<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The 18th century, in the history of Romanian principalities,
\nis known as the Phanariot century, broadly speaking. However, that timespan
\ndoes not exactly coincide with the early and the late 1700s proper; in Moldavia
\nit begins in 1711 and in Wallachia, in 1714. For both principalities, the
\nPhanariot age ended in 1821. We recall that back then Tudor Vladimirescu’s revolution
\nmade it possible for the indigenous rulers to regain their thrones. During the Phanariot
\nage, the Romanian Principalities were under the suzerainty of the Ottoman
\nEmpire. The sultan controlled the principalities in the region through a bunch
\nof Greek civil servants who hailed from Istanbul’s Phanar district. They were
\nthe Phanariotes, the anointed ruling princes of Moldavia and Wallachia, for a
\nlimited period of time. The age was viewed and, quite aptly, still is, as an age
\nof backwardness. The Romanian Principalities no longer were autonomous, they
\ndid not have their own currency and their own army. Besides, the Romanian
\nprincipalities were getting Orientalized at a fast pace. The historian Tudor Dinu gives us all the details. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tudor Dinu:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The age is a very interesting one because,
\non one hand, it marks the Orientalization process as, prior to the Phanariotes,
\nOriental culture was seldom present with us. For instance, in the markets
\naround Bucharest all sorts of delicious produce were available for purchase. Then
\nagain, it also marks the incipient Westernization, since to a considerable
\nextent the Phanariotes were the driving force for the advent of the Italian and
\nthen the French culture in the Romanian Principalities. The research that I
\ncarried revealed that it was not true that Westernization began after 1821. As
\nfor the Phanariotes, they did keep themselves abreast of Western civilization
\nprimarily because they wanted to provide intelligence services to the Porte, so
\nthat was another reason for the Western culture to make its presence felt with
\nus.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At first, Western customs and patterns had an unassuming presence
\nin our society, being influenced by the fact that the Romanian Principalities
\nwere used more like a war theater for the conflicts between Austria, Russia and
\nTurkey. Westernization proper began with the first Austrian occupation after
\n1789. It was enhanced through the arrival of the Russian troops stationed in
\nthe Principalities, that including Bucharest. however, those were not the first
\nforeigners who settled in Wallachia’s capital city, which beginning the Phanariot
\nage, became a truly cosmopolitan city. Those foreigners, who in time became people
\nof the place, also created the mixed specificity of the city. For instance, together
\nwith the Phanariotes a growing number of Greeks settled here, yet their community
\ndid not account for more than 5% – 10% of the entire population of Bucharest. It’s
\njust that they were scholars, dignitaries, entrepreneurs, merchants and craftsmen,
\nso they did step out of the line as against the rest of the population. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As for the other foreigners in the city…who were they? <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Tudor Dinu:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
First off, it’s about the Jews, a very
\ndynamic population, they were harassed by the Christian population instigated
\nby the clergy, yet they were protected by the Phanariot rulers. Their contribution
\nwas fundamental, to the economic progress of Bucharest since they were tailors,
\nbookbinders, metal workers. A dynamic presence was provided even by the
\nArmenians who at that time may have been known as ‘Christian Jews’, since their
\ncustoms were similar and so was their way of doing business. The Rroma were a very
\nlarge population as well, at that time they were known as gypsies, tigani in
\nRomanian. Their contribution was significant considering the difficult jobs the
\nRomanian wouldn’t take, such as metal and iron work, but also the panning of gold
\nin the waters of Dambovita river. Also, the Rroma were the kings of the street
\nperformances of that time. Their bears were hopping about, while their fiddlers’
\nmusic made the delight of the pubgoers. I also did some research on the Turkish
\ncommunity, but they were in small numbers at that time, since the privileges
\ngranted to Wallachia only allowed for the ruler’s Turkish secretary and his team
\nto be present in the country. He was known as Divan efendi. However, there
\nwas a princely brass band made of Turkish musicians, an Ottoman police force,
\nthe one of the Beshlii, the mounted Turkish cavalry, there were also a couple of
\nmerchants. People of the Balkans were much more numerous, the Christian ones, first
\nof all, since for them Bucharest was like a true Eldorado. Gaining access to
\nthe Romanian space was, that was very difficult, some sort of special paper or
\nvisa, known as tescherea, was needed, which granted safe passage to the
\npromised land. They were labelled Serbs
\nin a broader sense, but there were also Albanians among them. The Serbs, that
\nis the peoples south of the Danube, of Slavic origin, were mainly known as
\nvegetable farmers and tanners. On Lipscani and Gabroveni, two of the streets
\nin today’s historical center, many Bulgarians sold their merchandise, for
\ninstance.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We
\nknow that the Saxons, a Germanic population, settled in Transylvania 800 years
\nago. Yet it was also in the Phanariot age that other German groups settled in
\nBucharest. They brought the technical and engineering spirit with them. In time,
\nthe French who would come over also arrived in large numbers. They were brought
\nby the boyars as private tutors for their children.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Conservatism and modernity in the 18th century<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":153313,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[42851,42634,45648,31793,32006,45649],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-169911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-ottoman","tag-phanariot","tag-porte","tag-prince","tag-ruling","tag-tutor"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n