The beginnings of Freemasonry in the Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

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 in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...

 of Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 and Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

 (which would unite to form Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

 in 1859) date to the 18th century and the activities of the humanist scholar Anton Maria del Chiaro, secretary to voivodes Constantin Brâncoveanu

Constantin Brâncoveanu

Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...

 (ruled Wallachia 1688-1714) and Constantine Mavrocordatos

Constantine Mavrocordatos

Constantine Mavrocordatos was a Greek noble who served as Prince of Wallachia and Prince of Moldavia at several intervals...

 (alternately ruled both domains between 1730 and 1769). In 1734 or 1737, del Chiaro founded the first Masonic Lodge

Masonic Lodge

This article is about the Masonic term for a membership group. For buildings named Masonic Lodge, see Masonic Lodge A Masonic Lodge, often termed a Private Lodge or Constituent Lodge, is the basic organisation of Freemasonry...

 in the Principalities at Galaţi

Galati

Galați is a city and municipality in Romania, the capital of Galați County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, in the close vicinity of Brăila, Galați is the largest port and sea port on the Danube River and the second largest Romanian port....

. Shortly thereafter, Mavrocordat founded a lodge at Iaşi

Iasi

Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

 while ruler of Moldavia. During the same period in Transylvania

Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

, known Freemasons included László and János Kemény

John Kemény (Prince)

János Kemény was a Hungarian aristocrat, writer and prince of Transylvania....

, Count Gabriel Bethlen

Gabriel Bethlen

Gabriel Bethlen was a prince of Transylvania , duke of Opole and leader of an anti-Habsburg insurrection in the Habsburg Royal Hungary. His last armed intervention in 1626 was part of the Thirty Years' War...

 and Baron Samuel von Brukenthal

Samuel von Brukenthal

Samuel von Brukenthal was the Habsburg governor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania between July 6, 1774 and January 9, 1787...

. In 1753 lodges were set up at Kronstadt

Brasov

Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....

, Hermannstadt

Sibiu

Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...

 and at the military garrisons of Sepsiszentgyörgy

Sfântu Gheorghe

Sfântu Gheorghe is the capital city of Covasna County, Romania. Located in the central part of the country and in the historical region of Transylvania, it lies on the Olt River in a valley between the Baraolt Mountains and Bodoc Mountains...

 and Csíkszereda

Miercurea-Ciuc

Miercurea-Ciuc is the county seat of Harghita County, Romania. It lies in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, and is situated in the Olt River valley.The city administers three villages:* Ciba / Csiba...

. On 23 February 1783 Horea

Vasile Ursu Nicola

Vasile Ursu Nicola, known as Horea, was a Transylvanian Romanian leader of the Revolt of Horea, Cloşca and Crişan in 1784-85. After the revolt was defeated, he was executed by being broken on the wheel....

, who led a peasant revolt

Revolt of Horea, Closca and Crisan

The Revolt of Horea, Cloșca and Crișan began in Zarand County, Transylvania, but it soon spread all throughout the Apuseni Mountains...

 the following year, gave a Romanian-language speech at the True Understanding Lodge in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, in which he used a series of Masonic symbols (it is highly likely that he was initiated). In 1795, by imperial decree, Masonic activity was outlawed in the Habsburg empire

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

, including Transylvania. In Wallachia, the first lodge was very likely established by Jean Louis Carra, secretary to voivode Grigore III Ghica

Grigore III Ghica

Grigore III Ghica was twice the Prince of Moldavia between 29 March 1764 – 3 February 1767 and September 1774 – 10 October 1777 and of Wallachia: 28 October 1768 – November 1769....

 (October 1768-November 1769).

In advance of the Wallachian Revolution of 1848

Wallachian Revolution of 1848

The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...

, a Freemason-inspired secret society known as Frăţia ("The Brotherhood") was set up. Ion Ghica

Ion Ghica

Ion Ghica was a Romanian revolutionary, mathematician, diplomat and twice Prime Minister of Romania . He was a full member of the Romanian Academy and its president for four times...

, Nicolae Bălcescu

Nicolae Balcescu

Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...

, Christian Tell

Christian Tell

Christian Tell was a Transylvanian-born Wallachian and Romanian politician.-Early life:Born in Braşov, Tell studied at Gheorghe Lazăr's school, and then at the Saint Sava Academy in Bucharest, and became close to Ion Heliade Rădulescu's version of Radicalism...

, Dimitrie Bolintineanu

Dimitrie Bolintineanu

Dimitrie Bolintineanu was a Romanian poet , diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848. He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins...

, Cezar Bolliac

Cezar Bolliac

Cezar Bolliac or Boliac, Boliak was a Wallachian and Romanian radical political figure, amateur archaeologist, journalist and Romantic poet.-Early life:...

, Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal was a Romanian painter and sculptor of Hungarian birth and a 1848 revolutionary, best known for his portraits and his choice of Romanian Romantic nationalist subjects.-Early career:Born into a Jewish merchant family in Pest , he left the city...

, C. A. Rosetti

C. A. Rosetti

Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...

, Dimitrie

Dimitrie Bratianu

Dimitrie Brătianu was the Prime Minister of Romania from 22 April to 21 June 1881 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 10, 1881 until June 8, 1881....

 and Ion Brătianu

Ion Bratianu

Ion C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...

, Alexandru G. Golescu

Alexandru G. Golescu

Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 .-Early life:...

 and others belonged to Frăţia and were at the forefront of the revolution. Freemasons such as Vasile Alecsandri

Vasile Alecsandri

Vasile Alecsandri was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folk songs and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....

, Mihail Kogălniceanu

Mihail Kogalniceanu

Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...

 and Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...

 were active in the revolution in Moldavia that year. The union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859 featured involvement by Freemasons from the Principalities and from exile. Cuza, domnitor

Domnitor

Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....

of the new polity, governed on Masonic principles but nevertheless came into conflict with certain prominent boyar

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

s, who, like him, belonged to the Steaua Dunării Lodge in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

. These individuals, dissatisfied with Cuza's actions, organised a plot to dethrone him, but when this was uncovered in 1865, the prince shut down the Lodge without taking measures against the plotters. Thus Cuza dissolved his own Lodge on the pretext that its establishment in nine years earlier had not been officially approved. Not coincidentally, the three officers who presented Cuza with his act of abdication the following year were Freemasons. The Junimea

Junimea

Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...

literary society, connected with Steaua Dunării and publishing journals such as Gazeta de Iaşi (1867), Convorbiri literare (1867), Gazeta literară (1871) and Constituţiunea (1886), played an important cultural role.

Romania's Lodges were unified on 8/20 September 1880, when the National Lodge was founded with Constantin Moroiu as Grand Master. Conflict ensued between the National Lodge and certain Moldavian Lodges, as the former indirectly refused to admit Jews

History of the Jews in Romania

The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....

, who were concentrated in Moldavia. Cuza's successor, Carol I

Carol I of Romania

Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...

, refused suggestions that he become a Freemason and take the reins of the National Lodge, indeed ordering the closure of the Lodge in Brăila

Braila

Brăila is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County, in the close vicinity of Galaţi.According to the 2002 Romanian census there were 216,292 people living within the city of Brăila, making it the 10th most populous city in Romania.-History:A...

, which counted wealthy Jewish and Greek merchants among its members. Romanian Freemasons helped promote international recognition for the Union of Transylvania with Romania

Union of Transylvania with Romania

Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia.The national holiday of Romania, the Great Union Day occurring on December 1, commemorates this event...

 in 1918.

On 12 November 1925 the Great Orient of Romania, which functioned alongside the Grand National Lodge. In 1934, these two merged with the Grand Symbolic Lodge of Transylvania to form the United Romanian Freemasonry, led by Mihail Sadoveanu

Mihail Sadoveanu

Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...

 and under American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 obedience. During the 1930s, Freemasonry was openly attacked in Romania, chiefly by A. C. Cuza

A. C. Cuza

A. C. Cuza was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.-Early life:Born in Iaşi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles...

, head of the National-Christian Defense League

National-Christian Defense League

The National-Christian Defense League was a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza.-Origins:The group had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in 1922 by Cuza and the famed physiologist Nicolae Paulescu. This group, which used the swastika as its...

; the Iron Guard

Iron Guard

The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...

; and the Romanian Orthodox Church

Romanian Orthodox Church

The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

. On 11 March 1937, the church's Holy Synod

Holy Synod

In several of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches and Eastern Catholic Churches, the patriarch or head bishop is elected by a group of bishops called the Holy Synod...

 approved an anti-Masonic study prepared by Nicolae Bălan, Metropolitan of Transylvania; this targeted Jews, who "have a preponderant, even a dominant role in Freemasonry" and concluded that "Freemasonry is a secret global organisation in which the Jews have a significant role; it has a quasi-religious rite, fighting against the religious-moral concepts of Christianity, against the monarchic and national principle, in order to establish an international secular republic. It is an expression of moral decay, of social disorder. The Church condemns Freemasonry as a doctrine, as an organisation and as a method of occult workings". As a result of these attacks, Romanian Freemasonry dissolved itself in 1937. Masonic historiography blames King Carol II

Carol II of Romania

Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...

, himself a Freemason, for having taken a decision to shut down the group with the support of Patriarch Miron Cristea

Miron Cristea

Miron Cristea, was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric and politician....

 (another Freemason) in order to rule as absolute monarch (which he began to do the following year).

Freemasonry reappeared after the King Michael Coup in August 1944 but once again ceased its activity in 1948, not as a result of a political decision by the new Communist regime

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 or coercive action by the Securitate

Securitate

The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...

, but due to a recommendation by its leadership. Romanian Freemasons in exile continued their activity until the 1989 revolution

Romanian Revolution of 1989

The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...

, after which Freemasonry returned to the country. The National Grand Lodge of Romania (Marea Lojă Naţională a României), which brought together three Lodges, was established in 1993; the Grand Lodge of Romania (Marea Lojă a României), uniting ten Lodges, came into being in 2003. Four more Masonic groups are active: another National Grand Lodge of Romania (Marea Lojă Naţională din România), the National United Grand Lodge of Romania (Marea Lojă Naţională Unită din România), the Feminine Grand Lodge of Romania (Marea Lojă Feminină a României) and the Grand Orient of Romania (Marele Orient al României).

Other prominent Romanian Freemasons have included Dimitrie Sturdza

Dimitrie Sturdza

Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.-Biography:Born in Iaşi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihăileană, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time,...

, Alexandru Sturdza

Alexandru Sturdza

Alexandru Sturdza was a Russian publicist and diplomat of Romanian origin. In his writings, he referred to himself with a French rendition of his name, Alexandre Stourdza.-Life:...

, Simion Bărnuţiu

Simion Barnutiu

Simion Bărnuţiu was a Transylvanian-born Romanian historian, academic, philosopher, jurist, and liberal politician. A leader of the 1848 revolutionary movement of Transylvanian Romanians, he represented its Eastern Rite Catholic wing...

, George Suţu, Dimitrie Balş, Teodor Balş

Teodor Balş

Teodor Balș was a kaymakam who ruled Moldavia between July 20, 1856 and March 1, 1857. The Porte appointed him replacing the previous domnitor Grigore Alexandru Ghica, whos mandate finished after seven years...

, Nicolae Romanescu, Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino, Grigore Brâncoveanu, Alexandru Vaida-Voevod

Alexandru Vaida-Voevod

Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod was a Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom; he later served three terms as a Prime Minister of Greater Romania.-Transylvanian politics:He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the...

, George Valentin Bibescu

George Valentin Bibescu

George Valentin, Prince Bibescu was a Romanian early aviation pioneer.Prince George III Valentin Bibescu , nephew of Gheorghe Bibescu, domnitor of Wallachia, was born in Bucharest....

 (Grand Master from 1911 to 1916), Constantin Argetoianu

Constantin Argetoianu

Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri Constantin Argetoianu...

, Nicolae Titulescu

Nicolae Titulescu

Nicolae Titulescu was a well-known Romanian diplomat, at various times government minister, finance and foreign minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of Nations . He was a member of the Freemasonry.-Early years:...

, Carol Davila

Carol Davila

Carol Davila was a prestigious Romanian physician of Italian ancestry.-Biography:He started from humble beginnings, most probably as an abandoned child, and the surname Davila was bestowed on him by his adoptive family and guirdian...

, Victor Eftimiu

Victor Eftimiu

Victor Eftimiu was an Albanian-Romanian poet, playwright, and a contributor to Sburătorul, a Romanian literary magazine. His works have been performed in the State Jewish Theater of Romania....

, Horia Hulubei

Horia Hulubei

Horia Hulubei was a Romanian atomic/nuclear physicist, known for his contributions to the development of X-ray spectroscopy.-Education:He studied at the University of Iaşi and in Paris at the Sorbonne, with the Nobel laureate Jean Perrin as his PhD advisor; he obtained his Ph.D. from the...

, Mihail Ralea, Gheorghe Asachi

Gheorghe Asachi

Gheorghe Asachi was a Moldavian-born Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and polyglot, he was one of the most influential people of his generation...

, Ion Heliade Rădulescu

Ion Heliade Radulescu

Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician...

, Teodor Diamant, Eufrosin Poteca

Eufrosin Poteca

Eufrosin Poteca was a Romanian philosopher, theologian, and translator, professor at the Saint Sava Academy of Bucharest. Later in life he campaigned against slavery...

, Ion Câmpineanu, N. D. Cocea

N. D. Cocea

N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...

, Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga

Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...

, Alecu Russo

Alecu Russo

Alecu Russo , was a Moldavian Romanian writer, literary critic and publicist....

, Titu Maiorescu

Titu Maiorescu

Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....

, Ion Minulescu

Ion Minulescu

Ion Minulescu was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, literary critic, and playwright. Often publishing his works under the pseudonyms I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor , he journeyed to Paris, where he was heavily influenced by the growing Symbolist movement and...

, Alexandru Paleologu

Alexandru Paleologu

Alexandru Paleologu was a Romanian essayist, literary critic, diplomat and politician. He is the father of historian Theodor Paleologu.-Biography:...

, Traian Vuia

Traian Vuia

Traian Vuia was a Romanian inventor and aviation pioneer who designed, builtand flew an early aircraft. His first flight traveled about 12 m at Montesson, France on March 18, 1906...

, Duiliu Zamfirescu

Duiliu Zamfirescu

Duiliu Zamfirescu was a Romanian novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy, and, for a while in 1920, he was Foreign Minister of Romania...

 and Matei Millo.

External links

• National Grand Lodge of Romania (MLNaR)
• National Grand Lodge of Romania (MLNR)
• National United Grand Lodge of Romania (MLNUR)
• Grand Lodge of Romania (MLaR)
• Romanian Grand Lodge UMSOI (MLRUMSOI)
• Grand Orient of Romania (MOaR) Cornel Micu, "Francmasoneria română: între încredere şi suspiciune" ("Romanian Freemasonry: between Trust and Suspicion"), in KritiK, June 2006.