The archetype of the
\nintellectual politician in European history dates back to Roman antiquity, the
\nfirst example being Emperor Marcus Aurelius during the second century AD. In
\nhis famous book about the ideal form of government, The Prince, Niccolo
\nMachiavelli writes that an intellectual prince will always find the right
\nsolutions for political leadership. One example of intellectual prince in
\nRomanian history is the ruler of Wallachia, Neagoe Basarab, from the beginning
\nof the 16th century. However, the most famous was the Ruler of
\nMoldavia, Dimitrie Cantemir, who authored a vast number of books in different
\nfields, such as history, geography, morality, political science and music.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Dimitrie Cantemir was
<\/p>\n
As a political
<\/p>\n
2023 was declared the
<\/p>\n
Track: A lot is known about Cantemir, but many
<\/p>\n
Constantin Barbu, an editor
<\/p>\n
Constantin Barbu:Around 200 volumes have survived of Cantemir’s
<\/p>\n
The Year of Cantemir brings back to the
2023 was declared the Year of Cantemir in Romania<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":131594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41141],"tags":[42963,42962,42965,37171,31793,42964],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-131593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-history-show","tag-cantemir","tag-dimitrie","tag-intellectual","tag-politician","tag-prince","tag-scholar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\nborn in 1673 as the son of Moldavian ruler Constantin Cantemir and was schooled
\nin the manner befitting the son of a ruler of the day. He was educated in the
\ncapital of the Ottoman Empire, living and studying on the banks of the
\nBosphorus between the age of 14 and 37. His works include the classic texts The
\nDivan or the Sage’s Dispute with the World, A Description of Moldavia, The
\nHieroglific History and The History of the Growth and Decay of the Othman
\nEmpire. Other equally important books are The Chronicle of the<\/em> Romanian-Moldavian-Vlachs,
\nThe Oriental Collection, Little Compendium on All Lesson of Logic, A Study
\ninto the Nature of Monarchy, The Life of Constantin Cantemir known as The
\nOld, the Ruler of Moldavia, System of Muhammad Religion and The Book of the
\nScience of Music. In recognition of his extraordinary contributions to human
\nknowledge, in 1714, aged 41, Cantemir was elected as a member of the Royal Prussian
\nAcademy of Sciences in Berlin. He was mentioned by the famous English historian
\nEdward Gibbon (1737-1794) in his book The History of the Decline and Fall of
\nthe Roman Empire, as well as by the American historian of science Alan G.
\nDebus in a book about the 16th-century Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont.
\n<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nleader, the career of Dimitrie Cantemir was not as impressive as that of him as
\na scholar. He became the ruler of Moldavia in 1693, at the age of 20, after the
\ndeath of his father. 17 years later, in 1710, he became ruler for the second
\ntime, but only for one year. He joined Peter the Great in the Russian-Turkish
\nwar, but the Russians’ defeat at St\u0103nile\u015fti, in 1711, led to his losing the
\nthrone. He went into exile at the court of Peter the Great, where he served as
\nhis advisor. Cantemir died in 1723, aged 50. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nYear of Cantemir in Romania because it’s the 350th anniversary of his death and the 300th
\nanniversary of his birth. To mark this, the Romanian Academy Library opened an
\nexhibition of manuscripts and books dedicated to Cantemir. Academy member R\u0103zvan
\nTheodorescu spoke about how Cantemir was a European figure typical of his day,
\nwho brought together two cultural worlds, the West and the East. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nother things are yet to be discovered. I remember that a few years ago at Belgium’s
\nNational Academy in Brussels, a conference was organised on Cantemir’s European
\nidentity. In this case, we gave the world a great European. We should never
\nforget that A Description of Moldavia was commissioned by the Academy in Berlin,
\nwhich at the time was commissioning various descriptions of Eastern territories.
\nThis interest in the Levant, particularly in Prussia, was quite notable, hence
\nthe work commissioned to Cantemir. In spite of the current political
\ncircumstances, we should not shy away from saying that Dimitrie Cantemir became
\na member of the Berlin Academy in his capacity as a Russian prince. When the
\nPrussian royalty thought of giving Peter the Great an accolade, and they chose
\nthe most educated man in the Russian Empire, it was Cantemir, the former ruler
\nof Moldavia, that they suggested. Cantemir brought together the traditional
\nculture of this region, the Ottoman culture and the Russian one. In this
\nrespect, he was a forerunner of the European identity, at a time when a new
\nEurope, the pre-modern Europe, was taking shape. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nof Dimitrie Cantemir’s works, discussed the manuscripts included in the
\nexhibition dedicated to the scholar: <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nworks, and so far we have printed 104 of them. I managed to compile two
\nmanuscripts by Cantemir, they are now complete Cantemir works, and they can be
\nfound in Moscow and here in Bucharest. We also brought several previously
\nunknown manuscripts by Cantemir. We also have, among others, two chapters from
\n A Description of Moldavia handwritten by the German Sinologist Gottlieb Siegfried Bayer, a professor at the
\nUniversity of Petersburg. But Cantemir’s manuscripts are not only to be
\nfound in Russia, but also at the Academy in Berlin, and we brought here the 15
\nmanuscripts that they have.<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
\nforefront an outstanding cultural personality, and, just as much, a remarkable
\nEuropean. (CM, AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"