Ioan Sterca-Șuluțiu (1796–1858) was an

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 ...

bureaucrat in the administration of Imperial Austrian

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 ...

, owner of gold mines at

Abrud Abrud (;Ștefan Pascu: A History of Transylvania, Dorset Press, 1990, , ; ) is a town in the north-western part of Alba County, Transylvania, Romania, located on the river Abrud. It administers three villages: Abrud-Sat (''Abrudfalva''), Gura C ...

, and the brother of

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 ...

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: Areas and governance (secular and ecclesiastical) * Metropolitan archdiocese, the jurisdiction of a metropolitan archbishop ** Metropolitan bishop or archbishop, leader of an ecclesiastical "mother see" * Metropolitan ar ...

Alexandru Sterca-Șuluțiu. He was the father of the judge Dionisie Sterca-Șuluțiu and of the historian Iosif Sterca-Șuluțiu. Born in Abrudbánya,

Alsó-Fehér County Alsó-Fehér was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now in western Romania (central Transylvania). The latest capital of the county was Nagyenyed (present-day Aiud). Geography Alsó-Fehér county sh ...

, Principality of Transylvania (present-day

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) 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 ...

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) Șuluțiu served as an officer in the

Imperial and Royal Army The Common Army (, ) as it was officially designated by the Imperial and Royal Military Administration, was the largest part of the Austro-Hungarian land forces from 1867 to 1914, the other two elements being the Imperial-Royal Landwehr (of Au ...

, during the last years of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Marinela Loredana Barna, "Două familii din astir transilvăneană: Mureșianu și Sterca-Șuluțiu", in ''Acta Musei Tutovensis''. Memorialistica, nr. 1/2015, p. 91 Upon the outbreak of the Transylvanian Revolution of 1848, Șuluțiu, who for years had worked in the administration of his native town, was unanimously proclaimed tribune over the area, with the rank of major."Josif Sterca Șuluțiu de Cărpiniş"
in ''Revista Ilustrată'', p. 182, year I, October 1898 (digitized by the

Babeș-Bolyai University The Babeș-Bolyai University ( , , commonly known as UBB) is a public research university located in Cluj-Napoca, Romania. Established in 1581 as Academia Claudiopolitana, it underwent several reorganizations over the centuries, eventually taking ...

br>Transsylvanica Online Library
Serving in the Auraria Gemina Legion under

Avram Iancu Avram Iancu (; ; 1824 – September 10, 1872) was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an important role in the local chapter of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849. He was especiall ...

, he played a decisive role in organizing the local ''moți'' along military lines. That year, his house in Abrud served as a meeting place for the ethnic Romanian leaders of the Transylvanian revolution that year, and as a place of refuge for participants in the

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 ...

revolutionary movement A revolutionary movement (or revolutionary social movement) is a specific type of social movement dedicated to carrying out a revolution. Criteria Charles Tilly defines it as "a social movement advancing exclusive competing claims to control o ...

. Alexandru G. Golescu stayed in Șuluțiu's house until

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

troops entered Transylvania, when he fled to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. As an experienced soldier, Șuluțiu was the tactical leader of the 1848 Romanian military operations in the

Apuseni Mountains The Apuseni Mountains (, "Western Mountains"; , "Transylvanian Mountains") are a mountain range in Transylvania, Romania, which belongs to the Western Romanian Carpathians. The highest peak is the Bihor Peak at . The Apuseni Mountains have ab ...

against the Hungarian revolutionary government. While the main weapon of the revolutionaries was the lance made by village craftsmen, their artillery was limited to the cherry-wood cannon invented by Șuluțiu,"Prefectura română a Ţării Bârsei din 1848 şi 1849"
in ''Țara Bârsei'', p. 136, year I, nr. 2/July-August 1929 (digitized by the

br>Transsylvanica Online Library
and used against the Hungarian revolutionaries. With Șuluțiu acting as an intermediary, the Austrian commander of the citadel at

Alba Iulia Alba Iulia (; or ''Carlsburg'', formerly ''Weißenburg''; ; ) is a city that serves as the seat of Alba County in the west-central part of Romania. Located on the river Mureș (river), Mureș in the historical region of Transylvania, it has a ...

sent munitions to the inhabitants of the mountains, in order to bolster their resistance against the pressure of the revolutionary Hungarian armies. Șuluțiu also distinguished himself after the end of the revolution, by developing Romanian enterprises in Transylvania.

Notes

1796 births 1858 deaths 19th-century Romanian people in Transylvania People from Abrud People of the Revolutions of 1848 Romanian Greek-Catholics Romanian nobility People from the Austrian Empire {{Romania-bio-stub