Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu | |
---|---|
Other name(s) | Tudor din Vladimiri Domnul Tudor |
Born | c. 1780 Vladimiri, Gorj County (in the region of Oltenia) |
Died | 7 June 1821 Târgoviște |
Tudor Vladimirescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈtudor vladimiˈresku]; c. 1780 – 7 June [O.S. 27 May] 1821) was a Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri (Tudor from Vladimiri) or, occasionally, as Domnul Tudor (Voivode Tudor).
Background
Tudor was born in
Tudor enrolled in the
Back in the country in 1815, Tudor learned that
From 1812 to 1821, Vladimirescu slowly built a follower base. The Pandurs respected his military skills, and many sources point out his charisma and outstanding negotiating abilities. He would also have been familiarised with the outcomes of the First and Second Serbian Uprising.
Uprising
The very same day, Vladimirescu sent a letter to the Ottoman Court of
After fortifying monasteries in Oltenia (Tismana, Strehaia) that were to serve him in the event of Ottoman intervention, Tudor travelled to Padeș where he issued his first proclamation (23 January). It included references to Enlightenment principles (notably, the right to resist oppression), but was also an almost millenarianist appeal to peasants, promising a "spring" to follow "winter".
In February the demands were detailed by more documents. They included: the elimination of purchased offices in the administration, with the introduction of
The army, swelled up in numbers as it advanced, occupied
Tudor's actions in the meanwhile had destroyed his alliance to local boyars. He had started wearing the kalpak (a tall, cylindrical, black leather hat; see
The meeting between Ypsilanti and Tudor brought a new compromise. Tudor considered himself liberated from the provisions of the January agreement, as Russia was now an enemy of the Etaireía; Ypsilanti tried to persuade him that Russian support was still possible. The country was divided into a Greek administration and a Wallachian one, with Tudor's declaring itself neutral in the face of large Ottoman armies preparing to cross the north of the Danube. Ottoman actions had been prompted by Russian threat of intervention in Wallachia.
Tudor's army retreated towards in Oltenia in May, as the Ottomans occupied Bucharest without meeting resistance. Tudor was no longer capable of maintaining the discipline and cohesion of his own troops, some of whom had resorted to robbery. In an attempt to ensure discipline, he imposed hangings of those found guilty. In the meantime, Etaireía members, led by Alexander Ypsilantis developed a plot to remove Tudor.
Death
Following treason, Tudor was arrested in Golești on 21 May. On the night of 27 to 28 May, following accusations of collaboration with the Ottomans against Etaireía, he was tortured and killed by Etaireía in Târgoviște, his mutilated body being thrown into a cesspit. Tudor's collaboration with the Ottomans was never confirmed.[2] The Etaireía did not succeed in its goal to assume command of Vladimirescu's army: most of it disbanded on the spot.
Legacy
Tudor's rebellion ensured that Wallachia would stay under military occupation. Although the situation was stabilized by August, Ottoman troops remained until 1826. However, as they could no longer trust Phanariote rule in the face of its infiltration by Greek
Although the scope of his movement appealed to generations of Romanian nationalists, Tudor Vladimirescu's most favorable treatment came with the official ideology of the Romanian People's Republic (the first period of
The day Vladimirescu entered Bucharest, 21 March, is now celebrated in Oltenia as Oltenia Day, which was promulgated on 13 April 2017 by the President of Romania Klaus Iohannis.[5]
Quotes
- [In the Padeş proclamation:] "There is no law that would prevent a man from meeting evil with evil."
- [To boyar Nicolae Văcărescu:] "It seems to me that you sir consider the folk, whose blood has been feeding and giving lustre to all the boyar kin, to be in fact nothing, and that you only view the pillagers to be the motherland... But how come you sir do not consider the motherland to be in fact the people, and not the pillagers' clique?"
- [To the Porte:] "[The Wallachians have rebelled because] of the terrible sufferings they are caused by the union between the native boyars and those who have for long been sent as rulers and legislators of this people."
- [Answering Ypsilanti's question regarding the liberty he had taken to govern in Bucharest:] "[I act] on the basis of the right given to me by my own sword."
References
- Sources
- Mihai Cioranu, Revoluţia lui Tudor Vladimirescu, Bucharest, 1859.
- Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995.
- Nicolae Iorga, Histoire des Roumains et de leur civilisation. Renaissance roumaine au XIXe siècle avant l'union des Principautés
- Citations
- ^ Nicolae Iorga, Izvoarele contemporane asupra mișcării lui Tudor Vladimirescu, Lib. "Cartea Românească" şi Pavel Suru, 1921
- ^ Vasilie Urechiă, "Istoria Romanilor: Revolutiunea lui Tudor Vladimirescu", Bucuresci, 1901
- Internet Movie Database
- Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
- ^ "Ziua Olteniei". Agerpres (in Romanian). 21 March 2020. Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 March 2021.
External links
- Francesco Guida on the Philikí Etaireía Activities in the Principalities (in French)
- Facsimile of the Padeş Proclamation Archived 2011-09-26 at the Wayback Machine