Simion Barnutiu
Encyclopedia
Simion Bărnuţiu was a Transylvania
n-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. Barnuţiu lived for a large part of his life in Moldavia
, and was for long a professor of philosophy at Academia Mihăileană
and at the University of Iaşi.
, Szilágy County, Royal Hungary. He became a teacher of history at the secondary school
in Blaj
, which was at the time, like the rest of Transylvania, part of the Austrian Empire
. Bărnuţiu was influenced early-on by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant
(Kantianism
), in which he saw the means to reform society in opposition to traditional theological
views, while supporting a presence of laity
in the administrative structures of his own church. An active contributor to Foaie pentru minte, inimă şi literatură, the literary supplement of George Bariţ
' journal Gazeta de Transilvania
, he became noted after 1842 for virulently opposing the decision of the Magyar-dominated Transylvanian Diet
to give Hungarian
status as a semi-official language in local administration (see History of Transylvania
).
On March 24, 1848, Bărnuţiu issued one in a series of appeals by various authors, calling for self-determination
of Romanians
inside Transylvania, viewing it as a necessary step in matching Magyar success in obtaining rights from Emperor
Ferdinand I
, and professing that Romanians should reject the projected union of the region with the Kingdom of Hungary
until ensured proportional representation
and the official condemnation of serfdom
.
s, clergy
, and commoners.
Bărnuţiu gave several speeches in front of the Assembly, calling for patience and moderation while continuing to campaign against all unilateral change in Transylvania's government and disagreeing with more skeptical political leaders, such as Bariţ and Andrei Şaguna
, and finally being persuaded to include an oath of allegiance to the Emperor in his political strategy. Just before the Second Assembly in May, he agreed to moderate his tone further, taking in view the points made by Bariţ in regard to the fragile situation facing Romanians in the region, and partly reformulated his program on self-determination. On May 17, he was elected vicepresident of the Permanent Committee formed by Blaj delegates as a supervising body (one presided by Şaguna), later the basis of the National Romanian Committee.
The rapid succession of events after the proclamation of Transylvania's union with the Hungarian Kingdom (July 11) and of Hungary
's independence (September 27), with an Austrian military debacle in Transylvania, saw a rapprochement between the loyalist Austrian Anton Freiherr von Puchner, nominal governor of the region, and Bărnuţiu's Committee. From the Committee's perspective, this was an Austrian recognition of Transylvania's self-government as a Romanian region, which was to be advanced to the new emperor Franz Josef
.
, Moldavia's capital. He wrote several treaties on law and philosophy (including a passionate defense of Roman law
), and, before and after the union of the Danubian Principalities
under Domnitor
Alexander John Cuza
advocated radical
reforms which were a direct inspiration to the Moldavian liberal dissidents grouped as Fracţiunea liberă şi independentă. In the 1850s, Bărnuţiu wrote against the popular project of electing a foreign prince as ruler of the Principalities, an opposition which Fracţiunea carried into the Consituent Assembly
following the toppling of Cuza two years after Bărnuţiu's death. Junimea
, a conservative
literary society
created during that period, criticized him along with other Transylvanian intellectuals (such as Timotei Cipariu
, Gheorghe Şincai
, and August Treboniu Laurian
) for having supported a Romanian grammar
and alphabet
based on Latin
etymologies instead of one reflecting the spoken language (at the time, "Latinist" influences following Transylvanian guidelines had come to be favoured by the Romanian Academy
).
After having fallen gravely ill, Simion Bărnuţiu asked to be allowed to return to his native village. He died on the way there, in Hida
.
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...
n-born Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
historian, academic, philosopher, jurist, and liberal
Liberalism and radicalism in Romania
This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...
politician. A leader of the 1848 revolutionary movement of Transylvanian Romanians
Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas
From March 1848 through July 1849, the Habsburg Austrian Empire was threatened by revolutionary movements. Much of the revolutionary activity was of a nationalist character: the empire, ruled from Vienna, included Austrian Germans, Hungarians, Slovenes, Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Ruthenians,...
, he represented its Eastern Rite Catholic
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
wing. Barnuţiu lived for a large part of his life in 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 was for long a professor of philosophy at Academia Mihăileană
Academia Mihaileana
Academia Mihăileană was an institution of higher learning based in Iași, Moldavia, and active in the first part of the 19th century. Like other Eastern Europeean institutions of its kind, it was both a high school and a higher learning institute, housing several faculties.-History:Academia...
and at the University of Iaşi.
Early activities
Born in BocşaBocşa, Sălaj
Bocşa is a commune located in the northwest of Transylvania, in Sălaj County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Bocşa, Borla , Câmpia and Sălăjeni .-Tourism and sightseeing:...
, Szilágy County, Royal Hungary. He became a teacher of history at the secondary school
Secondary education
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. Secondary education includes the final stage of compulsory education and in many countries it is entirely compulsory. The next stage of education is usually college or university...
in Blaj
Blaj
Blaj is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,758 inhabitants.The landmark of the city is the fact that it was the principal religious and cultural center of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in Transylvania....
, which was at the time, like the rest of Transylvania, part of the Austrian Empire
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. Bărnuţiu was influenced early-on by the philosophy of Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant
Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher from Königsberg , researching, lecturing and writing on philosophy and anthropology at the end of the 18th Century Enlightenment....
(Kantianism
Kantianism
Kantianism is the philosophy of Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher born in Königsberg, Prussia . The term Kantianism or Kantian is sometimes also used to describe contemporary positions in philosophy of mind, epistemology, and ethics.-Ethics:Kantian ethics are deontological, revolving entirely...
), in which he saw the means to reform society in opposition to traditional theological
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
views, while supporting a presence of laity
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
in the administrative structures of his own church. An active contributor to Foaie pentru minte, inimă şi literatură, the literary supplement of George Bariţ
George Barit
George Bariţ , often rendered as George Bariţiu, was a Romanian historian, philologist, playwright, politician, businessman and journalist, the founder of the Romanian language press in Transylvania.- Biography :...
' journal Gazeta de Transilvania
Gazeta de Transilvania
Gazeta de Transilvania was the first Romanian-language newspaper to be published in Transylvania. It was founded by George Bariţ in 1838 in Braşov...
, he became noted after 1842 for virulently opposing the decision of the Magyar-dominated Transylvanian Diet
Transylvanian Diet
The Transylvanian Diet was the constitutional and political body of Principality of Transylvania, and later of the Grand Principality of Transylvania...
to give Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
status as a semi-official language in local administration (see History of Transylvania
History of Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of the Romania. In ancient times it was part of the Dacian Kingdom and Roman Dacia. Since the 10th century, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary...
).
On March 24, 1848, Bărnuţiu issued one in a series of appeals by various authors, calling for self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
of Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
inside Transylvania, viewing it as a necessary step in matching Magyar success in obtaining rights from Emperor
Emperor of Austria
The Emperor of Austria was a hereditary imperial title and position proclaimed in 1804 by the Holy Roman Emperor Francis II, a member of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, and continually held by him and his heirs until the last emperor relinquished power in 1918. The emperors retained the title of...
Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Austria
Ferdinand I was Emperor of Austria, President of the German Confederation, King of Hungary and Bohemia , as well as associated dominions from the death of his father, Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, until his abdication after the Revolutions of 1848.He married Maria Anna of Savoy, the sixth child...
, and professing that Romanians should reject the projected union of the region with the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
until ensured proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
and the official condemnation of serfdom
Serfdom
Serfdom is the status of peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to Manorialism. It was a condition of bondage or modified slavery which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe and lasted to the mid-19th century...
.
Blaj Assemblies and National Committee
The Blaj Assembly convened in April on the basis of such proclamations gathered together intellectualIntellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
s, clergy
Clergy
Clergy is the generic term used to describe the formal religious leadership within a given religion. A clergyman, churchman or cleric is a member of the clergy, especially one who is a priest, preacher, pastor, or other religious professional....
, and commoners.
Bărnuţiu gave several speeches in front of the Assembly, calling for patience and moderation while continuing to campaign against all unilateral change in Transylvania's government and disagreeing with more skeptical political leaders, such as Bariţ and Andrei Şaguna
Andrei Saguna
Andrei Şaguna was a Metropolitan bishop of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Transylvania, and one of the Romanian community political leaders in the Habsburg Monarchy, especially active during the 1848 Revolution...
, and finally being persuaded to include an oath of allegiance to the Emperor in his political strategy. Just before the Second Assembly in May, he agreed to moderate his tone further, taking in view the points made by Bariţ in regard to the fragile situation facing Romanians in the region, and partly reformulated his program on self-determination. On May 17, he was elected vicepresident of the Permanent Committee formed by Blaj delegates as a supervising body (one presided by Şaguna), later the basis of the National Romanian Committee.
The rapid succession of events after the proclamation of Transylvania's union with the Hungarian Kingdom (July 11) and of Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
's independence (September 27), with an Austrian military debacle in Transylvania, saw a rapprochement between the loyalist Austrian Anton Freiherr von Puchner, nominal governor of the region, and Bărnuţiu's Committee. From the Committee's perspective, this was an Austrian recognition of Transylvania's self-government as a Romanian region, which was to be advanced to the new emperor Franz Josef
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
.
In Moldavia and Romania
After Imperial Russian intervention in Transylvania, he decided to go into exile, and settled in IaşiIasi
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...
, Moldavia's capital. He wrote several treaties on law and philosophy (including a passionate defense of Roman law
Roman law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
), and, before and after the union of 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...
under Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
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:...
advocated radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
reforms which were a direct inspiration to the Moldavian liberal dissidents grouped as Fracţiunea liberă şi independentă. In the 1850s, Bărnuţiu wrote against the popular project of electing a foreign prince as ruler of the Principalities, an opposition which Fracţiunea carried into the Consituent Assembly
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
following the toppling of Cuza two years after Bărnuţiu's death. 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...
, a conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
literary society
Literary society
A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of literature or a specific writer. Modern literary societies typically promote research about their chosen author or genre, publish newsletters, and hold...
created during that period, criticized him along with other Transylvanian intellectuals (such as Timotei Cipariu
Timotei Cipariu
Timotei Cipariu was a Romanian cleric and academic. He was one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.- References :...
, Gheorghe Şincai
Gheorghe Sincai
Gheorghe Șincai was an ethnic Romanian Transylvanian historian, philologist, translator, poet, and representative of the Enlightenment-influenced Transylvanian School....
, and August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian
August Treboniu Laurian was a Transylvanian Romanian politician, historian and linguist. He was born in the village of Fofeldea in Nocrich. He was a participant at the 1848 revolution, an organizer of the Romanian school and one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy.Laurian was a member...
) for having supported a Romanian grammar
Romanian grammar
Standard Romanian shares largely the same grammar and most of the vocabulary and phonological processes with the other three surviving varieties of Eastern Romance, viz...
and alphabet
Romanian alphabet
The Romanian alphabet is a modification of the Latin alphabet and consists of 31 letters:The letters Q , W , and Y were officially introduced in the Romanian alphabet in 1982, although they had been used earlier...
based on Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
etymologies instead of one reflecting the spoken language (at the time, "Latinist" influences following Transylvanian guidelines had come to be favoured by the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
).
After having fallen gravely ill, Simion Bărnuţiu asked to be allowed to return to his native village. He died on the way there, in Hida
Hida, Salaj
Hida is a commune located in Sălaj County, Romania. It is composed of eight villages: Baica , Hida, Miluani , Păduriş , Racâş , Sânpetru Almaşului , Stupini and Trestia .-Miluani:The village of Miluani had 112 inhabitants in 2002 and is famous for its grain and sunflower...
.
External links
- Simeon Barnutiu (1808-1864), by Keith Hitchins and Apostol Stan, September 3, 2004, at the Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions.