Gheorghe Bibescu
Encyclopedia
Gheorghe Bibescu was a hospodar
(Prince) of Wallachia
between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide
that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution.
as the first son of Dimitrie Bibescu, a member of the Bibescu boyar
family, he studied Law
in Paris
. After his return to Wallachia, he was elected deputy in the Extraordinary Public Assembly, the legislative forum
established by the Imperial Russian overseers at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829
, representing the Dolj County
during the Pavel Kiseleff administration. He subsequently took on different offices, including that of secretary of state. Before his election as hospodar, he was seen as an opponent of his predecessor, Alexandru II Ghica
.
took place in Wallachia; these were carried out by a representative assembly, and had been prompted by Ghica's abuse. Of many candidates, Bibescu and his older brother, Barbu Ştirbei, were the most popular choices with Imperial Russia. Bibescu was elected hospodar, supported by both the conservative
boyars and the younger liberals. One of his first gestures in office was to grant pardon
to radicals
who had conspired
against Ghica (including Mitică Filipescu and Nicolae Bălcescu
).
Bibescu did not change the government immediately after the election, as it was made up mostly of Ghica's political adversaries. However, his relations with the Public Assembly started to deteriorate due to disagreements on several legislative projects.
In the spring of 1844, the Wallachian government approved the request of the Russian engineer Alexander Trandafiloff, to be allowed to administer the country's mines (which were subject to private ownership). Moreover, if any mine owner did not begin extracting from their mines within 18 months, the Russian company was to take over the administration of the mines for 12 years, by paying 10% of the income to the owner and 10% to the Wallachian state.
Bibescu approved the contract, but the Public Assembly protested against it: the deputies saw it as an intervention of the protecting power
in local politics. The contract was eventually cancelled, but, caught between the Assembly's position and the Russian authorities, on March 4, 1844, Bibescu dissolved the Public Assembly with the approval of Russian Emperor Nicholas I
. When elections for the body were convened in November 1846, he used several means to silence opposition, thus awarding himself a subservient legislature
. A clear separation between him and Romantic nationalists
occurred when he ordered the refoundation of the Saint Sava College
as a French-language school — based on his view that Romanian
was incompatible with modernization
.
Two and a half years after that, Bibescu passed laws for public works
and public administration. In the summer of 1844, he took a long trip through the country in order to inspect the public institutions and local authorities in the major cities.
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In December 1846, he was advised by Kiseleff to call for new Public Assembly elections. The elections brought a new Assembly dominated by politicians loyal to the hospodar. With this legislature, Bibescu passed several important laws, such as a new law on the Eastern Orthodox
clergy
, one that allowed the hospodar to approve the church budget, and a law freeing all the Roma slaves
who belonged to the church and to the public authorities.
Gheorghe Bibescu worked for better relations with Moldavia
(the other Danubian Principality
under Russian supervision), and, starting 1847, the two countries established a customs union
, after an agreement with Mihail Sturdza
, the Moldavian hospodar. This was the culmination of his attempt to remove Wallachia's traders and guild
s from foreign competition (see Sudiţi
), first manifested in his project to increase tax
es on foreign goods.
Bibescu also convinced the Russian government to allow him to impose some taxes on those monasteries
that had been dedicated
to various Orthodox centers of worship outside the Danubian Principalities' territories (the ownership issue, stringent ever since the end of the Phanariote epoch
, implied that church property eluded state intervention, channelling income towards places such as Mount Athos
; it was to be settled through secularization
under the rule of Alexander John Cuza
).
In the summer of 1848, the revolution broke out. Initially, Wallachian radicals had unsuccessfully attempted to attract Bibescu to their side. They then issued the Islaz Proclamation of June 9, 1848. On June 11, Gheorghe Bibescu accepted the proclamation and two days later, abdicated
and left the country, leaving it to be ruled by a Provisoral Government which succumbed to Ottoman
intervention in September. In 1859, Bibescu was presented as candidate to the throne by the conservatives who opposed Wallachia's union with Moldavia.
He died in Paris.
, therefore inheriting all the titles and wealth. The marriage was unsuccessful, as Zoe became mentally ill. Bibescu entered into a conflict with the Orthodox Church, as he wanted to divorce
Zoe. He eventually managed to obtain the divorce in 1845 and in September of the same year, he married Maria Văcărescu, in Focşani
.
The Brâncoveanu patrimony passed on to Zoe and Gheorghe Bibescu's son, Grégoire Bibesco-Bassaraba (the father of Anne de Noailles
).
Hospodar
Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".The rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia were styled hospodars in Slavic writings from the 15th century to 1866. Hospodar was used in addition to the title voivod...
(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...
between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution.
Early political career
Born in CraiovaCraiova
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...
as the first son of Dimitrie Bibescu, a member of the Bibescu 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....
family, he studied Law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. After his return to Wallachia, he was elected deputy in the Extraordinary Public Assembly, the legislative forum
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
established by the Imperial Russian overseers at the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
, representing the Dolj County
Dolj County
Dolj -Jiu, "lower Jiu", toward Gorj ) is a county of Romania, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova .- Demographics :In 2002, it had a population of 734,231 and a population density of 99/km²....
during the Pavel Kiseleff administration. He subsequently took on different offices, including that of secretary of state. Before his election as hospodar, he was seen as an opponent of his predecessor, Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II Ghica
Alexandru II or Alexandru D. Ghica , a member of the Ghica family, was Prince of Wallachia from April 1834 to 7 October 1842 and later caimacam from July 1856 to October 1858....
.
Election
On January 1, 1843, the first (and only) elections carried out in accordance with the Organic StatuteRegulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
took place in Wallachia; these were carried out by a representative assembly, and had been prompted by Ghica's abuse. Of many candidates, Bibescu and his older brother, Barbu Ştirbei, were the most popular choices with Imperial Russia. Bibescu was elected hospodar, supported by both the conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
boyars and the younger liberals. One of his first gestures in office was to grant pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
to radicals
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania
This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...
who had conspired
Conspiracy (political)
In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'état or through assassination....
against Ghica (including Mitică Filipescu and Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
).
Bibescu did not change the government immediately after the election, as it was made up mostly of Ghica's political adversaries. However, his relations with the Public Assembly started to deteriorate due to disagreements on several legislative projects.
The Trandafiloff affair and dissolution of the Assembly
Bibescu approved the contract, but the Public Assembly protested against it: the deputies saw it as an intervention of the protecting power
Protecting power
A protecting power is a state which somehow protects another state, and/or represents the interests of the protected state's citizens in a third state....
in local politics. The contract was eventually cancelled, but, caught between the Assembly's position and the Russian authorities, on March 4, 1844, Bibescu dissolved the Public Assembly with the approval of Russian Emperor Nicholas I
Nicholas I of Russia
Nicholas I , was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, known as one of the most reactionary of the Russian monarchs. On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its historical zenith spanning over 20 million square kilometers...
. When elections for the body were convened in November 1846, he used several means to silence opposition, thus awarding himself a subservient legislature
Legislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
. A clear separation between him and Romantic nationalists
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...
occurred when he ordered the refoundation of the Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College
Saint Sava College was one of the earliest academic institutions in Wallachia, Romania. It was the predecessor to both Saint Sava National College and the University of Bucharest.-History:...
as a French-language school — based on his view that 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...
was incompatible with modernization
Modernization
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...
.
Two and a half years after that, Bibescu passed laws for public works
Public works
Public works are a broad category of projects, financed and constructed by the government, for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community...
and public administration. In the summer of 1844, he took a long trip through the country in order to inspect the public institutions and local authorities in the major cities.
On the eve of the Revolution of 1848
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, one that allowed the hospodar to approve the church budget, and a law freeing all the Roma slaves
Slavery
Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
who belonged to the church and to the public authorities.
Gheorghe Bibescu worked for better relations with 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...
(the other Danubian Principality
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 Russian supervision), and, starting 1847, the two countries established a customs union
Customs union
A customs union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a free trade area with a common external tariff. The participant countries set up common external trade policy, but in some cases they use different import quotas...
, after an agreement with Mihail Sturdza
Mihail Sturdza
Mihail Sturdza was a prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. A man of liberal education, he established the Mihaileana Academy, a kind of university, in Iaşi. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the...
, the Moldavian hospodar. This was the culmination of his attempt to remove Wallachia's traders and guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s from foreign competition (see Sudiţi
Suditi
For the commune in Ialomiţa County, see Sudiţi, Ialomiţa. For the villages in Buzău County, see Gherăseni and Poşta Câlnău.The Sudiţi were inhabitants of the Danubian Principalities who, for the latter stage of the 18th and a large part of the 19th century...
), first manifested in his project to increase 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...
es on foreign goods.
Bibescu also convinced the Russian government to allow him to impose some taxes on those monasteries
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
that had been dedicated
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
to various Orthodox centers of worship outside the Danubian Principalities' territories (the ownership issue, stringent ever since the end of the Phanariote epoch
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...
, implied that church property eluded state intervention, channelling income towards places such as Mount Athos
Mount Athos
Mount Athos is a mountain and peninsula in Macedonia, Greece. A World Heritage Site, it is home to 20 Eastern Orthodox monasteries and forms a self-governed monastic state within the sovereignty of the Hellenic Republic. Spiritually, Mount Athos comes under the direct jurisdiction of the...
; it was to be settled through secularization
Secularization
Secularization is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions...
under the rule of Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza
Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...
).
Abdication
Abdication occurs when a monarch, such as a king or emperor, renounces his office.-Terminology:The word abdication comes derives from the Latin abdicatio. meaning to disown or renounce...
and left the country, leaving it to be ruled by a Provisoral Government which succumbed to Ottoman
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...
intervention in September. In 1859, Bibescu was presented as candidate to the throne by the conservatives who opposed Wallachia's union with Moldavia.
He died in Paris.
Personal life
Gheorghe Bibescu was married to Zoe Brâncoveanu, the last of the Brâncoveanu familyCraiovesti
The Craiovești , later Brâncovenești , were a boyar family in Wallachia who gave the country several of its Princes and held the title of Ban of Oltenia for ca...
, therefore inheriting all the titles and wealth. The marriage was unsuccessful, as Zoe became mentally ill. Bibescu entered into a conflict with the Orthodox Church, as he wanted to divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
Zoe. He eventually managed to obtain the divorce in 1845 and in September of the same year, he married Maria Văcărescu, in 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:...
.
The Brâncoveanu patrimony passed on to Zoe and Gheorghe Bibescu's son, Grégoire Bibesco-Bassaraba (the father of Anne de Noailles
Anne de Noailles
Anna, Comtesse Mathieu de Noailles , was a Romanian-French writer.-Biography:Born Princess Anna Elisabeth Bibesco-Bassaraba de Brancovan in Paris, she was a descendant of the Bibescu and Craioveşti families of Romanian boyars...
).