Political Imagery and Group Loyalties in Romanian Principalities at the beginning of the 19th Century
Political Imagery and Group Loyalties in Romanian Principalities at the beginning of the 19th Century]

Summary/Abstract: The climate of religious fervor, extended by Russia's main offensive actions on the Danube, by the pan-Orthodox political ecumenism with insist on proselytizing and proclamations of the Russian Tsars court, by the rise of the Russian influence on the monastic environment by the late prophetic scenarios associated with steep involvement of France in the East, by the persistence of religious attitudes related to the imaginary „salvation” has favored the emergence of a type of political solidarity boyar - boyar brotherhoods - reinforced the „oath of allegiance” of the conspiracy „before the living God” to save the heathen Muslim orthodoxy of persecution and „homeland” oppression by „foreigners”. Political means used by these boyar „brotherhoods” or „union” combine tradition with innovation, seeking to overcome one of the most difficult obstacles, namely the opportunity to express their grievances, claims and political views in some other ways than those adopted by the boyars' „pillars of the country”. The desire to make themselves heard, breaking the monopoly of the „protipendada” in politics, the urge to act secretly and to imitate the methods that made use of foreigners in the capital (Iasi) under the protection of the French Consulate, where possible, without undermining their social equity position considered degrading for a native boyar. The preference for collective action, hatched in secret, on condition of anonymity was not necessarily a reflection inspired by the fear of the rulers, but also a normal attitude, specific to the traditional boyar behavior, verified over a long historical experience.

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