Iancu Văcărescu (1786–1863) was a

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, traditional ...

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 so ...

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism, feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Kievan Rus', Bulgarian Empire, Bulgaria, Russian nobility, Russia, Boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia, Wallachia and ...

and poet, member of the

Văcărescu family The House of Văcărescu was a boyar family of Wallachia (now part of Romania). According to tradition, it is one of the oldest noble families in Wallachia. Notable members * Enache Văcărescu (1654–1714) grand treasurer of Wallachia (killed ...

Biography

The son of

Alecu Văcărescu Alecu Văcărescu (1769–1798) was a Romanians, Romanian Wallachian boyar and poet, a member of the Văcărescu family that gave Romanian literature its first poets. In 1796 a collection of his poems appeared in Romania. He died as a prisoner in ...

, descending from a long line of Wallachian men of letters — his paternal uncle,

Ienăchiță Văcărescu Ienăchiță Văcărescu (; 1740 – 11 July 1797) was a Wallachian Romanian poet, historian, philologist, and boyar belonging to the Văcărescu family. A polyglot, he was able to speak Ancient and Modern Greek, Old Church Slavonic, Arabic, P ...

, was author of the first

Romanian grammar Standard Romanian (i.e. the ''Daco-Romanian'' language within Balkan Romance) shares largely the same grammar and most of the vocabulary and phonological processes with the other three surviving varieties of Balkan Romance, namely Aromanian, Me ...

; Iancu was the grandfather of writer

Elena Văcărescu Elena Văcărescu, or Hélène Vacaresco (September 21, 1864 in Bucharest – February 17, 1947 in Paris), was a Romanian-French aristocrat writer, twice a laureate of the Académie française. Life Through her father, Ioan Văcărescu, she desc ...

. He received a quality education not only in Greek (the preferred language of teaching in Wallachia at the time), but also in

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

, and was well versed in

Western literature Western literature, also known as European literature, is the literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as well as several geographically or historically related languages such as Basque and Hungarian, an ...

. A patriot during the Phanariote epoch, he sided with the national movement in 1821 (around Tudor Vladimirescu's

Wallachian Uprising The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative bo ...

), and assisted in establishing the Romanian theatre, translating many books and plays from German and French into Romanian, notably the ''

Britannicus Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus (12 February AD 41 – 11 February AD 55), usually called Britannicus, was the son of Roman emperor Claudius and his third wife Valeria Messalina. For a time he was considered his father's heir, but that ...

'' of

Racine Jean-Baptiste Racine ( , ) (; 22 December 163921 April 1699) was a French dramatist, one of the three great playwrights of 17th-century France, along with Molière and Corneille as well as an important literary figure in the Western traditio ...

, a literary event of no small importance at the time. He inaugurated modern Romanian poetry. During the debates in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

over the drafting of 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 Article ...

for the

Danubian 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 ce ...

(''see

Regulamentul Organic ''Regulamentul Organic'' (, Organic Regulation; french: Règlement Organique; russian: Органический регламент, Organichesky reglament)The name also has plural versions in all languages concerned, referring to the dual na ...

''), Văcărescu spoke out against

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

n overseeing, and was placed under arrest before being

exile Exile is primarily penal expulsion from one's native country, and secondarily expatriation or prolonged absence from one's homeland under either the compulsion of circumstance or the rigors of some high purpose. Usually persons and peoples suf ...

d for the following years.Djuvara, p.323 Văcărescu was also one of the founders of the modern Romanian school system. He wrote philosophical poems, and ballads that found their inspiration in

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. The first volume of verse he published was in 1830. Before the

1848 Wallachian revolution The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and 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 t ...

, he presided a literary society (''Societatea Literară'') which served as a front for the

radical Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

secret association ''Frăţia''.

Published books

* ''Poezii alese'' (1830) * ''Colecţie din poeziile domnului marelui logofăt Iancu Văcărescu'' (1848)

Notes

References

* *

Neagu Djuvara Neagu Bunea Djuvara (; 18 August 1916 – 25 January 2018) was a Romanian historian, essayist, philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat. Biography Early life A native of Bucharest, he was descended from an aristocratic Aromanian family ...

, ''Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne'', Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995 {{DEFAULTSORT:Vacarescu, Iancu Iancu Vacarescu Iancu Vacarescu 19th-century male writers 19th-century Romanian poets Romanian male poets Romanian schoolteachers Romanian translators Logothetes of Wallachia

Iancu Iancu may refer to: Surname *Andrei Iancu (born 1968), American engineer and intellectual property attorney *Aurel Iancu (born 1928), Romanian economist, member of the Romanian Academy *Avram Iancu (1824–1872), Transylvanian Romanian revolutionar ...

People of the Revolutions of 1848 Burials at Bellu Cemetery 19th-century translators