Lupu Coci, known as Vasile Lupu (; 1595–1661), was a
Voivode
Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the ...
of
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...
of
Albanian origin between 1634 and 1653. Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was a capable administrator and a brilliant financier and was soon almost the richest man in the Christian East. His gifts to Ottoman leaders kept him on good terms with the Ottoman authorities.
Early life
The Coci family settled in
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 ...
(Țara Rumânească) in the first half of the 16th century. His father, Nicolae (Neculai) Coci was an
Albanian shopkeeper, the son of Constantin (Coce) and Ecaterina, who originated from
Macedonia or
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
.
His mother was
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
. Nicolae entered Moldavian nobility in 1593. Nikolae was born in Arbanasi. According to different researchers it was a village in modern-day Bulgaria (
Arbanasi
or
Dolno Arbanasi - today a suburb of
Razgrad
Razgrad ( bg, Разград ) is a city in Northeastern Bulgaria in the valley of the Beli Lom river that falls within the historical and geographical region of Ludogorie (Deliorman). It is an administrative center of Razgrad Province.
Etymolog ...
), while some historians claim
Arbănași (modern Romania). Vasile Lupu received Greek education.
Reign
Lupu had held a high office under
Miron Barnovschi, and was subsequently selected
Prince
A prince is a 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, in some European states. T ...
as a sign of indigenous
boyars
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 wer ...
' reaction against
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
and
Levant
The Levant () is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in the Eastern Mediterranean region of Western Asia. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultural contexts, it is ...
ine competition. This was because Vasile Lupu had led a rebellion against
Alexandru Iliaș
Alexandru IV Iliaș was Prince of Wallachia from 1616 to 1618, then from 1628 to 1629, and Prince of Moldavia from 1620 to 1621 and 1631 to 1633.
Life
Alexandru IV Iliaș was the son of Ilie, or Iliaș, himself son of Alexandru IV Lăpușnea ...
and his foreign
retinue, being led into
exile by
Moise Movilă
Moise Movilă ( pl, Mojżesz Mohyła) (1596–1661) was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia twice: between April 28, 1630 and November 1631, and between July 2, 1633 – April 1634. Of the Movileşti boyar and princely family, Moise was Simion Movilă' ...
(although he was backed by
Prince
A prince is a 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, in some European states. T ...
Matei Basarab
Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was a Wallachian Voivode (Prince) between 1632 and 1654.
Reign
Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637 ...
and the powerful
Pasha of Silistra,
Abaza Mehmed Pasha
Abaza Mehmed Pasha ( tr, Abaza Mehmed Paşa, ab, Меҳмеҭ Росҭом-иԥа Лакырба, ма Кыржәаа); 1576 – August 23, 1634) was a statesman and military commander of the Ottoman Empire, the namesake of the Abaza rebellion. ...
). Despite having led the rebellion against Greek influence, Lupu maintained strong ties to the Greeks and the Patriarchate of Constantinople. He pursued a Greek-Orthodox policy and sought to become the new Byzantine Emperor.
His rule was marked by splendor and pomp. He was a builder of notable monuments (the unique
Trei Ierarhi Monastery
Mănăstirea Trei Ierarhi (Monastery of the Three Hierarchs) is a seventeenth-century monastery located in Iași, Romania. The monastery is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments and included on the tentative list of UNESCO World H ...
in
Iaşi and the
St. Paraskeva Church, Lviv, among others), a
patron
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...
of culture and arts (introducing
printing presses
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
, founding the
Academia Vasiliană upper school - that was to last, as the "Școala mare domnească", until 1821). These acts also had negative effects, the tax burdens being increased to an intolerable level.
After relations between the two Princes soured, Vasile Lupu spent much of his reign fighting the
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 ...
n Matei Basarab, trying to impose his son Ioan to the throne 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 of ...
. His army was defeated twice in 1639 at Ojogeni and Nenișori and a third time, at
Finta
Finta is a Brazilian sports equipment manufacturing company based in Sao Paulo. The company produces association football, football kit (association football), equipment, including football boot, boots, ball (association football), balls, goalkeep ...
, in 1653. After this last battle, the Moldavian boyars rebelled and replaced him with the Wallachian favorite,
Gheorghe Ștefan
Gheorghe Ștefan (István Görgicze, seldom referred to as ''Burduja''; died 1668 in Szczecin) was Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia between 13 April and 8 May 1653, and again from 16 July 1653 to 13 March 1658; he was the son of boyar Dumitrașcu ...
. Vasile Lupu went into exile and died while being kept in Turkish custody at
Yedikule
Yedikule ( en, Seven Towers) is a neighborhood of Fatih, Istanbul in Turkey. It is named after the seven-towered Yedikule Fortress, which surrounds the neighborhood. Urbanized in the 16th century, the neighborhood became a hub for industrial and a ...
prison in
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
.
Lupu built a strong alliance with
hetman
( uk, гетьман, translit=het'man) is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders.
Used by the Czechs in Bohemia since the 15th century. It was the title of the second-highest military co ...
Bohdan Khmelnytsky, arranging the marriage of his own daughter
Ruxandra Lupu to Khmelnytsky's son
Tymofiy (Tymish), who went on to fight alongside Lupu at Finta.
Vasile Lupu made alliances with Ottoman officials, in particular with former
Grand Vizier Tabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha
Tabanıyassı ("Flat feet, flat-footed") Mehmed Pasha (Born 1589- died 2 February 1637) was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman statesman of Albanians, Albanian descent. He was List of Ottoman Wālis of Egypt, governor of History of Ottoman Egypt#Early Ot ...
. Lupu's association with the latter relied on their common Albanian origin.
Laws and reforms
Vasile Lupu introduced the first codified printed law in Moldavia, the ''Carte Româneascǎ de învățătură'' ("
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 ...
book of learning", 1646, published in Iași), known as the ''Pravila lui Vasile Lupu'' ("Vasile Lupu's code").
The document follows
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
tradition, being a translated review of
customs and almost identical to its Wallachian contemporary equivalent.
Endowments
Lupu founded churches and monasteries throughout his lands. The liturgical language was described as "vulgar Greek" by
Robert Bargrave
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
who travelled the lands.
Education
Lupu founded the Princely High School of Trei lerarhi Church in 1640, which taught in Greek and Latin.
Family
The ''Coci'' last name was carried on by
Stefan Coci (son of Vasile Lupu) who married the daughter of
Petru Rareş Petru is a given name, and may refer to:
* Petru I of Moldavia (Petru Mușat, 1375–1391), ruler of Moldavia
* Petru Aron (died 1467), ruler of Moldavia
* Petru Bălan (born 1976), Romanian rugby union footballer
* Petru Cărare (1935–2019), wri ...
, a voivode of Moldavia, but also by the descendant of Gabriel Coci named Hatmanul. The descending line of Coci intersects with aristocratic families from Moldavia, old families such as the Bucioc, Boulesti, and Abazesti.
Representation in postal stamps
Vasile Lupu is depicted in a stamp issued by the Post of Moldova in 1999 and in a stamp of Romania issued in 2019.
See also
*
Synod of Iași
The Synod of Jassy or Synod of Iași (also referred to as the Council of Jassy or the Council of Iași), was convened in Iași in Moldavia (present-day Romania) between 15 September and 27 October 1642 by the List of Ecumenical Patriarchs of Const ...
*
Trei Ierarhi Monastery
Mănăstirea Trei Ierarhi (Monastery of the Three Hierarchs) is a seventeenth-century monastery located in Iași, Romania. The monastery is listed in the National Register of Historic Monuments and included on the tentative list of UNESCO World H ...
*
St. Paraskeva Church, Lviv
References
Sources
*
*
*N.Jorga "Byzance apres Byzance, pp. 163–181
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasile Lupu
Rulers of Moldavia
1595 births
1661 deaths
People from Veliko Tarnovo
Romanian people of Albanian descent