„Victorious Prince – Reigning Prince”. An Analysis of Șerban Cantacuzino’s Political Thought and Action Cover Image
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„Domn biruitor - domn oblăduitor”. Considerații asupra gândirii și acțiunii politice a lui Șerban Cantacuzino
„Victorious Prince – Reigning Prince”. An Analysis of Șerban Cantacuzino’s Political Thought and Action

Author(s): Marian Lazăr
Subject(s): History, Political history, 17th Century
Published by: Institutul de Istorie Nicolae Iorga
Keywords: Wallachia; Șerban Cantacuzino; political ideology; Bible translation; 17th century;

Summary/Abstract: As this year marks the 330 commemoration of Șerban Cantacuzino’s death (on the 29th of October 1688), it seems appropriate to remember his fascinating personality. Șerban Cantacuzino successfully managed to restore peacetime in Wallachia after more than two decades of political turmoil. He ruled Wallachia for a decade, from 1678 to 1688, in a rather problematic regional context. Despite the Ottoman dignitaries’ ever increasing demands, he ensured a better government of Wallachia. An educated prince, an offspring of the family that housed the most impressive library in the region, Șerban Cantacuzino advocated the use of Romanian in church services and financed the printing of Romanian translations of the most important religious books: the Gospels (1682), the Acts of the Apostles (1683) and the Bible (1688). He laid the foundations of the Greek education, later developed in the Princely Academy of Bucharest. He founded, restored and made donations to many monastic foundations, mostly to the Cotroceni monastery where he was laid to rest. Due to his aesthetic tastes, a new artistic style that merged Byzantine, Oriental, Renaissance and Baroque elements, was diffused through Wallachia. This style was to define Romanian art and architecture for more than a century. Șerban Cantacuzino’s rule provided the groundwork for the long reign that was to follow, that of Constantin Brâncoveanu, his nephew.

  • Issue Year: XXXVI/2018
  • Issue No: XXXVI
  • Page Range: 353-380
  • Page Count: 28
  • Language: Romanian