Mihail Kogalniceanu
Encyclopedia
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavia
n-born Romania
n 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 was several times Interior Minister under Cuza and Carol. A polymath
, Kogălniceanu was one of the most influential Romanian intellectual
s of his generation. Siding with the moderate liberal current
for most of his lifetime, he began his political career as a collaborator of Prince Mihail Sturdza
, while serving as head of the Iaşi Theater
and issuing several publications together with the poet Vasile Alecsandri
and the activist Ion Ghica
. After editing the highly influential magazine Dacia Literară
and serving as a professor at Academia Mihăileană
, Kogălniceanu came into conflict with the authorities over his Romantic nationalist
inaugural speech of 1843. He was the ideologue of the abortive 1848 Moldavian revolution, authoring its main document, Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova.
Following the Crimean War
, with Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica
, Kogălniceanu was responsible for drafting legislation to abolish
Roma
slavery
. Together with Alecsandri, he edited the unionist magazine Steaua Dunării
, played a prominent part during the elections for the ad-hoc Divan, and successfully promoted Cuza, his lifelong friend, to the throne. Kogălniceanu advanced legislation to revoke traditional ranks and titles
, and to secularize the property of monasteries
. His efforts at land reform
resulted in a censure vote, leading Cuza to enforce them through a coup d'état
in May 1864. However, Kogălniceanu resigned in 1865, following his own conflicts with the monarch. A decade after, he helped create the National Liberal Party
, before playing an important part in Romania's decision to enter the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878—a choice which consecrated her independence. He was also instrumental in the acquisition, and later colonization
, of Northern Dobruja
region. During his final years, he was a prominent member and one-time President of the Romanian Academy
, and briefly served as Romanian representative to France
.
, he belonged to the Kogălniceanu family of Moldavian boyar
s, being the son of Vornic
Ilie Kogălniceanu, and the great-grandson of Constantin Kogălniceanu (noted for having signed his name to a 1749 document issued by Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos
, through which serfdom
was disestablished in Moldavia). Mihail's mother, Catinca née Stavilla (or Stavillă), was, according to Kogălniceanu's own words, "[from] a Romanian
family in Bessarabia
". The author took pride in noting that "my family has never searched its origins in foreign countries or peoples". Nevetheless, in a speech he gave shortly before his death, Kogălniceanu commented that Catinca Stavilla had been the descendant of "a Genoese
family, settled for centuries in the Genoese colony of Cetatea Albă
(Akerman), whence it then scattered throughout Bessarabia".
During Milhail Kogălniceanu's lifetime, there was confusion regarding his exact birth year, with several sources erroneously indicating it as 1806; in his speech to the Romanian Academy
, he acknowledged this, and gave his exact birth date as present in a register kept by his father. It was also then that he mentioned his godmother
was Marghioala Calimach, a Callimachi
boyaress who married into the Sturdza family
, and was the mother of Mihail Sturdza
(Kogălniceanu's would-be protector and foe).
Kogălniceanu was educated at Trei Ierarhi monastery
in Iaşi, before being tutored by Gherman Vida, a monk who belonged to the Transylvanian School
, and who was an associate of Gheorghe Şincai
. He completed his primary education in Miroslava
, where he attended the Cuénim boarding school
. It was during this early period that he first met the poet Vasile Alecsandri
(they studied under both Vida and Cuénim), Costache Negri
and Cuza. At the time, Kogălniceanu became a passionate student of history, beginning his investigations into old Moldavian chronicle
s.
With support from Prince Sturdza, Kogălniceanu continued his studies abroad, originally in the French city of Lunéville
(where he was cared for by Sturdza's former tutor, the abbé
Lhommé), and later at the University of Berlin
. Among his colleagues was the future philosopher Grigore Sturdza
, the monarch's son. His stay in Lunéville was cut short by the intervention of Russian
officials, who were supervising Moldavia under the provisions of the Regulamentul Organic
regime, and who believed that, through the influence of Lhommé (a participant in the French Revolution
), students were being infused with rebellious ideas; all Moldavian students, including Sturdza's sons and other noblemen, were withdrawn from the school in late 1835, and reassigned to Prussian
education institutions.
During his period in Berlin
, he came in contact with and was greatly influenced by Friedrich Carl von Savigny
, Alexander von Humboldt
, Eduard Gans
, and especially Professor Leopold von Ranke
, whose ideas on the necessity for politicians to be acquainted with historical science he readily adopted. In pages he dedicated to the influence exercised by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
on Romanian thought, Tudor Vianu
noted that certain Hegelian
-related principles were a common attribute of the Berlin faculty during Kogălniceanu's stay. He commented that, in later years, the politician adopted views which resonated with those of Hegel, most notably the principle that legislation needed to adapt to the individual spirit of nations.
Kogălniceanu later noted with pride that he had been the first of Ranke's Romanian students, and claimed that, in conversations with Humboldt, he was the first person to use the modern equivalents French-language of the words "Romanian" and "Romania" (roumain and Roumanie)—replacing the references to "Moldavia(n)" and "Wallachia(n)
", as well as the antiquated versions used before him by the intellectual Gheorghe Asachi
; historian Nicolae Iorga
also noted the part Kogălniceanu played in popularizing these references as the standard ones.
Kogălniceanu was also introduced to Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland
, and became relatively close to her son George of Cumberland and Teviotdale
, the future ruler of Hanover
. Initially hosted by a community of the Huguenot
diaspora
, he later became the guest of a Calvinist
pastor
named Jonas, in whose residence he witnessed gatherings of activists in favor of German unification (see Burschenschaft
). According to his own recollections, his group of Moldavians was kept under close watch by Alexandru Sturdza
, who, in addition, enlisted Kogălniceanu's help in writing his work Études historiques, chrétiennes et morales ("Historical, Christian
and Moral Studies"). During summer trips to the Pomerania
n town of Heringsdorf
, he met the novelist Willibald Alexis
, whom he befriended, and who, as Kogălniceanu recalled, lectured him on the land reform carried out by Prussian King Frederick William III
. Later, Kogălniceanu studied the effects of reform when on visit to Alt Schwerin
, and saw the possibility for replicating its results in his native country.
Greatly expanding his familiarity with historical and social subjects, Kogălniceanu also began work on his first volumes: a pioneering study on the Roma people and the French-language Histoire de la Valachie, de la Moldavie, et des Vlaques transdanubiens ("A History of Wallachia, Moldavia, and of Transdanubian Vlachs
", the first volume in a synthesis of Romanian history), both of which were first published in 1837 inside the German Confederation
. In addition, he authored a series of studies on Romanian literature
. He signed these first works with a Francized
version of his name, Michel de Kogalnitchan ("Michael of Kogalnitchan"), which was slightly erroneous (it used the partitive case
twice: once in the French particle "de", and a second time in the Romanian-based suffix
"-an").
Raising the suspicions of Prince Sturdza after it became apparent that he sided with the reform-minded youth of his day in opposition to the Regulamentul Organic regime, Kogălniceanu was prevented from completing his doctorate
, and instead returned to Iaşi, where he became a princely adjutant
in 1838.
(1840), Arhiva Românească (1840), Calendar pentru Poporul Românesc (1842), Propăşirea (renamed Foaie Ştiinţifică şi Literară, 1843), and several almanac
s. Both Dacia Literară and Foaie Ştiinţifică, which he edited together with Alecsandri, Ion Ghica
, and Petre Balş, were suppressed by Moldavian authorities, who considered them suspect. Together with Costache Negruzzi, he printed all of Dimitrie Cantemir
's works available at the time, and, in time, acquired his own printing press
, which planned to issue the complete editions of Moldavian chronicles, including those of Miron Costin
and Grigore Ureche
(after many disruptions associated with his political choices, the project was fulfilled in 1852). In this context, Kogălniceanu and Negruzzi sought to Westernize
the Moldavian public, with interest ranging as far as Romanian culinary tastes: the almanacs published by them featured gourmet
-themed aphorism
s and recipes meant to educate local folk about the refinement and richness of European cuisine
. Kogălniceanu would later claim that he and his friend were "originators of the culinary art
in Moldavia".
With Dacia Literară, Kogălniceanu began expanding his Romantic
ideal of "national specificity", which was to be a major influence on Alexandru Odobescu
and other literary figures. One of the main goals his publications had was expanding the coverage of modern Romanian culture beyond its early stages, during which it had mainly relied on publishing translations of Western literature
—according to Garabet Ibrăileanu
, this was accompanied by a veiled attack on Gheorghe Asachi
and his Albina Românească
. Mihail Kogălniceanu later issued clear criticism of Asachi's proposed version of literary Romanian, which relied on archaism
s and Francized
phoneme
s, notably pointing out that it was inconsistent. Additionally, he evidenced the influence foreign poetry had on Asachi's own work, viewing it as excessive. Tensions also occurred between Kogălniceanu and Alecsandri, after the former began suspecting his collaborator of having reduced and toned down his contributions to Foaie Ştiinţifică. During this period, Kogălniceanu maintained close contacts with his former colleague Costache Negri
and his sister Elena, becoming one of the main figures of the intellectual circle hosted by the Negris in Mânjina
. He also became close to the French teacher and essayist Jean Alexandre Vaillant
, who was himself involved in liberal causes while being interested in the work of Moldavian chroniclers. Intellectuals of the day speculated that Kogălniceanu later contributed several sections to Vaillant's lengthy essay about Moldavia and Wallachia (La Roumanie).
In May 1840, while serving as Prince Sturdza's private secretary, he became co-director (with Alecsandri and Negruzzi) of the National Theater Iaşi. This followed the monarch's decision to unite the two existing theaters in the city, one of which hosted plays in French, into a single institution. In later years, this venue, which staged popular comedies based on the French repertory
of its age and had become the most popular of its kind in the country, also hosted Alecsandri's debut as a playwright. Progressively, it also became subject to Sturdza's censorship
.
In 1843, Kogălniceanu gave a celebrated inaugural lecture on national history at the newly-founded Academia Mihăileană
in Iaşi, a speech which greatly influenced ethnic Romanian students at the University of Paris
and the 1848 generation (see Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie naţională). Other professors at the Academia, originating in several historical regions
, were Ion Ghica, Eftimie Murgu
, and Ion Ionescu de la Brad
. Kogălniceanu's introductory speech was partly prompted by Sturdza's refusal to give him imprimatur
, and amounted to a revolutionary project. Among other things, it made explicit references to the common cause of Romanians living in the two states of Moldavia and Wallachia
, as well as in Austrian
- and Russian
-ruled areas:
Around 1843, Kogălniceanu's enthusiasm for change was making him a suspect with Moldavian authorities, and his lectures on History were suspended in 1844. His passport
was revoked while he was traveling to Vienna
as the secret representative of the Moldavian political opposition (attempting to approach Metternich and discuss Sturdza's ouster). Briefly imprisoned after returning to Iaşi, he soon after became involved in political agitation in Wallachia, assisting his friend Ion Ghica: in February, during a Romantic nationalist
celebration, he traveled to Bucharest
, where he met members of the secretive Frăţia organization and of its legal front, Soţietatea Literară (including Ghica, Nicolae Bălcescu
, August Treboniu Laurian
, Alexandru G. Golescu
, and C. A. Rosetti
).
Having sold his personal library to Academia Mihăileană, Kogălniceanu was in Paris and other Western Europe
an cities from 1845 to 1847, joining the Romanian student association (Societatea Studenţilor Români) that included Ghica, Bălcescu, and Rosetti and was presided over by the French poet Alphonse de Lamartine
. He also frequented La Bibliothèque Roumaine ("The Romanian Library"), while affiliating to the Freemasonry
and joining the Lodge
known as L'Athénée des Étrangers ("Foreigners' Atheneum"), as did most other reform-minded Romanians in Paris. In 1846, he visited Spain
, wishing to witness the wedding of Queen Isabella II
and the Duke of Cádiz, but also curious to assess developments in Spanish culture
. Upon the end of his trip, he authored Notes sur l'Espagne ("Notes on Spain"), a French-language volume combining memoir
, travel writing
and historiographic
record.
For a while, he concentrated his activities on reviewing historical sources, expanding his series of printed and edited Moldavian chronicles. At the time, he renewed his contacts with Vaillant, who helped him publish articles in the Revue de l'Orient. He would later state: "We did not come to Paris just to learn how to speak French like the French do, but also to borrow the ideas and useful things of a nation that is so enlightened and so free".
Following the onset of the European Revolutions
, Kogălniceanu was present at the forefront of nationalist politics. Though, for a number of reasons, he failed to sign the March 1848 petition-proclamation which signaled the Moldavian revolution, he was seen as one of its instigators, and Prince Sturdza ordered his arrest during the police roundup that followed. While evading capture, Kogălniceanu authored some of the most vocal attacks on Sturdza, and, by July, a reward was offered for his apprehension "dead or alive". During late summer, he crossed the Austrian border into Bukovina
, where he took refuge on the Hurmuzachi brothers
' property (in parallel, the Frăţia-led Wallachian revolution
managed to gain power in Bucharest
).
Kogălniceanu became a member and chief ideologue of the Moldavian Central Revolutionary Committee in exile. His manifesto, Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova ("The Wishes of the National Party in Moldavia", August 1848), was, in effect, a constitution
al project listing the goals of Romanian revolutionaries. It contrasted with the earlier demands the revolutionaries had presented to Sturdza, which called for strict adherence to Regulamentul Organic
and an end to abuse. In its 10 sections and 120 articles, the manifesto called for, among other things, internal autonomy, civil
and political liberties
, separation of powers
, abolition of privilege
, an end to corvée
s, and a Moldo-Wallachian union. Referring to the latter ideal, Kogălniceanu stressed that it formed:
At the same time, he published a more explicit "Project for a Moldavian Constitution", which expanded on how Dorinţele could be translated into reality. Kogălniceanu also contributed articles to the Bukovinan journal Bucovina, the voice of revolution in Romanian-inhabited Austrian lands
. In January 1849, a cholera
epidemic forced him to leave for the French Republic
, where he carried on with his activities in support of the Romanian revolution.
In April 1849, part of the goals of the 1848 Revolution were fulfilled by the Treaty of Balta Liman
, through which the two suzerain
powers of the Regulamentul Organic
regime—the Ottoman Empire
and Russia
—appointed Grigore Alexandru Ghica
, a supporter of the liberal and unionist cause, as Prince of Moldova (while, on the other hand, confirming the defeat of revolutionary power in Wallachia). Ghica allowed the instigators of the 1848 events to return from exile, and appointed Kogălniceanu, as well as Costache Negri
and Alexander John Cuza
to administrative offices. The measures enforced by the prince, together with the fallout from the defeat of Russia in the Crimean War
, were to bring by 1860 the introduction of virtually all liberal tenets comprised in Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova.
Kogălniceanu was consequently appointed to various high level government positions, while continuing his cultural contributions and becoming the main figure of the loose grouping Partida Naţională
, which sought the merger of the two Danubian Principalities
under a single administration. In 1867, reflecting back on his role, he stated:
He inaugurated his career as a legislator under Prince Ghica. On December 22, 1855, legislation he drafted with Petre Mavrogheni
regarding the abolition
of Roma
slavery
was passed by the Boyar Divan. This involved the freeing of privately-owned Roma slaves, as those owned by the state had been set free by Prince Sturdza in January 1844. Kogălniceanu claimed to have personally inspired the measure. Ghica was prompted to complete the process of liberation by the fate of Dincă, an educated Roma cook who had murdered his French wife and then killed himself after being made aware that he was not going to be set free by his Cantacuzino
masters.
Prince Ghica also attempted to improve the peasant situation by ordering legislating the end of quit-rent
s and regulating that peasants could no longer be removed from the land they were working on. This measure produced little lasting effects; according to Kogălniceanu, "the cause [of this] should be sought in the all-mightiness of landowners, in the weakness of the government, who, through its very nature, was provisional, and thus powerless".
Interrupted by Russian and Austrian interventions during the Crimean War, his activity as Partida Naţională representative was successful after the 1856 Treaty of Paris
, when Moldavia and Wallachia came under the direct supervision of European Powers (comprising, alongside Russia and Austria, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
, the Second French Empire
, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and Prussia
). As he later acknowledged, members of the Divan had begun to consider the Paris agreements, and especially the 1858 convention regarding the two countries, as a Constitution of Romania
, in place until 1864.
In addition, Kogălniceanu began printing the magazine Steaua Dunării
in Iaşi: a unionist mouthpiece, it enlisted support from Alecsandri and his România Literară
. Kogălniceanu encouraged Nicolae Ionescu
to issue the magazine L'Étoile de Danube in Brussels
, as a French-language version of Steaua Dunării which would also serve to popularize Partida Naţionalăs views. By that time, he was in correspondence with Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini
, a French essayist and traveler who had played a minor part in the Wallachian uprising, and who supported the Romanian cause in his native country.
Elected by the College
of landowners in Dorohoi County
to the ad-hoc Divan, a newly-established assembly through which Moldavians had gained the right to decide their own future, he kept in line with Wallachian representatives to their respective Divan, and resumed his campaign in favor of union and increased autonomy, as well as the principles of neutrality
, representative government, and, as he said later, rule by "a foreign prince". However, both Kogălniceanu and Alecsandri initially presented themselves as candidates for the regency
title of Caimacam
—Alecsandri, who was more popular, renounced first in order to back Costache Negri
. Negri's candidature was dismissed by the Ottomans, who preferred to appoint Teodor Balş
(June 1856).
Following the elections of September 1857, the entire Partida Naţională chose to support Cuza for the Moldavian throne. This came after Nicolae Vogoride
, the new Caimaicam, carried out an anti-unionist electoral fraud
—a suffrage annulled by the common verdict of Napoleon III
and Queen Victoria
(August 9, 1857, first announced to the world on August 26).
He played the decisive part in the Divan's decision to abolish boyar ranks
and privilege
s, thus nullifying pieces of legislation first imposed under Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos
. The final proposal, effectively imposing one law for all
, universal conscription
and an end to rank-based tax exemption
s, was made by a commission which included Kogălniceanu and Vasile Mălinescu, and was passed by the Divan on October 29, 1857, with 73 out of 77 votes (the remaining 4 were all abstentions). Kogălniceanu noted with pride that "The entire nation has accepted this great reform, and everyone, former Princes, great boyars, low-ranking boyars, privileged strata, have received this equalitarian reform, discarding, even without special laws, all that derived from the old regime, and even all that resembled the old regime". He recorded that only two members of the boyar class had subsequently refused to abide by the new principles—the Vornic
s Iordache Beldiman (in Moldavia) and Ioan Manu
(in Wallachia). In November, Partida Naţională passed legislation consecrating the end religious discrimination
against all non-Orthodox
Christians in Moldavia (specifically, against Roman Catholics
and Gregorian
Armenians
). The law had been initiated by Negri.
Many of Kogălniceanu's efforts were centered on bringing about an end to the peasant question, but, as he admitted, his boyar electorate threatened to recall him if he was to pursue this path any further. Consequently, he signed his name to the more moderate proposal of Dimitrie Rallet, which prevented boyars from instituting new corvée
s, while leaving other matters to be discussed by a future permanent Assembly. This project was instantly rejected by a solid majority of the Assembly, that which, in Kogălniceanu's view, led to the creation of two poles, a liberal and a conservative
one, thus replacing the unionist-separatist
divide and causing political conflicts inside the former unionist majority (thus forming the National Liberal
and Conservative parties).
Outmaneuvering the opposition of Vogoride and his group of conservative followers during new elections for the Divan, Kogălniceanu was able to promote Cuza in Moldavia on January 17, 1859, leading to Cuza's election for the similar position in Wallachia (February 5)—the de facto
union of the two countries as the United Principalities
. In October 1858, he made a clear proposal regarding the unification, which, as he noted, carried the vote with only two opposing voices (Alecu Balş and Nectarie Hermeziu, the Orthodox vicar
of Roman Bishopric), being publicly acclaimed by Ion Roată
, the peasant representative for Putna County
. During 1859, Kogălniceanu again stood in the ad-hoc Divan and rallied support for Cuza from all factions of the unionist camp, while promoting his candidature in Bucharest
—thus profiting from ambiguities in the Paris Treaty. On the day Cuza took the throne, to begin his rule as Domnitor
, Mihail Kogălniceanu welcomed him with an emotional speech.
From 1859 to 1865, Kogălniceanu was numerous times the United Principalities' cabinet leader
, being responsible for most of the reforms associated with Cuza's reign. The latter's actions included the 1863 secularization of the monasteries
, as an early step to provide plots made available through the land reform of 1864
(which came at the same time as the abolition of corvées).
Although political opposition prevented him from pushing the agrarian reform at the moment he proposed it, Mihail Kogălniceanu is seen as the person responsible for the manner in which it was eventually carried out by Cuza. The changes in legislation came at the end of a lengthy process, inaugurated in 1860, when the institution regulating legislative projects for the two principalities, the Conservative-dominated Common Commission of Focşani
, refused to create the basis for land reform. Instead, it provided for an end to corvées, while allowing peasants on boyar estates control over their own houses and a parcel of pasture
. Known as Legea Rurală (the "Rural Law"), the project received instant support from the then-Premier Barbu Catargiu
, leader of the Conservatives, and the target of vocal criticism on Kogălniceanu's part. On June 6, 1862, the project was first debated in Parliament
, causing a standstill between Cuza and the Conservatives. As noted by historian L. S. Stavrianos
, the latter considered the project advantageous because, while preserving estates, it created a sizable group of landless and dependent peasants, who could provide affordable labor.
Late in the same month, Catargiu was mysteriously assassinated on Mitropoliei Hill, on his way back from Filaret, where he had attended a festivity commemorating the Wallachian revolution
(he was succeeded by Nicolae Kretzulescu, after the interim premiership of Apostol Arsachi). On June 23, Legea Rurală was passed by Parliament, but Cuza would not promulgate
it. According to Kogălniceanu, the Conservatives Arsachi and Kretzulescu were reluctant about proposing the law to be reviewed by Cuza, knowing that it was destined to be rejected. Discussions then drifted toward the matter of confiscating land from the Greek Orthodox
monasteries in Romania (their sizable properties and traditional tax exemption
s had been the subject of controversy ever since the Phanariote
period). In late 1862, their revenues were taken over by the state, and, during summer of the following year, a sum of 80 million piasters was offered as compensation to the Greek monks, in exchange for all of the monasteries' land.
As the Ottoman Empire
proposed international mediation, Cuza took the initiative, and, on October 23, 1863, deposed the Kretzulescu cabinet, nominating instead his own selection of men: Kogălniceanu as Premier and Interior Minister, Dimitrie Bolintineanu
as Minister of Religious Affairs. In order to prevent further international tensions, they decided to generalize confiscation to all Eastern Orthodox Church
estates, Greek as well as those of the incipient Romanian Orthodox
monasteries. The resolution was passed with 97 out of 100 parliamentary votes. Later, the Greek Church was presented with an offer of 150 million piasters as compensation, which was viewed as two low by its intended recipients, including Patriarch Sophoronius III. Consequently, the Romanian state considered the matter closed. As a direct consequence, one third of the arable land in Moldavia and a fourth of that in Wallachia were made available for a future land reform (one fifth to one forth of the total arable land in the state as a whole).
en, were to receive 5 fălci of land, or approx. 7.5 hectare
s; mijlocaşi ("middle people"), with two oxen—approx. 6 hectares; pălmaşi ("manual laborers"), with no oxen—approx. 3 hectares. Peasants were to own their plots after making 14 yearly payments to their respective landowner. This caused uproar in Parliament, which represented around 4,000 mostly boyar electors, and voices from among the Conservatives deemed it "insane". The latter party prepared a censure vote, based on the fact that Kogălniceanu had publicized the project through Monitorul Oficial
and in contradiction with the one endorsed by the Focşani Commission, thus going against the letter of the law—he later justified himself saying: "Publication was necessary in order to quell the rural population, agitated by the [alternative project]". The cabinet handed in its resignation, but Cuza refused to countersign it.
Tensions mounted and, on May 14, 1864, Cuza carried out a coup d'état
, coinciding with the moment when Conservatives imposed a censure vote. Kogălniceanu read in Parliament the monarch's decision to dissolve it, after which Cuza introduced a new constitution
, titled Statutul dezvoltător al Convenţiei de la Paris ("Statute Expanding the Paris Convention"). It was submitted to a referendum
, together with a law virtually establishing a system of universal male suffrage, gaining support from 682,621 voters out of 754,148.
The new regime passed its own version of Legea Rurală, thus effectively imposing land reform, as well as putting an end to corvées. This was accomplished through August 1864 discussions in the newly-established Council of State, where the law was advanced by, among others, Kogălniceanu, Bolintineanu, George D. Vernescu
, Gheorghe Apostoleanu
and Alexandru Papadopol-Callimachi. Kogălniceanu's other measures as minister include: the establishment of Bucharest University
, the introduction of identity papers
, the establishment of a national police corps
(comprising Dorobanţi units), the unification of Border Police
.
More reserved members of the Council asked for the land reform law not to be applied for a duration of three years, instead of the April 1865 deadline presumed, and Cuza agreed. Arguing that Cuza's decision was "the very condemnation and crushing of the law", Kogălniceanu worried that peasants, informed of their future, could no longer be persuaded to carry out corvées. He threatened Cuza with his resignation, and was ultimately able to persuade all parties involved, including the opposition leader Kretzulescu, to accept the law's application as of spring 1865; a proclamation by Cuza, Către locuitorii săteşti ("To the Rural Inhabitants") accompanied the resolution, and was described by Kogălniceanu as "the political testament of Cuza". Despite this measure, factors such as a growing population, the division of plots among descendants, peasant debts and enduring reliance on revenues from working on estates, together with the widespread speculation of estate leaseholders
and instances where political corruption
was detrimental to the allocation of land, made the reform almost completely ineffectual on the long term, and contributed to the countryside unrest which culminated in the Peasants' Revolt of 1907
.
With Kogălniceanu's participation, the authoritarian
regime established by Cuza succeeded in promulgating a series of reforms, notably introducing the Napoleonic code
, public education
, and state monopolies
on alcohol and tobacco. In parallel, the regime became unstable and contested from all sides, especially after his adulterous
affair with Marija Obrenović
became the topic of scandal. In early 1865, he came into conflict with his main ally Kogălniceanu, whom he dismissed soon after. Over the following months, the administration went into financial collapse, no longer able to provide state salaries, while Cuza came to rely on his own camarilla
.
After 1863, relations between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his friend Vasile Alecsandri
soured dramatically, as the latter declared himself disgusted with politics. Alecsandri withdrew to his estate in Mirceşti
, where he wrote pieces critical of the political developments.
Domnitor Cuza was ultimately ousted by a coalition of Conservatives and Liberals in February 1866; following a period of transition and maneuvers to avert international objections, a perpetually unified Principality of Romania
was established under Carol of Hohenzollern
, with the adoption of the 1866 Constitution
. Two years later, in recognition of his scholarly contributions, Kogălniceanu became a member of the newly created Romanian Academy
Historical Section.
In November 1868-January 1870, he was again Minister of the Interior under Dimitrie Ghica
. In this capacity, he regulated the design of police uniforms. He was at the time involved in a new diplomatic effort: the Ghica government was aiming to receive formal recognition of the name "Romania", as opposed to "United Principalities". The bid was successful, after the Ottomans gave their approval, but marked a slump in Romania's relationship with Prussia—its Minister President, Otto von Bismarck
, abstained on the matter. Such tensions were only worsened when Prussian money was attracted by Ghica into the development of a Romanian Railways system: later Romanian governments confronted themselves with the "Strousberg Affair", a volatile combination of investment failure and anti-Prussian sentiment (see Republic of Ploieşti
).
Kogălniceanu's term was confirmed by the 1869 election, after which he was able to persuade Alecsandri to accept a position as deputy for Roman
. The poet, who had been nominated without expressing his consent, cast aside hostility and became one of Kogălniceanu's main supporters in Chamber. Even after Cuza left the country and settled in Baden
, relations between him and Kogălniceanu remained respectful, but distant: in summer 1868, when both of them were visiting Vienna
, they happened to meet, and, without exchanging words, raised their hats as a form of greeting. On May 27, 1873, Kogălniceanu, alongside Alecsandri, Costache Negri
, Petre Poni and other public figures, attended Cuza's funeral in Ruginoasa
. Speaking later, he noted: "Cuza has committed great errors, but [the 1864 Către locuitorii săteşti] shall never fade out of the hearts of peasants, nor from Romania's history".
He continued to be the leader of pragmatic reform liberalism in Romania; in loose opposition to the Conservative Party
cabinet of Lascăr Catargiu
(1875), he began talks with the radical
faction of the liberal trend
(most notably, Ion Brătianu
, Dimitrie Sturdza
, Ion Ghica
, C. A. Rosetti
, Dimitrie Brătianu
, and Alexandru G. Golescu
), which were carried at the Bucharest residence of Pasha
Stephen Bartlett Lakeman
. On May 24, 1875, negotiations resulted in the creation of the National Liberal Party
—the so-called Coalition of Mazar Paşa.
Kogălniceanu also signed his name to the proclamation Alegătorul Liber ("The Enfranchised Voter"), which stated the main National Liberal goals. He was however an outspoken adversary of his former collaborator Nicolae Ionescu
, who, as leader of the liberal splinter group Fracţiunea liberă şi independentă, rejected National Liberal politics. In an 1876 speech in front of Parliament, Kogălniceanu attacked Ionescu and his supporters for their political and academic positions, approval from the conservative literary society Junimea
and its anti-liberal gazette Timpul
.
Kogălniceanu joined other National Liberals in expressing opposition to the trade convention Catargiu had signed with Austria-Hungary
, which was advantageous to the latter's exports, and which, they claimed, was leading Romanian industry to ruin. He accepted it while in office, but looked into adopting European-like patent laws
, as a measure of encouraging local industries. A National Liberal government would repeal the agreement in 1886.
). He initially tried to obtain diplomatic recognition from various states, but the European states rejected the offer, and the Ottoman Porte ignored them. The Russian envoy Dimitri Stuart received instructions to "halt" Kogălniceanu's initiatives, so as not to aggravate the "Eastern Question
".
Upon his return to office, Kogălniceanu personally organized conspiratorial meetings with the Russian diplomat Aleksandr Nelidov
, and approved the Russian demands in exchange for co-belligerency. With Rosetti and Brătianu, he supported the transit of Russian troops and persuaded Carol to accept the Russian alliance, contrary to the initial advice of the Crown Council. He also sought advice on this matter from the French Third Republic
, who was still one of the powers supervising Romania; Louis, duc Decazes
, the French Foreign Minister
, declined to give him a reassuring answer, and pointed that, were Romania to join up with Russia, the other powers would cease offering their protection. Making note of this, Kogălniceanu expressed his hope that France would still support his country at the decisive moment.
In the end, the Russian declaration of war came as a surprise to both Carol and Kogălniceanu, who had not been informed of the exact date (April 23) when the Imperial Russian Army
would start moving into Moldavia—hence, Romanians tended to regard it as an invasion. Also alarming for Kogălniceanu, the official Russian proclamation addressed Romanians as protegés of the Empire. Bilateral tensions were somewhat alleviated by Russian apologies and, later, by the Ottoman pledge to annex Romania; addressing a discontent Parliament, Kogălniceanu asserted that the Russian road was the country's only choice.
On May 9, 1877, it was through Kogălniceanu's speech in Parliament that Romania acknowledged she was discarding Ottoman suzerainty
. He was rewarded by Carol, becoming one of the first three statesmen received into the Order of the Star of Romania
. The Minister also negotiated the terms under which the Romanian Land Forces
were to join the war effort in Bulgaria, specifically demanding Russian reparations and indemnities
.
Over the following year, he coordinated efforts to have the act recognized by all European states, and stated that his government's policies were centered on "as rapid as possible, the transformation of foreign diplomatic agencies
and consulates
in Bucharest into legation
s". Late in 1877, he traveled to Austria-Hungary
and met Austrian Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy
. He recorded a mood of opposition to the Romanian military effort, but received guarantees of border security. The main challenge was convincing Bismarck, who had since become Chancellor
of the German Empire
, and who was very reserved on the issue of Romanian independence.
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Upon the war's end, he and Brătianu headed the Romanian delegation to the Congress of Berlin
. In this capacity, they protested Russia's offer to exchange the previously Ottoman-ruled Northern Dobruja
for Budjak
, a portion of southern Bessarabia
which Romania had been awarded by the 1856 Treaty of Paris
. This came after months of tensions between Romania and Russia, generated over the territorial issue and the Russian claim to be representing Romania at Berlin: Kogălniceanu's envoy (Eraclie Arion) had even threaded the Russians with a Romanian denunciation of their alliance, and 60,000 Romanian soldiers were being prepared for Budjak's defense. The Conference's ultimate decision (Berlin Treaty) was in favor of Russia's proposal, largely due to support from Andrássy and William Henry Waddington
, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. Additional pressures came from Bismarck. In parallel, Russian demands for Romania to allow indefinite military transit through Northern Dobruja were made ineffectual by the opposition of other European states.
As an effect of Waddington's intervention, Romania also agreed to resolve the issue of Jewish Emancipation
, and to naturalize
all of its non-Christian residents (see History of the Jews in Romania
). Kogălniceanu made efforts to overturn this decision, and was bitter when the Germans refused to compromise. The resolution was debated inside Romania over the following year, and such a measure in respect to Jews was not introduced until 1922-1923.
This outcome was the subject of controversy in Romania, where the territorial exchange was generally considered unfair, with some voices even arguing that the country could again accept Ottoman suzerainty as a means to overturn the state of affairs. However, the Budjak cession had been secretly agreed upon with Nelidov in early 1877. Even then, against his subordinates in the diplomatic corps, but in consonance with the Domnitor, Kogălniceanu privately noted that he "fully agreed" with it, and that he regarded the new province as a "splendid acquisition". However, in April 1877, Kogălniceanu had explicitly assured Parliament that no real threat loomed over the Budjak. By that point in time, both the Germans and the Austrians had began suspecting that Kogălniceanu was in fact a favorite and agent of influence
of the Russians, and, reportedly, he even encouraged the rumor to spread. Andrássy reportedly commented: "Prince Carol is really unfortunate to have people like Mr. Kogălniceanu in his service".
Opposition came from both Conservative and National Liberal legislators, who viewed Northern Dobruja as an inhospitable, nonstrategic and non-Romanian territory. Contrarily, with his proclamation to the peoples of Northern Dobruja, Kogălniceanu enshrined the standard patriotic
narrative of the events: he asserted that the region had been "united" with Romania, as a "Romanian land", because of the people's wishes and sacrifices. During the heated parliamentary sessions of late September 1878, he helped swing the vote in favor of the annexation, with speeches which also helped transform the public's mood, and which promised a swift process of Romanianization
. These addresses are credited with having first backdated the Romanian claim to ca. 1400, when Wallachia briefly held the Principality of Karvuna.
In 1879, again head of Internal Affairs, Kogălniceanu began organizing the administration of Northern Dobruja, through decrees. He supported a distinct legal regime, as a transition from Ottoman administration
, and a period of rebuilding—in effect, a colonial
rule, aiming for the assimilation of locals into the Romanian mainstream, but respectful of Dobrujan Islam
. Unlike other partisans of colonization (including scientist Ion Ionescu de la Brad
), Kogălniceanu saw the new territory as open only to ethnic Romanian settlers. His intercession played a part in the ethnic policies: he is reported to have personally urged the Romanian pastoralists
(mocani) to abandon their traditional lifestyle and their Budjak homes, offering them the option of purchasing Northern Dobrujan land. This had become widely available after the partition of Ottoman estates, the nationalization
of land once owned by the Muhajir Balkan
, and the appropriation of uncultivated plots (miriè). Kogălniceanu also advised the local administration to overrepresent existing Romanian communities in the decision-making process.
, and having Alexandru Lahovary
on his staff. In January 1880-1881, he oversaw the first diplomatic contacts between Romania and Qing China
, as an exchange of correspondence between the Romanian Embassy to France and Zeng Jize
, the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The French state awarded him its Legion of Honour, with the rank of Grand Officier.
Upon his return to the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Romania
, Kogălniceanu played a prominent part in opposing further concessions for Austria, on the issue of international Danube navigation
. By 1883, he was becoming known as the speaker of a liberal conservative
faction of the National Liberal group. Kogălniceanu and his supporters criticized Rosetti and others who again pushed for universal (male) suffrage, and argued that Romania's fragile international standing did not permit electoral divisiveness.
After withdrawing from political life, Kogălniceanu served as Romanian Academy President from 1887 to 1889 (or 1890). Having fallen severely ill in 1886, he spent his final years editing historical documents of the Eudoxiu Hurmuzaki fund, publicizing Ancient Greek
and Roman
archeological finds in Northern Dobruja
, and collecting foreign documents related to Romanian history. One of his last speeches, held in front of the Academy and witnessed by both Carol, who had since become King of Romania
, and his wife Elisabeth of Wied
, was a summary of his entire career as a politician, intellectual, and civil servant. In August 1890, while traveling through the Austrian region of Vorarlberg
, he was troubled by news that Alecsandri had died at his home in Mirceşti
. Writing to Alecsandri's wife Paulina, he asked: "I could not be present at his funeral, [therefore] you'll allow me, my lady, since I have unable to kiss him either alive or dead, to at least kiss his grave!"
Mihail Kogălniceanu died while undergoing surgery in Paris, and was succeeded in his seat at the Academy by Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol
. He was buried in his native Iaşi, at the Eternitatea cemetery
.
, a major historian of the 20th century, celebrated Kogălniceanu as "the founder of modern Romanian culture
, the thinker who has seen in clarity the free and complete Romania [...], the redeemer of peasants thrown into serfdom
[a reference to corvée
s], the person understanding all the many, secretive, and indissoluble connections linking the life of a people to the moral quality and the energy of its soul".
Kogălniceanu was a democratic
and nationalist
politician who combined liberalism
with the conservative
principles acquired during his education, taking inspiration from the policies of the Prussian statesmen Baron vom und zum Stein
and Karl August von Hardenberg
. German statesmen were however disinclined to consider him one of their own: Bernhard von Bülow
took for granted rumors that he was an agent of the Russians, and further alleged that the Romanian land reform was a sham.
Supportive of constitutionalism
, civil liberties
, and other liberal positions, Kogălniceanu prioritized the nation over individualism
, an approach with resonated with the tendencies of all his fellow Moldavian revolutionaries. In maturity, Kogălniceanu had become a skeptic in respect to the French Revolution
and its Jacobin
legacy, arguing: "civilization stops when revolutions begin". At the same time, his connections within the Freemasonry
, mirroring the conviction and affiliation of most 1848 revolutionaries, were an important factor in ensuring the success of Romanian causes abroad, and arguably played a part in the election of Cuza, who was himself a member of the secretive organization.
Inside the Romanian liberal faction
, and in contrast to his moderation on other topics, he was among the very few to tie together modernization
, democracy, and the need to improve the situation of peasants (other notable politicians to do so were Nicolae Bălcescu
, who died in late 1852, and Rosetti, who advocated a strict adherence to majoritarianism
). Kogălniceanu praised Bălcescu's manifestos and activism in favor of the peasantry, indicating that they formed a precedent for his own accomplishments, while deploring the Wallachian uprising
's failure to advance a definitive land reform. When faced with a negative response in the census-elected Parliament
just prior to Cuza's coup, he defended his land reform project with the words:
Late in his life, while crediting the University of Berlin
and its notions of patriotism
with having provided him with "the love for the Romanian motherland and the liberal spirit [emphasis in original]", he stressed:
executive to resume the expulsions of Jewish community
members from the countryside (and thus denying them various sources of income). When faced with the official protests of European states, he replied that the matter was nobody's business but Romania's. He usually referred to the Jewish community in general with the insulting term jidani, and accepted their presence on Romanian soil as a concession to their alleged "too numerous and too powerful presence in Europe". During the 1930s, such attitudes, together with Kogălniceanu's involvement in peasant causes, were cited as a precedent by politicians of the fascist
National Christian Party
and Iron Guard
, who, while promoting rural traditionalism, advocated restricting civil rights
for the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, Kogălniceanu's antisemitic discourse was nuanced and less violent than that of various of his contemporaries. According to historian George Voicu, he stood for "a complicated balance in dealing with the 'Jewish question
'", one between "antisemitic intransigence" and "concessions". The more radical antisemite and National Liberal Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
expressed much criticism of this moderate stance (which he also believed was represented within the party by Rosetti and Ion Ghica
), and he even claimed that Kogălniceanu was a secret "faithful" of the Talmud
. In 1885, Kogălniceanu strongly objected to a National Liberal cabinet decision to expel Moses Gaster
, a renowned Jewish scholar, stating that the latter was "[the] only man who works in this country" (he would later celebrate him as the man "to whom Romanian literature owes so much"). Five years later, as rapporteur
on naturalization
issues, he conferred citizenship upon Marxist
thinker Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
, who was a Russian-born Jewish immigrant. Shortly before his death, he reportedly endorsed a similar measure for Jewish scholar Lazăr Şăineanu
, expressing condemnation for those antisemites within his own party who made efforts to block it.
made ample mention of Kogălniceanu's role in combating nationalist excesses, in particular the post-1840 attempts by Transylvania
n and Wallachia
n intellectuals to change the fabric of the Romanian language
by introducing strong influences from Latin
or other modern Romance languages
. To illustrate this view, he cited Kogălniceanu's Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie naţională, which notably states:
Ibrăileanu additionally credited the Moldavian faction, Kogălniceanu included, with having helped introduce spoken Romanian into the literary language
, at a time when both Ion Heliade Rădulescu
and successors of the Transylvanian School
made use of the dialect prevalent in Orthodox
and Greek-Catholic
religious culture. This was in connection with Kogălniceanu's advocacy of pragmatic Westernization
: "Civilization never does banish the national ideas and habits, but rather improves them for the benefit of the nation in particular and of humanity in general". He was adverse to fast cultural reforms, stressing that acclimatization was always required.
A generation younger than Ibrăileanu, George Călinescu
also noted the contrast between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his predecessors, as two sets of "Messianist
" intellectuals—in this contrast, Heliade Rădulescu was "hazy and egotistic
", whereas Kogălniceanu and others had "a mission which they knew how to translate into positive terms
". As a historian, Kogălniceanu notably introduced several more or less influential Romantic nationalist theses: after 1840, he was noted for stressing the image of the 17th century Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave as a unifier of Romania, although this view was not present in his earlier essays; he proposed that his was among the first European peoples to record history in their national language, in contrast with the fact that the earliest Romanian-language chronicles were written during the 17th century; additionally, he argued that the Second Bulgarian Empire
was a Romanian
state. In some of his works, he claimed that Romanians traditionally practiced endogamy
to preserve their purity.
As early as 1840, Mihail Kogălniceanu was urging writers to seek inspiration for their work in Romanian folklore
in creating a "cultured literature". In 1855, after the Wallachian revolution was defeated and most of its leaders went into exile, he noted that the lighter toll Russian intervention had in Moldavia contributed to the preservation of literature; alongside similar statements made by Vasile Alecsandri
, this allowed Ibrăileanu to conclude that, after 1848, Moldavia played a bigger part in shaping the cultural landscape of Romania. Writing more than half a century after the critic, historian Lucian Boia
also noted that, while Kogălniceanu stressed national unity, his discourse tended to place emphasis on Moldavian particularities. Also according to Ibrăileanu, Kogălniceanu and Alecu Russo
have set the foundation for the local school of literary criticism
, and, together, had announced the cultural professionalism advocated by Junimea
after the 1860s. The latter conclusion was partly shared by Călinescu, Tudor Vianu
and literary researcher Z. Ornea. Nevertheless, in its reaction against the 1848 generation, Junimea, and especially its main figure Titu Maiorescu
, tended to ignore or outright dismiss Kogălniceanu's causes and the attitudes he expressed.
While commenting on the differences between Moldavian and Wallachian literature, Paul Zarifopol gave a more reserved assessment of Kogălniceanu's position, arguing that the emphasis he had placed on "national taste" would occasionally result in acclaim for mediocre writers such as Alexandru Hrisoverghi
. Călinescu observed that much of Kogălniceanu's own prose works imitated the style of his friend Costache Negruzzi, without carrying the same artistic weight, while noting that his few works of autobiography
featured "pages of gracious [and] good-natured melancholy", which he attributed to the author's traditional upbringing. Also among Kogălniceanu's anthumous writings was Fiziologia provincialului în Iaşi ("The Physiology of the Parochial Man in Iaşi"), closely based on a French model by Pierre Durand and, through it, echoing Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
's Physiologie du goût. It was part of a series of such texts, popular in his generation and deemed "the first age of Romanian realism
" by researcher Maria Protase. Among the other pieces were two comedy plays, both written in 1840, when he was co-director of the National Theater Iaşi: Două femei împotriva unui bărbat ("Two Women against One Man") and Orbul fericit ("The Happy Blind Man"). Kogălniceanu's Notes sur l'Espagne was published decades after his death, and received much critical acclaim.
Mihail Kogălniceanu was married to Ecaterina Jora (1827–1907), the widow of Iorgu Scorţescu, a Moldavian Militia
colonel; they had more than eight children together (three of whom were boys). The eldest son, Constantin, studied Law and had a career in diplomacy, being the author of an unfinished work on Romanian history. Ion, his brother, was born in 1859 and died in 1892, being the only one of Mihail Kogălniceanu's male children to have heirs (his line was still surviving in the early 2000s). Ion's son, also named Mihail, established the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation in 1935 (in 1939-1946, it published a magazine named Arhiva Românească, which aimed to be a new series of the one published during the 1840s; its other projects were rendered ineffectual by the outbreak of World War II
).
Vasile Kogălniceanu, the youngest son, was noted for his involvement in agrarian
and left-wing politics during the early 20th century. A founder of Partida Ţărănească (which served as an inspiration for the Peasants' Party
after 1918), he was a collaborator of Vintilă Rosetti in campaigning for the universal suffrage
and the legislating of Sunday as a public holiday
. A manifesto to the peasants, issued by him just before the Peasants' Revolt of 1907
, was interpreted by the authorities as a call to rebellion, and led to Kogălniceanu's imprisonment for a duration of five months. A member of the Chamber of Deputies
for Ilfov County
, he served as a rapporteur
for the Alexandru Averescu
executive during the 1921 debates regarding an extensive land reform.
Vasile's sister Lucia (or Lucie) studied at a boarding school
in Dresden
during the late 1860s-early 1870s. Her third husband, Leon Bogdan, was a local leader of the Conservatives in Neamţ County
(according to the memoirist Constantin Argetoianu
, Lucia was the one exercising real control over the organization's branch). After the Conservative Party faded out of politics as a result of World War I
, she came to support the People's Party. Argetoianu later speculated that she was the most intelligent of the Kogălniceanu children, and claimed that Mihail Kogălniceanu had himself acknowledged this (quoting him as saying, "too bad Lucie is not a boy"). She was the mother of eight; one of her daughters, Manuela, married into the Ghica family
.
Kogălniceanu's nephew, Grigore, himself a local leader of the Conservative Party and a major landowner, married to Adela Cantacuzino-Paşcanu, a member of the Cantacuzino family
. He died in 1904, leaving his wife a large fortune, which she spent on a large collection of jewels and fortune-telling
séances. Adela Kogălniceanu was robbed and murdered in October 1920; rumor had it that she had been killed by her own son, but this path was never pursued by authorities, who were quick to cancel the investigation (at the time, they were faced with the major strikes of 1920).
Mihail Kogălniceanu's residence in Iaşi is kept as a memorial house and public museum. His vacation house in the city, located in Copou area and known locally as Casa cu turn ("The House with a Tower"), was the residence of composer George Enescu
for part of the Romanian Campaign
, and, in 1930, was purchased by novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
(in 1980, it became a museum dedicated to Sadoveanu's memory). The Kogălniceanu property in Râpile
, Bacău County
, was sold and divided during the early 20th century.
Chronicles edited by Kogălniceanu and Costache Negruzzi were the source of inspiration for several historical novel
ists, beginning with Alexandru Odobescu
. His relationship with the peasant representative to the ad-hoc Divan, Ion Roată
, is briefly mentioned in an anecdote
authored by Ion Creangă
(Moş Ion Roată). He is also the subject of a short writing by Ion Luca Caragiale
(first published by Vatra in 1894). Symbolist
poet Dimitrie Anghel
, whose father, the National Liberal parliamentarian Dimitrie A. Anghel, had been well acquainted with Kogălniceanu, authored a memoir detailing the fluctuating relationship between the two political figures, as well as detailing one of the former Premier's last speeches.
Kogălniceanu is the subject of many paintings, and features prominently in Costin Petrescu's fresco
at the Romanian Athenaeum
(where he is shown alongside Cuza, who is handing a deed
to a peasant). In 1911, Iaşi became host to Kogălniceanu bronze statue by Raffaello Romanelli
, purported to have been recast from one of the sculptor's older works. In 1936, the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation commissioned Oscar Han
to create a monument dedicated to Kogălniceanu, which was erected in Bucharest
during the same year. Actors have portrayed Kogălniceanu in several Romanian films
—most notably, Ion Niculescu in the 1912 Independenţa României
, and George Constantin in Sergiu Nicolaescu
's 1977 Războiul Independenţei. During the latter stages of the Romanian Communist regime
, under Nicolae Ceauşescu
, Mihail Kogălniceanu's image was present in official propaganda
, alongside those of other historical figures who were considered progressive
.
The historian's name was given to several places and landmarks; these include downtown Bucharest's Mihail Kogălniceanu Square (near the Izvor metro station
, and housing Han's sculpture) and Mihail Kogălniceanu Boulevard, the Mihail Kogălniceanu
commune in Constanţa County
, the Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport
(situated 26 km northwest of Constanţa
, and serving that city, the airport also houses a U.S. Military Forces
base), and the Mihail Kogălniceanu University in Iaşi (the first private university
in Moldavia, founded in 1990).
, Moş Ion Roată, at wikisource
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...
n-born 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 liberal
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union
United Principalities
The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, also known as the Romanian Principalities, was the official name of Romania following the 1859 election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince or domnitor of both territories...
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...
under Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
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:...
, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
. He was several times Interior Minister under Cuza and Carol. A polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
, Kogălniceanu was one of the most influential Romanian intellectual
Intellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s of his generation. Siding with the moderate liberal current
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...
for most of his lifetime, he began his political career as a collaborator of Prince 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...
, while serving as head of the Iaşi Theater
Iaşi National Theatre
The Iaşi National Theatre in Iaşi, Romania, is the oldest national theatre and one of the most prestigious theatrical institutions in Romania...
and issuing several publications together with the poet 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 the activist 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...
. After editing the highly influential magazine Dacia Literară
Dacia Literara
- History :Founded by Mihail Kogălniceanu and printed in Iaşi, it was short-lived—having lasted only from January to June 1840. Dacia Literară was a Romantic nationalist and liberal magazine, engendering a literary society.- External links :*...
and serving as a professor at Academia Mihăileană
Academia Mihaileana
Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern Europeean institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institute, housing several faculties.-History:Academia...
, Kogălniceanu came into conflict with the authorities over his 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...
inaugural speech of 1843. He was the ideologue of the abortive 1848 Moldavian revolution, authoring its main document, Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova.
Following 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...
, with Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Grigore Alexandru Ghica or Ghika was a Prince of Moldavia between October 14, 1849 and June 1853, and again between October 30, 1854 and June 3, 1856...
, Kogălniceanu was responsible for drafting legislation to abolish
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...
Roma
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...
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...
. Together with Alecsandri, he edited the unionist magazine Steaua Dunării
Steaua Dunării
Steaua Dunării was a political newspaper and a unionist mouthpiece founded in Octomber 1855 by Mihail Kogălniceanu. Editors like Vasile-Urechea Avexandrescu, Vasile Mălinescu, Iancu M. Codrescu and colaborators like Vasile Alecsandri, Costache Negruzzi, Alecu Donici, Grigore Alexandrescu, Alecu...
, played a prominent part during the elections for the ad-hoc Divan, and successfully promoted Cuza, his lifelong friend, to the throne. Kogălniceanu advanced legislation to revoke traditional ranks and titles
Historical Romanian ranks and titles
This is a glossary of historical Romanian ranks and titles used in the principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania, and later in Romania. Many of these titles are of Slavic etymology, with some of Greek, Byzantine, Latin, and Turkish etymology; several are original...
, and to secularize the property of monasteries
Secularization of monastery estates in Romania
The law on the secularization of monastery estates in Romania was proposed in December 1863 by Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza and approved by the Parliament of Romania. By its terms, the Romanian state confiscated the large estates owned by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Romania...
. His efforts at land reform
Land reform in Romania
Four major land reforms have taken place in Romania: in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991. The first sought to undo the feudal structure that had persisted after the unification of the Danubian Principalities in 1859; the second, more drastic reform, tried to resolve lingering peasant discontent and create...
resulted in a censure vote, leading Cuza to enforce them through a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
in May 1864. However, Kogălniceanu resigned in 1865, following his own conflicts with the monarch. A decade after, he helped create the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
, before playing an important part in Romania's decision to enter the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878—a choice which consecrated her independence. He was also instrumental in the acquisition, and later colonization
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
, of Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in south by Bulgarian Southern Dobruja.-Geography:...
region. During his final years, he was a prominent member and one-time President of the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
, and briefly served as Romanian representative to France
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...
.
Early life
Born in IaşiIasi
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...
, he belonged to the Kogălniceanu family of Moldavian 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, being the son of Vornic
Vornic
Vornic was a historical rank for an official in charge of justice and internal affairs. He was overseeing the Royal Court. It originated in the Slovak nádvorník. In the 16th century in Moldavia were two high vornics: one for "Ţara de Sus" , and other for "Ţara de Jos" ....
Ilie Kogălniceanu, and the great-grandson of Constantin Kogălniceanu (noted for having signed his name to a 1749 document issued by Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos was a Greek noble who served as Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia at several intervals...
, through which serfdom
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...
was disestablished in Moldavia). Mihail's mother, Catinca née Stavilla (or Stavillă), was, according to Kogălniceanu's own words, "[from] a Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
family in Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
". The author took pride in noting that "my family has never searched its origins in foreign countries or peoples". Nevetheless, in a speech he gave shortly before his death, Kogălniceanu commented that Catinca Stavilla had been the descendant of "a Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
family, settled for centuries in the Genoese colony of Cetatea Albă
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi is a city situated on the right bank of the Dniester Liman in the Odessa Oblast of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Bessarabia...
(Akerman), whence it then scattered throughout Bessarabia".
During Milhail Kogălniceanu's lifetime, there was confusion regarding his exact birth year, with several sources erroneously indicating it as 1806; in his speech to the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
, he acknowledged this, and gave his exact birth date as present in a register kept by his father. It was also then that he mentioned his godmother
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
was Marghioala Calimach, a Callimachi
Callimachi family
Callimachi, Calimachi, or Kallimachi was a Moldavian boyar and princely family, originating with a group of free peasants living in the Orhei area of Bessarabia. It still remains present today in modern Romania.-Members:*Vasile Călmaşul: b...
boyaress who married into the Sturdza family
Sturdza family
Sturdza, Sturza or Stourdza is the name of an old Romanian family, whose origins can be traced back to the 1540s.The Sturdza family has been long and intimately associated with the government first of Moldavia and afterwards of Romania...
, and was the mother of 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...
(Kogălniceanu's would-be protector and foe).
Kogălniceanu was educated at Trei Ierarhi monastery
Trei Ierarhi Monastery
Biserica Trei Ierarhi is a seventeenth-century monastery located in Iaşi, Romania. The monastery is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments and included on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Site....
in Iaşi, before being tutored by Gherman Vida, a monk who belonged to 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...
, and who was an associate of Gheorghe Şincai
Gheorghe Sincai
Gheorghe Șincai was an ethnic Romanian Transylvanian historian, philologist, translator, poet, and representative of the Enlightenment-influenced Transylvanian School....
. He completed his primary education in Miroslava
Miroslava, Iasi
Miroslava is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania, part of the Iaşi metropolitan area. It is composed of thirteen villages: Balciu, Brătuleni, Ciurbeşti, Corneşti, Dancaş, Găureni, Horpaz, Miroslava, Proselnici, Uricani, Valea Adâncă, Valea Ursului and Voroveşti....
, where he attended the Cuénim boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
. It was during this early period that he first met the poet 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....
(they studied under both Vida and Cuénim), Costache Negri
Costache Negri
Costache Negri was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, politician and revolutionary....
and Cuza. At the time, Kogălniceanu became a passionate student of history, beginning his investigations into old 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.
With support from Prince Sturdza, Kogălniceanu continued his studies abroad, originally in the French city of Lunéville
Lunéville
Lunéville is a commune in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department in France.It is a sub-prefecture of the department and lies on the Meurthe River.-History:...
(where he was cared for by Sturdza's former tutor, the abbé
Abbé
Abbé is the French word for abbot. It is the title for lower-ranking Catholic clergymen in France....
Lhommé), and later at the University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
. Among his colleagues was the future philosopher Grigore Sturdza
Grigore Sturdza
Grigorie Sturdza , son of Mihail Sturdza was educated in France and Germany, became a general in the Ottoman army under the name of "Muklis Pasha", and afterwards attained the same rank in the Moldavian army. He was a candidate for the Moldavian throne in 1859, and subsequently a prominent member...
, the monarch's son. His stay in Lunéville was cut short by the intervention of 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...
officials, who were supervising Moldavia under the provisions of 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, and who believed that, through the influence of Lhommé (a participant 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...
), students were being infused with rebellious ideas; all Moldavian students, including Sturdza's sons and other noblemen, were withdrawn from the school in late 1835, and reassigned to Prussian
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
education institutions.
In Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, he came in contact with and was greatly influenced by Friedrich Carl von Savigny
Friedrich Carl von Savigny
Friedrich Carl von Savigny was one of the most respected and influential 19th-century jurists and historians.-Early life and education:...
, Alexander von Humboldt
Alexander von Humboldt
Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander Freiherr von Humboldt was a German naturalist and explorer, and the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt...
, Eduard Gans
Eduard Gans
Eduard Gans was a German jurist.He was born in Berlin of prosperous Jewish parents. He studied law first at the Friedrich Wilhelm University, Berlin, then at Göttingen, and finally at Heidelberg, where he attended G. W. F. Hegel's lectures, and became thoroughly imbued with the principles of...
, and especially Professor Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...
, whose ideas on the necessity for politicians to be acquainted with historical science he readily adopted. In pages he dedicated to the influence exercised by Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel was a German philosopher, one of the creators of German Idealism. His historicist and idealist account of reality as a whole revolutionized European philosophy and was an important precursor to Continental philosophy and Marxism.Hegel developed a comprehensive...
on Romanian thought, Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
noted that certain Hegelian
Hegelianism
Hegelianism is a collective term for schools of thought following or referring to G. W. F. Hegel's philosophy which can be summed up by the dictum that "the rational alone is real", which means that all reality is capable of being expressed in rational categories...
-related principles were a common attribute of the Berlin faculty during Kogălniceanu's stay. He commented that, in later years, the politician adopted views which resonated with those of Hegel, most notably the principle that legislation needed to adapt to the individual spirit of nations.
Kogălniceanu later noted with pride that he had been the first of Ranke's Romanian students, and claimed that, in conversations with Humboldt, he was the first person to use the modern equivalents French-language of the words "Romanian" and "Romania" (roumain and Roumanie)—replacing the references to "Moldavia(n)" and "Wallachia(n)
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...
", as well as the antiquated versions used before him by the intellectual Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi was a Moldavian-born Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and polyglot, he was one of the most influential people of his generation...
; 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...
also noted the part Kogălniceanu played in popularizing these references as the standard ones.
Kogălniceanu was also introduced to Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , Duchess of Cumberland and later Queen of Hanover , was the consort of Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, the fifth son and eighth child of George III and Queen Charlotte.She was born in the Altes Palais of Hanover as the fifth...
, and became relatively close to her son George of Cumberland and Teviotdale
George V of Hanover
George V was King of Hanover, the only child of Ernest Augustus I, and a grandchild of King George III of the United Kingdom. In the peerage of Great Britain, he was 2nd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, 2nd Earl of Armagh...
, the future ruler of Hanover
Kingdom of Hanover
The Kingdom of Hanover was established in October 1814 by the Congress of Vienna, with the restoration of George III to his Hanoverian territories after the Napoleonic era. It succeeded the former Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg , and joined with 38 other sovereign states in the German...
. Initially hosted by a community of the Huguenot
Huguenot
The Huguenots were members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France during the 16th and 17th centuries. Since the 17th century, people who formerly would have been called Huguenots have instead simply been called French Protestants, a title suggested by their German co-religionists, the...
diaspora
Diaspora
A diaspora is "the movement, migration, or scattering of people away from an established or ancestral homeland" or "people dispersed by whatever cause to more than one location", or "people settled far from their ancestral homelands".The word has come to refer to historical mass-dispersions of...
, he later became the guest of a Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
pastor
Pastor
The word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
named Jonas, in whose residence he witnessed gatherings of activists in favor of German unification (see Burschenschaft
Burschenschaft
German Burschenschaften are a special type of Studentenverbindungen . Burschenschaften were founded in the 19th century as associations of university students inspired by liberal and nationalistic ideas.-History:-Beginnings 1815–c...
). According to his own recollections, his group of Moldavians was kept under close watch by Alexandru Sturdza
Alexandru Sturdza
Alexandru Sturdza was a Russian publicist and diplomat of Romanian origin. In his writings, he referred to himself with a French rendition of his name, Alexandre Stourdza.-Life:...
, who, in addition, enlisted Kogălniceanu's help in writing his work Études historiques, chrétiennes et morales ("Historical, Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
and Moral Studies"). During summer trips to the Pomerania
Pomerania
Pomerania is a historical region on the south shore of the Baltic Sea. Divided between Germany and Poland, it stretches roughly from the Recknitz River near Stralsund in the West, via the Oder River delta near Szczecin, to the mouth of the Vistula River near Gdańsk in the East...
n town of Heringsdorf
Heringsdorf (Pomerania)
Heringsdorf is a municipality and a seaside resort town in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany. The municipality was formed in January 2005 out of the former municipalities of Heringsdorf, Ahlbeck and Bansin...
, he met the novelist Willibald Alexis
Willibald Alexis
Willibald Alexis, the pseudonym of Georg Wilhelm Heinrich Häring , was a German historical novelist.-Life:...
, whom he befriended, and who, as Kogălniceanu recalled, lectured him on the land reform carried out by Prussian King Frederick William III
Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III was king of Prussia from 1797 to 1840. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel .-Early life:...
. Later, Kogălniceanu studied the effects of reform when on visit to Alt Schwerin
Alt Schwerin
Alt Schwerin is a municipality in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany....
, and saw the possibility for replicating its results in his native country.
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
", the first volume in a synthesis of Romanian history), both of which were first published in 1837 inside the German Confederation
German Confederation
The German Confederation was the loose association of Central European states created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of separate German-speaking countries. It acted as a buffer between the powerful states of Austria and Prussia...
. In addition, he authored a series of studies on Romanian literature
Literature of Romania
Romanian literature is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.Eugène Ionesco is one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
. He signed these first works with a Francized
Francization
Francization or Gallicization is a process of cultural assimilation that gives a French character to a word, an ethnicity or a person.-French Colonial Empire:-Francization in the World:...
version of his name, Michel de Kogalnitchan ("Michael of Kogalnitchan"), which was slightly erroneous (it used the partitive case
Partitive case
The partitive case is a grammatical case which denotes "partialness", "without result", or "without specific identity". It is also used in contexts where a subgroup is selected from a larger group, or with numbers....
twice: once in the French particle "de", and a second time in the Romanian-based suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
"-an").
Raising the suspicions of Prince Sturdza after it became apparent that he sided with the reform-minded youth of his day in opposition to the Regulamentul Organic regime, Kogălniceanu was prevented from completing his doctorate
Doctorate
A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...
, and instead returned to Iaşi, where he became a princely adjutant
Adjutant
Adjutant is a military rank or appointment. In some armies, including most English-speaking ones, it is an officer who assists a more senior officer, while in other armies, especially Francophone ones, it is an NCO , normally corresponding roughly to a Staff Sergeant or Warrant Officer.An Adjutant...
in 1838.
In opposition to Prince Sturdza
Over the following decade, he published a large number of works, including essays and articles, his first editions of the Moldavian chroniclers, as well as other books and articles, while founding a succession of short-lived periodicals: Alăuta Românească (1838), Foaea Sătească a Prinţipatului Moldovei (1839), Dacia LiterarăDacia Literara
- History :Founded by Mihail Kogălniceanu and printed in Iaşi, it was short-lived—having lasted only from January to June 1840. Dacia Literară was a Romantic nationalist and liberal magazine, engendering a literary society.- External links :*...
(1840), Arhiva Românească (1840), Calendar pentru Poporul Românesc (1842), Propăşirea (renamed Foaie Ştiinţifică şi Literară, 1843), and several almanac
Almanac
An almanac is an annual publication that includes information such as weather forecasts, farmers' planting dates, and tide tables, containing tabular information in a particular field or fields often arranged according to the calendar etc...
s. Both Dacia Literară and Foaie Ştiinţifică, which he edited together with Alecsandri, 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...
, and Petre Balş, were suppressed by Moldavian authorities, who considered them suspect. Together with Costache Negruzzi, he printed all of Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
's works available at the time, and, in time, acquired his own printing press
Printing press
A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium , thereby transferring the ink...
, which planned to issue the complete editions of Moldavian chronicles, including those of Miron Costin
Miron Costin
Miron Costin was a Moldavian political figure and chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Aron Vodă încoace] was meant to extend Grigore Ureche's narrative, covering events from 1594 to 1660...
and Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche
Grigore Ureche was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei , covering the period from 1359 to 1594....
(after many disruptions associated with his political choices, the project was fulfilled in 1852). In this context, Kogălniceanu and Negruzzi sought to Westernize
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,...
the Moldavian public, with interest ranging as far as Romanian culinary tastes: the almanacs published by them featured gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
-themed aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s and recipes meant to educate local folk about the refinement and richness of European cuisine
European cuisine
European cuisine, or alternatively Western cuisine, is a generalised term collectively referring to the cuisines of Europe and other Western countries...
. Kogălniceanu would later claim that he and his friend were "originators of the culinary art
Culinary art
Culinary art is the art of preparing and cooking foods. The word "culinary" is defined as something related to, or connected with, cooking. A culinarion is a person working in the culinary arts. A culinarian working in restaurants is commonly known as a cook or a chef. Culinary artists are...
in Moldavia".
With Dacia Literară, Kogălniceanu began expanding his Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
ideal of "national specificity", which was to be a major influence on Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
and other literary figures. One of the main goals his publications had was expanding the coverage of modern Romanian culture beyond its early stages, during which it had mainly relied on publishing translations of Western literature
Western literature
Western literature refers to the literature written in the languages of Europe, including the ones belonging to the Indo-European language family as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque, Hungarian, and so forth...
—according to Garabet Ibrăileanu
Garabet Ibraileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...
, this was accompanied by a veiled attack on Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi was a Moldavian-born Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and polyglot, he was one of the most influential people of his generation...
and his Albina Românească
Albina Româneasca
Albina Românească was a Romanian-language bi-weekly political and literary magazine, printed in Iaşi, Moldavia, at two intervals during the Regulamentul Organic period . The owner and editor was Gheorghe Asachi...
. Mihail Kogălniceanu later issued clear criticism of Asachi's proposed version of literary Romanian, which relied on archaism
Archaism
In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately or as part of a specific jargon or formula...
s and Francized
Francization
Francization or Gallicization is a process of cultural assimilation that gives a French character to a word, an ethnicity or a person.-French Colonial Empire:-Francization in the World:...
phoneme
Phoneme
In a language or dialect, a phoneme is the smallest segmental unit of sound employed to form meaningful contrasts between utterances....
s, notably pointing out that it was inconsistent. Additionally, he evidenced the influence foreign poetry had on Asachi's own work, viewing it as excessive. Tensions also occurred between Kogălniceanu and Alecsandri, after the former began suspecting his collaborator of having reduced and toned down his contributions to Foaie Ştiinţifică. During this period, Kogălniceanu maintained close contacts with his former colleague Costache Negri
Costache Negri
Costache Negri was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, politician and revolutionary....
and his sister Elena, becoming one of the main figures of the intellectual circle hosted by the Negris in Mânjina
Costache Negri, Galati
Costache Negri is a commune in Galaţi County, Romania with a population of 2,562 people. It is composed of a single village, Costache Negri, and is named after Costache Negri, an 1848 revolutionary....
. He also became close to the French teacher and essayist Jean Alexandre Vaillant
Jean Alexandre Vaillant
Jean Alexandre Vaillant was a French and Romanian teacher, political activist, historian, linguist and translator, who was noted for his activities in Wallachia and his support for the 1848 Wallachian Revolution...
, who was himself involved in liberal causes while being interested in the work of Moldavian chroniclers. Intellectuals of the day speculated that Kogălniceanu later contributed several sections to Vaillant's lengthy essay about Moldavia and Wallachia (La Roumanie).
In May 1840, while serving as Prince Sturdza's private secretary, he became co-director (with Alecsandri and Negruzzi) of the National Theater Iaşi. This followed the monarch's decision to unite the two existing theaters in the city, one of which hosted plays in French, into a single institution. In later years, this venue, which staged popular comedies based on the French repertory
Theatre of France
The theatre of France has a long and eventful history dating back to the Middle Ages.-Middle Ages:Discussions about the origins of non-religious theatre -- both drama and farce—in the Middle Ages remain controversial, but the idea of a continuous popular tradition stemming from Latin comedy and...
of its age and had become the most popular of its kind in the country, also hosted Alecsandri's debut as a playwright. Progressively, it also became subject to Sturdza's 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...
.
In 1843, Kogălniceanu gave a celebrated inaugural lecture on national history at the newly-founded Academia Mihăileană
Academia Mihaileana
Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern Europeean institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institute, housing several faculties.-History:Academia...
in Iaşi, a speech which greatly influenced ethnic Romanian students at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
and the 1848 generation (see Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie naţională). Other professors at the Academia, originating in several historical regions
Historical regions of Romania
At various times during the late 19th and 20th centuries, Romania extended over the following historical regions:Wallachia:*Muntenia or Greater Wallachia: as part of Wallachia, joined Moldavia in 1859 to create modern Romania;...
, were Ion Ghica, 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...
, and Ion Ionescu de la Brad
Ion Ionescu de la Brad
Ion Ionescu de la Brad , born Ion Isăcescu, was a Moldavian-born Romanian revolutionary, agronomist, statistician, scholar and writer....
. Kogălniceanu's introductory speech was partly prompted by Sturdza's refusal to give him imprimatur
Imprimatur
An imprimatur is, in the proper sense, a declaration authorizing publication of a book. The term is also applied loosely to any mark of approval or endorsement.-Catholic Church:...
, and amounted to a revolutionary project. Among other things, it made explicit references to the common cause of Romanians living in the two states of Moldavia and 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...
, as well as in 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...
- and 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...
-ruled areas:
"I view as my country everywhere on earth where Romanian is spoken, and as national history the history of all of Moldavia, that of Wallachia, and that of our brothers in TransylvaniaTransylvaniaTransylvania 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...
."
Revolution
Passport
A passport is a document, issued by a national government, which certifies, for the purpose of international travel, the identity and nationality of its holder. The elements of identity are name, date of birth, sex, and place of birth....
was revoked while he was traveling to Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
as the secret representative of the Moldavian political opposition (attempting to approach Metternich and discuss Sturdza's ouster). Briefly imprisoned after returning to Iaşi, he soon after became involved in political agitation in Wallachia, assisting his friend Ion Ghica: in February, during 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...
celebration, he traveled to 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....
, where he met members of the secretive Frăţia organization and of its legal front, Soţietatea Literară (including Ghica, Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian was a Transylvanian Romanian politician, historian and linguist. He was born in the village of Fofeldea in Nocrich. He was a participant at the 1848 revolution, an organizer of the Romanian school and one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.Laurian was a member...
, Alexandru G. Golescu
Alexandru G. Golescu
Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 .-Early life:...
, and C. A. Rosetti
C. A. Rosetti
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...
).
Having sold his personal library to Academia Mihăileană, Kogălniceanu was in Paris and other Western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
an cities from 1845 to 1847, joining the Romanian student association (Societatea Studenţilor Români) that included Ghica, Bălcescu, and Rosetti and was presided over by the French 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:...
. He also frequented La Bibliothèque Roumaine ("The Romanian Library"), while affiliating to the Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
and joining the Lodge
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...
known as L'Athénée des Étrangers ("Foreigners' Atheneum"), as did most other reform-minded Romanians in Paris. In 1846, he visited Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, wishing to witness the wedding of Queen Isabella II
Isabella II of Spain
Isabella II was the only female monarch of Spain in modern times. She came to the throne as an infant, but her succession was disputed by the Carlists, who refused to recognise a female sovereign, leading to the Carlist Wars. After a troubled reign, she was deposed in the Glorious Revolution of...
and the Duke of Cádiz, but also curious to assess developments in Spanish culture
Culture of Spain
The culture of Spain is based on a variety of influences.The Visigothic Kingdom left a sense of a united Christian Hispania that was going to be welded in the Reconquista. Muslim influences were strong during the period of 711 AD to the 15th century, especially linguistically...
. Upon the end of his trip, he authored Notes sur l'Espagne ("Notes on Spain"), a French-language volume combining memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
, travel writing
Travel writing
Travel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
and historiographic
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
record.
For a while, he concentrated his activities on reviewing historical sources, expanding his series of printed and edited Moldavian chronicles. At the time, he renewed his contacts with Vaillant, who helped him publish articles in the Revue de l'Orient. He would later state: "We did not come to Paris just to learn how to speak French like the French do, but also to borrow the ideas and useful things of a nation that is so enlightened and so free".
Following the onset of the European Revolutions
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...
, Kogălniceanu was present at the forefront of nationalist politics. Though, for a number of reasons, he failed to sign the March 1848 petition-proclamation which signaled the Moldavian revolution, he was seen as one of its instigators, and Prince Sturdza ordered his arrest during the police roundup that followed. While evading capture, Kogălniceanu authored some of the most vocal attacks on Sturdza, and, by July, a reward was offered for his apprehension "dead or alive". During late summer, he crossed the Austrian border into Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
, where he took refuge on the Hurmuzachi brothers
Hurmuzachi brothers
The Hurmuzachi brothers, Alexandru , Constantin , Eudoxiu , Gheorghe , and Nicolae , were members of an old Hurmuzachi family of Romanian nobles in Austrian Bukovina of Greek origin, with an estate in Cernăuca...
' property (in parallel, the Frăţia-led 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...
managed to gain power 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....
).
Kogălniceanu became a member and chief ideologue of the Moldavian Central Revolutionary Committee in exile. His manifesto, Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova ("The Wishes of the National Party in Moldavia", August 1848), was, in effect, a constitution
Constitution
A constitution is a set of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is governed. These rules together make up, i.e. constitute, what the entity is...
al project listing the goals of Romanian revolutionaries. It contrasted with the earlier demands the revolutionaries had presented to Sturdza, which called for strict adherence to 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...
and an end to abuse. In its 10 sections and 120 articles, the manifesto called for, among other things, internal autonomy, civil
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
and political liberties
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
, separation of powers
Separation of powers
The separation of powers, often imprecisely used interchangeably with the trias politica principle, is a model for the governance of a state. The model was first developed in ancient Greece and came into widespread use by the Roman Republic as part of the unmodified Constitution of the Roman Republic...
, abolition of privilege
Privilege
A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...
, an end to 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, and a Moldo-Wallachian union. Referring to the latter ideal, Kogălniceanu stressed that it formed:
"the keystoneKeystone (architecture)A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
without which the national edifice would crumble".
At the same time, he published a more explicit "Project for a Moldavian Constitution", which expanded on how Dorinţele could be translated into reality. Kogălniceanu also contributed articles to the Bukovinan journal Bucovina, the voice of revolution in Romanian-inhabited Austrian lands
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
. In January 1849, a cholera
Cholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
epidemic forced him to leave for the French Republic
French Second Republic
The French Second Republic was the republican government of France between the 1848 Revolution and the coup by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte which initiated the Second Empire. It officially adopted the motto Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité...
, where he carried on with his activities in support of the Romanian revolution.
Prince Ghica's reforms
Treaty of Balta Liman
The Treaties of Balta Liman were both signed in Balta-Liman with the Ottoman Empire as one of its signatories.-1838:The Treaty of Balta Liman was a commercial treaty signed in 1838 between the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, regulating international trade...
, through which the two suzerain
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
powers of 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—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...
and Russia
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...
—appointed Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Grigore Alexandru Ghica or Ghika was a Prince of Moldavia between October 14, 1849 and June 1853, and again between October 30, 1854 and June 3, 1856...
, a supporter of the liberal and unionist cause, as Prince of Moldova (while, on the other hand, confirming the defeat of revolutionary power in Wallachia). Ghica allowed the instigators of the 1848 events to return from exile, and appointed Kogălniceanu, as well as Costache Negri
Costache Negri
Costache Negri was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, politician and revolutionary....
and 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:...
to administrative offices. The measures enforced by the prince, together with the fallout from the defeat of Russia in 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...
, were to bring by 1860 the introduction of virtually all liberal tenets comprised in Dorinţele partidei naţionale din Moldova.
Kogălniceanu was consequently appointed to various high level government positions, while continuing his cultural contributions and becoming the main figure of the loose grouping Partida Naţională
Partida Nationala
The Partida Naţională was a liberal Romanian political party active between 1856 and 1859. It was a loose group which supported the union of the Danubian Principalities....
, which sought the merger of the two Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities
Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...
under a single administration. In 1867, reflecting back on his role, he stated:
"There is not a single reform, not a single national act, from which my name would be absent. All the major laws were made and countersigned by me."
He inaugurated his career as a legislator under Prince Ghica. On December 22, 1855, legislation he drafted with Petre Mavrogheni
Petre Mavrogheni
Petre Mavrogheni also known as Petru Mavrogheni was a Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs from May 11 until July 13, 1866 and as the Minister of Finance.-Life and career:...
regarding the abolition
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...
of Roma
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...
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...
was passed by the Boyar Divan. This involved the freeing of privately-owned Roma slaves, as those owned by the state had been set free by Prince Sturdza in January 1844. Kogălniceanu claimed to have personally inspired the measure. Ghica was prompted to complete the process of liberation by the fate of Dincă, an educated Roma cook who had murdered his French wife and then killed himself after being made aware that he was not going to be set free by his Cantacuzino
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
masters.
Prince Ghica also attempted to improve the peasant situation by ordering legislating the end of quit-rent
Quit-rent
Quit rent , Quit-rent, or quitrent, in practically all cases, is now effectively but not formally a tax or land tax imposed on freehold or leased land by a higher landowning authority, usually a government or its assigns....
s and regulating that peasants could no longer be removed from the land they were working on. This measure produced little lasting effects; according to Kogălniceanu, "the cause [of this] should be sought in the all-mightiness of landowners, in the weakness of the government, who, through its very nature, was provisional, and thus powerless".
Ad-hoc Divan
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
, when Moldavia and Wallachia came under the direct supervision of European Powers (comprising, alongside Russia and Austria, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
, the Second 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:...
, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
). As he later acknowledged, members of the Divan had begun to consider the Paris agreements, and especially the 1858 convention regarding the two countries, as a Constitution of Romania
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...
, in place until 1864.
In addition, Kogălniceanu began printing the magazine Steaua Dunării
Steaua Dunării
Steaua Dunării was a political newspaper and a unionist mouthpiece founded in Octomber 1855 by Mihail Kogălniceanu. Editors like Vasile-Urechea Avexandrescu, Vasile Mălinescu, Iancu M. Codrescu and colaborators like Vasile Alecsandri, Costache Negruzzi, Alecu Donici, Grigore Alexandrescu, Alecu...
in Iaşi: a unionist mouthpiece, it enlisted support from Alecsandri and his România Literară
România Literară
România literară is a cultural and literary magazine from România founded in 1855 by Vasile Alecsandri and published in Iași between January 1, 1855 until December 3, 1855, when it was suppressed. The new series appeared in October 10, 1855 as a continuation of Gazeta literară...
. Kogălniceanu encouraged Nicolae Ionescu
Nicolae Ionescu
Nicolae Ionescu was a Romanian politician and publisher. He was one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.-References:...
to issue the magazine L'Étoile de Danube in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, as a French-language version of Steaua Dunării which would also serve to popularize Partida Naţionalăs views. By that time, he was in correspondence with Jean Henri Abdolonyme Ubicini
Abdolonyme Ubicini
Jean-Henri-Abdolonyme Ubicini was a French historian and journalist, honorary member of the Romanian Academy....
, a French essayist and traveler who had played a minor part in the Wallachian uprising, and who supported the Romanian cause in his native country.
Elected by the College
Electoral college
An electoral college is a set of electors who are selected to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these represent different organizations or entities, with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way...
of landowners in Dorohoi County
Dorohoi county
Dorohoi County, with its seat at Dorohoi, was a subdivision of the Kingdom of Romania and located in the region of Moldavia....
to the ad-hoc Divan, a newly-established assembly through which Moldavians had gained the right to decide their own future, he kept in line with Wallachian representatives to their respective Divan, and resumed his campaign in favor of union and increased autonomy, as well as the principles of neutrality
Neutral country
A neutral power in a particular war is a sovereign state which declares itself to be neutral towards the belligerents. A non-belligerent state does not need to be neutral. The rights and duties of a neutral power are defined in Sections 5 and 13 of the Hague Convention of 1907...
, representative government, and, as he said later, rule by "a foreign prince". However, both Kogălniceanu and Alecsandri initially presented themselves as candidates for the regency
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
title of Caimacam
Kaymakam
Qaim Maqam or Qaimaqam or Kaymakam is the title used for the governor of a provincial district in the Republic of Turkey, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and in Lebanon; additionally, it was a title used for roughly the same official position in the Ottoman...
—Alecsandri, who was more popular, renounced first in order to back Costache Negri
Costache Negri
Costache Negri was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, politician and revolutionary....
. Negri's candidature was dismissed by the Ottomans, who preferred to appoint Teodor Balş
Teodor Balş
Teodor Balș was a kaymakam who ruled Moldavia between July 20, 1856 and March 1, 1857. The Porte appointed him replacing the previous domnitor Grigore Alexandru Ghica, whos mandate finished after seven years...
(June 1856).
Following the elections of September 1857, the entire Partida Naţională chose to support Cuza for the Moldavian throne. This came after Nicolae Vogoride
Nicolae Vogoride
Prince Nicolae Vogoride was the Ottoman-nominated Governor of Moldavia following the Crimean War...
, the new Caimaicam, carried out an anti-unionist electoral fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
—a suffrage annulled by the common verdict of Napoleon III
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...
and Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
(August 9, 1857, first announced to the world on August 26).
He played the decisive part in the Divan's decision to abolish boyar ranks
Historical Romanian ranks and titles
This is a glossary of historical Romanian ranks and titles used in the principalities of Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania, and later in Romania. Many of these titles are of Slavic etymology, with some of Greek, Byzantine, Latin, and Turkish etymology; several are original...
and privilege
Privilege
A privilege is a special entitlement to immunity granted by the state or another authority to a restricted group, either by birth or on a conditional basis. It can be revoked in certain circumstances. In modern democratic states, a privilege is conditional and granted only after birth...
s, thus nullifying pieces of legislation first imposed under Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos
Constantine Mavrocordatos was a Greek noble who served as Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia at several intervals...
. The final proposal, effectively imposing one law for all
One law for all
One law for all is a slogan with a long history dating back to the Roman Empire and their oppression of peoples in newly conquered lands.In recent years though, this has become a shiboleth of racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan who remodeled themselves with kinder and gentler language in order...
, universal conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
and an end to rank-based tax exemption
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
s, was made by a commission which included Kogălniceanu and Vasile Mălinescu, and was passed by the Divan on October 29, 1857, with 73 out of 77 votes (the remaining 4 were all abstentions). Kogălniceanu noted with pride that "The entire nation has accepted this great reform, and everyone, former Princes, great boyars, low-ranking boyars, privileged strata, have received this equalitarian reform, discarding, even without special laws, all that derived from the old regime, and even all that resembled the old regime". He recorded that only two members of the boyar class had subsequently refused to abide by the new principles—the Vornic
Vornic
Vornic was a historical rank for an official in charge of justice and internal affairs. He was overseeing the Royal Court. It originated in the Slovak nádvorník. In the 16th century in Moldavia were two high vornics: one for "Ţara de Sus" , and other for "Ţara de Jos" ....
s Iordache Beldiman (in Moldavia) and Ioan Manu
Ioan Manu
Ioan M. Manu, also known as Iancu Manu , was a Romanian boyar and politician.-Biography:He was the son of Mihail G. Manu, born into a family of Venetian origins that had moved from Istanbul to Wallachia in the mid-18th century, where it was one of the noble families of Phanariotes...
(in Wallachia). In November, Partida Naţională passed legislation consecrating the end religious discrimination
Religious discrimination
Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...
against all non-Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
Christians in Moldavia (specifically, against Roman Catholics
Roman Catholicism in Romania
The Roman Catholic Church in Romania is a Latin Rite Christian church, part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and Curia in Rome. Its administration is centered in Bucharest, and comprises two archdioceses and four other dioceses...
and Gregorian
Armenian Apostolic Church
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the world's oldest National Church, is part of Oriental Orthodoxy, and is one of the most ancient Christian communities. Armenia was the first country to adopt Christianity as its official religion in 301 AD, in establishing this church...
Armenians
Armenians in Romania
Armenians have been present in what is now Romania and Moldova for over a millennium, and have been an important presence as traders since the 14th century...
). The law had been initiated by Negri.
Many of Kogălniceanu's efforts were centered on bringing about an end to the peasant question, but, as he admitted, his boyar electorate threatened to recall him if he was to pursue this path any further. Consequently, he signed his name to the more moderate proposal of Dimitrie Rallet, which prevented boyars from instituting new 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, while leaving other matters to be discussed by a future permanent Assembly. This project was instantly rejected by a solid majority of the Assembly, that which, in Kogălniceanu's view, led to the creation of two poles, a liberal and a 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...
one, thus replacing the unionist-separatist
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...
divide and causing political conflicts inside the former unionist majority (thus forming the National Liberal
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
and Conservative parties).
Outmaneuvering the opposition of Vogoride and his group of conservative followers during new elections for the Divan, Kogălniceanu was able to promote Cuza in Moldavia on January 17, 1859, leading to Cuza's election for the similar position in Wallachia (February 5)—the de facto
De facto
De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...
union of the two countries as the United Principalities
United Principalities
The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, also known as the Romanian Principalities, was the official name of Romania following the 1859 election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince or domnitor of both territories...
. In October 1858, he made a clear proposal regarding the unification, which, as he noted, carried the vote with only two opposing voices (Alecu Balş and Nectarie Hermeziu, the Orthodox vicar
Vicar
In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...
of Roman Bishopric), being publicly acclaimed by Ion Roată
Ion Roata
Ion Roată was a Moldavian-born Romanian peasant and political figure. Roată was representative in the Moldavian ad-hoc Divan for the peasant electoral college of Putna County...
, the peasant representative for Putna County
Putna County
Putna was a county in the Kingdom of Romania, in southern Moldavia. The county seat was Focṣani.-Administrative organization:Administratively, Putna County was divided into six districts :# Plasa Bilieşti# Plasa Gârlele...
. During 1859, Kogălniceanu again stood in the ad-hoc Divan and rallied support for Cuza from all factions of the unionist camp, while promoting his candidature 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....
—thus profiting from ambiguities in the Paris Treaty. On the day Cuza took the throne, to begin his rule as Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
, Mihail Kogălniceanu welcomed him with an emotional speech.
Secularization of monastery estates
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
, being responsible for most of the reforms associated with Cuza's reign. The latter's actions included the 1863 secularization of the monasteries
Secularization of monastery estates in Romania
The law on the secularization of monastery estates in Romania was proposed in December 1863 by Domnitor Alexandru Ioan Cuza and approved by the Parliament of Romania. By its terms, the Romanian state confiscated the large estates owned by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Romania...
, as an early step to provide plots made available through the land reform of 1864
Land reform in Romania
Four major land reforms have taken place in Romania: in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991. The first sought to undo the feudal structure that had persisted after the unification of the Danubian Principalities in 1859; the second, more drastic reform, tried to resolve lingering peasant discontent and create...
(which came at the same time as the abolition of corvées).
Although political opposition prevented him from pushing the agrarian reform at the moment he proposed it, Mihail Kogălniceanu is seen as the person responsible for the manner in which it was eventually carried out by Cuza. The changes in legislation came at the end of a lengthy process, inaugurated in 1860, when the institution regulating legislative projects for the two principalities, the Conservative-dominated Common Commission of 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:...
, refused to create the basis for land reform. Instead, it provided for an end to corvées, while allowing peasants on boyar estates control over their own houses and a parcel of pasture
Pasture
Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or swine. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs...
. Known as Legea Rurală (the "Rural Law"), the project received instant support from the then-Premier Barbu Catargiu
Barbu Catargiu
Barbu Catargiu was a conservative Romanian journalist and politician. He was the first Prime Minister of Romania in 1862 until he was assassinated on 20 June that year...
, leader of the Conservatives, and the target of vocal criticism on Kogălniceanu's part. On June 6, 1862, the project was first debated in Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
, causing a standstill between Cuza and the Conservatives. As noted by historian L. S. Stavrianos
L. S. Stavrianos
Leften Stavros Stavrianos was a Greek-Canadian historian. His most influential books are considered to be A Global History: From Prehistory to the 21st Century and The Balkans since 1453. He was one of the very first historians to challenge Orientalist views of the Ottoman Empire.- Biography...
, the latter considered the project advantageous because, while preserving estates, it created a sizable group of landless and dependent peasants, who could provide affordable labor.
Late in the same month, Catargiu was mysteriously assassinated on Mitropoliei Hill, on his way back from Filaret, where he had attended a festivity commemorating the 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...
(he was succeeded by Nicolae Kretzulescu, after the interim premiership of Apostol Arsachi). On June 23, Legea Rurală was passed by Parliament, but Cuza would not promulgate
Promulgation
Promulgation is the act of formally proclaiming or declaring a new statutory or administrative law after its enactment. In some jurisdictions this additional step is necessary before the law can take effect....
it. According to Kogălniceanu, the Conservatives Arsachi and Kretzulescu were reluctant about proposing the law to be reviewed by Cuza, knowing that it was destined to be rejected. Discussions then drifted toward the matter of confiscating land from the Greek Orthodox
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
monasteries in Romania (their sizable properties and traditional tax exemption
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
s had been the subject of controversy ever since 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...
period). In late 1862, their revenues were taken over by the state, and, during summer of the following year, a sum of 80 million piasters was offered as compensation to the Greek monks, in exchange for all of the monasteries' land.
As 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...
proposed international mediation, Cuza took the initiative, and, on October 23, 1863, deposed the Kretzulescu cabinet, nominating instead his own selection of men: Kogălniceanu as Premier and Interior Minister, Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu
Dimitrie Bolintineanu was a Romanian poet , diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848. He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins...
as Minister of Religious Affairs. In order to prevent further international tensions, they decided to generalize confiscation to all Eastern Orthodox Church
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,...
estates, Greek as well as those of the incipient Romanian Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
monasteries. The resolution was passed with 97 out of 100 parliamentary votes. Later, the Greek Church was presented with an offer of 150 million piasters as compensation, which was viewed as two low by its intended recipients, including Patriarch Sophoronius III. Consequently, the Romanian state considered the matter closed. As a direct consequence, one third of the arable land in Moldavia and a fourth of that in Wallachia were made available for a future land reform (one fifth to one forth of the total arable land in the state as a whole).
Cuza's personal regime
In the spring of 1864, the cabinet introduced a bill providing for an extensive land reform, which proposed allocating land based on peasant status. The fruntaşi ("foremost people"), who owned 4 or more oxOx
An ox , also known as a bullock in Australia, New Zealand and India, is a bovine trained as a draft animal. Oxen are commonly castrated adult male cattle; castration makes the animals more tractable...
en, were to receive 5 fălci of land, or approx. 7.5 hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
s; mijlocaşi ("middle people"), with two oxen—approx. 6 hectares; pălmaşi ("manual laborers"), with no oxen—approx. 3 hectares. Peasants were to own their plots after making 14 yearly payments to their respective landowner. This caused uproar in Parliament, which represented around 4,000 mostly boyar electors, and voices from among the Conservatives deemed it "insane". The latter party prepared a censure vote, based on the fact that Kogălniceanu had publicized the project through Monitorul Oficial
Monitorul Oficial
Monitorul Oficial al României is the official gazette of Romania, in which all the promulgated bills, presidential decrees, governmental ordinances and other major legal acts are published.-External links:...
and in contradiction with the one endorsed by the Focşani Commission, thus going against the letter of the law—he later justified himself saying: "Publication was necessary in order to quell the rural population, agitated by the [alternative project]". The cabinet handed in its resignation, but Cuza refused to countersign it.
Tensions mounted and, on May 14, 1864, Cuza carried out a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
, coinciding with the moment when Conservatives imposed a censure vote. Kogălniceanu read in Parliament the monarch's decision to dissolve it, after which Cuza introduced a new constitution
Constitution of Romania
The 1991 Constitution of Romania, adopted on 21 November 1991, voted in the referendum of 8 December 1991 and introduced on the same day, is the current fundamental law that establishes the structure of the government of Romania, the rights and obligations of the country's citizens, and its mode...
, titled Statutul dezvoltător al Convenţiei de la Paris ("Statute Expanding the Paris Convention"). It was submitted to a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
, together with a law virtually establishing a system of universal male suffrage, gaining support from 682,621 voters out of 754,148.
The new regime passed its own version of Legea Rurală, thus effectively imposing land reform, as well as putting an end to corvées. This was accomplished through August 1864 discussions in the newly-established Council of State, where the law was advanced by, among others, Kogălniceanu, Bolintineanu, George D. Vernescu
George D. Vernescu
George D. Vernescu was a Romanian politician and jurist who served as the Minister of Administration and Interior from April 27, 1876 until January 27, 1876, Minister of Justice from November 12, 1888 until March 22, 1889, as the Minister of Finance from March 29, 1889 until November 3, 1889 and...
, Gheorghe Apostoleanu
Gheorghe Apostoleanu
Gheorghe Apostoleanu was a Romanian politician and jurist who served as the acting Minister of Justice from March 30, 1860 until April 3, 1860....
and Alexandru Papadopol-Callimachi. Kogălniceanu's other measures as minister include: the establishment of Bucharest University
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
, the introduction of identity papers
Identity document
An identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
, the establishment of a national police corps
Romanian Police
The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...
(comprising Dorobanţi units), the unification of Border Police
Romanian Border Police
The Romanian Border Police is the structure of the Romanian Ministry of Administration and Interior responsible for the border security and passport control at border crossing points, airports and ports.-Ranks:...
.
More reserved members of the Council asked for the land reform law not to be applied for a duration of three years, instead of the April 1865 deadline presumed, and Cuza agreed. Arguing that Cuza's decision was "the very condemnation and crushing of the law", Kogălniceanu worried that peasants, informed of their future, could no longer be persuaded to carry out corvées. He threatened Cuza with his resignation, and was ultimately able to persuade all parties involved, including the opposition leader Kretzulescu, to accept the law's application as of spring 1865; a proclamation by Cuza, Către locuitorii săteşti ("To the Rural Inhabitants") accompanied the resolution, and was described by Kogălniceanu as "the political testament of Cuza". Despite this measure, factors such as a growing population, the division of plots among descendants, peasant debts and enduring reliance on revenues from working on estates, together with the widespread speculation of estate leaseholders
Leasehold estate
A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord....
and instances where political corruption
Political corruption
Political corruption is the use of legislated powers by government officials for illegitimate private gain. Misuse of government power for other purposes, such as repression of political opponents and general police brutality, is not considered political corruption. Neither are illegal acts by...
was detrimental to the allocation of land, made the reform almost completely ineffectual on the long term, and contributed to the countryside unrest which culminated in the Peasants' Revolt of 1907
1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt took place in March 1907 in Moldavia and it quickly spread, reaching Wallachia. The main cause was the discontent of the peasants about the inequity of land ownership, which was in the hands of just a few large landowners....
.
With Kogălniceanu's participation, the authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
regime established by Cuza succeeded in promulgating a series of reforms, notably introducing the Napoleonic code
Napoleonic code
The Napoleonic Code — or Code Napoléon — is the French civil code, established under Napoléon I in 1804. The code forbade privileges based on birth, allowed freedom of religion, and specified that government jobs go to the most qualified...
, public education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
, and state monopolies
Government monopoly
In economics, a government monopoly is a form of coercive monopoly in which a government agency or government corporation is the sole provider of a particular good or service and competition is prohibited by law...
on alcohol and tobacco. In parallel, the regime became unstable and contested from all sides, especially after his adulterous
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
affair with Marija Obrenović
Marija Obrenovic
Elena Maria Catargiu-Obrenović , known in Serbia as Marija Obrenović, was a Moldavian and Romanian boyaress...
became the topic of scandal. In early 1865, he came into conflict with his main ally Kogălniceanu, whom he dismissed soon after. Over the following months, the administration went into financial collapse, no longer able to provide state salaries, while Cuza came to rely on his own camarilla
Camarilla
Camarilla may refer to:*Camarilla, an unofficial group of courtiers or favorites surrounding and influencing a king or ruler, specifically the two such groups prominent in German history....
.
After 1863, relations between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his friend 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....
soured dramatically, as the latter declared himself disgusted with politics. Alecsandri withdrew to his estate in Mirceşti
Mircesti
Mirceşti is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Iugani and Mirceşti. It also included the villages of Izvoarele, Răchiteni and Ursăreşti until 2004, when these were split off to form Răchiteni Commune.-References:...
, where he wrote pieces critical of the political developments.
Carol's arrival and Mazar Paşa Coalition
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...
was established under Carol of Hohenzollern
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
, with the adoption of the 1866 Constitution
1866 Constitution of Romania
The 1866 Constitution of Romania was the fundamental law that capped a period of nation-building in the Danubian Principalities, which had united in 1859. Drafted in a short time and using as its model the 1831 Constitution of Belgium, then considered Europe's most liberal, it was substantially...
. Two years later, in recognition of his scholarly contributions, Kogălniceanu became a member of the newly created Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
Historical Section.
In November 1868-January 1870, he was again Minister of the Interior under Dimitrie Ghica
Dimitrie Ghica
Dimitrie Ghica or Ghika was a Romanian politician. A prominent member of the Conservative Party, he served as Prime Minister between 1868 and 1870....
. In this capacity, he regulated the design of police uniforms. He was at the time involved in a new diplomatic effort: the Ghica government was aiming to receive formal recognition of the name "Romania", as opposed to "United Principalities". The bid was successful, after the Ottomans gave their approval, but marked a slump in Romania's relationship with Prussia—its Minister President, Otto von Bismarck
Otto von Bismarck
Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg , simply known as Otto von Bismarck, was a Prussian-German statesman whose actions unified Germany, made it a major player in world affairs, and created a balance of power that kept Europe at peace after 1871.As Minister President of...
, abstained on the matter. Such tensions were only worsened when Prussian money was attracted by Ghica into the development of a Romanian Railways system: later Romanian governments confronted themselves with the "Strousberg Affair", a volatile combination of investment failure and anti-Prussian sentiment (see Republic of Ploieşti
Republic of Ploiesti
The Republic of Ploiești was a revolt against the Romanian monarchy in the city of Ploiești, Romania, on August 8, 1870.-Background:Romanian liberal radicals of Ploiești and elsewhere were opposed to the new ruler of the country, Prince Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen , and desired a republic to...
).
Kogălniceanu's term was confirmed by the 1869 election, after which he was able to persuade Alecsandri to accept a position as deputy for Roman
Roman, Romania
Roman is a mid-sized city, having the title of municipality, located in the central part of Moldavia, a traditional region of Romania. It is located 46 km east of Piatra Neamţ, in the Neamţ County at the confluence of Siret and Moldova rivers....
. The poet, who had been nominated without expressing his consent, cast aside hostility and became one of Kogălniceanu's main supporters in Chamber. Even after Cuza left the country and settled in Baden
Baden
Baden is a historical state on the east bank of the Rhine in the southwest of Germany, now the western part of the Baden-Württemberg of Germany....
, relations between him and Kogălniceanu remained respectful, but distant: in summer 1868, when both of them were visiting Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, they happened to meet, and, without exchanging words, raised their hats as a form of greeting. On May 27, 1873, Kogălniceanu, alongside Alecsandri, Costache Negri
Costache Negri
Costache Negri was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, politician and revolutionary....
, Petre Poni and other public figures, attended Cuza's funeral in Ruginoasa
Ruginoasa, Iasi
Ruginoasa is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Dumbrăviţa, Rediu, Ruginoasa and Vascani.-References:...
. Speaking later, he noted: "Cuza has committed great errors, but [the 1864 Către locuitorii săteşti] shall never fade out of the hearts of peasants, nor from Romania's history".
He continued to be the leader of pragmatic reform liberalism in Romania; in loose opposition to the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (Romania, 1880-1918)
The Conservative Party was between 1880 and 1918 one of Romania's two most important parties, the other one being the Liberal Party...
cabinet of Lascăr Catargiu
Lascar Catargiu
Lascăr Catargiu was a Romanian conservative statesman born in Moldavia. He belonged to an ancient Wallachian family, one of whose members had been banished in the 17th century by Prince Matei Basarab, and had settled in Moldavia.-Biography:...
(1875), he began talks with the 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...
faction of the liberal trend
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...
(most notably, Ion Brătianu
Ion Bratianu
Ion C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...
, Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.-Biography:Born in Iaşi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihăileană, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time,...
, 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...
, C. A. Rosetti
C. A. Rosetti
Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...
, Dimitrie Brătianu
Dimitrie Bratianu
Dimitrie Brătianu was the Prime Minister of Romania from 22 April to 21 June 1881 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 10, 1881 until June 8, 1881....
, and Alexandru G. Golescu
Alexandru G. Golescu
Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 .-Early life:...
), which were carried at the Bucharest residence of Pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
Stephen Bartlett Lakeman
Stephen Bartlett Lakeman
Sir Stephen Bartlett Lakeman, also known as Mazar Paşa or Mozhar Pasha was an English-born British and Ottoman adventurer, soldier, and administrator...
. On May 24, 1875, negotiations resulted in the creation of the National Liberal Party
National Liberal Party (Romania)
The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...
—the so-called Coalition of Mazar Paşa.
Kogălniceanu also signed his name to the proclamation Alegătorul Liber ("The Enfranchised Voter"), which stated the main National Liberal goals. He was however an outspoken adversary of his former collaborator Nicolae Ionescu
Nicolae Ionescu
Nicolae Ionescu was a Romanian politician and publisher. He was one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.-References:...
, who, as leader of the liberal splinter group Fracţiunea liberă şi independentă, rejected National Liberal politics. In an 1876 speech in front of Parliament, Kogălniceanu attacked Ionescu and his supporters for their political and academic positions, approval from the conservative literary society Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
and its anti-liberal gazette Timpul
Timpul
Timpul is a newspaper published in Romania, originally published as the official platform of the defunct Conservative Party....
.
Kogălniceanu joined other National Liberals in expressing opposition to the trade convention Catargiu had signed with Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, which was advantageous to the latter's exports, and which, they claimed, was leading Romanian industry to ruin. He accepted it while in office, but looked into adopting European-like patent laws
Intellectual property in Romania
Intellectual property law in Romania has developed significantly in the period since the Romanian Revolution of 1989 because of the need to enforce various regional and international treaties and agreements, such as the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights , the...
, as a measure of encouraging local industries. A National Liberal government would repeal the agreement in 1886.
Romanian independence
Serving as Foreign Affairs Minister in the Ion Brătianu cabinet (spring-summer 1876, and again from April 1877 to November 1878), Mihail Kogălniceanu was responsible for Romania entering the War of 1877-1878 on the Russian side, which led the country to proclaim its independence (see Romanian War of IndependenceRomanian War of Independence
The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish war, following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire...
). He initially tried to obtain diplomatic recognition from various states, but the European states rejected the offer, and the Ottoman Porte ignored them. The Russian envoy Dimitri Stuart received instructions to "halt" Kogălniceanu's initiatives, so as not to aggravate the "Eastern Question
Eastern Question
The "Eastern Question", in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The expression does not apply to any one particular problem, but instead includes a variety of issues raised during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including...
".
Upon his return to office, Kogălniceanu personally organized conspiratorial meetings with the Russian diplomat Aleksandr Nelidov
Aleksandr Nelidov
Aleksandr Nelidov — Russian diplomat.- Biography :Studied law and Oriental languages in St. Petersburg University. Entered diplomatic service in 1855. Secretary to the Russian embassies at Athens, Munich and Vienna....
, and approved the Russian demands in exchange for co-belligerency. With Rosetti and Brătianu, he supported the transit of Russian troops and persuaded Carol to accept the Russian alliance, contrary to the initial advice of the Crown Council. He also sought advice on this matter from the French Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
, who was still one of the powers supervising Romania; Louis, duc Decazes
Louis, duc Decazes
Louis-Charles-Élie-Amanien Decazes de Glücksbierg, 2nd Duc de Decazes and 2nd Hertig af Glücksbierg, was a French statesman.-Biography:...
, 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...
, declined to give him a reassuring answer, and pointed that, were Romania to join up with Russia, the other powers would cease offering their protection. Making note of this, Kogălniceanu expressed his hope that France would still support his country at the decisive moment.
In the end, the Russian declaration of war came as a surprise to both Carol and Kogălniceanu, who had not been informed of the exact date (April 23) when the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
would start moving into Moldavia—hence, Romanians tended to regard it as an invasion. Also alarming for Kogălniceanu, the official Russian proclamation addressed Romanians as protegés of the Empire. Bilateral tensions were somewhat alleviated by Russian apologies and, later, by the Ottoman pledge to annex Romania; addressing a discontent Parliament, Kogălniceanu asserted that the Russian road was the country's only choice.
On May 9, 1877, it was through Kogălniceanu's speech in Parliament that Romania acknowledged she was discarding Ottoman suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
. He was rewarded by Carol, becoming one of the first three statesmen received into the Order of the Star of Romania
Order of the Star of Romania
The Order of the Star of Romania is Romania's highest civil order. It is awarded by the President of Romania...
. The Minister also negotiated the terms under which the Romanian Land Forces
Romanian Land Forces
The Romanian Land Forces is the army of Romania, and the main component of the Romanian Armed Forces. In recent years, full professionalisation and a major equipment overhaul have transformed the nature of the force.The Romanian Land Forces were founded on...
were to join the war effort in Bulgaria, specifically demanding Russian reparations and indemnities
Indemnity
An indemnity is a sum paid by A to B by way of compensation for a particular loss suffered by B. The indemnitor may or may not be responsible for the loss suffered by the indemnitee...
.
Over the following year, he coordinated efforts to have the act recognized by all European states, and stated that his government's policies were centered on "as rapid as possible, the transformation of foreign diplomatic agencies
Diplomacy
Diplomacy is the art and practice of conducting negotiations between representatives of groups or states...
and consulates
Consul (representative)
The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...
in Bucharest into legation
Legation
A legation was the term used in diplomacy to denote a diplomatic representative office lower than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an Ambassador, a legation was headed by a Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary....
s". Late in 1877, he traveled to Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
and met Austrian Foreign Minister Gyula Andrássy
Gyula Andrássy
Gyula Count Andrássy de Csíkszentkirály et Krasznahorka was a Hungarian statesman, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary and subsequently as Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary...
. He recorded a mood of opposition to the Romanian military effort, but received guarantees of border security. The main challenge was convincing Bismarck, who had since become Chancellor
Chancellor of Germany
The Chancellor of Germany is, under the German 1949 constitution, the head of government of Germany...
of the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, and who was very reserved on the issue of Romanian independence.
Congress of Berlin and Northern Dobruja
Congress of Berlin
The Congress of Berlin was a meeting of the European Great Powers' and the Ottoman Empire's leading statesmen in Berlin in 1878. In the wake of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, the meeting's aim was to reorganize the countries of the Balkans...
. In this capacity, they protested Russia's offer to exchange the previously Ottoman-ruled Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in south by Bulgarian Southern Dobruja.-Geography:...
for Budjak
Budjak
Budjak or Budzhak is a historical region in the Odessa Oblast of Ukraine. Lying along the Black Sea between the Danube and Dniester rivers this multiethnic region was the southern part of Bessarabia...
, a portion of southern Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
which Romania had been awarded by the 1856 Treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
. This came after months of tensions between Romania and Russia, generated over the territorial issue and the Russian claim to be representing Romania at Berlin: Kogălniceanu's envoy (Eraclie Arion) had even threaded the Russians with a Romanian denunciation of their alliance, and 60,000 Romanian soldiers were being prepared for Budjak's defense. The Conference's ultimate decision (Berlin Treaty) was in favor of Russia's proposal, largely due to support from Andrássy and William Henry Waddington
William Henry Waddington
William Henry Waddington was a French statesman who was Prime Minister of France in 1879.-Early life and education:...
, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs. Additional pressures came from Bismarck. In parallel, Russian demands for Romania to allow indefinite military transit through Northern Dobruja were made ineffectual by the opposition of other European states.
As an effect of Waddington's intervention, Romania also agreed to resolve the issue of Jewish Emancipation
Jewish Emancipation
Jewish emancipation was the external and internal process of freeing the Jewish people of Europe, including recognition of their rights as equal citizens, and the formal granting of citizenship as individuals; it occurred gradually between the late 18th century and the early 20th century...
, and to naturalize
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
all of its non-Christian residents (see History of the Jews in Romania
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
). Kogălniceanu made efforts to overturn this decision, and was bitter when the Germans refused to compromise. The resolution was debated inside Romania over the following year, and such a measure in respect to Jews was not introduced until 1922-1923.
This outcome was the subject of controversy in Romania, where the territorial exchange was generally considered unfair, with some voices even arguing that the country could again accept Ottoman suzerainty as a means to overturn the state of affairs. However, the Budjak cession had been secretly agreed upon with Nelidov in early 1877. Even then, against his subordinates in the diplomatic corps, but in consonance with the Domnitor, Kogălniceanu privately noted that he "fully agreed" with it, and that he regarded the new province as a "splendid acquisition". However, in April 1877, Kogălniceanu had explicitly assured Parliament that no real threat loomed over the Budjak. By that point in time, both the Germans and the Austrians had began suspecting that Kogălniceanu was in fact a favorite and agent of influence
Agent of influence
An agent of influence is a person whose political actions and arguments are alleged to serve the interests of a foreign power, and to be directed or manipulated by the intelligence agency of that power...
of the Russians, and, reportedly, he even encouraged the rumor to spread. Andrássy reportedly commented: "Prince Carol is really unfortunate to have people like Mr. Kogălniceanu in his service".
Opposition came from both Conservative and National Liberal legislators, who viewed Northern Dobruja as an inhospitable, nonstrategic and non-Romanian territory. Contrarily, with his proclamation to the peoples of Northern Dobruja, Kogălniceanu enshrined the standard patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
narrative of the events: he asserted that the region had been "united" with Romania, as a "Romanian land", because of the people's wishes and sacrifices. During the heated parliamentary sessions of late September 1878, he helped swing the vote in favor of the annexation, with speeches which also helped transform the public's mood, and which promised a swift process of Romanianization
Romanianization
Romanianization or Rumanization is the term used to describe a number of ethnic assimilation policies implemented by the Romanian authorities during the 20th century...
. These addresses are credited with having first backdated the Romanian claim to ca. 1400, when Wallachia briefly held the Principality of Karvuna.
In 1879, again head of Internal Affairs, Kogălniceanu began organizing the administration of Northern Dobruja, through decrees. He supported a distinct legal regime, as a transition from Ottoman administration
State organisation of the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire developed a highly advanced organisation of state over the centuries. Even though it had a very centralized government with the Sultan as the supreme ruler, it had an effective control of its provinces and inhabitants, as well as its officials. Wealth and rank wasn't necessarily...
, and a period of rebuilding—in effect, a colonial
Colonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
rule, aiming for the assimilation of locals into the Romanian mainstream, but respectful of Dobrujan Islam
Islam in Romania
Islam in Romania is followed by only 0.3 percent of population, but has 700 years of tradition in Northern Dobruja, a region on the Black Sea coast which was part of the Ottoman Empire for almost five centuries . In present-day Romania, most adherents to Islam belong to the Tatar and Turkish ethnic...
. Unlike other partisans of colonization (including scientist Ion Ionescu de la Brad
Ion Ionescu de la Brad
Ion Ionescu de la Brad , born Ion Isăcescu, was a Moldavian-born Romanian revolutionary, agronomist, statistician, scholar and writer....
), Kogălniceanu saw the new territory as open only to ethnic Romanian settlers. His intercession played a part in the ethnic policies: he is reported to have personally urged the Romanian pastoralists
Pastoralism
Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of agriculture concerned with the raising of livestock. It is animal husbandry: the care, tending and use of animals such as camels, goats, cattle, yaks, llamas, and sheep. It may have a mobile aspect, moving the herds in search of fresh pasture and...
(mocani) to abandon their traditional lifestyle and their Budjak homes, offering them the option of purchasing Northern Dobrujan land. This had become widely available after the partition of Ottoman estates, the nationalization
Nationalization in Romania
The nationalization of the means of production was a measure taken by Romania’s new Communist authorities in order to lay the foundation of socialism. The act that allowed this measure to take place was Law 119, adopted by the Great National Assembly on June 11, 1948...
of land once owned by the Muhajir Balkan
Muhajir (Turkey)
Muhacir is a term of Arabic origin in Turkish language, used across ethnicities, and that corresponds to people whose ancestors migrated from formerly Muslim territories , considered lost to the non-Muslims : the Balkans Muhacir (sometimes maacir in colloquial Turkish) is a term of Arabic origin...
, and the appropriation of uncultivated plots (miriè). Kogălniceanu also advised the local administration to overrepresent existing Romanian communities in the decision-making process.
Final years
Kogălniceanu subsequently represented his country to France (1880), being the first Romanian envoy to ParisParis
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...
, and having Alexandru Lahovary
Alexandru Lahovary
Alexandru Lahovary was a member of the Romanian aristocracy, a politician and diplomat who served as the Minister of Justice, Minister of Agriculture, Industry, Trade and Property, Minister of Public Works and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Romania....
on his staff. In January 1880-1881, he oversaw the first diplomatic contacts between Romania and Qing China
Qing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
, as an exchange of correspondence between the Romanian Embassy to France and Zeng Jize
Zeng Jize
Marquis Zeng Jize , one of China's earliest ministers to London, Paris and Saint Petersburg, played an important role in the diplomacy that preceded and accompanied the Sino-French War .- Early career :Zeng Jize , a native of Hunan province, was the eldest son of Zeng Guofan...
, the Chinese Ambassador to the United Kingdom. The French state awarded him its Legion of Honour, with the rank of Grand Officier.
Upon his return to the newly proclaimed Kingdom of Romania
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...
, Kogălniceanu played a prominent part in opposing further concessions for Austria, on the issue of international Danube navigation
Internationalization of the Danube River
The Danube River has been a trade waterway for centuries, but with the rise of international borders and the jealousies of national states, commerce and shipping has often been hampered for narrow reasons. In addition, natural features of the river, most notably the sanding of the delta, has often...
. By 1883, he was becoming known as the speaker of a liberal conservative
Liberal conservatism
Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
faction of the National Liberal group. Kogălniceanu and his supporters criticized Rosetti and others who again pushed for universal (male) suffrage, and argued that Romania's fragile international standing did not permit electoral divisiveness.
After withdrawing from political life, Kogălniceanu served as Romanian Academy President from 1887 to 1889 (or 1890). Having fallen severely ill in 1886, he spent his final years editing historical documents of the Eudoxiu Hurmuzaki fund, publicizing Ancient Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and 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....
archeological finds in Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja
Northern Dobruja is the part of Dobruja within the borders of Romania. It lies between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, bordered in south by Bulgarian Southern Dobruja.-Geography:...
, and collecting foreign documents related to Romanian history. One of his last speeches, held in front of the Academy and witnessed by both Carol, who had since become King of Romania
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
, and his wife Elisabeth of Wied
Elisabeth of Wied
-Titles and styles:*29 December 1843 – 15 November 1869: Her Serene Highness Princess Elisabeth of Wied*15 November 1869 – 26 March 1881: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Romania...
, was a summary of his entire career as a politician, intellectual, and civil servant. In August 1890, while traveling through the Austrian region of Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg
Vorarlberg is the westernmost federal-state of Austria. Although it is the second smallest in terms of area and population , it borders three countries: Germany , Switzerland and Liechtenstein...
, he was troubled by news that Alecsandri had died at his home in Mirceşti
Mircesti
Mirceşti is a commune in Iaşi County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Iugani and Mirceşti. It also included the villages of Izvoarele, Răchiteni and Ursăreşti until 2004, when these were split off to form Răchiteni Commune.-References:...
. Writing to Alecsandri's wife Paulina, he asked: "I could not be present at his funeral, [therefore] you'll allow me, my lady, since I have unable to kiss him either alive or dead, to at least kiss his grave!"
Mihail Kogălniceanu died while undergoing surgery in Paris, and was succeeded in his seat at the Academy by Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol
Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol
Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol was a Romanian scholar, economist, philosopher, historian, professor, sociologist, and author. Among his many major accomplishments, he is credited with being the Romanian historian credited with authoring the first major synthesis of the history of the Romanian...
. He was buried in his native Iaşi, at the Eternitatea cemetery
Eternitatea cemetery
Eternitatea is the bigest cemetery from Iași, Romania.-Notable interments:* writers: Ion Creangă, Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea, Garabet Ibrăileanu, Dimitrie Anghel, Otilia Cazimir, George Topârceanu, Nicolae Beldiceanu...
.
Liberalism and conservatism
Mihail Kogălniceanu's contributions as a leader of opinion and statesman have won acclaim for their role in shaping the development of modern Romania before and after 1848. Nicolae IorgaNicolae 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...
, a major historian of the 20th century, celebrated Kogălniceanu as "the founder of modern Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
, the thinker who has seen in clarity the free and complete Romania [...], the redeemer of peasants thrown into serfdom
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...
[a reference to 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], the person understanding all the many, secretive, and indissoluble connections linking the life of a people to the moral quality and the energy of its soul".
Kogălniceanu was a democratic
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
and 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...
politician who combined liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
with 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...
principles acquired during his education, taking inspiration from the policies of the Prussian statesmen Baron vom und zum Stein
Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein
Heinrich Friedrich Karl Reichsfreiherr vom und zum Stein , commonly known as Baron vom Stein, was a Prussian statesman who introduced the Prussian reforms that paved the way for the unification of Germany...
and Karl August von Hardenberg
Karl August von Hardenberg
Karl August Fürst von Hardenberg was a Prussian statesman and Prime Minister of Prussia. While during his late career he acquiesced to reactionary policies, earlier in his career he implemented a variety of Liberal reforms...
. German statesmen were however disinclined to consider him one of their own: Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard von Bülow
Bernhard Heinrich Karl Martin von Bülow , named in 1905 Prince von Bülow, was a German statesman who served as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for three years and then as Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 to 1909.Bülow was described as possessing every quality except greatness...
took for granted rumors that he was an agent of the Russians, and further alleged that the Romanian land reform was a sham.
Supportive of constitutionalism
Constitutionalism
Constitutionalism has a variety of meanings. Most generally, it is "a complex of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law"....
, civil liberties
Civil liberties
Civil liberties are rights and freedoms that provide an individual specific rights such as the freedom from slavery and forced labour, freedom from torture and death, the right to liberty and security, right to a fair trial, the right to defend one's self, the right to own and bear arms, the right...
, and other liberal positions, Kogălniceanu prioritized the nation over individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, an approach with resonated with the tendencies of all his fellow Moldavian revolutionaries. In maturity, Kogălniceanu had become a skeptic in respect to 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...
and its Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
legacy, arguing: "civilization stops when revolutions begin". At the same time, his connections within the Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, mirroring the conviction and affiliation of most 1848 revolutionaries, were an important factor in ensuring the success of Romanian causes abroad, and arguably played a part in the election of Cuza, who was himself a member of the secretive organization.
Inside the Romanian 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...
, and in contrast to his moderation on other topics, he was among the very few to tie together 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...
, democracy, and the need to improve the situation of peasants (other notable politicians to do so were Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
, who died in late 1852, and Rosetti, who advocated a strict adherence to majoritarianism
Majoritarianism
Majoritarianism is a traditional political philosophy or agenda which asserts that a majority of the population is entitled to a certain degree of primacy in society, and has the right to make decisions that affect the society...
). Kogălniceanu praised Bălcescu's manifestos and activism in favor of the peasantry, indicating that they formed a precedent for his own accomplishments, while deploring the Wallachian uprising
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...
's failure to advance a definitive land reform. When faced with a negative response in the census-elected Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
just prior to Cuza's coup, he defended his land reform project with the words:
"Two thousand boyarBoyarA 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 do not a nation make; that is an undeniable truth."
Late in his life, while crediting the University of Berlin
Humboldt University of Berlin
The Humboldt University of Berlin is Berlin's oldest university, founded in 1810 as the University of Berlin by the liberal Prussian educational reformer and linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, whose university model has strongly influenced other European and Western universities...
and its notions of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
with having provided him with "the love for the Romanian motherland and the liberal spirit [emphasis in original]", he stressed:
"In my lengthy combats and actions, in the grim persecutions that have more than once been exercised as a means to crush me, I always had before my eyes those beautiful words which [...] Prince Hardenberg indicated as the strongest means to reawaken the character and manliness of the German peopleGermansThe Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
in order to liberate it from the foreign yoke, to raise and increase GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
: «Democratic principles as part of a monarchic government!»"
Antisemitism
Like many of his fellow Romanian liberals, Kogălniceanu advocated a series of antisemitic policies. He used his position as Internal Affairs Minister in the Dimitrie GhicaDimitrie Ghica
Dimitrie Ghica or Ghika was a Romanian politician. A prominent member of the Conservative Party, he served as Prime Minister between 1868 and 1870....
executive to resume the expulsions of Jewish community
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
members from the countryside (and thus denying them various sources of income). When faced with the official protests of European states, he replied that the matter was nobody's business but Romania's. He usually referred to the Jewish community in general with the insulting term jidani, and accepted their presence on Romanian soil as a concession to their alleged "too numerous and too powerful presence in Europe". During the 1930s, such attitudes, together with Kogălniceanu's involvement in peasant causes, were cited as a precedent by politicians of the fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
National Christian Party
National Christian Party
The National Christian Party was a Romanian political party, the product of a union between Octavian Goga's National Agrarian Party and A. C. Cuza's National-Christian Defense League; a prominent member of the party was the philosopher Nichifor Crainic...
and Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, who, while promoting rural traditionalism, advocated restricting civil rights
Civil rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...
for the Jewish community.
Nevertheless, Kogălniceanu's antisemitic discourse was nuanced and less violent than that of various of his contemporaries. According to historian George Voicu, he stood for "a complicated balance in dealing with the 'Jewish question
Jewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
'", one between "antisemitic intransigence" and "concessions". The more radical antisemite and National Liberal Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
expressed much criticism of this moderate stance (which he also believed was represented within the party by Rosetti and 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...
), and he even claimed that Kogălniceanu was a secret "faithful" of the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
. In 1885, Kogălniceanu strongly objected to a National Liberal cabinet decision to expel Moses Gaster
Moses Gaster
Moses Gaster was a Romanian-born Jewish-British scholar, the Hakham of the Spanish and Portuguese congregation, London, and a Hebrew linguist. He was also the son-in-law of Michael Friedländer, principal of Jews' College. The surname Gaster is taken from Spanish Castro, indicating his Sephardic...
, a renowned Jewish scholar, stating that the latter was "[the] only man who works in this country" (he would later celebrate him as the man "to whom Romanian literature owes so much"). Five years later, as rapporteur
Rapporteur
Rapporteur is used in international and European legal and political contexts to refer to a person appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue or a situation....
on naturalization
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
issues, he conferred citizenship upon Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
thinker Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....
, who was a Russian-born Jewish immigrant. Shortly before his death, he reportedly endorsed a similar measure for Jewish scholar Lazăr Şăineanu
Lazăr Şăineanu
Lazăr Şăineanu was a Romanian-born philologist, linguist, folklorist and cultural historian. A specialist in Oriental and Romance studies, as well as a Hebraist and a Germanist, he was primarily known for his contribution to Yiddish and Romanian philology, his work in evolutionary linguistics, and...
, expressing condemnation for those antisemites within his own party who made efforts to block it.
Cultural tenets
In his polemic history tracing the development of literary criticism and its role in Romanian culture, the 20th century author Garabet IbrăileanuGarabet Ibraileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...
made ample mention of Kogălniceanu's role in combating nationalist excesses, in particular the post-1840 attempts by Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
n and 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...
n intellectuals to change the fabric of the 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...
by introducing strong influences from 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...
or other modern 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...
. To illustrate this view, he cited Kogălniceanu's Cuvânt pentru deschiderea cursului de istorie naţională, which notably states:
"In me you shall find a Romanian, but ever to the point where I would contribute in increasing Romanomania, that is to say the maniaManiaMania, the presence of which is a criterion for certain psychiatric diagnoses, is a state of abnormally elevated or irritable mood, arousal, and/ or energy levels. In a sense, it is the opposite of depression...
of calling ourselves RomansAncient RomeAncient 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....
, a passion currently reigning foremost in Transylvania and among some of the writers in Wallachia."
Ibrăileanu additionally credited the Moldavian faction, Kogălniceanu included, with having helped introduce spoken Romanian into the literary language
Literary language
A literary language is a register of a language that is used in literary writing. This may also include liturgical writing. The difference between literary and non-literary forms is more marked in some languages than in others...
, at a time when both 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...
and successors 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...
made use of the dialect prevalent in Orthodox
Romanian Orthodox Church
The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...
and 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....
religious culture. This was in connection with Kogălniceanu's advocacy of pragmatic 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,...
: "Civilization never does banish the national ideas and habits, but rather improves them for the benefit of the nation in particular and of humanity in general". He was adverse to fast cultural reforms, stressing that acclimatization was always required.
A generation younger than Ibrăileanu, George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
also noted the contrast between Mihail Kogălniceanu and his predecessors, as two sets of "Messianist
Millennialism
Millennialism , or chiliasm in Greek, is a belief held by some Christian denominations that there will be a Golden Age or Paradise on Earth in which "Christ will reign" for 1000 years prior to the final judgment and future eternal state...
" intellectuals—in this contrast, Heliade Rădulescu was "hazy and egotistic
Egotism
Egotism is "characterized by an exaggerated estimate of one's intellect, ability, importance, appearance, wit, or other valued personal characteristics" – the drive to maintain and enhance favorable views of oneself....
", whereas Kogălniceanu and others had "a mission which they knew how to translate into positive terms
Positivism
Positivism is a a view of scientific methods and a philosophical approach, theory, or system based on the view that, in the social as well as natural sciences, sensory experiences and their logical and mathematical treatment are together the exclusive source of all worthwhile information....
". As a historian, Kogălniceanu notably introduced several more or less influential Romantic nationalist theses: after 1840, he was noted for stressing the image of the 17th century Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave as a unifier of Romania, although this view was not present in his earlier essays; he proposed that his was among the first European peoples to record history in their national language, in contrast with the fact that the earliest Romanian-language chronicles were written during the 17th century; additionally, he argued that the Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
was a Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
state. In some of his works, he claimed that Romanians traditionally practiced endogamy
Endogamy
Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific ethnic group, class, or social group, rejecting others on such basis as being unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. A Greek Orthodox Christian endogamist, for example, would require that a marriage be only with another...
to preserve their purity.
As early as 1840, Mihail Kogălniceanu was urging writers to seek inspiration for their work in Romanian folklore
Folklore of Romania
A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre...
in creating a "cultured literature". In 1855, after the Wallachian revolution was defeated and most of its leaders went into exile, he noted that the lighter toll Russian intervention had in Moldavia contributed to the preservation of literature; alongside similar statements made by 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....
, this allowed Ibrăileanu to conclude that, after 1848, Moldavia played a bigger part in shaping the cultural landscape of Romania. Writing more than half a century after the critic, historian Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
also noted that, while Kogălniceanu stressed national unity, his discourse tended to place emphasis on Moldavian particularities. Also according to Ibrăileanu, Kogălniceanu and Alecu Russo
Alecu Russo
Alecu Russo , was a Moldavian Romanian writer, literary critic and publicist....
have set the foundation for the local school of literary criticism
Literary criticism
Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals...
, and, together, had announced the cultural professionalism advocated by Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
after the 1860s. The latter conclusion was partly shared by Călinescu, Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
and literary researcher Z. Ornea. Nevertheless, in its reaction against the 1848 generation, Junimea, and especially its main figure Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
, tended to ignore or outright dismiss Kogălniceanu's causes and the attitudes he expressed.
While commenting on the differences between Moldavian and Wallachian literature, Paul Zarifopol gave a more reserved assessment of Kogălniceanu's position, arguing that the emphasis he had placed on "national taste" would occasionally result in acclaim for mediocre writers such as Alexandru Hrisoverghi
Alexandru Hrisoverghi
Alexandru Hrisoverghi was a Moldavian Romanian-language poet and translator, whose work was influenced by Romanticism...
. Călinescu observed that much of Kogălniceanu's own prose works imitated the style of his friend Costache Negruzzi, without carrying the same artistic weight, while noting that his few works of autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
featured "pages of gracious [and] good-natured melancholy", which he attributed to the author's traditional upbringing. Also among Kogălniceanu's anthumous writings was Fiziologia provincialului în Iaşi ("The Physiology of the Parochial Man in Iaşi"), closely based on a French model by Pierre Durand and, through it, echoing Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin was a French lawyer and politician, and gained fame as an epicure and gastronome: "Grimod and Brillat-Savarin...
's Physiologie du goût. It was part of a series of such texts, popular in his generation and deemed "the first age of Romanian realism
Literary realism
Literary realism most often refers to the trend, beginning with certain works of nineteenth-century French literature and extending to late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century authors in various countries, towards depictions of contemporary life and society "as they were." In the spirit of...
" by researcher Maria Protase. Among the other pieces were two comedy plays, both written in 1840, when he was co-director of the National Theater Iaşi: Două femei împotriva unui bărbat ("Two Women against One Man") and Orbul fericit ("The Happy Blind Man"). Kogălniceanu's Notes sur l'Espagne was published decades after his death, and received much critical acclaim.
Descendants
Moldavian military forces
Moldavia had a military force for much of its history as an independent and, later, autonomous principality subject to the Ottoman Empire .-Middle Ages:Under the reign of Stephen the Great, all farmers and villagers had to bear arms...
colonel; they had more than eight children together (three of whom were boys). The eldest son, Constantin, studied Law and had a career in diplomacy, being the author of an unfinished work on Romanian history. Ion, his brother, was born in 1859 and died in 1892, being the only one of Mihail Kogălniceanu's male children to have heirs (his line was still surviving in the early 2000s). Ion's son, also named Mihail, established the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation in 1935 (in 1939-1946, it published a magazine named Arhiva Românească, which aimed to be a new series of the one published during the 1840s; its other projects were rendered ineffectual by the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
).
Vasile Kogălniceanu, the youngest son, was noted for his involvement in agrarian
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
and left-wing politics during the early 20th century. A founder of Partida Ţărănească (which served as an inspiration for the Peasants' Party
Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Peasants' Party was a political party in post-World War I Romania that espoused a left-wing ideology partly connected with Agrarianism and Populism, and aimed to represent the interests of the Romanian peasantry. Through many of its leaders, the party was connected with Romanian populism , a...
after 1918), he was a collaborator of Vintilă Rosetti in campaigning for the universal suffrage
Universal suffrage
Universal suffrage consists of the extension of the right to vote to adult citizens as a whole, though it may also mean extending said right to minors and non-citizens...
and the legislating of Sunday as a public holiday
Public holiday
A public holiday, national holiday or legal holiday is a holiday generally established by law and is usually a non-working day during the year....
. A manifesto to the peasants, issued by him just before the Peasants' Revolt of 1907
1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt took place in March 1907 in Moldavia and it quickly spread, reaching Wallachia. The main cause was the discontent of the peasants about the inequity of land ownership, which was in the hands of just a few large landowners....
, was interpreted by the authorities as a call to rebellion, and led to Kogălniceanu's imprisonment for a duration of five months. A member of the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
for Ilfov County
Ilfov County
Ilfov is the county that surrounds Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It used to be largely rural, but after the fall of communism, many of the county's villages and communes developed into high-income commuter towns, which act like suburbs or satellites of Bucharest...
, he served as a rapporteur
Rapporteur
Rapporteur is used in international and European legal and political contexts to refer to a person appointed by a deliberative body to investigate an issue or a situation....
for the Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets . He first rose to prominence during the peasant's revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence...
executive during the 1921 debates regarding an extensive land reform.
Vasile's sister Lucia (or Lucie) studied at a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
during the late 1860s-early 1870s. Her third husband, Leon Bogdan, was a local leader of the Conservatives in Neamţ County
Neamt County
Neamț is a county of Romania, in the historic region of Moldavia, with the county seat at Piatra Neamț. It has three communes, Bicaz-Chei, Bicazu Ardelean and Dămuc in Transylvania.-Demographics:...
(according to the memoirist Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri Constantin Argetoianu...
, Lucia was the one exercising real control over the organization's branch). After the Conservative Party faded out of politics as a result of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, she came to support the People's Party. Argetoianu later speculated that she was the most intelligent of the Kogălniceanu children, and claimed that Mihail Kogălniceanu had himself acknowledged this (quoting him as saying, "too bad Lucie is not a boy"). She was the mother of eight; one of her daughters, Manuela, married into the Ghica family
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...
.
Kogălniceanu's nephew, Grigore, himself a local leader of the Conservative Party and a major landowner, married to Adela Cantacuzino-Paşcanu, a member of the Cantacuzino family
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
. He died in 1904, leaving his wife a large fortune, which she spent on a large collection of jewels and fortune-telling
Fortune-telling
Fortune-telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. The scope of fortune-telling is in principle identical with the practice of divination...
séances. Adela Kogălniceanu was robbed and murdered in October 1920; rumor had it that she had been killed by her own son, but this path was never pursued by authorities, who were quick to cancel the investigation (at the time, they were faced with the major strikes of 1920).
Landmarks and portrayals
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
for part of the Romanian Campaign
Romanian Campaign (World War I)
The Romanian Campaign was part of the Balkan theatre of World War I, with Romania and Russia allied against the armies of the Central Powers. Fighting took place from August 1916 to December 1917, across most of present-day Romania, including Transylvania, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian...
, and, in 1930, was purchased by novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...
(in 1980, it became a museum dedicated to Sadoveanu's memory). The Kogălniceanu property in Râpile
Gura Vaii, Bacau
Gura Văii is a commune in Bacău County, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Capăta, Dumbrava, Gura Văii, Motoceşti, Păltinata and Temelia....
, Bacău County
Bacau County
Bacău is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with its capital city at Bacău. It has one commune, Ghimeş-Făget, in Transylvania.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 706,623 and the population density was 113/km²....
, was sold and divided during the early 20th century.
Chronicles edited by Kogălniceanu and Costache Negruzzi were the source of inspiration for several historical novel
Historical novel
According to Encyclopædia Britannica, a historical novel is-Development:An early example of historical prose fiction is Luó Guànzhōng's 14th century Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which covers one of the most important periods of Chinese history and left a lasting impact on Chinese culture.The...
ists, beginning with Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...
. His relationship with the peasant representative to the ad-hoc Divan, Ion Roată
Ion Roata
Ion Roată was a Moldavian-born Romanian peasant and political figure. Roată was representative in the Moldavian ad-hoc Divan for the peasant electoral college of Putna County...
, is briefly mentioned in an anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
authored by Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
(Moş Ion Roată). He is also the subject of a short writing by Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
(first published by Vatra in 1894). Symbolist
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
poet Dimitrie Anghel
Dimitrie Anghel
Dimitrie Anghel was a Romanian poet.His first poem was published in Contemporanul...
, whose father, the National Liberal parliamentarian Dimitrie A. Anghel, had been well acquainted with Kogălniceanu, authored a memoir detailing the fluctuating relationship between the two political figures, as well as detailing one of the former Premier's last speeches.
Kogălniceanu is the subject of many paintings, and features prominently in Costin Petrescu's fresco
Fresco
Fresco is any of several related mural painting types, executed on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Greek word affresca which derives from the Latin word for "fresh". Frescoes first developed in the ancient world and continued to be popular through the Renaissance...
at the Romanian Athenaeum
Romanian Athenaeum
The Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...
(where he is shown alongside Cuza, who is handing a deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
to a peasant). In 1911, Iaşi became host to Kogălniceanu bronze statue by Raffaello Romanelli
Raffaello Romanelli
Raffaello Romanelli was an Italian sculptor, born in Florence, Italy. His work includes many public monuments in honour of eminent Italians and others....
, purported to have been recast from one of the sculptor's older works. In 1936, the Mihail Kogălniceanu Cultural Foundation commissioned Oscar Han
Oscar Han
Oscar Han was a Romanian sculptor and writer. A student of Dimitrie Paciurea at the Academy of Arts in Bucharest, he was a member of the Group of Four together with painters Nicolae Tonitza, Francisc Şirato and Ştefan Dimitrescu...
to create a monument dedicated to Kogălniceanu, which was erected 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 same year. Actors have portrayed Kogălniceanu in several Romanian films
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
—most notably, Ion Niculescu in the 1912 Independenţa României
Independenta României
Independenţa României, subtitled The Romanian-Russo-Turkish War 1877, is a Romanian 1912 silent film directed by Aristide Demetriade.-Beginnings:...
, and George Constantin in Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Nicolaescu
Sergiu Florin Nicolaescu is a Romanian film director, actor and politician. He is best known for his historical films, such as Mihai Viteazul , Dacii , Razboiul Independenţei , as well as for his series of...
's 1977 Războiul Independenţei. During the latter stages of the Romanian Communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...
, under Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
, Mihail Kogălniceanu's image was present in official propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
, alongside those of other historical figures who were considered progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
.
The historian's name was given to several places and landmarks; these include downtown Bucharest's Mihail Kogălniceanu Square (near the Izvor metro station
Izvor metro station
Izvor is a metro station in Bucharest, Romania, located near the Palace of the Parliament. It also services one of the buildings of the Bucharest Veterinary University, the Gheorghe Lazăr High School and the Cişmigiu Gardens....
, and housing Han's sculpture) and Mihail Kogălniceanu Boulevard, the Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu, Constanta
Mihail Kogălniceanu is a commune in Constanţa County, Romania, and is located 25 km northwest of Constanţa proper. The commune includes three villages:* Mihail Kogălniceanu - historical names: Kara Murat , Bulgari and Ferdinand I* Palazu Mic...
commune in Constanţa County
Constanta County
Constanța is the name of a county in the Dobruja region of Romania. Its capital city is also named Constanța.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 715,151 and the population density was 101/km². The degree of urbanization is much higher than the Romanian average. In recent years the...
, the Mihail Kogălniceanu International Airport
Mihail Kogalniceanu International Airport
Mihail Kogălniceanu Airport is situated in south-east Romania, in the commune of Mihail Kogălniceanu, north northwest of Constanţa. It is the main airport of Dobrogea region and it provides access to the Constanţa County, the Constanţa city port and Black Sea Romanian resorts...
(situated 26 km northwest of Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
, and serving that city, the airport also houses a U.S. Military Forces
Military of the United States
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...
base), and the Mihail Kogălniceanu University in Iaşi (the first private university
Private university
Private universities are universities not operated by governments, although many receive public subsidies, especially in the form of tax breaks and public student loans and grants. Depending on their location, private universities may be subject to government regulation. Private universities are...
in Moldavia, founded in 1990).
External links
The Mihail Kogălniceanu Memorial House in Iaşi Ion CreangăIon Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, Moş Ion Roată, at wikisource
- Independenţa României and Războiul Independenţei, at the Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
- Frescoes at the Romanian AthenaeumRomanian AthenaeumThe Romanian Athenaeum is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international...
site