Mihail Sturdza (24 April 1794,
Iași – 8 May 1884,
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 ...
), sometimes
anglicized
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...
as Michael Stourdza, was prince 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 ...
from 1834 to 1849. He was cousin of
Roxandra Sturdza and
Alexandru Sturdza.
Biography
He was son of Grigore Sturdza, seigneur de Cozmesti, grand Logothete and of Mariora Callimachi, daughter of
Gregory Callimachi prince of Moldavia. A man of liberal education, he established in
Iași, the
Academia Mihăileană
Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern European institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institute ...
, the first University in Romania, a institution of higher education, and the precursor of the
University of Iași
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University ( Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia M ...
. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the country.
In 1844 he decreed the emancipation of the
Gypsies
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
, which until then had been treated as slaves and owned by the Church or by private landowners; they had been bought and sold in the open market. Mihail also attempted the secularization of monastic establishments, which was carried out by
Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1864, and the utilization of their endowments for national purposes.
Mihail quelled the attempted
Moldavian Revolution of 1848
The Moldavian Revolution of 1848 is the name used for the unsuccessful Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist movement inspired by the Revolutions of 1848 in the principality of Moldavia. Initially seeking accommodation within the political f ...
without bloodshed by arresting all the few conspirators and expelling them from the country.
Mihail's first wife was Elena Rosetti. His second wife was Princesse Smaragda Vogoridis, a
Bulgarian aristocrat, daughter of
Stefan Bogoridi, ruler of
Samos
Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...
.
He vacationed with his family annually at
Baden
Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine.
History
The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden i ...
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 ...
. When his and Vogoride's 16-year-old son was killed in Paris there in 1863, he erected a Greek Orthodox church on Michaelsberg to serve as his crypt.
[.]
Gallery
File:Stamp of Moldova md630.jpg, Commemorative stamp
File:Fürst Michael Stourzda - panoramio.jpg, Bust of Mihail Sturdza in Baden-Baden
File:Princely Court of Jassy.jpg, The Princely Court of Moldavia during the first half of the 19th century
See also
*
Sturdza family
The House of Sturdza, Sturza or Stourdza is the name of an old Moldavian noble family, whose origins can be traced back to the 1540s and whose members played important political role in the history of Moldavia, Russia and later Romania.
Political ...
Notes
References
*
Nobility from Iași
Rulers of Moldavia
Mihail
1795 births
1884 deaths
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