The Princely Academy of Iași was an institution of higher learning, active in the 18th and 19th centuries.
History
Founded in
Iași
Iași ( , , ; also known by other #Etymology and names, alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the Cities in Romania, third largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical ...
(capital of the Principality of
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 ...
) by the Prince
Antioh Cantemir in 1707, the Academy symbolically continued the
Academia Vasiliană, although no direct link exists between the two similar institutions. The main reformer of the Academy was
Grigore III Ghica (1776), who modernised it as to compete with the European universities. The studies were done in
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, and for the better part of the 18th century they were basically Aristotelian. Beginning with the 1760s a series of enlightened directors introduced into the Academy the study of mathematics, natural sciences and modern philosophy, translating and adapting European handbooks.
In 1813–1819,
Gheorghe Asachi
Gheorghe Asachi (, surname also spelled Asaki; 1 March 1788 – 12 November 1869) was a Moldavian, later Romanian, prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist, engineer, border maker, and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and ...
lectured for the first time in
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
**Romanian cuisine, traditional ...
at the Academy, training a class of engineers, as the
School of Surveying and Civil Engineers (').
In 1821, the Academy was disestablished by order of the Sultan, following the activity of the Greek patriotic organization,
Filiki Eteria
Filiki Eteria () or Society of Friends () was a secret political and revolutionary organization founded in 1814 in Odesa, Odessa, whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman Empire, Ottoman rule in Ottoman Greece, Greece and establish an Independenc ...
. Political circumstances caused that another Academy did not exist until 1835, when the
Mihaileana Academy (') was established. The new institution had some professors from the ancient one, so that we can trace a direct lineage between the two Academies. The Princely Academy did not offer standard academic degrees, but only diplomas that certified that the possessor was worthy of “the name of learned man”. This name gave to the bearer the possibility to hold diverse administrative offices within the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...
and
Danubian Principalities
The Danubian Principalities (, ) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) ...
.
Notable academics
*
Nikephoros Theotokis (1764–1765; 1776–1777)
*
Iosipos Moisiodax (1765–1776)
*Nicolaos Zerzoulis (Cercel) (1766–1722)
*
Daniel Philippidis (1784–1786; 1803–1806)
*Stephanos Doungas (1813–1816)
*Dimitrios Panayotou Govdelas (1808–1811; 1816–1821)
Notable alumni
*
Costache Conachi
*
George Săulescu
*
Daniil Scavischi
*Scarlat
Sturdza
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. Members of the family played important political role in the history of Moldavia, Russia and later Romania.
...
*
Vasile Vârnav
See also
*
Princely Academy of Bucharest
The Princely Academy of Bucharest (Romanian: Academia Domnească din București, ) was an institution of higher education, active from the end of the 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century.
History
According to some scholars, the Acad ...
*
Academia Vasiliană
*
Academia Mihăileană
*
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in , Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former was converted to a university, the University of , as it was named ...
References
Sources
*Bârsănescu, Ștefan, ''Academia Domnească din Iași. 1714 - 1821'', București : Editura de Stat Didactică și Pedagogică, 1962
*Camariano-Cioran, Ariadna, ''Les Academies princières de Bucarest et de Jassy et leurs professeurs'', Thessaloniki :
Institute for Balkan Studies, 1974
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Princely Academy of Iasi
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
Modern Greek Enlightenment
Educational institutions established in 1707
1707 establishments in Romania
1707 establishments in the Ottoman Empire
18th-century establishments in Moldavia
1821 disestablishments in Europe
1821 disestablishments in the Ottoman Empire
19th-century disestablishments in Moldavia
Greek diaspora in Romania