Ioan G. Meșotă (June 24, 1837 – ) was an

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 ...

ethnic Romanian Romanians (, ; dated exonym ''Vlachs'') are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and nation native to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Sharing a common culture and ancestry, they speak the Romanian language and live primarily in Roma ...

educator. Born into a peasant family in Dârste, a neighborhood of

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, ...

city in the

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 ...

region,"Meșotă, Ioan G. (1837-1878)"
in

Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950 The ''Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815–1950'' (ÖBL, ''Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950'') is a dictionary of biographical entries for individuals who have contributed to the history of Austria, published by the Austrian ...

he was sent to the little local school at the age of six, attending for two years. He then completed the church school in Turcheș. In 1849, as a result of the ongoing revolution, the Meșotă family sought refuge 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 was housed at a small monastery in Bobolia village. They returned home in 1850. He subsequently entered the Hungarian Roman Catholic gymnasium in Brașov, where Iacob Mureșianu was on the faculty. In 1851, upon the advice of the city's

Romanian Orthodox The Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC; , ), or Romanian Patriarchate, is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox Christian churches, and one of the nine patriarchates in the Eastern Orthodox Church. S ...

archpriest, Ioan Popasu, he entered the new Romanian Gymnasium, where he was classmates with

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 Culture of Romania, Romanian culture in ...

. He graduated from the Honterus upper gymnasium, taking his leaving examination in 1858. He studied philosophy for two years at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

before moving on to the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

, which awarded him a doctorate in philosophy. Meșotă returned home in 1861, the year he was hired to teach at Brașov's Romanian gymnasium, where he offered courses on classical languages and history.Ștefan Ștefănescu, Adolf Armbruster, ''Enciclopedia istoriografiei române̦sti'', p. 217. Bucharest: Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică, 1978 In the autumn of 1869, two new affiliated three-year schools opened alongside the gymnasium: one ''

Realschule Real school (, ) is a type of secondary school in Germany, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It has also existed in Croatia (''realna gimnazija''), the Austrian Empire, the German Empire, Denmark and Norway (''realskole''), Sweden (''realskola''), F ...

'' and one commercial. Meșotă, deputy director from that point, became principal of all three institutions in 1870.Eugenia Glodariu, ''Asociațiile culturale ale tineretului studios român din monarhia habsburgică: 1860-1918'', p. 125. Cluj-Napoca: Muzeul Național de Istorie a Transilvaniei, 1998 Meanwhile, he was assessor for the Sibiu Archdiocese's consistory and a member of the Brașov school committee. In September 1877, upon the proposal of Maiorescu and of its president

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 list of members of the Romanian Academy, member of the Romanian Academy an ...

, he was elected a corresponding member of 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 ...

. In 1919, following the

union of Transylvania with Romania The union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia. The Great Union Day (also called ''Unification Day''), celebrated on 1 December, is a Public holidays in Romani ...

, the schools he helped found were consolidated as the Ioan Meșotă High School.Voina, Neuvirt, pp. 202-03 Meșotă's interests included ancient history, epigraphy and geography. The author of school textbooks, he was an active participant in his city's cultural life.

Notes

References

* Dumitru Voina, Antoneta Neuvirt
"Dârste, vatră de cultură românească"
in ''Țara Bârsei'', nr. 12/2013, pp. 200–04

Bibliography

* Bodea, Valentin & Răducanu, Viorel - ''Dr. Ioan Meșotă (1837-1878) preliminarii biografice'', Editura Orator, Brașov 2003 {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesota, Ioan 1837 births 1878 deaths People from Brașov Romanian Austro-Hungarians Members of the Romanian Orthodox Church University of Bonn alumni Educators from Austria-Hungary Educators from the Austrian Empire Corresponding members of the Romanian Academy