Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei (), also written as ''Stirbey'', (17 August 1799 – April 13, 1869), a member of the Bibescu boyar family, was a

hospodar Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or " master". Etymology and Slavic usage In the Slavonic language, ''hospodar'' is usually applied to the master/owner of a house or other properties and also the head of a family. ...

(

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 ...

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 ...

) on two occasions, between 1848 and 1853, and between 1854 and 1856.Ioan C. Filitti: „Catagrafia oficială de toţi boierii Țării Românești“, in „Revista Arhivelor“, Band 2, Bukarest 1929, S. 7

Early life

Born to Dumitrache Bibescu and his wife, he was adopted by his maternal grandfather, the last of the Știrbei family who left him heir to his wealth and family name. He studied philosophy and law in

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 ...

, at the beginning of

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in ...

's reign, in 1815. After the return in Wallachia, in 1821 he took refuge from the

Wallachian uprising of 1821 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 b ...

in Braşov,

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 ...

(part of the

Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central-Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence ...

at the time). He married Elisabeta Cantacuzino in 1821.

Ascension

In 1825, he returned to

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 ...

and took on several offices with the administration of

Grigore IV Ghica Grigore IV Ghica or Grigore Dimitrie Ghica (June 30, 1755 – April 29, 1834) was Prince of Wallachia between 1822 and 1828. A member of the Ghica family, Grigore IV was the brother of Alexandru II Ghica and the uncle of Dora d'Istria. While many ...

. After Wallachia was occupied by Imperial Russia following the Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829, general Pavel Kiseleff promoted him to the central government, where he served as president of the Wallachian commission charged with drafting the '' Organic Regulation'', the first form of

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in fe ...

ever implemented in Wallachia. In 1836, he was given the administration of the Justice Department, where he set up a new commercial code, based on the Napoleonic model, and improved the criminal and

civil Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

procedures. After Grigore IV Ghica was removed from the throne, Ştirbei was a candidate for the office in the only elections carried under the ''Regulations provisions, but renounced his votes in favour of his brother,

Gheorghe Bibescu Gheorghe Bibescu (;April 26th 1804 – 1 June 1873) was a ''hospodar'' (Prince) of Wallachia between 1843 and 1848. His rule coincided with the revolutionary tide that culminated in the 1848 Wallachian revolution. Early political career Born in ...

Prince of Wallachia

After the 1848 Wallachian Revolutionary Government was overthrown by Ottoman troops, and a new hospodar was to be named, Sultan

Abdülmecid I Abdulmejid I ( ota, عبد المجيد اول, ʿAbdü'l-Mecîd-i evvel, tr, I. Abdülmecid; 25 April 182325 June 1861) was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on 2 July 1839. His reign was notable for the r ...

supported Barbu Ştirbei for the office, and he was awarded the throne for a seven-year term (under the provisions of the 1849 Convention of Balta-Liman). His reign began under the common occupation of Ottoman Empire and Imperial Russia, occupation which ended in 1851, when Barbu Ştirbei was awarded the

Order of St. Anna The Imperial Order of Saint Anna (russian: Орден Святой Анны; also "Order of Saint Anne" or "Order of Saint Ann") was a Holstein ducal and then Russian imperial order of chivalry. It was established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holst ...

by the

Russian Emperor The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia, ''Imperator Vserossiyskiy'', ''Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya'' (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire. The title originated in connection with Russia' ...

Nicholas I. During his reign, Ştirbei pushed moderate reforms, such as a slight reform of the

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

system which led to an increase in the number of solved legal disputes. He took steps to enforce a (still very

conservative 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 ...

)

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

, by passing a law, in 1851, in which the peasants were referred to as "tenants", and which allowed them to more easily move between boyar properties. In the matter Roma

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, Ştirbei began by limiting the internal trading in slaves, forbade the separation of families through the latter, and ultimately abolished the institution altogether. At the beginning of the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

, in 1853, Wallachia was once again occupied by Imperial Russian troops. Barbu Ştirbei stayed in Bucharest until the formal declaration of war from the Ottoman Empire, after which he fled to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, only to return the following year, in the autumn of 1854, after the Russian withdrawal, when the country was under Austrian and Ottoman occupation. In 1856, after the end of the war, at the

Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France: Treaties 1200s and 1300s * Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade * Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France * Trea ...

, the question of the unification of Moldavia and Wallachia, the two Danubian Principalities, became in order. Ştirbei supported the union, although not very strongly, as he hoped to become prince of the resulting state. However, in early summer, as his term had ended, he stepped back as hospodar and left for Paris.

Later life

In 1857, he was elected deputy in the

Ad hoc divan The two Ad hoc Divans were legislative{{cn, date=February 2017 and consultative assemblies of the Danubian Principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia), vassals of the Ottoman Empire. They were established by the Great Powers under the Treaty of Par ...

, an assembly charged with giving Wallachia a new constitutional framework. After the divans confirmed the union of the two countries by electing

Alexander John Cuza Alexandru Ioan Cuza (, or Alexandru Ioan I, also anglicised as Alexander John Cuza; 20 March 1820 – 15 May 1873) was the first ''domnitor'' (Ruler) of the Romanian Principalities through his double election as prince of Moldavia on 5 Janua ...

as ''

Domnitor ''Domnitor'' (Romanian pl. ''Domnitori'') was the official title of the ruler of Romania between 1862 and 1881. It was usually translated as "prince" in other languages and less often as "grand duke". Derived from the Romanian word "''domn''" ...

'', he returned to Paris together with his brother

. He temporarily returned to the country in 1866, in support of the newly elected prince Carol of the

Principality of Romania The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia ( ro, Principatele Unite ale Moldovei și Țării Românești), commonly called United Principalities, was the personal union of the Principality of Moldavia and the Principality of Wallachia, ...

. Barbu Ştirbey spent his last years in France, where he died in 1869, in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, after visiting Bucharest one last time in 1868.

Notes

References

* Dan Berindei
"Barbu Ştirbei - a transitional hospodar"
in ''Magazin Istoric'', January 2006. Accessed online July 7, 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Stirbei, Barbu Dimitrie 1799 births 1869 deaths People from Craiova Barbu Barbu Bibescu family Rulers of Wallachia Members of the Ad hoc Divans Romanian Freemasons People of the Revolutions of 1848 Romanian people of the Crimean War