Jean Alexandre Vaillant
Encyclopedia
Jean Alexandre Vaillant was a French
and Romania
n teacher, political activist, historian, linguist and translator, who was noted for his activities in Wallachia
and his support for the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
. A Romantic nationalist
and Freemason
, he was an associate of the liberal faction
in both Wallachia and Moldavia
, as well as a collaborator of Ion Heliade Rădulescu
, Ion Câmpineanu, Mitică Filipescu, and Mihail Kogălniceanu
.
A tutor
and later teacher at the Saint Sava School
in Bucharest
during the 1830s, he rose suspicions for his involvement in political conspiracies
and was ultimately banned from Wallachia. Vaillant advocated the unification of the Danubian Principalities
and other Romanian
-inhabited areas, an ideal he notably expressed in his 1844 work La Roumanie. Credited with having publicized the Romanian cause in his native country during the 1850s, and with having introduced the modern references to "Romania" in international discourse, he briefly returned to Bucharest and was naturalized
by the new Romanian state in 1864. The state of the Roma community
was another one of Vaillant's interests, and the practice of Roma slavery
led him to express support for abolitionist
goals.
Vaillant arrived in Bucharest on November 4, 1829, being first employed as a French language
tutor by the Great Ban
George Iordachi, a member of the Filipescu family of boyar
s. Joining a sizable community of French and other Europe
an expatriates, he was, according to historian Nicolae Iorga
, "the only one [of them] whose literary activity was able serve the rapprochement
between distant France and this Latin country on the Danube
".
He terminated his contract in spring of the following year, and decided to open of school for boys aged 12 to 15; the initiative was publicized by Heliade Rădulescu's magazine Curierul Românesc. Vaillant's school was located in buildings owned by Serdar
Popa, in the vicinity of Stavropoleos Monastery. Together with the similar activities of Félix Colson (who was tutoring young members of the Văcărescu family
), and those of the Moldavian-based Cuénim and the abbé
Lhommé, this brought an important step in the Westernization
of Romanian society, while contributing to enforcing admiration for France among young boyars. It also signified a breaking point with education in Greek
, which had been the norm before and during the Phanariote
age (ever since the 17th century initiatives of Prince Matei Basarab
). The memoirist Ion Ghica
later noted that, among Vaillant's pupils, were scions of the Filipescu family, as well as those of the Grădişteanus, Bălăceanus, Rosettis, Golescus
and his own family (the Ghicas
). Another of his pupils was the future radical
politician and historian Nicolae Bălcescu
. Vaillant was also a teacher at a school for girls, which functioned without tuition
.
at the prestigious Saint Sava School
, which he had been commissioned to modernize
. This came upon the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, when Imperial Russian
troops had taken over administration of Wallachia, without removing it from Ottoman
tutelage. Vaillant was able to persuade the new authorities after authoring a poem in honor of Governor Pavel Kiselyov
.
The high standards he endorsed earned him even more popularity, as well as a salary worth twice that of local staff. Nevertheless, his contract was terminated in 1833 or 1834. The reason for this is unclear: some sources have attributed it to Vaillant's advocacy of nationalist
tenets in front of his students, which reportedly rose suspicions from Russia, who was overseeing administration of the country under the Regulamentul Organic
regime; others still indicate that he was involved in a conflict with Inspector
Petrache Poenaru
(in turn, this clash was attributed to Valliant's activities as Freemason
or to him having continued to teach privately, thus competing with his state employers).
Vaillant also published a concise textbook of Romanian language
and grammar
(1836), intended as a learning instrument for French people (Grammaire valaque à l'usage des français). It featured a glossary
, as well as a historical overview and translations of poems (notably, Vasile Cârlova
's Ruinurile Târgoviştii and Heliade Rădulescu's Visul). In the preface to this work, Vaillant stressed the Latin
origin of the Romanian language (in relation to other Romance languages
), and, elaborating, argued that "Wallachian is nothing less than a dialect of the Roumannesque language, a name which in itself serves to indicate its descent".
. As such, he first associated with Ion Câmpineanu, who stood out in the Wallachian Assembly in opposition to Ghica's policies. According to Iorga, he was also sympathetic to the cause of other Balkan
peoples in their conflict with the Ottoman Empire
(including the rebellious activities of Bulgarian
activists in Brăila
and the plans devised by the former Prince of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović
, who was residing in Bucharest at the time).
By that time, he was a noted figure in Wallachian Freemasonry, which reportedly owed inspiration to a conspiratorial system first applied by the Filiki Eteria
during the early stages of the Greek Independence War
; other people involved in this subversive movement were, among others, Câmpineanu, Heliade Rădulescu, Mitică Filipescu, Nicolae Bălcescu
, Eftimie Murgu
. After Câmpineanu was defeated, Vaillant rallied with a conspiracy
formed around Filipescu; on November 18, 1840, as authorities clamped down on Filipescu's movement, he fled Bucharest, heading for the Moldavian capital of Iaşi
. According to Iorga, Vaillant's involvement with the revolutionary milieu, and especially with Filipescu and Heliade Rădulescu, had made him the object of suspicion. It was in Iaşi that he became an associate of Kogălniceanu, after taking an interest in Moldavian chronicle
s which the latter was reviewing and publishing; later, it was proposed that Vaillant's 1844 volume, La Roumanie, featured sections of text actually contributed by the Moldavian writer. On June 19, 1841, the Wallachian Assembly voted to expel him indefinitely from the country for his role in Filipescu's revolutionary attempt.
Vaillant returned to Paris
, where he continued publicizing his arguments in favor of Wallachian and Moldavian causes. On August 2, 1844, he spoke in front of the Société Orientale, of which he had been made a member, protesting against censorship
imposed by Russia in the Danubian Principalities
(he expanded on this perspective in La Roumanie). At the time, he became close to Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys, President of the Société Orientale, whose support for the cause of ethnic Romanians
he consequently enlisted. He also contacted the poet Alphonse de Lamartine
, who, in 1846, became head of Societatea Studenţilor Români (the Society of Romanian Students).
Vaillant continued to publish various works by Romanian writers, this time in the Revue de l'Orient — among its contributors were Vasile Alecsandri
, Nicolae Bălcescu
, Cezar Bolliac
, Kogălniceanu, and Costache Negruzzi (the latter notably sent his novella
Alexandru Lăpuşneanu). He would later publish a volume grouping several of Bolliac's works. Vaillant also welcomed Romanian students into any of three Parisian Lodges
he had helped create: La Loge du Parfait Silence ("The Lodge of Perfect Silence"), La Loge de la Bonne Amitié ("The Lodge of Good Friendship"), and La Loge de l'Athénée des Étrangers ("The Lodge of the Atheneum of Foreigners").
ended in occupation by Ottoman and Russian troops, and until the Crimean War
, Vaillant continued to print pamphlet
s supporting the Romanian cause. As Russian troops retreated, to be replaced by a provisional Austrian
administration, in turn superseded by a protectorate
of powers (including the French Empire
), he issued text supporting a Moldo-Wallachian union and emphasizing the two countries' autonomy in respect to the Porte. In 1857, he authored an appeal to Duke Colonna-Walewski
, the French Foreign Minister
, in which he called for "France's sympathies" in respect to "the Moldo-Wallachians", based on "their magnificent past and the hope of their future". At the time, he made several references to Romania as la langue d'or ("the golden language"), a name notably featured in the title of a Romanian literature collection he printed in 1851. Vaillant also wrote pieces criticizing Moldavian separatists
.
The union he supported was accomplished in 1859, through the election of Alexander John Cuza
as ruler of both countries. Three years later, Vaillant was back in Bucharest
for a few months, giving free lectures on ancient history
. He was naturalized
Romanian in 1864, at the same time as his compatriots and fellow pro-Romanian activists Paul Bataillard and Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini. In addition, Domnitor
Cuza awarded him a pension
worth 4,000 French franc
s.
Jean Alexandre Vaillant died in Paris 22 years later, and was buried with full honors at the expense of the Romanian Kingdom
. The Romanian Legation, headed by its secretary George Bengescu, and other members of the Romanian community in the city accompanied the hearse
. Bengescu spoke at the ceremony, referring to Vaillant as "a brother", he noted that he had been one of "the courageous and enthusiastic pioneers of the Romanian people's political and national regeneration".
Vaillant's 1844 La Roumanie (in its long version, the title was given as La Roumanie, ou Histoire, langue, littérature, orogrphie, statistique des peuples de la langue d'or, Ardialiens, Vallaques et Moldaves, résumés sur le nom de Romans) was notably reviewed by Nicolae Iorga
in his 1918 essay on French-Romanian relations). He noted that Vaillant extended the scope of his researches into Romanian history out of Wallachia and Moldavia, and into Austrian
-ruled Transylvania
: "He preoccupied himself [...], for the first time, with the Romanians in Transylvania, [a region] which he named, taking in view the national [Romanian] term serving to designate this enslaved land, Ardeal (Ardial), whence Ardialiens (in Romanian: Ardeleni)".
Iorga also concluded that Vaillant was among the first persons to use the terms "Romania" and "Romanian" in the modern sense, after they had been in circulation for some time as designations of Wallachia and its citizens (commonly known in Romanian as Ţara Românească, the latter principality had, Iorga contended, come to adopt the term România as self-reference by the time Vaillant was writing his essay). The names were subsequently adopted by Mihail Kogălniceanu
, Vasile Alecsandri
and other Romanian revolutionaries. The French versions of the names "Romania" and "Romanians", in the form supported by Vaillant, were to be Romanie and roma[i]n, both alluding to Ancient Rome
— these were not received as neologisms, and the enduring names in became Roumanie and roumain, probably based on the Romanian folk references to rumân.
La Roumanie provided a detailed account of the region's history, highlighting Vaillant's arguments in various controversial aspects. It began with an account of Dacia
and Roman Dacia
, which detailed the impact of Romanization
, as well as the eventual retreat of Imperial Roman
administration to the south of the Danube
under Aurelian
by 270. Commenting at length on the origin of the Romanians, he stressed that the Roman colonists had stayed behind during the Migration Period
. Arguing that these had come from a latifundia
-dominated Italian Peninsula
to Dacia "as if to an El Dorado
", he elaborated that it was impossible for them to have forsaken their property and become nomad
s (as suggested by various other historians). Vaillant notably drew comparisons with the end of colonial rule
over New France
, as well as with Early Modern Romanian history
(noting that, during the Russo-Turkish Wars
and related incursions, while the boyar
s and other notabilities took refuge in various regions, "the proletarians
did not follow suit").
Thus, he claimed, when Transylvania was taken over by the Hungarians in the 9th century, Romanians were the main presence in the area; he believed that the Hungarian-language
name for Transylvania, Erdély, was borrowed from Romanian, and had its origins in the Latin name Jupiter
(see Historical names of Transylvania
). Vaillant also supported the view that Walachia had been established by Romanian Transylvanians who wanted to preserve their Eastern Orthodox
faith in front of Roman Catholic
pressures stemming in the Kingdom of Hungary
— Iorga disagreed with this thesis, stressing his own (according to which Wallachia was created through the union of several local polities). Vaillant gave a summary of subsequent developments in Transylvanian history
, making references to the Budai Nagy Antal Revolt, to the careers of John Hunyadi
, his son Matthias Corvinus
, and Nicolaus Olahus
(viewing all three as Romanians, he erroneously argued that John was a native of Oltenia
), and to the Transylvanian conquests of the Moldavian Prince Petru Rareş
(who, he believed, had been assigned the Transylvanian throne by Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent
).
The account he gave of Michael the Brave's rule, during which Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia were first gathered under one rule, was to inspire his pupil Nicolae Bălcescu
(who was to author an entire volume on this period, titled Românii supt Mihai-Voievod Viteazul). He attributed Michael's expedition in Transylvania to him having "seen his brothers treated like serfs
by the Magyar conquerors and the Saxon
foreigners", and deplored his "cowardly assassination" on the orders of the Imperial
general Giorgio Basta
. He notably attributed the policy failures of Wallachian Prince Radu Şerban to Imperial opposition, claiming that he could have otherwise reestablished Michael's domain.
In reference to the 18th and early 19th centuries, Vaillant mentioned in passing the start of Habsburg
rule in Transylvania, the Greek-Catholic
conversions among Romanians in exchange for the unfulfilled promise of political rights, and the interest Moise Nicoară had taken in the French Revolution
. Quoting George Bariţ
, a major figure of the Transylvanian School
, he noted that most Transylvanians were Romanian (1.2 million, as opposed to the 900,000 members of all other ethnicities), and recounted his own dissemination of unification ideals among Transylvanian expatriates in Wallachia.
In addition to these tenets, La Roumanie provided details on the history of Bucharest
during the 1830s, including the number and type of wagon
s and carriage
s (70 hansom cab
s, 1,775 phaetons
and 7,502 wagons), and that of inn
s and hotel
s (he calculated that there were 20 of each).
". Centered on the Roma community in Wallachia and Moldavia
, the work was an investigation of slavery
, to which Roma people were subjected in both lands. Making reference to the corvée
s required from peasants, Vaillant stressed: "if the peasant is a serf
, the Gypsy is entirely a slave", while noting the prevalence of slavery among in Romanian society, the Orthodox Church
included ("the state sells them, the private entrepreneurs buy them, and the monk
s also sit around with their palms exposed").
He noted that the institution relied on Roma settlement, indicating that most members of the ethnic group had abandoned their semi-nomadic lifestyle, commenting that the remaining few "do not pay taxes, but neither are they worth more than the wolves in the forest to their country". Reflecting on the status of slaves involved in manual labor, he provided an indignant account of the way in which they were chained. Vaillant's abolitionist
views were probably an influence on his students, and arguably contributed to the proclamation ending slavery that was issued during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848
.
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...
and Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
n teacher, political activist, historian, linguist and translator, who was noted for his activities in 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...
and his support for the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
Wallachian Revolution of 1848
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...
. A 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...
and Freemason
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...
, he was an associate of the liberal faction
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...
in both Wallachia and 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...
, as well as a collaborator of Ion Heliade Rădulescu
Ion Heliade Radulescu
Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician...
, Ion Câmpineanu, Mitică Filipescu, and Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
.
A tutor
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
and later teacher at the Saint Sava School
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:...
in 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....
during the 1830s, he rose suspicions for his involvement in political conspiracies
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....
and was ultimately banned from Wallachia. Vaillant advocated the unification of the 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...
and other Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
-inhabited areas, an ideal he notably expressed in his 1844 work La Roumanie. Credited with having publicized the Romanian cause in his native country during the 1850s, and with having introduced the modern references to "Romania" in international discourse, he briefly returned to Bucharest and was naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
by the new Romanian state in 1864. The state of the Roma community
Roma minority in Romania
The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...
was another one of Vaillant's interests, and the practice of Roma slavery
Slavery in Romania
Slavery existed on the territory of present-day Romania from before the founding of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 13th–14th century, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma ethnicity...
led him to express support for abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
goals.
Private tutor
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
tutor by the Great Ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
George Iordachi, a member of the Filipescu family of 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. Joining a sizable community of French and other Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an expatriates, he was, according to historian Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party , he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly as Prime Minister...
, "the only one [of them] whose literary activity was able serve the rapprochement
Rapprochement
In international relations, a rapprochement, which comes from the French word rapprocher , is a re-establishment of cordial relations, as between two countries...
between distant France and this Latin country 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....
".
He terminated his contract in spring of the following year, and decided to open of school for boys aged 12 to 15; the initiative was publicized by Heliade Rădulescu's magazine Curierul Românesc. Vaillant's school was located in buildings owned by Serdar
Serdar (Ottoman rank)
Serdar was a military rank in the Ottoman Empire and Montenegro. It means a head of place/land . Serdars especially served at the borders of Ottoman Empire. They were responsible for security of lands. For example, Yakup Ağa who was the father of Barbaros from Yenice.-Etymology:Serdar is a...
Popa, in the vicinity of Stavropoleos Monastery. Together with the similar activities of Félix Colson (who was tutoring young members of the Văcărescu family
Vacarescu family
The Văcărescu family was a boyar family of Wallachia .According to tradition it is one of the oldest noble families in Wallachia.* Enache Văcărescu grand treasurer of Wallachia...
), and those of the Moldavian-based Cuénim and the abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
Lhommé, this brought an important step in the Westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
of Romanian society, while contributing to enforcing admiration for France among young boyars. It also signified a breaking point with education in Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, which had been the norm before and during the Phanariote
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...
age (ever since the 17th century initiatives of Prince Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab was a Wallachian Voivode between 1632 and 1654.-Reign:Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637, 1639, and 1653 - see Battle of Finta...
). The memoirist Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and twice Prime Minister of Romania . He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president for four times...
later noted that, among Vaillant's pupils, were scions of the Filipescu family, as well as those of the Grădişteanus, Bălăceanus, Rosettis, Golescus
Golescu family
The Golescu family was an old boyar family of Wallachia, in what is now southern Romania. The earliest mention of them dates from the 15th century.-Members of the family:*Radu Golescu*Iordache Golescu*Dinicu Golescu*Zinca Golescu*Alexandru Golescu-Albu...
and his own family (the Ghicas
Ghica family
The Ghica family were a Romanian noble family, active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania. In the 18th century, several branches of the family went through a process of Hellenization...
). Another of his pupils was the future radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
politician and historian Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
. Vaillant was also a teacher at a school for girls, which functioned without tuition
Tuition
Tuition payments, known primarily as tuition in American English and as tuition fees in British English, Canadian English, Australian English, New Zealand English and Indian English, refers to a fee charged for educational instruction during higher education.Tuition payments are charged by...
.
Saint Sava professor
In 1832, he was appointed French-language teacher and head of the boarding houseBoarding house
A boarding house, is a house in which lodgers rent one or more rooms for one or more nights, and sometimes for extended periods of weeks, months and years. The common parts of the house are maintained, and some services, such as laundry and cleaning, may be supplied. They normally provide "bed...
at the prestigious Saint Sava School
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:...
, which he had been commissioned to modernize
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...
. This came upon the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829, when Imperial Russian
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
troops had taken over administration of Wallachia, without removing it from 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...
tutelage. Vaillant was able to persuade the new authorities after authoring a poem in honor of Governor Pavel Kiselyov
Pavel Kiselyov
Count Pavel Dmitrievich Kiselyov or Kiseleff is generally regarded as the most brilliant Russian reformer during Nicholas I's generally conservative reign.- Early military career :...
.
The high standards he endorsed earned him even more popularity, as well as a salary worth twice that of local staff. Nevertheless, his contract was terminated in 1833 or 1834. The reason for this is unclear: some sources have attributed it to Vaillant's advocacy of nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
tenets in front of his students, which reportedly rose suspicions from Russia, who was overseeing administration of the country under the Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic
Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...
regime; others still indicate that he was involved in a conflict with Inspector
Inspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...
Petrache Poenaru
Petrache Poenaru
Petrache Poenaru was a Romanian inventor of the Enlightenment era.Poenaru, who had studied in Paris and Vienna and, later, completed his specialized studies in England, was a mathematician, physicist, engineer, inventor, teacher and organizer of the educational system, as well as a politician,...
(in turn, this clash was attributed to Valliant's activities as Freemason
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...
or to him having continued to teach privately, thus competing with his state employers).
Vaillant also published a concise textbook of Romanian language
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...
and grammar
Romanian grammar
Standard Romanian shares largely the same grammar and most of the vocabulary and phonological processes with the other three surviving varieties of Eastern Romance, viz...
(1836), intended as a learning instrument for French people (Grammaire valaque à l'usage des français). It featured a glossary
Glossary
A glossary, also known as an idioticon, vocabulary, or clavis, is an alphabetical list of terms in a particular domain of knowledge with the definitions for those terms...
, as well as a historical overview and translations of poems (notably, Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova
Vasile Cârlova was a Wallachian officer and early Romantic poet.-Biography:Born into a low-ranking Romanian boyar family in Buzău, Cârlova remained an orphan in 1816, and, after being adopted by an aunt, moved to Craiova...
's Ruinurile Târgoviştii and Heliade Rădulescu's Visul). In the preface to this work, Vaillant stressed the Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
origin of the Romanian language (in relation to other Romance languages
Romance languages
The Romance languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family, more precisely of the Italic languages subfamily, comprising all the languages that descend from Vulgar Latin, the language of ancient Rome...
), and, elaborating, argued that "Wallachian is nothing less than a dialect of the Roumannesque language, a name which in itself serves to indicate its descent".
Conspiracies and return to Paris
By the late 1830s, Jean Alexandre Vaillant became involved with the liberal trend in opposition to the Regulamentul Organic regime, engaging in conflict with Prince Alexandru II GhicaAlexandru 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....
. As such, he first associated with Ion Câmpineanu, who stood out in the Wallachian Assembly in opposition to Ghica's policies. According to Iorga, he was also sympathetic to the cause of other Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
peoples in their conflict with 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...
(including the rebellious activities of Bulgarian
National awakening of Bulgaria
Bulgarian nationalism emerged in the early 19th century under the influence of western ideas such as liberalism and nationalism, which trickled into the country after the French revolution, mostly via Greece, although there were stirrings in the 18th century. Russia, as fellow Orthodox Slavs, could...
activists in Brăila
Braila
Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi.According to the 2002 Romanian census there were 216,292 people living within the city of Brăila, making it the 10th most populous city in Romania.-History:A...
and the plans devised by the former Prince of Serbia, Miloš Obrenović
Miloš Obrenovic I, Prince of Serbia
Miloš Obrenović was Prince of Serbia from 1815 to 1839, and again from 1858 to 1860. He participated in the First Serbian Uprising, led Serbs in the Second Serbian Uprising, and founded the House of Obrenović...
, who was residing in Bucharest at the time).
By that time, he was a noted figure in Wallachian Freemasonry, which reportedly owed inspiration to a conspiratorial system first applied by the Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria
thumb|right|200px|The flag of the Filiki Eteria.Filiki Eteria or Society of Friends was a secret 19th century organization, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule over Greece and to establish an independent Greek state. Society members were mainly young Phanariot Greeks from Russia and local...
during the early stages of the Greek Independence War
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
; other people involved in this subversive movement were, among others, Câmpineanu, Heliade Rădulescu, Mitică Filipescu, Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, Eftimie Murgu
Eftimie Murgu
Eftimie Murgu was a Romanian politician who took part in the 1848 Revolutions.He was born in Rudăria to Samu Murgu, an officer in the Imperial Army and Cumbria Murgu...
. After Câmpineanu was defeated, Vaillant rallied with a conspiracy
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....
formed around Filipescu; on November 18, 1840, as authorities clamped down on Filipescu's movement, he fled Bucharest, heading for the Moldavian capital of 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...
. According to Iorga, Vaillant's involvement with the revolutionary milieu, and especially with Filipescu and Heliade Rădulescu, had made him the object of suspicion. It was in Iaşi that he became an associate of Kogălniceanu, after taking an interest in Moldavian chronicle
Chronicle
Generally a chronicle is a historical account of facts and events ranged in chronological order, as in a time line. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events, the purpose being the recording of events that occurred, seen from the perspective of the...
s which the latter was reviewing and publishing; later, it was proposed that Vaillant's 1844 volume, La Roumanie, featured sections of text actually contributed by the Moldavian writer. On June 19, 1841, the Wallachian Assembly voted to expel him indefinitely from the country for his role in Filipescu's revolutionary attempt.
Vaillant returned to 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...
, where he continued publicizing his arguments in favor of Wallachian and Moldavian causes. On August 2, 1844, he spoke in front of the Société Orientale, of which he had been made a member, protesting against censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
imposed by Russia in the 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...
(he expanded on this perspective in La Roumanie). At the time, he became close to Édouard Drouyn de Lhuys, President of the Société Orientale, whose support for the cause of ethnic Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
he consequently enlisted. He also contacted the poet Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse de Lamartine
Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine was a French writer, poet and politician who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic.-Career:...
, who, in 1846, became head of Societatea Studenţilor Români (the Society of Romanian Students).
Vaillant continued to publish various works by Romanian writers, this time in the Revue de l'Orient — among its contributors were Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
, Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, Cezar Bolliac
Cezar Bolliac
Cezar Bolliac or Boliac, Boliak was a Wallachian and Romanian radical political figure, amateur archaeologist, journalist and Romantic poet.-Early life:...
, Kogălniceanu, and Costache Negruzzi (the latter notably sent his novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
Alexandru Lăpuşneanu). He would later publish a volume grouping several of Bolliac's works. Vaillant also welcomed Romanian students into any of three Parisian 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...
he had helped create: La Loge du Parfait Silence ("The Lodge of Perfect Silence"), La Loge de la Bonne Amitié ("The Lodge of Good Friendship"), and La Loge de l'Athénée des Étrangers ("The Lodge of the Atheneum of Foreigners").
Later activism and naturalization
After 1848, when the Wallachian RevolutionWallachian Revolution of 1848
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...
ended in occupation by Ottoman and Russian troops, and until the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, Vaillant continued to print pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
s supporting the Romanian cause. As Russian troops retreated, to be replaced by a provisional Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
administration, in turn superseded by a protectorate
Protectorate
In history, the term protectorate has two different meanings. In its earliest inception, which has been adopted by modern international law, it is an autonomous territory that is protected diplomatically or militarily against third parties by a stronger state or entity...
of powers (including the French Empire
Second French Empire
The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...
), he issued text supporting a Moldo-Wallachian union and emphasizing the two countries' autonomy in respect to the Porte. In 1857, he authored an appeal to Duke Colonna-Walewski
Alexandre Joseph Count Colonna-Walewski
Alexandre Florian Joseph, Count Colonna-Walewski was a Polish and French politician and diplomat. He was the illegitimate son of Napoleon I by his mistress Countess Marie Walewska.-Life:...
, the French Foreign Minister
Minister of Foreign Affairs (France)
Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs ), is France's foreign affairs ministry, with the headquarters located on the Quai d'Orsay in Paris close to the National Assembly of France. The Minister of Foreign and European Affairs in the government of France is the cabinet minister responsible for...
, in which he called for "France's sympathies" in respect to "the Moldo-Wallachians", based on "their magnificent past and the hope of their future". At the time, he made several references to Romania as la langue d'or ("the golden language"), a name notably featured in the title of a Romanian literature collection he printed in 1851. Vaillant also wrote pieces criticizing Moldavian separatists
Separatism
Separatism is the advocacy of a state of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. While it often refers to full political secession, separatist groups may seek nothing more than greater autonomy...
.
The union he supported was accomplished in 1859, through the election 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:...
as ruler of both countries. Three years later, Vaillant was back in 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....
for a few months, giving free lectures on ancient history
Ancient history
Ancient history is the study of the written past from the beginning of recorded human history to the Early Middle Ages. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, with Cuneiform script, the oldest discovered form of coherent writing, from the protoliterate period around the 30th century BC...
. He was naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
Romanian in 1864, at the same time as his compatriots and fellow pro-Romanian activists Paul Bataillard and Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini. In addition, Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
Cuza awarded him a pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
worth 4,000 French franc
French franc
The franc was a currency of France. Along with the Spanish peseta, it was also a de facto currency used in Andorra . Between 1360 and 1641, it was the name of coins worth 1 livre tournois and it remained in common parlance as a term for this amount of money...
s.
Jean Alexandre Vaillant died in Paris 22 years later, and was buried with full honors at the expense of the Romanian Kingdom
Kingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
. The Romanian Legation, headed by its secretary George Bengescu, and other members of the Romanian community in the city accompanied the hearse
Hearse
A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
. Bengescu spoke at the ceremony, referring to Vaillant as "a brother", he noted that he had been one of "the courageous and enthusiastic pioneers of the Romanian people's political and national regeneration".
La Roumanie
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder of the Democratic Nationalist Party , he served as a member of Parliament, President of the Deputies' Assembly and Senate, cabinet minister and briefly as Prime Minister...
in his 1918 essay on French-Romanian relations). He noted that Vaillant extended the scope of his researches into Romanian history out of Wallachia and Moldavia, and into Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
-ruled 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...
: "He preoccupied himself [...], for the first time, with the Romanians in Transylvania, [a region] which he named, taking in view the national [Romanian] term serving to designate this enslaved land, Ardeal (Ardial), whence Ardialiens (in Romanian: Ardeleni)".
Iorga also concluded that Vaillant was among the first persons to use the terms "Romania" and "Romanian" in the modern sense, after they had been in circulation for some time as designations of Wallachia and its citizens (commonly known in Romanian as Ţara Românească, the latter principality had, Iorga contended, come to adopt the term România as self-reference by the time Vaillant was writing his essay). The names were subsequently adopted by Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
, Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
and other Romanian revolutionaries. The French versions of the names "Romania" and "Romanians", in the form supported by Vaillant, were to be Romanie and roma[i]n, both alluding to Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
— these were not received as neologisms, and the enduring names in became Roumanie and roumain, probably based on the Romanian folk references to rumân.
La Roumanie provided a detailed account of the region's history, highlighting Vaillant's arguments in various controversial aspects. It began with an account 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...
and Roman Dacia
Roman Dacia
The Roman province of Dacia on the Balkans included the modern Romanian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, and temporarily Muntenia and southern Moldova, but not the nearby regions of Moesia...
, which detailed the impact of Romanization
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
, as well as the eventual retreat of Imperial Roman
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
administration to the south of 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....
under Aurelian
Aurelian
Aurelian , was Roman Emperor from 270 to 275. During his reign, he defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following...
by 270. Commenting at length on the origin of the Romanians, he stressed that the Roman colonists had stayed behind during the Migration Period
Migration Period
The Migration Period, also called the Barbarian Invasions , was a period of intensified human migration in Europe that occurred from c. 400 to 800 CE. This period marked the transition from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages...
. Arguing that these had come from a latifundia
Latifundia
Latifundia are pieces of property covering very large land areas. The latifundia of Roman history were great landed estates, specializing in agriculture destined for export: grain, olive oil, or wine...
-dominated Italian Peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
to Dacia "as if to an El Dorado
El Dorado
El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
", he elaborated that it was impossible for them to have forsaken their property and become nomad
Nomad
Nomadic people , commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts, are communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but...
s (as suggested by various other historians). Vaillant notably drew comparisons with the end of colonial rule
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
over New France
New France
New France was the area colonized by France in North America during a period beginning with the exploration of the Saint Lawrence River by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Spain and Great Britain in 1763...
, as well as with Early Modern Romanian history
Early Modern Romania
Early Modern Romania is the portion of Romanian history that falls in the early modern period, roughly from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
(noting that, during the Russo-Turkish Wars
History of the Russo-Turkish wars
The Russo-Turkish wars were a series of wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire during the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries...
and related incursions, while 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 and other notabilities took refuge in various regions, "the proletarians
Proletariat
The proletariat is a term used to identify a lower social class, usually the working class; a member of such a class is proletarian...
did not follow suit").
Thus, he claimed, when Transylvania was taken over by the Hungarians in the 9th century, Romanians were the main presence in the area; he believed that the Hungarian-language
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
name for Transylvania, Erdély, was borrowed from Romanian, and had its origins in the Latin name Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
(see Historical names of Transylvania
Historical names of Transylvania
-Transylvania:The first document in which the Medieval Latin term Ultra siluam is used in reference to the area dates from 1075...
). Vaillant also supported the view that Walachia had been established by Romanian Transylvanians who wanted to preserve their Eastern Orthodox
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,...
faith in front of Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
pressures stemming in the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
— Iorga disagreed with this thesis, stressing his own (according to which Wallachia was created through the union of several local polities). Vaillant gave a summary of subsequent developments in Transylvanian history
History of Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of the Romania. In ancient times it was part of the Dacian Kingdom and Roman Dacia. Since the 10th century, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary...
, making references to the Budai Nagy Antal Revolt, to the careers of John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: Ioannes Corvinus or Ioannes de Hunyad, Romanian: Iancu (Ioan) de Hunedoara, Croatian: Janko Hunjadi, Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко / Sibinjanin Janko, Slovak: Ján Huňady) John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János , Medieval Latin: ...
, his son Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus , also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death...
, and Nicolaus Olahus
Nicolaus Olahus
Nicolaus Olahus ; January 10, 1493, Sibiu-January 15, 1568, Trnava/Nagyszombat) was the Archbishop of Esztergom, Primate of Hungary, and a distinguished Roman Catholic prelate.-Early life:...
(viewing all three as Romanians, he erroneously argued that John was a native of 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 ....
), and to the Transylvanian conquests of the Moldavian Prince Petru Rareş
Petru Rares
Peter IV Rareș was twice voievod of Moldavia: 20 January 1527 to 18 September 1538 and 19 February 1541 to 3 September 1546. He was an illegitimate child born to Ștefan cel Mare...
(who, he believed, had been assigned the Transylvanian throne by 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...
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman I was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1520 to his death in 1566. He is known in the West as Suleiman the Magnificent and in the East, as "The Lawgiver" , for his complete reconstruction of the Ottoman legal system...
).
The account he gave of Michael the Brave's rule, during which Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia were first gathered under one rule, was to inspire his pupil Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
(who was to author an entire volume on this period, titled Românii supt Mihai-Voievod Viteazul). He attributed Michael's expedition in Transylvania to him having "seen his brothers treated like serfs
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
by the Magyar conquerors and the 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...
foreigners", and deplored his "cowardly assassination" on the orders of the Imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
general Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt was an Italian general of Arbëreshë descent, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591-1606 and later to administer Transylvania as an Imperial vassal to restore Catholicism as a predominant religion in...
. He notably attributed the policy failures of Wallachian Prince Radu Şerban to Imperial opposition, claiming that he could have otherwise reestablished Michael's domain.
In reference to the 18th and early 19th centuries, Vaillant mentioned in passing the start of 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...
rule in Transylvania, the Greek-Catholic
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
conversions among Romanians in exchange for the unfulfilled promise of political rights, and the interest Moise Nicoară had taken in the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Quoting George Bariţ
George Barit
George Bariţ , often rendered as George Bariţiu, was a Romanian historian, philologist, playwright, politician, businessman and journalist, the founder of the Romanian language press in Transylvania.- Biography :...
, a major figure of the Transylvanian School
Transylvanian School
The Transylvanian School was a cultural movement which was founded after part of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Habsburg-ruled Transylvania accepted the leadership of the Pope and became the Greek-Catholic Church . The links with Rome brought to the Romanian Tranylvanians the ideas of the Age of...
, he noted that most Transylvanians were Romanian (1.2 million, as opposed to the 900,000 members of all other ethnicities), and recounted his own dissemination of unification ideals among Transylvanian expatriates in Wallachia.
History of Bucharest
The history of Bucharest covers the time from the early settlements on the locality's territory until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia, and present-day capital of Romania.-Ancient times:...
during the 1830s, including the number and type of wagon
Wagon
A wagon is a heavy four-wheeled vehicle pulled by draught animals; it was formerly often called a wain, and if low and sideless may be called a dray, trolley or float....
s and carriage
Carriage
A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...
s (70 hansom cab
Hansom cab
The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn cart designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York. The vehicle was developed and tested by Hansom in Hinckley, Leicestershire, England. Originally called the Hansom safety cab, it was designed to combine speed with safety, with a low...
s, 1,775 phaetons
Phaeton (carriage)
Phaeton is the early 19th-century term for a sporty open carriage drawn by a single horse or a pair, typically with four extravagantly large wheels, very lightly sprung, with a minimal body, fast and dangerous. It usually had no sidepieces in front of the seats...
and 7,502 wagons), and that of inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
s and hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
s (he calculated that there were 20 of each).
On Roma slavery
Vaillant also authored a work on the history of the Romani people, to whom he referred as Romes or "the actual BohémiensBohemianism
Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic or literary pursuits...
". Centered on the Roma community in Wallachia and Moldavia
Roma minority in Romania
The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...
, the work was an investigation of slavery
Slavery in Romania
Slavery existed on the territory of present-day Romania from before the founding of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 13th–14th century, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma ethnicity...
, to which Roma people were subjected in both lands. Making reference to the corvée
Corvée
Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or a superior . The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization...
s required from peasants, Vaillant stressed: "if the peasant is a serf
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
, the Gypsy is entirely a slave", while noting the prevalence of slavery among in Romanian society, the Orthodox Church
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...
included ("the state sells them, the private entrepreneurs buy them, and the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s also sit around with their palms exposed").
He noted that the institution relied on Roma settlement, indicating that most members of the ethnic group had abandoned their semi-nomadic lifestyle, commenting that the remaining few "do not pay taxes, but neither are they worth more than the wolves in the forest to their country". Reflecting on the status of slaves involved in manual labor, he provided an indignant account of the way in which they were chained. Vaillant's abolitionist
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
views were probably an influence on his students, and arguably contributed to the proclamation ending slavery that was issued during the Wallachian Revolution of 1848
Wallachian Revolution of 1848
The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...
.
Selected works
- Grammaire valaque à l'usage des français ("Wallachian Grammar for French People"), 1836
- Grammaire roumaine ("Romanian Grammar"), 1840
- Vocabulaire roumain-français et français-roumain ("Romanian-French and French-Romanian Vocabulary"), 1840
- La Roumanie, ou Histoire, langue, littérature, orographie, statistique des peuples de la langue d'or, Ardialiens, Vallaques et Moldaves, résumés sur le nom de Romans ("Romania, or The History, Language, Literature, Orography, Statistics of the People with a Golden Language, Ardialians, Wallachians and Moldavians, Concisely Referred to as Romans"), 1844
- Les Romes, histoire vraie des vrais Bohémiens ("The Rom, the Actual History of the Actual Bohemians"), 1857