George Bariț (often rendered as George Barițiu, ; 4 June 1812 – 2 May 1893), was an
ethnic Romanian Austro-Hungarian
Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...
historian, philologist, playwright, politician, businessman and journalist, the founder of the
Romanian language
Romanian (obsolete spelling: Roumanian; , or , ) is the official and main language of Romania and Moldova. Romanian is part of the Eastern Romance languages, Eastern Romance sub-branch of Romance languages, a linguistic group that evolved fr ...
press in
Transylvania
Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
.
Biography
Born in Jucu de Jos,
Kolozs County
Kolozs County was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary, of the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom and of the Principality of Transylvania. Its territory is now in north-western Romania (north-western Transylvania). The capital ...
,
Principality of Transylvania (today part of
Jucu,
Cluj County
Cluj County () is a county () of Romania, in Transylvania. Its seat is Cluj-Napoca.
Name
In Hungarian language, Hungarian it is known as ''Kolozs megye''. Under the Kingdom of Hungary, a county with an identical name (Kolozs County, ) existed s ...
,
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
), he was the son of the
Greek-Catholic Greek Catholic Church or Byzantine-Catholic Church may refer to:
* The Catholic Church in Greece
* The Eastern Catholic Churches that use the Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite:
** The Albanian Greek Catholic Church
** The Belarusian Gr ...
priest Ioan Pop Bariț, and of Ana Rafila. He attended school in Trascău (today
Rimetea
Rimetea (until 1925 ''Trascău''; ; ) is a commune located in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Colțești (formerly ''Sângeorzul Trascăului''; ''Torockószentgyörgy''; ''Sankt Georgen'') and Rimetea. A forme ...
,
Alba County
Alba County () is a county (judeÈ›) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536.
Name
"Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...
), and then highschool in
Blaj
Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 17,816 inhabitants as of 2021.
The city administers eight villages: Deleni-Obârșie ('' ...
and
Cluj
Cluj-Napoca ( ; ), or simply Cluj ( , ), is a city in northwestern Romania. It is the second-most populous city in the country and the seat of Cluj County. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest (), Budapest () and Belgrade ( ...
. Originally trained for priesthood, he decided instead to become a teacher at the Romanian language commercial school in
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County.
According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
.
In 1838 he founded in
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County.
According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...
the first Romanian newspaper in his native region, and named it ''
Gazeta de Transilvania
''Gazeta de Transilvania'' was the first Romanian-language newspaper to be published in Transylvania. It was founded by George Bariț in 1838 in Brașov. It played a very important role in the awakening of the Romanian national conscience in Tran ...
'' and its supplement "''Foaie pentru inimă și minte''" (Paper for the Mind, Heart, and Literature) at the request of publisher Johann Göt.
Politically active, he was an important personality in the
revolution of 1848
The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
in Transylvania, establishing connections with
Romanian nationalists and
radicals
Radical (from Latin: ', root) may refer to:
Politics and ideology Politics
*Classical radicalism, the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and Latin America in the 19th century
*Radical politics ...
in
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...
and
Moldavia
Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...
, and using ''Gazeta'' as one of the main political voices demanding equal rights for
Romanians
Romanians (, ; dated Endonym and exonym, exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance languages, Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a Culture of Romania, ...
and
Hungarians
Hungarians, also known as Magyars, are an Ethnicity, ethnic group native to Hungary (), who share a common Culture of Hungary, culture, Hungarian language, language and History of Hungary, history. They also have a notable presence in former pa ...
after the
Hungarian revolutionary government began
pressing for Transylvania to be removed from direct
Austrian
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example:
** Austria-Hungary
** Austria ...
supervision to be reunited with Hungary.
After the revolutionary episode, in the period between the creation of an Austrian military government for the region and the ''
Ausgleich
The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (, ) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary, which was a military and diplomatic alliance of two sovereign states. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereign ...
'', BariÈ› returned to cultural and business activities. In 1861, alongside
Andrei Șaguna
Andrei Șaguna (; 20 January 1808, Miskolc, Kingdom of Hungary (1526–1867), Hungary – 28 June 1873, Nagyszeben, Kingdom of Hungary (1867–1918), Hungary) was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of ...
,
Timotei Cipariu
Timotei Cipariu (February 21, 1805 – September 3, 1887) was a Transylvanian Romanian scholar, Greek-Catholic cleric (canonical and chapter prefect), Pașoptist revolutionary, politician in Transylvania, founding member of the Romanian Academy, ...
, he founded ''
'' (ASTRA). He was its first secretary, and subsequently became its president.
Between 1852 and 1872 Bariţ was the Commercial Director of one of the first manufacturing companies in Transylvania with Romanian private capital, the ''
Fabrica de hârtie din Zărnești'' (Pulp and paper factory in Zărnești, located west of Brașov in central Romania). During the 1870s he also acted as an adviser to the Founder and the Board of Administration of the ''
Banca Albina'', the first bank with private Romanian capital in Transylvania.
As a result of the first free elections in Transylvania in the spring of 1863, following Austria's introduction by imperial decree of representative democracy in its territory in 1861, Bariț became a Member of Parliament in the ''Dieta Transilvaniei'' (Transylvanian Parliament) where the ethnic Romanians formed the majority. After 1863, he participated as one of the twenty-six official parliamentary delegates of the Transylvanian Parliament in the second (1863–1864) and third (1864–1865) parliamentary sessions of the central Austrian Parliament (Reichsrat, now ''
National Council of Austria
The National Council (, ) is one of the two houses of the Austrian Parliament and is frequently referred to as the lower house. The constitution endows the National Council with far more power than the Federal Council.
Responsibilities
The Nat ...
'') in Vienna. There, as a full Member of Parliament, a full Member of the Finance Committee and a full Member of the Committee for the Transylvanian Railway, he held several speeches on the imperial financial and trade policies, on foreign policy, on central policies of the government in Vienna towards the Romanian Church United with Rome, and promoted reforms of public finance in Transylvania, as well as specific local interests of Transylvania within the Austrian empire. After mid-1865 he did not continue to go to other sessions of the central Parliament in Vienna, since the political effects of the ''Ausgleich'' moved Transylvanian central representation from Vienna to Budapest.
In December 1866, following the beginnings of the Ausgleich, Bariţ initiated and drafted together with
Ioan Rațiu (1828–1902), the first Memorandum of the Romanians of Transylvania, addressed directly to emperor
Franz Josef I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I ( ; ; 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the ruler of the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 1848 until his death in 1916. In the early part of his reig ...
and signed by 1,493 Transylvanian intellectuals, asking for the maintenance of the administrative and political autonomy of Transylvania within the Austrian empire and within Austrian supervision. This Memorandum was submitted to the emperor in December 1866 and is a precursor of a second memorandum, the ''
Transylvanian Memorandum
The ''Transylvanian Memorandum'' () 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, and demanding an end to perse ...
'', submitted in 1892.
Between 1884 and 1888, BariÈ› served as president of the ''
Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat''.
When ASTRA began publishing the review ''Transilvania'', BariÈ› was the main person involved in its editorial ventures, and became one of the authors of the very first Romanian-language Encyclopaedia (published in
Sibiu
Sibiu ( , , , Hungarian: ''Nagyszeben'', , Transylvanian Saxon: ''Härmeschtat'' or ''Hermestatt'') is a city in central Romania, situated in the historical region of Transylvania. Located some north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles th ...
) after his death, between 1898 and 1904. His main personal work, published between 1889 and 1891, was ''Părți alese din Istoria Transilvaniei pre două sute de ani în urmă'' ("Selected Episodes of the Past Two Hundred Years in Transylvania's History").
Bariț was a founding member of the ''Societatea Literară Română'' (1866), a precursor to the ''
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy ( ) 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 bylaws, the academy's ma ...
''. Of the latter he was elected in 1868 its head of the historical section, its vice-president in 1876 and its president in 1893. He died in Sibiu a couple of months after his election and is buried in the graveyard of the "Biserica dintre Brazi" church in the city, along with other major Romanian Transylvanian leaders.
Works
* ''Cuvântare scolasticească la ecsamenul de vară în Școala românească din Brașov și Cetate'', 1837
* ''Deutsch-Rumänisches Wörterbuch, Dicţionariu român-german'', 1853–1854
* ''Dicționariu românesc-unguresc, Magyar-román szótar'', 1869
* ''Părți alese din istoria Transilvaniei pre două sute de ani în urmă'', I-III, Sibiu, 1889–1891
* ''Două drame familare'', drama, 1891
References
*
Ștefan Pascu,
Dumitru Suciu etc., ''George Bariț și contemporanii săi'', 10 vols.,
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, children's books, and scientific books.
The company was founded in Bucharest in ...
, Bucarest, 1983–2003
*
Cristian Romano, ''"
Iosif Romanov, librar, editor și tipograf din București secolul al XIX-lea",'' ''Anuarul Arhivelor Municipiului București'', 1/1996
* Entry in
Mircea Zaciu,
Marian Papahagi,
Aurel Sasu (coord.), ''Dicționarul scriitorilor români'',
Editura Fundației Culturale Române, 1995
*
Ștefan Sorin Mureșan, ''Parliamentary Discourse of a Romanian from Transylvania in Vienna between 1863–1865. George Barițiu. Member of Parliament in the Austrian Monarchy'',
Editura Eikon, Cluj-Napoca, 2008
External links
George BariÈ› Institute of History
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barit, George
1812 births
1893 deaths
People from Cluj County
19th-century Romanian people in Transylvania
Romanian Greek-Catholics
Ethnic Romanian politicians in Transylvania
Members of the Austrian House of Deputies (1861–1867)
Romanian Austro-Hungarians
Essayists from Austria-Hungary
Romanian magazine editors
Scholars from Austria-Hungary
Scholars from the Austrian Empire
Dramatists and playwrights from Austria-Hungary
Historians from Austria-Hungary
Presidents of the Romanian Academy
Founding members of the Romanian Academy
People of the Revolutions of 1848