructive attacks, he asked to be relieved of his position, and, in a highly unusual gesture, paid off Ottoman authorities in exchange for his own replacement.
At the insistence of the French Empire
, he was again appointed Prince of Moldavia (1802–1806 and 1806–1807), but was ultimately dismissed through another French intervention at the Porte - on August 12, 1806, Horace Sébastiani
, the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, called on Selim III to punish Constantine Ypsilantis
' pro-Russian activities in Wallachia, and to prevent a Moldavian-Wallachian-Russian alliance. This last event constituted one of the causes for the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812
.
Mustafa IV
ordered Mourousis to be sent to the galleys, but he was pardoned soon after. He died at his home in Istanbul
, and rumor had it that he was poisoned.
. The prince belonged to the Freemasonry
, having affiliated with two separate Lodges
: in 1773, he was a member of the one active in the Transylvania
n city of Hermannstadt
, and, after 1803, belonged to the Moldavian Freemason branch in Galaţi
. His Western contacts and his political ideals were probably connected with the goal of uniting the two Danubian Principalities
under a single prince, as a symbolic legacy of Dacia
: an 1800 atlas
published in Vienna
referred to his two rules as a single leadership of "the two Dacias". As local legislation was primarily based on Byzantine law
, he acknowledged the importance given to the Hexabiblos of 14th century Byzantine
jurist Konstantinos Armenopoulos
, and ordered it to be translated into Romanian
— although it failed to become official law in Wallachia, the Hexabiblos was widely used for reference by the Bucharest Divan.
During his rules in Bucharest, Mourousis notably rebuilt the princely residence of Curtea Nouă
, instituted a boyar
office as centralized tax
collection in the capital city, and increased the water supply by tapping sources in the Cotroceni
area. His interest in waterworks was also manifested during his stay in Moldavia, where he tapped water and built a reservoir
for the capital Iaşi (through a system leading up to Golia Monastery
) and provided Focşani
with water from over the Milcov River
(achieved following an understanding with Wallachia's Alexander Ypsilantis). It was in 1793 that the first modern retailing
firm was inaugurated in Wallachia, maintained by the Frenchman Hortolan.
Under his rules, Wallachian and Moldavian ships for navigation on the Danube
were built at newly-created shipyard
s. He also organized the first mail delivery system in Moldavia. Like his father before him, Alexander Mourousis founded schools and donated six-year scholarship
s for disadvantaged children. Among the educational institutions he created was the Orthodox
seminary
in Iaşi's Socola Monastery
. He took a personal interest in scientific education, and attended experiments in physics
at the Moldavian capital's Princely School.
During his first reign over Moldavia, Mourousis notably passed a resolution clarifying the surface of land which boyars were required to allocate to peasants working on their estates. It is the first document to divide agricultural workers into the three traditional categories, based on the number of oxen owned, of fruntaşi ("foremost people"), mijlocaşi ("middle people") and codaşi ("backward people"). At the time, it was recorded that associations of fruntaşi could function as estate leaseholders
in the service of boyars or Orthodox monasteries. This right was suppressed in 1815.
authored by the Moldavian boyar poet Costache Conachi, who praised the prince's achievements in hydrotechnics. Comments made on the poem, published by the Romantic nationalist
Gheorghe Sion, were the subject of an 1873 disagreement between him and literary critic Titu Maiorescu
. The latter placed Sion's essay among his examples of "inebriation with words" (a term which he and the Junimea
society had coined as a definition for incoherent and needlessly subjective criticism).
Dragoman
A dragoman was an interpreter, translator and official guide between Turkish, Arabic, and Persian-speaking countries and polities of the Middle East and European embassies, consulates, vice-consulates and trading posts...
of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
who served as Prince of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
and Prince of Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
. Open to Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
ideas, and noted for his interest in hydrological engineering, Mourousis was forced to deal with the intrusions of Osman Pazvantoğlu
Osman Pazvantoglu
Osman Pazvantoğlu was a Bosnian Ottoman soldier, a governor of the Vidin district after 1794, and a rebel against Ottoman rule...
's rebellious troops. In a rare gesture for his period, he renounced the throne in Wallachia, and his second rule in Moldavia was cut short by the intrigues of French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
diplomat Horace Sébastiani
Horace François Bastien, baron Sébastiani
Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta was a French soldier, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy. Joining the French Revolutionary Army in his youth, he rose in its ranks and became a supporter...
.
Biography
A member of the Mourousis familyMourousis family
The Mourousis or Moruzi are a family which was first mentioned in the Empire of Trebizond. Its origins have been lost, but the two prevalent theories are that they were either a local family originating in a village which has a related name or else one that arrived with the Venetians during the...
of Phanariotes
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
and the son of Constantine Mourousis
Constantine Mourousis
Constantine Demetrius Mourousis was a Phanariote Prince of Moldavia, and member of the Mourousis family...
(one of the few Ottoman-appointed Princes to die in office), he was educated to speak six languages in addition to his native Greek. Alexander was Great Dragoman under Sultan
Ottoman Dynasty
The Ottoman Dynasty ruled the Ottoman Empire from 1299 to 1922, beginning with Osman I , though the dynasty was not proclaimed until Orhan Bey declared himself sultan...
Selim III
Selim III
Selim III was the reform-minded Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. The Janissaries eventually deposed and imprisoned him, and placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV...
, in which capacity he helped mediate the 1791 Treaty of Jassy
Treaty of Jassy
The Treaty of Jassy, signed at Jassy in Moldavia , was a pact between the Russian and Ottoman Empires ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–92 and confirming Russia's increasing dominance in the Black Sea....
, ending the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. Selim rewarded his service by appointing him to the throne in Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
(Moldavia) in January 1792, and transferred a year later to the throne of Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....
(1793–1796), where his first year in office coincided with a bubonic plague
Bubonic plague
Plague is a deadly infectious disease that is caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis, named after the French-Swiss bacteriologist Alexandre Yersin. Primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas, the disease is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death...
outbreak (which he dealt with by quarantining
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
and confining the ill to the village of Dudeşti
Dudesti, Bucharest
Dudeşti is a neighbourhood in south-eastern Bucharest, along the Calea Dudeşti. Nearby neighbourhoods include Vitan, Văcăreşti and Dristor....
).
Dismissed owing to intrigues at the Ottoman court, he was reinstated in Bucharest (1798–1801). In 1799, he passed a resolution ending the labor conflict at the cloth factory in Pociovalişte (presently part of Bucharest). After reforming its system of worker employment and payment, as well as hiring Saxon
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
experts from Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
to manage the industry, he denied the worker' request to institute two weeks off for each week of labor, and ordered activities to be resumed, while stressing that it was imperative to respect the Ottoman demand for textiles (see Labor movement in Romania). At the time, the employees did not receive payment, but worked in exchange for tax exemption
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
s.
Over the following year, Mourousis had to deal with the incursion of Pazvantoğlu's rebellious troops in Oltenia
Oltenia
Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....
, which resulted in the plundering and burning down much of the city of Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
. News of the Craiova's destruction reached Bucharest and Mourousis forbade fleeing the city; however, this did not prevent the boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s from sending their wealth into Habsburg
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
lands for safekeeping. Mourousis built fortifications on the road to Craiova and on the banks of Olt River
Olt River
The Olt River is a river in Romania. It is the longest river flowing exclusively through Romania. Its source is in the Hăşmaş Mountains of the eastern Carpathian Mountains, near the village Bălan. It flows through the Romanian counties Harghita, Covasna, Braşov, Sibiu, Vâlcea and Olt...
; he attacked Pazvantoğlu's troops, who used the city's ruins as barricade
Barricade
Barricade, from the French barrique , is any object or structure that creates a barrier or obstacle to control, block passage or force the flow of traffic in the desired direction...
s — after several days of fighting, Pazvantoğlu and his troops fled Craiova and returned to Vidin
Vidin
Vidin is a port town on the southern bank of the Danube in northwestern Bulgaria. It is close to the borders with Serbia and Romania, and is also the administrative centre of Vidin Province, as well as of the Metropolitan of Vidin...
. Powerless against the latter's destructive attacks, he asked to be relieved of his position, and, in a highly unusual gesture, paid off Ottoman authorities in exchange for his own replacement.
At the insistence of the French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
, he was again appointed Prince of Moldavia (1802–1806 and 1806–1807), but was ultimately dismissed through another French intervention at the Porte - on August 12, 1806, Horace Sébastiani
Horace François Bastien, baron Sébastiani
Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta was a French soldier, diplomat, and politician, who served as Naval Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State under the July Monarchy. Joining the French Revolutionary Army in his youth, he rose in its ranks and became a supporter...
, the French Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, called on Selim III to punish Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis
Constantine Ypsilantis , was the son of Alexander Ypsilanti, a key member of an important Phanariote family, Grand dragoman of the Porte , hospodar of Moldavia and Walachia , and a Prince through marriage to the daughter of Alexandru Callimachi.-The Liberation of Greece from the Ottoman...
' pro-Russian activities in Wallachia, and to prevent a Moldavian-Wallachian-Russian alliance. This last event constituted one of the causes for the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812
Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812
The Russo-Turkish War was one of many wars fought between Imperial Russia and the Ottoman Empire.- Background :The war broke out in 1805–1806 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars...
.
Mustafa IV
Mustafa IV
Mustafa IV was sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1807 to 1808.-Biography:...
ordered Mourousis to be sent to the galleys, but he was pardoned soon after. He died at his home in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, and rumor had it that he was poisoned.
Achievements
Mourousis was an Enlightenment prince, whose time on the two thrones was connected with modernizationModernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
. The prince belonged to the Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, having affiliated with two separate Lodges
Masonic Lodge
This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...
: in 1773, he was a member of the one active in the Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
n city of Hermannstadt
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, and, after 1803, belonged to the Moldavian Freemason branch in Galaţi
Galati
Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....
. His Western contacts and his political ideals were probably connected with the goal of uniting the two Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
under a single prince, as a symbolic legacy of Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
: an 1800 atlas
Atlas
An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a map of Earth or a region of Earth, but there are atlases of the other planets in the Solar System. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats...
published in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
referred to his two rules as a single leadership of "the two Dacias". As local legislation was primarily based on Byzantine law
Byzantine law
Byzantine Law was essentially a continuation of Roman Law with Christian influence, however, this is not to doubt its later influence on the western practice of jurisprudence...
, he acknowledged the importance given to the Hexabiblos of 14th century Byzantine
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
jurist Konstantinos Armenopoulos
Konstantinos Armenopoulos
Constantine Harmenopoulos was a Byzantine jurist from Greece who held the post of katholikos kritēs of Thessalonica, one of the highest judicial offices in the Byzantine Empire....
, and ordered it to be translated into Romanian
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
— although it failed to become official law in Wallachia, the Hexabiblos was widely used for reference by the Bucharest Divan.
During his rules in Bucharest, Mourousis notably rebuilt the princely residence of Curtea Nouă
Curtea Noua
Curtea Nouă was the residence of the Princes of Wallachia between 1776 and 1812.Located near the Mihai Vodă Monastery, on Dealul Spirii in Bucharest, it was built between 1775-1776 during the rule of Alexander Ypsilantis, and it meant to replace the old princely court at Curtea Veche.Curtea Nouă...
, instituted a boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
office as centralized tax
Tax
To tax is to impose a financial charge or other levy upon a taxpayer by a state or the functional equivalent of a state such that failure to pay is punishable by law. Taxes are also imposed by many subnational entities...
collection in the capital city, and increased the water supply by tapping sources in the Cotroceni
Cotroceni
Cotroceni is a neighbourhood in western Bucharest, Romania located around the Cotroceni hill, in Bucharest's Sector 6.The Hill of Cotroceni was once covered by the forest of Vlăsia, which covered most of today's Bucharest...
area. His interest in waterworks was also manifested during his stay in Moldavia, where he tapped water and built a reservoir
Reservoir
A reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
for the capital Iaşi (through a system leading up to Golia Monastery
Golia Monastery
The Golia Monastery is a Romanian Orthodox monastery located in Iaşi, Romania. The monastery is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments.-History:...
) and provided Focşani
Focsani
Focşani is the capital city of Vrancea County in Romania on the shores the Milcov river, in the historical region of Moldavia. It has a population of 101,854.-Geography:...
with water from over the Milcov River
Milcov River
The Milcov River is a tributary of the Putna River in eastern Romania. The city of Focşani used to lie on it. Due to floods, however, the riverbed moved a few kilometers away, south of the city....
(achieved following an understanding with Wallachia's Alexander Ypsilantis). It was in 1793 that the first modern retailing
Retailing
Retail consists of the sale of physical goods or merchandise from a fixed location, such as a department store, boutique or kiosk, or by mail, in small or individual lots for direct consumption by the purchaser. Retailing may include subordinated services, such as delivery. Purchasers may be...
firm was inaugurated in Wallachia, maintained by the Frenchman Hortolan.
Under his rules, Wallachian and Moldavian ships for navigation on the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
were built at newly-created shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
s. He also organized the first mail delivery system in Moldavia. Like his father before him, Alexander Mourousis founded schools and donated six-year scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
s for disadvantaged children. Among the educational institutions he created was the Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
in Iaşi's Socola Monastery
Socola Monastery
Socola Monastery or Schimbarea la Faţă was a Romanian Orthodox establishment located in the eponymous quarter of southern Iaşi, Romania. Founded during Moldavia's existence as a state, it was erected and dedicated by Moldavian Prince Alexandru Lăpuşneanu in 1562, and originally functioned as nunnery...
. He took a personal interest in scientific education, and attended experiments in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the Moldavian capital's Princely School.
During his first reign over Moldavia, Mourousis notably passed a resolution clarifying the surface of land which boyars were required to allocate to peasants working on their estates. It is the first document to divide agricultural workers into the three traditional categories, based on the number of oxen owned, of fruntaşi ("foremost people"), mijlocaşi ("middle people") and codaşi ("backward people"). At the time, it was recorded that associations of fruntaşi could function as estate leaseholders
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
in the service of boyars or Orthodox monasteries. This right was suppressed in 1815.
In cultural reference
Mourousis was the recipient of a panegyricPanegyric
A panegyric is a formal public speech, or written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from the Greek πανηγυρικός meaning "a speech fit for a general assembly"...
authored by the Moldavian boyar poet Costache Conachi, who praised the prince's achievements in hydrotechnics. Comments made on the poem, published by the Romantic nationalist
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
Gheorghe Sion, were the subject of an 1873 disagreement between him and literary critic Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
. The latter placed Sion's essay among his examples of "inebriation with words" (a term which he and the Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
society had coined as a definition for incoherent and needlessly subjective criticism).
Further reading
- Florin Marinescu. Etude genealogique sur la famille Mourouzi ("Genealogical Study of the Mourousis Family"), Centre de Recherches Néohelléniques, Athens, 1987.