Alexandru Ioan Cuza (, or Alexandru Ioan I, also anglicised as Alexander John Cuza; 20 March 1820 – 15 May 1873) was the first ''
domnitor
''Domnitor'' (Romanian pl. ''Domnitori'') was the official title of the ruler of Romania between 1862 and 1881. It was usually translated as " prince" in other languages and less often as "grand duke". Derived from the Romanian word "''domn' ...
'' (Ruler) of the
Romanian Principalities
The Danubian Principalities ( ro, Principatele Dunărene, sr, Дунавске кнежевине, translit=Dunavske kneževine) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th ...
through his double election as
prince of Moldavia
This is a list of rulers of Moldavia, from the first mention of the medieval polity east of the Carpathians and until its disestablishment in 1862, when it united with Wallachia, the other Danubian Principality, to form the modern-day state of ...
on 5 January 1859 and
prince of Wallachia on 24 January 1859, which resulted in
the unification of both states. He was a prominent figure of the Revolution of 1848 in
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centra ...
. Following his double election, he initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures.
As ruler of the
Romanian Principalities
The Danubian Principalities ( ro, Principatele Dunărene, sr, Дунавске кнежевине, translit=Dunavske kneževine) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th ...
, he supported a political and diplomatic activity for the recognition of the union of
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centra ...
and
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
by the suzerain
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
and achieved constitutional and administrative unity between
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centra ...
and
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
in 1862, when the
Romanian Principalities
The Danubian Principalities ( ro, Principatele Dunărene, sr, Дунавске кнежевине, translit=Dunavske kneževine) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th ...
officially adopted the name ''Romanian United Principalities'' with a single capital at
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...
, a single national assembly and a single
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government ...
.
Alexandru's reform policies alienated a large coalition of conservatives and radical liberals, for the most part landowners and business owners. On 22 February 1866, he was forced to abdicate and leave the country. Today, he is often considered one of the founders of the modern Romanian state and a national hero of Romania.
Early life
Born in
Bârlad, Cuza belonged to the traditional
boyar
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgaria, Russia, Wallachia and Moldavia, and later Romania, Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. Boyars were s ...
class in Moldavia, being the son of
Ispravnic Ioan Cuza (who was also a landowner in
Fălciu County) and his wife Sultana (or Soltana), a member of the
Cozadini family of Greek
Phanariote origins. Alexander received an urbane European education, being educated at Jassy, Pavia, Bologna and Athens; and, after a brief period of military service, visiting Paris from 1837 to 1840 for a further course of study.
becoming an officer in the
Moldavian Army
Moldavia had a military force for much of its history as an independent and, later, autonomous principality subject to the Ottoman Empire (14th century-1859).
Army Middle Ages
Under the reign of Stephen the Great, all farmers and villagers ha ...
and rising to the rank of
colonel
Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations.
In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...
. He married
Elena Rosetti in 1844.
During the Europe-wide
Revolutions of 1848
The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Euro ...
, Moldavia and
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and s ...
fell into revolt. The
Moldavian unrest was quickly suppressed, but
in Wallachia the revolutionaries took power and governed during the summer. Young Cuza played a prominent enough part to establish
his liberal credentials. He was shipped to Vienna as a prisoner, where he made his escape with British support.
Returning during the reign of
Prince
A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...
Grigore Alexandru Ghica, he became Moldavia's minister of war in 1858; he also represented
Galați
Galați (, , ; also known by other alternative names) is the capital city of Galați County in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in eastern Romania. Galați is a port town on the Danube River. It has been the only port for the most pa ...
in the
ad hoc Divan at
Iași. Cuza was acting freely under the guarantees of the
European Powers
A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...
in the eve of the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included t ...
for recognition of a Prince of Moldavia. Cuza was a prominent speaker in the debates and strongly advocated the union of Moldavia and Wallachia. In default of a foreign prince, he was nominated as a candidate in both principalities by the pro-unionist
Partida Națională (profiting of an ambiguity in the text of the
Treaty of Paris). Cuza was finally elected as Prince of Moldavia on 17 January 1859 (5 January
Julian
Julian may refer to:
People
* Julian (emperor) (331–363), Roman emperor from 361 to 363
* Julian (Rome), referring to the Roman gens Julia, with imperial dynasty offshoots
* Saint Julian (disambiguation), several Christian saints
* Julian (give ...
) and, after "street pressure" changed the vote in
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...
, also Prince of Wallachia, on 5 February 1859 (24 January Julian),
effectively uniting both principalities.
He received the firman from the Sultan on 2 December 1861 during a visit to Istanbul.
He was a recipient of the
Order of Medjidie,
Order of Osmanieh,
Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus
The Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus ( it, Ordine dei Santi Maurizio e Lazzaro) (abbreviated OSSML) is a Roman Catholic dynastic order of knighthood bestowed by the royal House of Savoy. It is the second-oldest order of knighthood in the w ...
, and
Order of the Redeemer.
Although he and his wife
Elena Rosetti had no children, she raised as her own children his two sons by his mistress
Elena Maria Catargiu-Obrenović:
Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza
Alexandru Al. Ioan Cuza (also known as Alexandru A. Cuza, A. A. Cuza, or Sașa Cuza; 1862 or 1864 – April 4, 1890) was a Romanian aristocrat and politician. He was the eldest of the sons adopted by ''Domnitor'' Alexandru Ioan Cuza and his consor ...
(1864–1889), and Dimitrie Cuza (1865–1888 ''suicide'').
Reign
Diplomatic efforts
Thus Cuza achieved a
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
union of the two principalities. The Powers backtracked,
Napoleon III of France
Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...
remaining supportive, while the
Austrian ministry withheld approval of such a union at the
Congress of Paris (18 October 1858); partly as a consequence, Cuza's authority was not recognized by his nominal
suzerain
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is ca ...
,
Abdülaziz
Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was 187 ...
, the
Sultan of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, until 23 December 1861.
Even then, the union was only accepted for the duration of Cuza's rule.
The union was formally declared three years later, on 5 February 1862, (24 January Julian), the new country bearing the name of Romania, with Bucharest as its capital city.
Cuza invested his diplomatic actions in gaining further concessions from the Powers: the sultan's assent to a
single unified parliament and
cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
for Cuza's lifetime, in recognition of the complexity of the task. Thus, he was regarded as the political embodiment of a unified Romania.
Reforms
Assisted by his councilor
Mihail Kogălniceanu, an intellectual leader of the 1848 revolution, Cuza initiated a series of reforms that contributed to the modernization of Romanian society and of state structures.
His first measure addressed a need for increasing the land resources and revenues available to the state, by
nationalizing monastic estates in 1863.
Probably more than a quarter of Romania's farmland was controlled by untaxed
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or " canoni ...
"
Dedicated monasteries", which supported Greek and other foreign monks in shrines such as
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...
and Jerusalem, presenting a substantial drain on state revenues. Cuza got his parliament's backing to expropriate these lands.
During the secularization of the Antiochian
Metochion in Bucharest, Cuza exiled its proistamenos the Metropolitan Ioannikios of Palmyra and arrested its hegumen Seraphim, later Metropolitan of Irenopolis in Isauria.
He offered compensation to the
Greek Orthodox Church
The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also call ...
, but
Sophronius III, the
Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and ''primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of the ...
, refused to negotiate; after several years, the Romanian government withdrew its offer and no compensation was ever paid. State revenues thereby increased without adding any domestic tax burden.
The
land reform
Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultur ...
, liberating peasants from the last
corvée
Corvée () is a form of unpaid, forced labour, that is intermittent in nature lasting for limited periods of time: typically for only a certain number of days' work each year.
Statute labour is a corvée imposed by a state for the purposes of ...
s, freeing their movements and redistributing some land (1864), was less successful.
In attempting to create a solid support base among the peasants, Cuza soon found himself in conflict with the group of
Conservatives. A liberal bill granting peasants title to the land they worked was defeated. Then the Conservatives responded with a bill that ended all peasant dues and responsibilities, but gave landlords title to all the land. Cuza vetoed it, then held a
plebiscite
A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of ...
to alter the Paris Convention (the virtual constitution), in the manner of Napoleon III.
His plan to establish
universal manhood suffrage, together with the power of the Domnitor to rule by decree, passed by a vote of 682,621 to 1,307. He consequently governed the country under the provisions of ''Statutul dezvoltător al Convenției de la Paris'' ("Statute expanding the Paris Convention"), an
organic law
An organic law is a law, or system of laws, that form the foundation of a government, corporation or any other organization's body of rules. A constitution is a particular form of organic law for a sovereign state.
By country France
Under Articl ...
adopted on 15 July 1864. With his new plenary powers, Cuza then promulgated the Agrarian Law of 1863. Peasants received title to the land they worked, while landlords retained ownership of one third. Where there was not enough land available to create workable farms under this formula, state lands (from the confiscated monasteries) would be used to give the landowners compensation.
Despite the attempts by
Lascăr Catargiu
Lascăr Catargiu ( or Lascăr Catargi; 1 November 1823 – ) 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 ...
's cabinet to force a transition in which some corvées were to be maintained, Cuza's reform marked the disappearance of the boyar class as a privileged group, and led to a channeling of energies into
capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, private ...
and
industrialization
Industrialisation ( alternatively spelled industrialization) is the period of social and economic change that transforms a human group from an agrarian society into an industrial society. This involves an extensive re-organisation of an econ ...
; at the same time, however, land distributed was still below necessities, and the problem became stringent over the following decades – as peasants reduced to destitution sold off their land or found that it was insufficient for the needs of their growing families.
Cuza's reforms also included the adoption of the Criminal Code and the Civil Code based on the
Napoleonic code (1864), a Law on Education, establishing tuition-free, compulsory public education for primary schools
(1864; the system, nonetheless, suffered from drastic shortages in allocated funds; illiteracy was eradicated about 100 years later, during the communist regime). He founded the
University of Iași (1860) and the University of Bucharest (1864), and helped develop a modern, European-style Romanian Army, under a working relationship with France. He is the founder of the Romanian Naval Forces.
Downfall and exile
Cuza failed in his effort to create an alliance of prosperous peasants and a strong liberal prince, ruling as a benevolent authoritarian in the style of Napoleon III. Having to rely on a decreasing group of hand-picked bureaucrats, Cuza began facing a mounting opposition after his land reform bill, with liberal landowners voicing concerns over his ability to represent their interests. Along with financial distress, there was an awkward scandal that revolved around his mistress,
Maria Catargiu-Obrenović, and popular discontent culminated in a coup d'état.
Cuza was forced to abdicate by the so-called "
monstrous coalition" of Conservatives and Liberals. At four o'clock on the morning of 11 February 1866, a group of military conspirators broke into the palace, and compelled the prince to sign his abdication. On the following day they conducted him safely across the border.
His successor, Prince
Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Karl may refer to:
People
* Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name
* Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne
* Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer
* Karl of Austria, last Austrian ...
, was proclaimed Domnitor as Carol I of Romania on 20 April 1866. The election of a foreign prince with ties to an important princely house, legitimizing Romanian independence (which Carol came to do after the
Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878), had been one of the liberal aims in the revolution of 1848.
Despite the participation of
Ion Brătianu and other future leaders of the
Liberal Party in the overthrow of Cuza, he remained a hero to the
radical and
republican wing, who, as
Francophile
A Francophile, also known as Gallophile, is a person who has a strong affinity towards any or all of the French language, History of France, French history, Culture of France, French culture and/or French people. That affinity may include France i ...
s, had an additional reason to oppose a
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
n monarch; anti-Carol riots in Bucharest during the
Franco-Prussian War (''see
History of Bucharest'') and the coup attempt known as the
Republic of Ploiești in August 1870, the conflict was eventually resolved by the compromise between Brătianu and Carol, with the arrival of a prolonged and influential Liberal cabinet.
Cuza spent the remainder of his life in exile, chiefly in Paris, Vienna and Wiesbaden,
accompanied by his wife and his two sons. He died in Heidelberg on 15 May 1873. His remains were buried in his residence in Ruginoasa, but were moved to the
Trei Ierarhi Cathedral in Iași after World War II.
References
External links
''Cuza, Alexandru Ioan (1820-1870)'' by Gerald J. Bobango and Paul E. Michelson, at the Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuza, Alexander John
Romanian monarchs
Rulers of Moldavia
Rulers of Wallachia
Rulers of Moldavia and Wallachia
People from Bârlad
Romanian people of the Crimean War
People of the Revolutions of 1848
Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church
Romanian revolutionaries
Leaders ousted by a coup
Members of the Ad hoc Divans
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
19th-century Romanian people
1820 births
1873 deaths
Romanian independence activists
Romanian nationalists