Prince Alexandru Sturdza (Александр Скарлатович Стурдза;

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

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 Centr ...

, 18 November 1791

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

, 13 June 1854) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

publicist and diplomat of

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

origin. In his writings, he referred to himself with a French rendition of his name, Alexandre Stourdza.

Early life

Alexandru Sturdza was a member of the House of Sturdza, born in Jassy, in

, as son of Scarlat Sturdza, Governor of Bessarabia and Princess Ekaterina Mourousis, daughter of Constantine Mourouzis, Prince of Moldavia. Through his mother he was related to all Greek

Phanariote Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots ( el, Φαναριώτες, ro, Fanarioți, tr, Fenerliler) were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar (Φανάρι, modern ''Fener''), the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumeni ...

families. Alexandru Sturdza was brother of Roxandra Edling-Sturdza and a cousin of

Mihail Sturdza Mihail Sturdza (24 April 1794, Iași – 8 May 1884, Paris), sometimes anglicized as Michael Stourdza, was prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. He was cousin of Roxandra Sturdza and Alexandru Sturdza. Biography He was son of Grigore Sturdza, s ...

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 Ro ...

from 1834 to 1849. After his family fled Bessarabia in 1802 in order to avoid the repression from the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

, he was educated in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Princess Lina Gourieff Gagarine by Winterhalter

Later life

He entered the Russian diplomatic service in 1809 and acted as secretary of

Ioannis Kapodistrias Count Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias (10 or 11 February 1776 – 9 October 1831), sometimes anglicized as John Capodistrias ( el, Κόμης Ιωάννης Αντώνιος Καποδίστριας, Komis Ioannis Antonios Kapodistrias; russian: � ...

during the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

. Under this capacity, he drafted the first version of the treaty of the

Holy Alliance The Holy Alliance (german: Heilige Allianz; russian: Священный союз, ''Svyashchennyy soyuz''; also called the Grand Alliance) was a coalition linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. It was created after ...

, from the penciled notes of the Czar

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon 495–454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Pope Alexander I (died 115), early bishop of Rome * Pope Alexander I of Alexandria (died 320s), patriarch of ...

. Because of his Greek origins and his friendship with Ioannis Kapodistrias, he was a strong supporter of

Philhellenism Philhellenism ("the love of Greek culture") was an intellectual movement prominent mostly at the turn of the 19th century. It contributed to the sentiments that led Europeans such as Lord Byron and Charles Nicolas Fabvier to advocate for Greek i ...

before and during the

Greek War of Independence The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution or the Greek Revolution of 1821, was a successful war of independence by Greek revolutionaries against the Ottoman Empire between 1821 and 1829. The Greeks were later assisted by ...

. Together with his sister Roxandra he sponsored philanthropic activities to help Greek war refugees.See also

Antonios Papadakis Antonios Papadakis ( el, Αντώνιος Παπαδάκης; 1810–1878) was a Greek merchant from Lassithi Plateau on the island of Crete. He left his entire huge fortune to the University of Athens which proclaimed him its greatest benefactor. ...

He retired in

in 1830, where he devoted himself to his literary works.

Personal life

In 1819 he settled at

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

and married Elisabeth Hufeland, daughter of German physician

Christoph Wilhelm Hufeland Christoph Wilhelm Friedrich Hufeland (12 August 1762, Langensalza – 25 August 1836, Berlin) was a German physician, naturopath and writer. He is famous as the most eminent practical physician of his time in Germany and as the author of numero ...

. They had one son and two daughters: * Prince Ionita Sandu Sturdza (b. 1820) * Princess Maria Sturdza (1821-1890) married Prince Eugen Gagarin and was progenitor of House of Gagarin-Sturdza. * Princess Olga Sturdza (d. 1895) married Prince Mikhail Aleksandrovich

Obolensky {{For, the rural localities in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, Obolenskoye The House of Obolensky (russian: Оболенский) is the name of a princely Russian family of the Rurik dynasty. The family of aristocrats mostly fled Russia in 1917 during the ...

(1821-1886)

Works

Striving to develop a renovated form of

Orthodox Christianity Orthodoxy (from Ancient Greek, Greek: ) is adherence to correct or accepted creeds, especially in religion. Orthodoxy within Christianity refers to acceptance of the doctrines defined by various creeds and ecumenical councils in Late antiquity, A ...

and to promote it in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

, he wrote ''Considérations sur la doctrine et l'esprit de l'Église orthodoxe'' (

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, 1816). His ''Mémoire sur l'état actuel de l'Allemagne'', written at the request of

Tsar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...

during the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, was an attack on the German universities, repeated in ''Coup d'oeil sur les universites de l'Allemagne'' (

Aachen Aachen ( ; ; Aachen dialect: ''Oche'' ; French and traditional English: Aix-la-Chapelle; or ''Aquisgranum''; nl, Aken ; Polish: Akwizgran) is, with around 249,000 inhabitants, the 13th-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia, and the 28th- ...

, 1818). It aroused great indignation in Germany, which indignation has been attributed to the levity with which its author arraigned the German national character and branded the universities as hotbeds of the revolutionary spirit and atheism. His other important works are ''La Grèce'' in 1821 (Leipzig, 1822) and ''Oeuvres posthumes religieuses, historiques, philosophiques et litteraires'' (5 vols.,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, 1858–1861).

Early life

Later life

Personal life

Works

Notes

Further reading