Ioan Bianu (1856 or 1857 – February 13, 1935) was an
Imperial Austrian-born
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
n philologist and bibliographer. The son of a peasant family from
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, he completed high school in
Blaj
Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants.
The landmark of the city is the f ...
, where he became a disciple of
Timotei Cipariu
Timotei Cipariu (; February 21, 1805, Pánád, Kis-Küküllő County–September 3, 1887, Balázsfalva, Alsó-Fehér County) was a Romanian Greek Catholic cleric and academic. He was one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy
The ...
and
Ioan Micu Moldovan. As a youth, he espoused
Romanian nationalism
Romanian nationalism is the nationalism which asserts that Romanians are a nation and promotes the cultural unity of Romanians. Its extremist variation is the Romanian ultranationalism.Aristotle KallisGenocide and Fascism: The Eliminationist Drive ...
, and came into conflict with the
Austro-Hungarian authorities, before finally emigrating to the
Romanian Old Kingdom
The Romanian Old Kingdom ( ro, Vechiul Regat or just ''Regat''; german: Regat or ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Romanian Principalities: Wallachia ...
in 1876. There, he attended the
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...
, later joining the faculty, where he taught
Romanian literary history. He was affiliated with the
Romanian Academy Library
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
for over half a century, transforming the institution from the meager state in which he found it, and overseeing a five-fold increase of its collection. He helped author two important multi-volume works detailing early books and manuscripts from his country, and was a founder of
library and information science in his adoptive country. Near the end of his life, struggling with deafness, Bianu withdrew from the Library in favor of his friend
Radu R. Rosetti
Radu R. Rosetti ( – June 2, 1949) was a Romanian brigadier general, military historian, librarian, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy.
Biography Early years
Born in Căiuți, Bacău County, he was part of the old ''boyar'' Rosetti fam ...
, but went on to serve as president of the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
.
Bianu's scholarship was doubled by his work as an organizer in the field, and, especially after 1880, by a participation in political intrigues. He was a disciple of
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza (, in full Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza-Miclăușanu; 10 March 183321 October 1914) was a Romanian statesman and author of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.
Biography
Born in Iași ...
, joining the latter's
National Liberal Party and canvassing support in academia. Bianu continued to agitate among the Transylvanian Romanians, but, by 1896, both he and Sturdza had turned moderate on the national issue, and favored a rapprochement with Austria-Hungary. As such, Bianu was a "
Germanophile
A Germanophile, Teutonophile, or Teutophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people and Germany in general, or who exhibits German patriotism in spite of not being either an ethnic German or a German citizen. The love of the ''Ge ...
" during World War I, meaning that he criticized Romania's alliance with the
Entente Powers
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
. He remained 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
**Ge ...
-occupied territory following the
fall of Bucharest, but was spared persecution upon the end of war.
Biography
Beginnings
He was born in
Făget (Oláhbükkös), a village east of the
Transylvania
Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
n town of
Blaj
Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; hu, Balázsfalva; german: Blasendorf; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,630 inhabitants.
The landmark of the city is the f ...
[Mihai, p. 253; Nastasă (2007), p. 142] (on the southern border of
Kis-Küküllő County
Kis-Küküllő was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in central Romania (central Transylvania). Kis-Küküllő is the Hungarian name for the river Târnava Mică. The capital of the county was ' ...
from 1876, and nowadays in
Alba County). His parents, Grigore and Anica (''née'' Popa), married in 1855; it was Grigore's second marriage.
[Dumitraș, p. 206] The couple had two sons and three daughters, all of whom survived into adulthood. The Bianu family was an old peasant one of some means, the village a small Romanian one on a hillside. Living in proximity to the spiritual center of the
Romanian Greek-Catholic Church
The Romanian Greek Catholic Church or Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic ( la, Ecclesia Graeco-Catholica Romaniae; ro, Biserica Română Unită cu Roma, Greco-Catolică), sometimes called, in reference to its Byzantine Rite, the ...
in what was then the Austrian Empire, they belonged to that faith. Bianu attended primary school in his native village. His father understood the importance of schooling, even if this implied material sacrifices, and the boy studied for nearly a decade at the gymnasium and
the Romanian high school in Blaj. When he arrived in 1868, the local atmosphere was uncertain and marked by the faculty's activism against the recent
Austro-Hungarian Compromise
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungary ...
, which consecrated Transylvania part of the
Hungarian Crown
The Hungarian Crown ( pl, Korona Węgierska) was a part of the Polish Crown Jewels. It was made in the 16th century, resembling the Crown of Saint Stephen, as a private crown of John II Sigismund Zápolya.
History
The original Hungarian Regali ...
, against Romanian demands.
While Bianu was there,
Timotei Cipariu
Timotei Cipariu (; February 21, 1805, Pánád, Kis-Küküllő County–September 3, 1887, Balázsfalva, Alsó-Fehér County) was a Romanian Greek Catholic cleric and academic. He was one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy
The ...
was at the height of his career.
He lived with one of his teachers,
Ioan Micu Moldovan, who helped provide for his daily needs and with whom the former pupil kept touch until the teacher's death in 1915. It was in Moldovan's home that Bianu's interest in old Romanian books was first awakened, and he recalled in later years how he was treated there like a son. One of his final acts at the school was to participate in an annual demonstration of the May 1848 assembly on ''
Câmpia Libertății
Câmpia Libertății (''The Field of Liberty'') is located in the city of Blaj, in Transylvania, Romania. It was the place where two national assemblies were held during the 1848 Revolution, the first one in May, and the second one in September. ...
''. This was the last such gathering, as the Hungarian authorities banned them henceforth.
[Dumitraș, p. 215]
Bianu graduated in 1876, in the same class as his cousin
Vasile Bianu, the future physician and political figure.
[Victor Macaveiu, "Liga Culturală la Blaj. Congresul anual, 27—29 Iunie 1926", in ''Cultura Creștină'', Nr. 4–6/1926, pp. 97–99] Bearing a recommendation from Moldovan for
August Treboniu Laurian __NOTOC__
August Treboniu Laurian (; 17 July 1810 – 25 February 1881) was a Transylvanian Romanian politician, historian and linguist. He was born in the village of Hochfeld, Principality of Transylvania, Austrian Empire (today Fofeldea as par ...
, Ioan left for
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 ...
, capital of the
Romanian Old Kingdom
The Romanian Old Kingdom ( ro, Vechiul Regat or just ''Regat''; german: Regat or ) is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Romanian Principalities: Wallachia ...
; four classmates joined him in emigrating.
Laurian, supported by the poet
Gheorghe Sion, obtained him a post as assistant at the
Central State Library. He was thus able to support himself until 1880 while attending the literature and philosophy faculty of
Bucharest University
The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princely ...
. In early 1879, he was named archivist and librarian of the
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
.
[Mihai, p. 253] Notoriously thrifty, he lived on the
Romanian Academy Library
The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its byl ...
grounds, downtown Bucharest, where he also raised cows.
[Nastasă (2007), p. 130; (2010), p. 396]
In 1881, he won a competition to become professor of Romanian language and literature at
Saint Sava National College
The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...
. Later that year, with the help of his former professor
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu ( 26 February 1838 – ) was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history.
Life
He was born Tadeu Hâjdeu in Cristineștii Hotinului (now Kerstentsi in Chernivtsi ...
, he received a scholarship to study Romance philology in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
and
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...
. His teachers included several of Hasdeu's personal friends, the Slavists
Vatroslav Jagić
Vatroslav Jagić (; July 6, 1838 – August 5, 1923) was a Croatian scholar of Slavic studies in the second half of the 19th century.
Life
Jagić was born in Varaždin (then known by its German name of ''Warasdin''), where he attended the el ...
,
Louis Léger, and
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli
Graziadio Isaia Ascoli (; 16 July 1829 – 21 January 1907) was an Italian linguist.
Life and work
Ascoli was born in an Italian-speaking Jewish family in the multiethnic town of Gorizia, then part of the Austrian Empire (now in Italy). Alre ...
. He also met the Romanist
Émile Picot, took courses with
Gaston Paris
Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris (; 9 August 1839 – 5 March 1903) was a French literary historian, philologist, and scholar specialized in Romance studies and medieval French literature. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 19 ...
, but the lasting impact of his sojourn lay in the eye-opening visits to libraries. Impressed by the
Palazzo Brera
Palazzo Brera or Palazzo di Brera is a monumental palace in Milan, in Lombardy in northern Italy. It was a Jesuit college for two hundred years. It now houses several cultural institutions including the Accademia di Brera, the art academy of ...
, the
Biblioteca Ambrosiana
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agen ...
, libraries across Italy, the
Bibliothèque nationale de France, the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and the
Bodleian Library, he at the same time became keenly aware of the poor state of Romania's libraries and gathered ideas for their improvement.
After returning home in 1883, he became assistant professor at Bucharest University's department of Romanian literature. He still made visits abroad: in 1885, he spent time in
Galicia-Lodomeria, researching the
Jagiellonian Library
Jagiellonian Library ( pl, Biblioteka Jagiellońska, popular nickname ''Jagiellonka'') is the library of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków and with almost 6.7 million volumes, one of the largest libraries in Poland, serving as a public libra ...
for Romanian-related subjects, the
Ossoliński archive at
Lemberg, and the
Dosoftei
Dimitrie Barilă (), better known under his monastical name Dosoftei (; October 26, 1624—December 13, 1693), was a Moldavian Metropolitan, scholar, poet and translator.
Born in Suceava, he attended the school of the "Trei Ierarhi" Monaste ...
fund at
Schowkwa. Upon his own request, he was also sent to
Minsk Governorate
The Minsk Governorate (russian: Минская губерния, Belarusian: ) or Government of Minsk was a governorate ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. The seat was in Minsk. It was created in 1793 from the land acquired in the partitio ...
,
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the 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 the Great Northern War. ...
, where he researched the
Radziwiłł collection at
Nesvizh Castle
Niasviž Castle or Nesvizh Castle ( be, Нясьвіскі замак, Niasvižski zamak, russian: Несвижский замок, pl, zamek w Nieświeżu, lt, Nesvyžiaus pilis) is a residential castle of the Radziwiłł family in Niasviž, ...
. He was hosted there by
Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł
Prince Antoni Wilhelm Radziwiłł ( pl, Fryderyk Wilhelm Ferdynand Antoni Radziwiłł; 31 March 183316 December 1904) was a member of the Polish-Lithuanian nobility and a General of the Artillery in the Prussian Army. He was the nephew of Princes ...
, who allowed him to copy some 300 documents, and befriended his young daughter Elżbieta, later wife of the
Count Potocki.
Professor and National Liberal agent
Upon his return to Bucharest in June 1886, Bianu married Alexandrina Băicoianu, described by his friend
Sextil Pușcariu as a "brilliantly spiritual" woman, and was thus received into the Bucharest upper-class. As noted by social historian Lucian Nastasă, this move also ensured Bianu more recognition as a scholar, as well as access to politics—through Băicoianu, he was now related to historian
Alexandru D. Xenopol
Alexandru Dimitrie Xenopol (; March 23, 1847, Iaşi – February 27, 1920, Bucharest) was a Romanian historian, philosopher, professor, economist, sociologist, and author. Among his many major accomplishments, he is the Romanian historian credite ...
and politician
Nicolae Xenopol. The couple were Pușcariu's godparents upon the latter's own wedding, in September 1905.
In 1888, Bianu began his collaboration with Hasdeu's neoromantic literary review, ''Revista Nouă''. He contributed the book review column, as well as a biography of the writer
Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi (, surname also spelled Asaki; 1 March 1788 – 12 November 1869) was a Moldavian, later Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist, engineer- border maker and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and ...
. Elected a corresponding member of the Academy in 1887, he was elevated to titular status in 1902. After losing the Romanian literature chair to
Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu (; also known under his pen name Ervin; 29 December 1873, Făgăraș – 9 June 1938, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, philologist, linguist, folklorist, literary historian and critic, chief of a poetry school, university professor ...
in 1901, in 1902 Bianu became the titled holder of the Romanian literature history professorate at the University. He was later also elected dean of the literature faculty.
In addition to such work, in 1904 he served on a panel of inquiry created by the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
, closing down the
Notre-Dame de Sion schools, accused of forcefully converting
Orthodox
Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to:
Religion
* Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...
students to
Catholicism
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
.
![Bianu la birou](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Bianu_la_birou.png)
Meanwhile, a member of the
National Liberal Party (PNL) and auditor of its Bucharest club, Bianu was an ally of
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza (, in full Dimitrie Alexandru Sturdza-Miclăușanu; 10 March 183321 October 1914) was a Romanian statesman and author of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.
Biography
Born in Iași ...
and reached the
Assembly of Deputies. Without serious ambitions in this realm, he preferred to be a sort of ''
éminence grise
An ''éminence grise'' () or grey eminence is a powerful decision-maker or adviser who operates "behind the scenes", or in a non-public or unofficial capacity.
This phrase originally referred to François Leclerc du Tremblay, the right-hand man ...
'' to the party leader. From as early as 1887, he interceded between Sturdza and PNL-friendly academics, including the Slavist
Ioan Bogdan Ioan Bogdan may refer to:
* Ioan Bogdan (historian) (1864–1919), Romanian historian and philologist
* Ioan Bogdan (footballer) (born 1956), Romanian footballer
See also
* Ion Bogdan (1915–1992), Romanian footballer and manager
* Ioan
* Bog ...
, obtaining their support against rival
Conservatives
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
, and helping them travel for specialization abroad. In 1892, a favorable review he penned for ''Revista Nouă'' helped Bogdan win a professorship. However, Bianu preserved links with the Conservatives' literary club, ''
Junimea
''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost pers ...
'', which he frequented as an outside guest in the 1880s. He also frequented Conservative clubs in
Western Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova), also called Western Moldavia or Romanian Moldavia, is the historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1859, the P ...
, befriending the moderate Conservative
Radu Rosetti—and then his young son,
Radu R. Rosetti
Radu R. Rosetti ( – June 2, 1949) was a Romanian brigadier general, military historian, librarian, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy.
Biography Early years
Born in Căiuți, Bacău County, he was part of the old ''boyar'' Rosetti fam ...
. The two politicians discussed issues on bipartisan policies, and even conspired to remove incompetent administrators of either hue from their offices. He and Hasdeu also persuaded Radu Sr to start his work as a social historian and theorist, and afterward helped him to find employment as an archivist. According to Nastasă, Bianu, allegedly the lover of Sturdza's wife Zoe, was an expert at maneuvering the "levers of power", and presided upon his own "clique".
Bianu was initially an orthodox
Romanian nationalist, campaigning for unity between Romania and his native Transylvania. During the early 1880s, when Sturdza served as Academy president, Bianu returned to Blaj, hoping to persuade Cipariu to resume his contacts with the Academy. Cipariu objected, mainly because of his dislike for Hasdeu and his conflict with Laurian. In 1892, Bianu joined the executive committee of the
Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human Society, societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, and habits of the ...
and began sending out sponsorships to the leaders of the ''
Transylvanian Memorandum
The ''Transylvanian Memorandum'' ( ro, Memorandumul Transilvaniei) was a petition sent in 1892 by the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph, asking for equal ethnic rights with the Hungarians ...
'' protest movement. During the backlash, Bianu was sent by Sturdza to assist
Eugen Brote
Eugen is a masculine given name which may refer to:
* Archduke Eugen of Austria (1863–1954), last Habsburg Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order from 1894 to 1923
* Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke (1865–1947), Swedish painter, art collector, and pat ...
and other exiled ''Memorandists'' at Milan. His plan to resettle the participants in various European countries was nevertheless seen as "downright absurd" by its intended beneficiaries, who preferred to stand trial. Bianu's own stance on Transylvania changed over several years. In 1896, with Sturdza as
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...
, Bianu participated in the rapprochement with Austria-Hungary. During the state visit to Romania of
Emperor
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...
, Sturdza sent Bianu,
Grigore Antipa
Grigore Antipa (; 27 November 1867 in Botoșani – 9 March 1944 in Bucharest) was a Romanian naturalist, zoologist, ichthyologist, ecologist, oceanologist, Darwinist biologist who studied the fauna of the Danube Delta and the Black Sea. ...
,
Ștefan Sihleanu and
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea
Barbu Ștefănescu Delavrancea ; pen name of Barbu Ștefan; April 11, 1858 in Bucharest – April 29, 1918 in Iași) was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of the greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania.
Early life and ...
to
Vârciorova
The Vârciorova is a right tributary of the river Bistra in Romania. It discharges into the Bistra in Obreja
Obreja ( hu, Obrézsa) is a commune in Caraș-Severin County, western Romania with a population of 3249. It is composed of four villa ...
, where they were to meet Austrian delegates ahead of the Cultural League, which sent protesters. The two Romanian delegations clashed which each other, an incident which was reported with amusement in the Bucharest press.
Bianu continued to work for the Bucharest National Liberal club during the next decade, helping Sturdza win over ''Junimea'' from the Conservatives. During the
elections of 1905, he backed the ''Junimist'' candidate
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu (; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) 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 ...
and, in return, obtained ''Junimea''s support for the National Liberal
Petru Poni
Petru Poni (4 January 1841 – 2 April 1925) was a Moldavian (later Romanian) chemist and mineralogist.
Born into a family of ''răzeși'' (free peasants) in Săcărești, Iași County, he attended primary school in Târgu Frumos. In 1852, he enr ...
. Bianu and Poni remained close friends for the rest of their lives. Bianu also used his influence for advancing many other scholarly goals, such as when, in 1909, he brought to Romania
Ramiro Ortiz
Ramiro Ortiz Mayorga is a Nicaraguan businessman. He heads Grupo Promérica, one of the main corporate groups of Nicaragua. Considered one the wealthiest men of Nicaragua. He owns Banco de la Producción. He is the former owner of El Nuevo Diari ...
, who founded the Bucharest school of Italian studies. In parallel, Bianu preserved links with the Romanians living in Russia's
Bessarabia Governorate
The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...
: through his correspondence with
Ștefan Ciobanu, he was informed of
Russification in that province. As Ciobanu wrote in one of his replies, the books sent by Bianu would help reverse the trend: "Long live Bianu, and may you keep serving the Romanian people in building its future.
..Now I myself read and understand well the Romanian literary standard, albeit I cannot write in it as well as I do in Russian. With my Russian-language education, I acquired the habit of thinking in Russian. The time will come will speak my my Romanian as easily and as freely as I do my Russian."
Wartime
During the earliest stages of World War I, with Romania still cautiously neutral, Bianu also took a neutralist attitude. Historian
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...
, who was president of the Cultural League, noted that Bianu, unlike Sturdza, did not wish to see Romania committed to the
Central Powers
The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...
. This was because "he resented us fighting alongside the Hungarians, who never ever had any other objective but to crush us." However, Bianu was also one of the Transylvanians and minority-PNL members who also rejected proposals to join the
Entente Powers
The Triple Entente (from French '' entente'' meaning "friendship, understanding, agreement") describes the informal understanding between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland as well a ...
. Among these "
Germanophiles", Bianu stood out for speaking out against the project to occupy Transylvania from Austria-Hungary with Entente support. In August 1914, using the pen name Ion Frunză, he published the essay ''Pentru lămurirea situației. Cuvinte către români'' ("Making Things Clear. An Address to the Romanians"). This work, soon after translated into German, argued that the Entente was a cover for
Russian imperialism
Russian imperialism includes the policy and ideology of power exerted by Russia, as well as its antecedent states, over other countries and external territories. This includes the conquests of the Russian Empire, the imperial actions of the Soviet ...
,
Pan-Slavism
Pan-Slavism, a movement which crystallized in the mid-19th century, is the political ideology concerned with the advancement of integrity and unity for the Slavic people. Its main impact occurred in the Balkans, where non-Slavic empires had rule ...
, and the "
Turanic hordes"; he decried the persecution of Romanians in Austria-Hungary, but noted that they all fared much better than the Romanians living under Russia's rule in Bessarabia. This view was instantly supported by the sociologist
Dimitrie Gusti
Dimitrie Gusti (; 13 February 1880 – 30 October 1955) was a Romanian sociologist, ethnologist, historian, and voluntarist philosopher; a professor at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, he served as Romania's Minister o ...
, who suggested that "Frunză's admirable work" should be published "in millions of copies, so that every Romanian will read it".
Eventually,
in autumn 1916, a PNL cabinet and
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
Ferdinand I announced Romania's support for the Entente; Romanian troops
briefly entered Transylvania, but Romania was in turn invaded by the Central Powers. Bianu stifled his opposition, but did not openly criticize all the Central Powers. In September, shortly after the
Battle of Turtucaia
The Battle of Turtucaia ( ro, Bătălia de la Turtucaia; bg, Битка при Тутракан, ''Bitka pri Tutrakan''), also known as Tutrakan Epopee ( bg, Тутраканска епопея, ''Tutrakanska epopeya'') in Bulgaria, was the openi ...
, he penned in ''
Viitorul'' an article specifically targeting the
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Tsardom of Bulgaria ( bg, Царство България, translit=Tsarstvo Balgariya), also referred to as the Third Bulgarian Tsardom ( bg, Трето Българско Царство, translit=Treto Balgarsko Tsarstvo, links=no), someti ...
and the
Bulgarians in Romania, whom he called "venomous snakes". According to historian
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
, this is "possibly the most anti-Bulgarian writing ever published in Romanian"; "Bianu says nothing about the Austro-Hungarians or Germans, as if Romanians had only been at war with the Bulgarians in 1916!"
[Boia, p. 171]
The Romanian army and administration headed for Western Moldavia: Bianu's son Alexandru was drafted, but, according to his adversaries, spent the war in relative safety at
Bârlad
Bârlad () is a municipiu, city in Vaslui County, Romania. It lies on the banks of the river Bârlad (river), Bârlad, which waters the high plains of Western Moldavia.
At Bârlad the railway from Iași diverges, one branch skirting the river S ...
, shying away from active duty. Also controversially, Bianu Sr chose not to join the exodus, and remained with the Germanophiles and neutralists in
occupied Bucharest, to 1918. He noted that he watched on, "eyes flooded in tears", as the
German Army marched through the streets.
One of ten academicians to remain behind, he ensured that the Academy Library continued to function in relatively normal terms, refusing to publish under the occupation regime, but also collaborating with the occupier to at least some degree.
Bianu's letters of the occupation are a primary source for the activities of Germanophiles such as Antipa,
Petre P. Carp,
Alexandru Al. Beldiman,
Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, and
Iacob Negruzzi
Iacob C. Negruzzi (December 31, 1842 – January 6, 1932) was a Moldavian, later Romanian poet and prose writer.
Born in Iași, he was the son of Constantin Negruzzi and his wife Maria (''née'' Gane). Living in Berlin between 1853 and 1863, he at ...
. Bianu sided with Carp in his critique of PNL politics, but, unlike him and Beldiman, did not call for the dethronement of King Ferdinand. He also refrained from signing up to Carp's openly pro-German platform. Nevertheless, he was remembered by the anti-Germanophiles for participating at banquets hosted by the puppet governor,
Lupu Kostaki. The
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army (, literally "Ground Forces of the Austro-Hungarians"; , literally "Imperial and Royal Army") was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint arm ...
also asked Bianu to vouch for officer
Alexandru Leca Morariu, who was accused of being secretly a Romanian nationalist agitator.
Romania
conceded defeat in May 1918, and the Academy could resume work in Bucharest under a German-friendly Conservative regime, with
Alexandru Marghiloman
Alexandru Marghiloman (4 July 1854 – 10 May 1925) was a Romanian conservative statesman who served for a short time in 1918 (March–October) as Prime Minister of Romania, and had a decisive role during World War I.
Early career
Born in Buz ...
as Prime Minister. In October, Bianu joined his returning peers and reported on the damages incurred during the previous years. He scandalized public opinion further after ordering public mourning at the Academy after the death of a pro-Austrian cleric,
Vasile Mangra. The loyalist government was fully restored in Bucharest within a month, following the unexpected
defeat of Germany, which led to the establishment of
Greater Romania
The term Greater Romania ( ro, România Mare) usually refers to the borders of the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union. It also refers to a pan-nationalist idea.
As a concept, its main goal is the creation ...
(which included
united Transylvania). In December, Prime Minister
Ion I. C. Brătianu was welcomed by the Academy. According to the now-disgraced Marghiloman, his supporters were either barred from attending or, in Bianu's case, silenced. In this new climate, Bianu was investigated by an Academy commission as a wartime collaborator in March 1919, but refused to present himself for questioning. As he put it, the group investigating him only relied on cut-outs from the anti-Germanophile press.
Final years
In May 1919, Bianu joined efforts with Iorga and other pro-Entente academicians in order to obtain the international recognition of Romania's new borders. However, they failed to convince
Foreign Affairs to sponsor their diplomatic correspondence with Western European academies. Although he was mentioned by name and castigated in the Academy commission report of July 1919, Bianu suffered no further consequences. In September 1919, Bianu was the official rapporteur assessing whether
Alexandru Davila
Alexandru Davila (; February 12, 1862 – October 19, 1929) was a Romanian dramatist, diplomat, public administrator, and memoirist.
Biography
The son of Carol Davila, a distinguished military physician of French origin, and Ana Racoviţă (a de ...
's play, ''Vlaicu Vodă'', was worthy of an Academy prize; he deemed it unsuitable, after noting that Davila did not adhere to the verified historical narrative. He joined the Transylvanian-based
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party ( ro, Partidul Național Român, PNR), initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat (), was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the ...
(PNR) ahead of the
November 1919
The following events occurred in November 1919:
November 1, 1919 (Saturday)
* The California State Senate unanimously voted in favor of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and the California State Assembly approved it ...
election, taking a seat in the Assembly for
Târnava-Mică County
Târnava-Mică County was a county (Romanian: '' județ'') in the Kingdom of Romania, the successor to Kis-Küküllő County of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its capital was Diciosânmartin (now Târnăveni, in Mureș County) until 1926, and afterward ...
. Three years later, a conflict erupted between King Ferdinand and the PNL, on one side, and the PNR, on the other. At core was the issue of Transylvanian autonomy. Bianu used his intermediary position to negotiate a PNR presence at
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia (; german: Karlsburg or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; hu, Gyulafehérvár; la, Apulum) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the Mureș River in the historica ...
, where Ferdinand crowned himself King of Greater Romania, but was unable to convince
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod (27 February 1872 – 19 March 1950) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the Union of Transylvania with Romania, union of Transylvania (before 1920 part of ...
.
Bianu's time was divided between Bucharest and
Predeal
Predeal (; hu, Predeál) is a town in Brașov County, Transylvania, Romania. Predeal, a mountain resort town, is the highest town in Romania. It is located in the Prahova Valley at an elevation of over .
The town administers three villages ...
, where, in 1912, he had built himself a villa.
From ca. 1909, his wife had fallen ill and was hardly ever seen in public.
[Iorga (1936), pp. 323–324] Their son Alexandru studied law in Paris and returned to Romania in 1923 to work as a bank clerk, before finally joining the diplomatic corps and serving as commercial attaché in London. In 1924, Bianu helped organize Romania's first national congress of librarians, and later that year founded the country's first librarians' association,
[ Dina Paladi]
"Bibliologi celebri"
in ''Revista Bibliotecii Naționale a României'', Vol. XIV, Nr. 1, p. 64 alongside a Romanian Practical School of Archival Science, modeled on the
École Nationale des Chartes
The École Nationale des Chartes (, literally National School of Charters) is a French ''grande école'' and a constituent college of Université PSL, specialising in the historical sciences. It was founded in 1821, and was located initially at ...
. He was also unusually selected by
Aristide Blank
Aristide or Aristid Blank, also spelled Blanc or Blanck (January 1, 1883 – January 1, 1960), was a Romanian financier, economist, arts patron and playwright. His father, Mauriciu Blank, an assimilated and naturalized Romanian Jew, was manager ...
's publishing house,
Cultura Națională, to oversee a collection of Romanian city monographs.
During his final years, Bianu declared his dissatisfaction with the "exclusivist-repulsive individualism" in Romanian academic life, describing it as an "evil" influence. In June 1925, he was forced to announce that the Academy had a 90% deficit and was cutting back on expenses. He continued to intervene politically for his various protegés, including the literary critic
Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică
Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică (born Gheorghe Bogdan; –September 21, 1934) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian literary critic. The son of a poor merchant family from Brașov, he attended several universities before launching a career as a critic, f ...
and the linguist
Theodor Capidan, and steered the career of philologist
Alexandru Rosetti. In June 1926, Bianu and his cousin Vasile returned to Blaj for the Cultural League Congress, presided upon by Iorga.
He also reluctantly presented himself as a candidate for the post of Academy president, but lost by a large margin to
Emil Racoviță
Emil Gheorghe Racoviță (; 15 November 1868 – 19 November 1947) was a Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist, and Antarctic explorer.
Together with Grigore Antipa, he was one of the most noted promoters of natural sciences in Rom ...
.
By then, Bianu had expressed his dislike of
Italian fascism, and, as a consequence, the Italian authorities passed him over for awards and distinctions. In April 1928, during his last months at University, he seconded Rector
Ermil Pangrati in urging government to dissolve the antisemitic Union of Christian Students, which was causing disturbances and riots; this stance was contrasted by Vasile, who, as a member of the
Senate, argued that
Romanian Jews
The history of the Jews in Romania concerns the Jews both of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is present-day Romanian territory. Minimal until the 18th century, the size of the Jewish population increased after ...
sympathized with
Hungarian irredentism
Hungarian irredentism or Greater Hungary ( hu, Nagy-Magyarország) are irredentist political ideas concerning redemption of territories of the historical Kingdom of Hungary. Targeting at least to regain control over Hungarian-populated areas in H ...
. His teaching hampered by a progressive deafness, which had begun much earlier in life, Bianu withdrew from the University in mid 1928, resigning his seat to his disciple, folklorist
Dumitru Caracostea Dumitru Caracostea (March 10, 1879–June 2, 1964) was a Romanian folklorist, literary historian and critic.
Biography Origins and early career
He was born in Slatina, Olt County to Nicolae Caracostea, a magistrate of Aromanian descent, and h ...
. The previous year, Caracostea had contributed to a Bianu ''
Festschrift
In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...
'', alongside Iorga, Pușcariu, Alexandru Rosetti,
Vasile Bogrea The male name Vasile is of Greek origin and means "King".
Vasile is a male Romanian given name or a surname. It is equivalent to the English name Basil.
As a given name
As a surname
* Cristian Vasile (1908–1985), Romanian tango-romance s ...
,
Nicolae Cartojan,
Charles Drouhet, and
Petre P. Panaitescu.
[N. N. Condéescou, "''Omagiu lui I. Bianu din partea colegilor și foștilor săi elevi''", in ''Revue Critique d'Histoire et de Littérature'', Vol. 63, Issue 1, January 1929, pp. 43–44] Although he had inaugurated a project to design a new Library building, Bianu ultimately resigned his position there in early 1931, assigning his seat to Radu R. Rosetti. At the time, he announced that he was also suffering from kidney disease and
rheumatism.
Made secretary general of the Academy in 1927,
Bianu was elected as its president on June 1, 1929. An early admirer and political ally, geologist
Ludovic Mrazek
Ludovic Mrazec (July 17, 1867 in Craiova – June 9, 1944 in Bucharest) was a Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukra ...
referred to Bianu as a force of professional conservatism, one of several "decent men and sincere patriots" who stood up to intellectual fads.
[Nastasă (2007), p. 495] In January 1932, the new king
Carol II
Carol II (4 April 1953) was King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until his forced abdication on 6 September 1940. The eldest son of Ferdinand I, he became crown prince upon the death of his grand-uncle, King Carol I in 1914. He was the first of th ...
made Bianu a Knight of the
Order of the Crown. The following month, on behalf of the Romanian Academy, Bianu and
Gheorghe Țițeica began corresponding with the
Soviet Academy of Sciences
The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991, uniting the country's leading scientists, subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (until 1946 ...
—part of a larger effort to bring about a détente in
Romanian–Soviet relations. He resigned later that year, but continued to serve as vice president to his death.
During his final months, he intervened in the dispute between Iorga and Hungarian archivist
Endre (Andrei) Veress, persuading the latter not to escalate the conflict.
A widower since December 1929,
[Gheorghe G. Bezviconi, ''Necropola Capitalei'', p. 67. Bucharest: ]Nicolae Iorga Institute of History
The Nicolae Iorga Institute of History ( ro, Institutul de Istorie „Nicolae Iorga”; abbreviation: IINI) is an institution of research in the field of history under the auspices of the Romanian Academy. The institute is located at 1 Bulevardul A ...
, 1972 Bianu died in his Bucharest home on February 13, 1935, after an episode of
uremia
Uremia is the term for high levels of urea in the blood. Urea is one of the primary components of urine. It can be defined as an excess of amino acid and protein metabolism end products, such as urea and creatinine, in the blood that would be no ...
. His body was laid in state at the Academy, and the Faculty of Letters marked the occasion by suspending courses for the day. He was buried alongside Alexandrina Bianu in Plot 54 of
Bellu cemetery
Șerban Vodă Cemetery (commonly known as Bellu Cemetery) is the largest and most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.
It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu. It has been in use since 1858. Th ...
.
In his obituary piece, the Cultural League's Iorga referred to Bianu as "the Academy's titular god". Bianu's personal book collections, comprising some 1,400 volumes, was bequeathed to the Academy Library.
Work
Encouraged by
Alexandru Odobescu
Alexandru Ioan Odobescu (; 23 June 1834 – 10 November 1895) 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 ...
,
Ion Ghica
Ion Ghica (; 12 August 1816 – 7 May 1897) was a Romanian statesman, mathematician, diplomat and politician, who was Prime Minister of Romania five times. He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president many times (1876–1882, ...
and Sturdza, who inspired in him an appreciation for books and libraries, Bianu renounced the idea of a scientific career in favor of working as a librarian. His first publication, in 1876, was a monograph on
Samuil Micu-Klein. When he entered the Academy Library in 1879, the beginning of a 56-year affiliation that would end with his death,
[Dumitraș, p. 205] the institution had 6,000 donated volumes; by 1885, there were 30,000 and its formative phase was complete.
In 1895, he started a bibliographic office at the library that through 1925 would attract the efforts of the country's scholars interested in creating a general bibliography of Romanian culture.
Under his leadership, the need for additional research tools became apparent. He helped counter the lack of manuscripts, old books and documents on the language and national history by initiating an ample campaign for identifying and donating such materials.
[Mihai, p. 254] He ensured that the Academy Library became the National Library and helped merge the Central State Library into this institution in 1901, later folding in a number of private libraries. He pushed for an 1884 law mandating printing presses to send two copies of everything they printed to the Academy Library, and was behind improvements to the law in 1904.
[Crăciun, p. 789] Also that year, he became one of the main proponents of reforming the
Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet is a variant of the Latin alphabet used for writing the Romanian language. It is a modification of the classical Latin alphabet and consists of 31 letters, five of which (Ă, Â, Î, Ș, and Ț) have been modified from t ...
,
but later declared himself against "excessive
phoneticism", standing up to reformists such as
Simion Mehedinți. During the war, he and
Ioan Bogdan Ioan Bogdan may refer to:
* Ioan Bogdan (historian) (1864–1919), Romanian historian and philologist
* Ioan Bogdan (footballer) (born 1956), Romanian footballer
See also
* Ion Bogdan (1915–1992), Romanian footballer and manager
* Ioan
* Bog ...
reported trying to rescue the Library's
Church Slavonic corpus from confiscation by the
Bulgarian Armed Forces
The Bulgarian Army ( bg, Българска армия, Bŭlgarska armiya) is the military of Bulgaria. The commander-in-chief is the president of Bulgaria. The Ministry of Defense is responsible for political leadership, while overall military ...
.
Bianu authored a number of works on philology as well as history, particularly cultural history. Thoroughly familiar with old Romanian literature, he authored two books that remain valuable reference works. The first was the monumental ''Bibliografia Românească veche (1508–1830)''. Covering four volumes (1508–1716, 1716–1807, 1808–1817 and 1817–1830), it was written in collaboration with
Nerva Hodoș and later
Dan Simonescu. First suggested to Bianu by
Émile Picot, it was conceived as a coherent and pan-Romanian project, supplanting earlier catalogues by Vasile Popp and Cipariu. As an analytical work, it was also based on
Émile Legrand's ''Bibliographie hellénique ou description raisonnée des ouvrages publiés par des Grecs au XVIIIe siècle''.
The books it encompassed were published in the Romanian lands during this period in Romanian, Slavonic, Greek and even Georgian, by both Romanians and foreigners; it also included books published abroad by Romanians. Publication began in 1903 (preceded by early drafts from 1898), took a nearly two-decade hiatus after Hodoș' death in 1913, and resumed once Simonescu joined the project in 1931. It was completed after Bianu's death, in 1944. Likened to
George Călinescu
George Călinescu (; 19 June 1899, Bucharest – 12 March 1965, Otopeni) was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies. He is currently considered one of the mos ...
's history of Romanian literature, although more historic in aspect, it was the country's most ample bibliography at the time, praised by Iorga for its completeness.
It was however criticized by later bibliographers, and by Bianu himself, for being inconsistent and incomplete in its selection or presentation of titles. The work covers 1,526 known books and 300 unknown works, going up to 2,024 with addenda and errata.
Part of the preparation involved the 1898 press publication of an appeal for old books, in which priests, teachers, professors and others who owned or knew of books printed between 1508 and 1830 were asked to inform the library of their existence and if possible loan them. The appeal was accompanied by a list of 621 titles of known books in this category; its author was particularly interested in books not on the list. Bianu's call was received with particular enthusiasm in Transylvania. His former teacher Moldovan emerged as a steady collaborator, not only facilitating access to his library and Cipariu's diocesan collection, but also providing valuable advice over the years. In his turn, Moldovan sent a letter to the province's Greek-Catholic clergy, asking them to supply information about the rare books in their parishes, and Bianu soon received 140 responses regarding books that were not on his initial list.
[Vladu, p. 10]
Bianu's other key work was the three-volume ''Catalogul manuscriselor românești din Biblioteca Academiei'', written with two other authors and published between 1907 and 1931. Bianu published a number of other books on early Romanian literature as well as textual editions,
including ''
Psaltirea Scheiană''
and, in 1924, the newly discovered ''
Codicele de la Ieud''. His close analysis of manuscripts and contributions to
paleography through his study of the
Romanian Cyrillic alphabet
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language
Romanian (obsolete spellings: Rumanian or Roumanian; autonym: ''limba română'' , or ''românește ...
identify him as a historian;
[Mihai, p. 256] he also involved himself in disputes with Slavists over the publishing of historical sources—whether they should follow the interests of linguists or cater to historians. From 1926, he organized bibliophile exhibits at the Bellu House, on Academy grounds. Additionally, Bianu was responsible for ''Creșterea Colecțiunilor'', the Academy's bibliographic periodical, which between 1906 and 1929 chronicled the publications received by the library.
[Crăciun, p. 791] His colleagues there included
Ilarie Chendi
Ilarie Chendi (November 14, 1871 – June 23, 1913) was a Romanian literary critic.
Born in Darlac, Kis-Küküllő County, now Dârlos, Sibiu County, in Transylvania, his father Vasile was a Romanian Orthodox priest, while his mother Eliza ( ...
,
Septimiu Albini
Septimiu Albini (June 9, 1861 – November 7, 1919) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian journalist and political activist. A native of Transylvania, he attended the University of Vienna, where he was active in the local affiliate of ''Junimea'' ...
,
Alexandru Sadi-Ionescu,
Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan (; 28 September 1882, Perchiu, Huruiești, Bacău County – 26 June 1927, Bucharest) was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.
Biography
Vasile Pârvan came from a modest family, being the first child of the teacher Andrei P ...
,
Alexandru Lapedatu
Alexandru I. Lapedatu (14 September 1876 – 30 August 1950) was Cults and Arts and State minister of Romania, President of the Senate of Romania, member of the Romanian Academy, its president and general secretary.
Family
Alexandru Lapedatu w ...
,
George Giuglea,
George Murnu
George Murnu (; rup, Ioryi Murnu; 1 January 1868, Veria, Salonica Vilayet, Ottoman Empire, now in Greece – 17 November 1957, Bucharest) was a Romanian university professor, archaeologist, historian, translator, and poet of Aromanian orig ...
,
Nicolae Cartojan,
Alexandru Obedenaru,
Constantin Moisil
Constantin C. Moisil (December 8, 1876–October 22, 1958) was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian archivist, historian, numismatist and schoolteacher.
Born in Năsăud, in the Transylvania region, his grandfather Grigore Moisil was a priest; ...
and
Ioachim Crăciun.
Notes
Footnote
His date of birth is usually given as September 8 or October 1, 1856, although it is possible he was born in 1857; a date of February 20 has been proposed. Bianu himself stated he was born in 1856.
[Dumitraș, pp. 205–206, 207]
Citations
References
*
Constantin Bacalbașa, ''Bucureștii de altădată. Vol. II: 1885 — 1901''. Bucharest:
Editura Ziarului ''Universul'', 1928.
*
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia (born 1 February 1944 in Bucharest) is a Romanian historian. He is mostly known for his debunking of historical myths about Romania, for purging mainstream Romanian history from the deformations due to ideological propaganda. I.e. as ...
, ''"Germanofilii". Elita intelectuală românească în anii Primului Război Mondial''. Bucharest:
Humanitas
''Humanitas'' is a Latin noun meaning human nature, civilization, and kindness. It has uses in the Enlightenment, which are discussed below.
Classical origins of term
The Latin word ''humanitas'' corresponded to the Greek concepts of '' philanthr ...
, 2010.
*Vasile Th. Cancicov, ''Impresiuni și păreri personale din timpul războiului României'', Vol. II. Bucharest: Atelierele Universul, 1921.
*Valentin Gr. Chelaru, "Ioan Bogdan și școala istorico-filologică a lui B. P. Hasdeu. Pe marginea unor documente inedite", in ''Romanoslavica'', Vol. XII, 1966, pp. 247–271.
*
Ioachim Crăciun"Ioan Bianu" in ''Anuarul Institutului de Istorie Națională (1931–1935)'', Nr. 2, 1935, pp. 787–792.
* Dan Dumitraș
"Ioan Bianu – aspecte inedite din perioada tinereții (1856/7–1876)" in ''Annales Universitatis Apulensis, Series Historica'', 10/I, 2006, pp. 205–216
*
Nicolae Iorga
Nicolae Iorga (; sometimes Neculai Iorga, Nicolas Jorga, Nicolai Jorga or Nicola Jorga, born Nicu N. Iorga;Iova, p. xxvii. 17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, Albanologist, poet ...
,
**''Memorii, Vol. II. (Însemnări zilnice maiu 1917–mart 1920). Războiul național. Lupta pentru o nouă viață politică''. Bucharest:
Editura Națională Ciornei, 1930.
**''Oameni cari au fost'', Vol. III. Bucharest:
Editura Fundațiilor Regale, 1936.
**''Memorii. Vol. IV: Încoronarea și boala regelui''. Bucharest: Editura Națională Ciornei, 1939.
**''Memorii. Vol. V: Agonia regală și regența''. Bucharest: Editura Naționala Ciornei, 1939.
**''Memorii. Vol. VI: Încercarea guvernării peste partide: (1931–2)''. Vălenii de Munte: Datina Românească, 1939.
* Adonis Mihai
"Poate fi atașat Ioan Bianu Republicii istoricilor?" in ''Buletinul Cercurilor Științifice Studențești'', Nr. 2/1996, pp. 253–256.
*Lucian Nastasă,
**''"Suveranii" universităților românești. Mecanisme de selecție și promovare a elitei intelectuale'', Vol. I. Cluj-Napoca:
Editura Limes, 2007.
**''Intimitatea amfiteatrelor. Ipostaze din viața privată a universitarilor "literari" (1864–1948)''. Cluj-Napoca: Editura Limes, 2010.
*
Z. Ornea
Zigu Ornea (; born Zigu Orenstein Andrei Vasilescu"La ceas aniversar – Cornel Popa la 75 de ani: 'Am refuzat numeroase demnități pentru a rămâne credincios logicii și filosofiei analitice.' ", in Revista de Filosofie Analitică', Vol. II, N ...
, ''Junimea și junimismul'', Vol. I. Bucharest:
Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva is one of the largest publishing houses in Romania. Located in Bucharest, it is known, among other things, for publishing classic Romanian literature
Romanian literature () is literature written by Romanian authors, although the ...
, 1998.
*
Radu R. Rosetti
Radu R. Rosetti ( – June 2, 1949) was a Romanian brigadier general, military historian, librarian, and a titular member of the Romanian Academy.
Biography Early years
Born in Căiuți, Bacău County, he was part of the old ''boyar'' Rosetti fam ...
, ''Mărturisiri, I''. Bucharest:
Convorbiri Literare
''Convorbiri Literare'' ( Romanian: ''Literary Talks'') is a Romanian literary magazine published in Romania. It is among the most important journals of the nineteenth-century Romania.
History and profile
''Convorbiri Literare'' was founded by ...
, 1933.
*
Ion Rusu Abrudeanu
An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge.
The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...
, ''Păcatele Ardealului față de sufletul Vechiului Regat. Fapte, documente și facsimile''. Bucharest:
Cartea Românească, 1930.
*Otilia Urs, "Criterii de descriere a cărții românești vechi în ''Bibliografia românească veche''. Evaluări și perspective", in ''Caietele Sextil Pușcariu'', I: "Actele Conferinței Internaționale Zilele Sextil Pușcariu, Ediția I, Cluj-Napoca, 12–13 septembrie 2013", 2015, pp. 349–356.
* Mihaela Vladu
"Ioan Bianu și contribuția colaboratorilor săi la ''Bibliografia românească veche''" in ''Lecturn'', Vol. II, Nr. 1 (5), January–March 2014, pp. 8–14.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bianu, Ioan
1856 births
1935 deaths
Palaeographers
Romanian bibliographers
Romanian philologists
Romanian librarians
Romanian archivists
Romanian publishers (people)
Romanian book and manuscript collectors
Romanian literary historians
Romanian biographers
Male biographers
Romanian essayists
Male essayists
Romanian columnists
Romanian magazine editors
Romanian schoolteachers
Presidents of the Romanian Academy
Romanian nationalists
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania)
National Liberal Party (Romania) politicians
Romanian National Party politicians
People from Alba County
Romanian Greek-Catholics
Austro-Hungarian emigrants to Romania
University of Bucharest alumni
Academic staff of the University of Bucharest
Romanian anti–World War I activists
Deaf politicians
Romanian deaf people
Knights of the Order of the Crown (Romania)
Burials at Bellu Cemetery
Eastern Catholic writers