Social and Administrative Elite

in the Romanian Space

(15th-19th Centuries)
Edited by
Mihai-Bogdan Atanasiu, Cristian Ploscaru

S Hartung-Gorre Publishers,
Konstanz

2021
 This work was supported by a grant of the Ministry of Research
and Innovation, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number
PN-III-P1-1.1-TE-2016-1312, within PNCDI III.

Cover Illustration: Painting by Giovanni Schiavoni depicting the

inauguration of the Moldavian Academy (Academia Mihăileană)
from Iaşi (1835).

The authors are entirely responsible for the scientific contents of

the texts published here, including the fair use of copyrighted
works.

All Rights Reserved

© 2021 by the contributors

First Edition 2021

Hartung-Gorre Publishers, Konstanz

ISBN 978-3-86628-692-4
 CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................... 9

IDENTITIES AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATIONS

Lidia Cotovanu, Étapes générationnelles d’ascension sociale chez les migrants

balkaniques installés dans les Pays Roumains (XVe – début du XVIIIe siècle) ........ 25
Ioan-Augustin Guriţă, Contributions to the History of the Ecclesiastical Elite in the
Romanian Space: the Titular Bishops from Moldavia in the 18th and
19th Centuries ........................................................................................................ 61
Cristian Ploscaru, Administrative Hierarchies and Redistributions of Power to the
Moldavian Nobility under the Impact of the Organic Regulation ........................ 77
Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family .... 101
Simion-Alexandru Gavriş, Moldavian Institutions during the Organic Statute
Regime: the First Members and Employees of the Iaşi Municipal Council ......... 115
Marius Chelcu, The Portrait of a High Moldavian Clerk in Mid-19th Century ............. 125
Laurenţiu Vlad, Brief Notes on the Education of a Young Wallachian Boyar.
Constantin N. Brăiloiu and His Studies in Sibiu, Geneva and Paris (1822-1832) .. 141
Nicoleta Hegedűs, Csaba Horváth, Vlad Popovici, Officers of Romanian Descent in
the Royal Hungarian Honvéd Army. Family Histories, Career Paths, and Life
Choices .................................................................................................................. 155
Mircea-Cristian Ghenghea German Contributions to the Foundation of the
Romanian Modern Medical System in Mid-19th Century: Jacob Czihak and
Friedrich Albert Wehnert ...................................................................................... 177

POLITICAL CHANGES AND RECONSTRUCTING LEGITIMACIES

Liviu Cîmpeanu, Prestige and Power: The Estates of John Hunyadi (1409-1456) ...... 191
Mihai Mîrza, The Mavrocordat Family and the Beginnings of the ‘Phanariote Era’
in the Romanian Principalities. A Few Observations ........................................... 207
Mihai-Bogdan Atanasiu, The Moldavian Metropolis – Necropolis of the Grand
Boyars in the 18th Century ..................................................................................... 223
Cătălina Chelcu, Criminal Justice Delivery in Moldavia, from Late 18th Century to
the First Two Decades of the 19th Century ............................................................ 239
Tudor-Radu Tiron, In Quest of a New Identity. Nobiliary Issues Reflected in the 1839
Documents of the Moldavian “Confederative Conspiracy” ................................. 263
Cosmin Mihuţ, A Pamphlet by Ion Heliade Rădulescu (1839) and the Rhetorical
Deconstruction of Legitimacy ............................................................................... 291
Filip-Lucian Iorga, Thou Shalt not Remember. Memory and Oblivion among
Romanian Aristocrats, during the Communist Regime and after its Collapse ..... 303

ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................. 369

EVIDENCE ON THE FOUNDING VOCATION OF THE CAZIMIR FAMILY *

LUCIAN-VALERIU LEFTER **

In the Romantic epoch of the genealogical research, boyars followed the

impulse of retrieving their own origins. The boyars of the Cazimir family lived in
the spirit of those years, shaping a family tree meant to justify not only the prestige
of their kin, but also their pragmatic needs, especially concerning the members
living on the left side of the Prut River, for whom the path to positions and the
climbing of hierarchical levels depended on being acknowledged as part of the
Russian Empire’s nobility. Made in the first part of the 19th century, Cazimirs’
family tree 1 would be based on documents from “the archive of the Polish
Kingdom”, descending from Jan Kazimirski, Palatine of Krakow, “who was at first
bishop of Helna and then of Samischi, and died in 1487”. One of his descendants,
Kazimir Kazimirski, “settled in Moldova” in 1662, where he was still living “in
1687”.

*
The present study is based on the paper Întregiri la istoria familiei Cazimir, presented at
the Genealogy, Heraldry and Sigillography Commission of the Romanian Academy – Iaşi
Branch, on 14 December 2010.
**
PhD in History, ethnologist at the County Centre for the Conservation and Promotion of
Tradition Culture Vaslui, Romania; lucian_lefter@yahoo.com.
1
ANIC, Colecţia Suluri [Collection Rolls], I/121; identified by Petronel Zahariuc and
published by Ştefan S. Gorovei, Începătorii familiei Kazimir, in ArhGen, V (X), 1998, 1-2,
p. 129-131. In the case of the present text, we owe the photocopy of the document to
Mr. Tudor-Radu Tiron and Mr. Mihai-Alin Pavel, and wish to take this opportunity to
thank them. A similar family tree of the Cazimirs was identified in Kishinev, in the
collections of The National Archive of the Republic of Moldova and published by Teodor
Candu, Aspecte privind istoria monahismului din Basarabia în sec. XIX. Testamentul
arhimandritului Chiril, starețul mănăstirii Curchi și executarea prevederilor sale, in
“Studii de arhondologie și genealogie”, I, Chișinău, 2013, p. 55.
 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

In 1648, Kazimir Kazimirski and his brothers 2, Stanislav and Toma, were
part of the nobility that elected Jan Kazimir Vasa king of Poland 3. The Kazimir
family belonged to Bilberstein coat of arms, consisting in a red antler placed in a
gold shield 4, which was found later on the grave of Colonel Teodor “Casimir” of
Iaşi and on a seal preserved in the same city’s archives 5, where the antler was
flanked by two stars.
Having as starting point the aforementioned family tree, Mr. Ștefan S.
Gorovei cleared the historical course of Kazimir family, for both forerunners and
successors, showing that the Kazimir Kazimirski of 1648 might be “the forerunner of
the Kazimir kin in Moldavia” 6, who emigrated from Poland in 1662; he must have
been the father of Constantin Cazimir, second sulger, who, on 15 March 1692, bought
100 parcels of land in Bătrânești, on Siret River, in the region of Roman 7. Further on,
the genealogical path may be followed through the succession of the two sons of the
sulger Constantin: clucer Gavril Cazimir and postelnic Ioniță Cazimir.
The branch of Gavril ended with the generation of his sons 8, which included
Năstasă Cazimir and Safta (married name Cogălniceanu). They settled in Albești, in Iași
county, where Maria, the wife of Gavril Cazimir, was buried in 1751; she must have
been one of the children of vornic Anastasie, forefather of Anastasiu-Voinescu family.
The posterity of Ioniță Cazimir was much numerous, as he was “the
ascendant of the three branches (one in the Old Kingdom and two in Bessarabia)” 9.
Out of the children resulted from his marriage with Nastasia, daughter of
medelnicer Toader Mălai, we mention Ruxanda (married name Rahtivan), who
received as dowry the village Hreațca in the region of Suceava, her brother

2
Gheorghe Bezviconi, Boierii Kazimir, in “Din trecutul nostru”, III, 1935, nr. 17-20, p. 24;
the same text, Boierii Kazimir, in “Cetatea Moldovei”, III, 1942, vol. VI, nr. 5, p. 153 (the
first text, from 1935, will be quoted henceforth).
3
Adam Boniecki, Herbarz Polski, Część I. Wiadomości historyczno-genealogiczne o rodach
szlacheckich, tom IX, Warsawa, 1906, p. 362 (accessed on: http://ebuw.uw.edu.pl/dlibra -
Biblioteka Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego).
4
For Kazimirski family and Biberstein coat of arms, see Kasper Niesiecki, Herbarz Polski,
wyd. J. N. Bobrowicz, tome V, Lipsk, 1840, p. 69-71 (accessed on:
http://books.google.com/ – Original from the Bavarian State Library); Adam Boniecki,
op. cit., p. 361-364; ibidem, tome I, Warszawa, 1899, p. 196-197.
5
Sorin Iftimi, Sigiliile familiei Hurmuzachi de la Arhivele Naţionale Iaşi, in Pro Bucovina.
Repere naţionale şi istorice, ed. Mihai-Bogdan Atanasiu and Mircea-Cristian Ghenghea,
București, 2010, p. 84 and p.87, fig. 17.
6
Ştefan S. Gorovei, op. cit., p. 128.
7
CDM, IV, București, 1970, nr. 1453, p. 326.
8
Ștefan S. Gorovei, op. cit., p. 133.
9
Ibidem, p. 128.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

Grigoraș, who received the village Oncești/Uncești, also in the county of Suceava,
part of the same inheritance of their mother, and Iordache, wedded to Maria, the
daughter of Gavril Hușanul 10. As concerns Iordache, we know that he had several
children, but only Zoița, wedded to ban Anastase-Voinescu (without descendants),
and hieromonk Ghenadie managed to reach adulthood.
Grigoraș Cazimir had several successors: archimandrite Chiril, Safta
(married name Codreanu), Gheorghe, titular councillor in Bessarabia, serdar Ioan,
spătar Petrache and spătar Panaite, collegiate councillor in Bessarabia. We will lay
stress only on those family members for whom we can provide further knowledge.
The founding vocation of Cazimir family can be regarded as extraordinary.
Brothers 11 Petrache and Panaite contributed with money to the building of Banu
Church in Iași in the shape preserved even today, their diptychs being included in
the church register 12. Less known is the wooden church built by Petrache Cazimir in
1819 on the estate received as dowry from his father-in-law Ştefan Anastase, in
Cănţălăreşti, in the region of Vaslui; this church is at present included in Ciofeni 13.
The boundary of this estate was the subject of a long-lasting trial carried, with the

10
Costin Clit, Testamentul ieromonahului Drăghici, nacealnicul schitului Gologofta și alte
documente inedite, in “Acta Moldaviae Meridionalis”, XXXVII, 2016, p. 166 and 168.
11
Costandin Sion wrote about the Cazimireşti brothers that “from childhood they were
given as servants to the treasurer Iordache Balş, who was powerful in the time of Moruz”,
who “taught them, had them logofeţi of the house, settled them in the treasury house, used
them for several jobs” and then “had them married, wealthy and climbing the boyar
hierarchy until [the rank of] paharnic”. In 1812, under the rule of Scarlat Calimah, Panait
became spătar, but “left this place and moved to Bessarabia, along with his brother
Gheorghi, leaving behind his son Iordachi Cazimir, who became, under the rule of that
time, căminar”. Petrache Cazimir did not cross the Prut River, but “stayed here, had three
sons: Răducanul, who became căminar in that time, of the ruler Scarlat, spatar during the
rule of Ioan Sturza and postelnic during the rule of Mihai [Sturdza]; Costachi, who became
căminar during the rule of Ioan [Sturdza], wedded to the daughter of Manolachi
Calmuţchi and moved to Bessarabia; and Toader, who joined the Militia after the
introduction of the [Organic] Regulation, was a princely adjutant and became a major
(Paharnic Costandin Sion, Arhondologia Moldovei. Amintiri şi note contimporane. Boierii
moldoveni. Text selected and established by, Glossary and Index by Rodica Rotaru,
Foreword by Mircea Anghelescu, afterword, notes, and comments by Ştefan S. Gorovei,
București, 1973, p. 119-120).
12
Paul Mihail, Contribuții documentare la istoria orașului Iași, in AIIAI, XXIV/1, 1987,
p. 453; Panait Kazimir offered 100 lei, on 10 May 1800, while Petrachi Kazimir, 30 lei.
13
Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Zăpodenii, Iaşi, 2004, p. 85-87. “Saint Nicholas” Wooden Church
was built on the hill peak, bordering the Cănțălărești estate, towards Ciofeni; both villages
were displaced after the conferring of land ownership to serfs in 1864, therefore the church
is nowadays located at the edge of Ciofeni village in Zăpodeni commune.

103
 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

freeholders of Zăpodeni on the suspicion of trespassing, for a period of 77 years 14; it

was started in 1777 by clucer Ștefan Anastase, carried further by both his wife,
Zoița, and Petrache Cazimir, and ended in 1854, under different owners.
Petrache Cazimir had three sons: Costache, Răducanu and Teodor. He
became the brother-in-law of serdar Alexandru Anastase-Voinescu by marrying his
sister, Ruxandra 15. That was the reason for finding spătar Cazimir among the
trustees of the Talpalari Church in Iași, as his parents-in-law, Zoița and Ştefan
Anastase, were buried there. That was also the place for the relics of serdar
Voinescu, who died in 1815, not before endowing the church with a building plot
and a stone shop in Iaşi, and who was buried next to his parents, under the same
tombstone, which reminds, in lyrics, of “The one named Alexandru Anastas/ Had
lived in a small century/ Along with his parents/ Named Ştefan and Zoiţa” 16.
Between the sons of Petrache Cazimir there was Colonel Teodor,
mentioned above, born in Iași in 1815 and dead in Cernăuţi in 1878, with the family
blazon on the funeral monument located in “Eternitatea” Cemetery in Iași. The
eldest son, căminar Costache, established in Bessarabia and was buried in 1882 at
the church he had founded in Mileştii Mari, in 1864. Costache was credited with the
founding of another church, now perished, which had existed in Vadu lui Vodă, his
estate located on the bank of the Dniester River; built around 1805, this church must
have been another construction founded by his father, Petrache Cazimir 17. As
concerns Răducanu, the second son of spătar Petrache, it is known that he wedded
to the sister of the brothers Mihăiţă and Lascarache Mihalachi. The spătar wrote to
one of his friends, in the autumn of 1817, that he engaged Răducanu to “the

14
On the development of this trial, see ibidem, p. 130-135.
15
Relating to this issue, see also the family trees published by Gh. Bezviconi, in “Din
trecutul nostru”, III, 1935, nr. 17-20: Boierii Kazimir, p. 24 (family tree) and p. 28
(Adjutant Colonel Emil T. Kazimir confesses: “my father, Colonel Teodor Casimir, was
the son of Petrache Casimir and of Ruxandra Anastasiu-Voinescu”), and Costache Tufescu
şi opera lui, p. 18 (Anastasiu or Voinescu’s family tree).
16
N. Iorga, Inscripţii din bisericile României, II, București, 1908, p. 184; Gh. Ghibănescu,
Biserica Talpalari cu hramul Naşterea Maicii Domnului, Iaşi, 1934, p. 48-49; also, Mihai-
Bogdan Atanasiu, Biserica Tălpălari din Iaşi şi ctitorii ei, in “Monumentul”, vol. XI, Part
1, ed. Mircea Ciubotaru, Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Aurica Ichim and Sorin Iftimi, Iaşi, 2010,
p. 27.
17
Gh. Bezviconi, Boierii Kazimir, p. 25-26 and note 1. It is mentioned that “St. Peter and
Paul” Church from Vadu lui Vodă was built in 1805 by căminar Costache Cazimir,
according to “Anuarul Comisiunii Monumentelor Istorice”, Chişinău, 1924, yet, he was
born in 1801! Such being the case, the only possible founder was his father, spătar
Petrache. The photo of the church of Vadu lui Vodă, part of a private collection, is due to
Mr. Silviu Andrieș-Tabac, and I take this opportunity to thank him once again.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

daughter of căminar Mihalachi” 18, receiving, as dowry, several estates in Tutova

region: “Pueştii and Gruteştii and Brătuleştii and other parts joined into a single
estate, and Cârjăoanii with Săcurinii”. This was, in fact, the subject of the letter,
inquiring on the state of these lands, asking for a research made “reasonably and
known only by yourself”. Răducanu Cazimir died on 13 March 1843, at Mount
Athos, in Esfigmen Monastery 19.
Petrache Cazimir was careful with the nephews’ fortune, too; in the spring
of 1824 he wrote to ban Ilie that the late ban Alecu Afenduli borrowed 8.393 lei
20

from the money of “the children of late sardar Alexandru Atanasă, which added up
with the interest is 14.351 lei and 51 bani”. Consequently, he suggested ban Ilie to
count the older debts: “because you have the houses in Ieşi in pawn for a small
amount of money that the late had to pay you back, you should unite this sum with
yours so that the houses could be in pawn for the entire amount”.
Archimandrite Chiril Cazimir – whose Christian name must have been
Constantin –, brother of Petrache and Panaite, was the hegumen of Orgoeștii Noi
Skete in Tutova region, metochion of Neamț Monastery, founded by Safta Bogdan,
the widow of medelnicer Constantin Costache; she endows the skete with estates,
shops, and anything else necessary, as she recorded in her two wills, of 1799 and
1813. “Sf. Nicholas” Wooden Church of the former skete belongs nowadays to the
village of Căpușneni, Lipovăț commune, in Vaslui county. Chiril Cazimir was
hegumen here between 1834 and 1837 21, and then he asked permission from
Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi to retire to Slatina Monastery along with five
monks 22. He returned as the skete’s hegumen in 1839, having as last wish “to set at
rest for the little time left”, and passed away in 1843 23. He had rarely been at ease
until then; on the contrary, he faced the “rebellion”24 of several monks in 1842, led by
the former hegumen, Teodor, who contested his authority: “he is our hegumen in
name only”. The monks would not have lived under the constraints of the skete life

18
ANI, Documente [Documents], DXCIX/10 (7 November 1817).
19
Mihai-Răzvan Ungureanu, Izvoare genealogice inedite: vidomostiile deceselor boiereşti
(1834-1856) (I), in ArhGen, I (VI), 1994, 1-2, p. 315-316, note 21.
20
ANI, Documente [Documents], DXCIX/ 44 (10 March 1824).
21
Mention should be made here that archimandrite Chiril Cazimir cannot be the same
person as archimandrite Chiril, hegumen of the monasteries Pângărați and Râșca from
1792, moved to Bessarabia after 1812, where he activated between 1813 and 1824, dead in
1825 and buried at the Curchi Monastery of Chișinău, according to the supposition
advanced by Teodor Candu, op. cit., p. 53, note 1.
22
Gheorghe Baciu, Schitul Orgoeștii Noi (1792-1860), Iaşi, 2011, p. 110.
23
Ibidem, p.111.
24
Ibidem, p. 115-132.

105
 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

rules, hegumen Chiril would have had “boyar habits”, he and other five priests would
have eaten seven or eight dishes on one meal, including meat; moreover, not even on
Christmas, Easter or titular saint feast would he “join us for the parish meal”. The
hegumen would have shown no interest in taking care of the skete’s fortune, estate’s
boundaries or of the repairs of the additional buildings or of the monastic rooms.
Chiril, in his turn, considered Teodor the head of dissension, who not only
“troubled all the skete monks”, whom he would have encouraged “to throw him out
of the skete with their poles”, but also defamed him “in all the houses of Bârlad”. The
subject reached an end in the beginning of the following year, in January 1843 Chiril
informing the Metropolis that the skete revenue, of 4700 lei per year, was used for
taking care of the 40 inhabitants, for the remuneration of the hired persons and for
salt, for necessary repairs, and that the skete owned 95 cattle and over 500 sheep; as a
conclusion, the belongings of the skete had increased since his arrival as hegumen.
After his death, in 1845, among other papers that belonged to him, documents from
1842 and 1843 were found, attesting that he had lent the amount of 5662 lei, “beside
the rightful interest”25, to postelnic Grigore Codreanu; the new bailiff of the skete
requested the restitution of the loan, but the delay led to the submission of the
investigation to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the time. Codreanu admitted that he
had borrowed the money, part of which he had already returned, but considered that
they came from the fortune of the late archimandrite Chiril Cazimir, who was the
brother of his late wife, so the money he owed should in fact return to his children,
the archimandrite’s nephews. The outcome of this request is unknown.
In the same region, but on Racova Valley, another member of the family
showed a founding vocation in Gologofta, Ivănești commune, Vaslui county. The
will of hieromonk Ghenadie Cazimir – whose Christian name must have been
Gavril or Grigore, as his grandfather or his uncle –, dated 18 November 1828 26,
stated that Gologofta Skete, having “St. Nicholas” as patron saint, was a family
foundation, built in 1774, made “of wood on stone foundation (...) by the asleep in
the eternal remembrance my late father Iordachi Cazimir, who was the brother of
Grigoraș Cazimir, father of my cousins spatar Panaite and spatar Petrachi, on the
rightful part of estate of my mother Maria, daughter of the late Gavriil Hușanul, and
on the part of medelnicer Ilie Herescul, who had as lawful wife my mother’s sister
(...); also, by Vasilie Hușanul, my mother’s brother, and Costachi Băltagu, my
mother’s uncle, and nun Nataliea, Constadin Băltagu’s sister; and the necessary
amount being handed in to monk Iorest Hușanul, the building of the holy church

25
Ibidem, p. 143.
26
Costin Clit, Testamentul ieromonahului Drăghici, p. 168.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

was completed” 27. Yet, the founders had no time to endow the church, as “before
long they had passed away one after the other”. The same sad fate came upon
Ghenadie’s brothers, too, as he himself confessed: “my elder and younger brothers
had passed away before they married, except one sister, who received a Cazimir
estate on her marriage, but she also died before having given birth, and I was the
only one left”. Meditating on all these “signs”, Ghenadie joined the monastic world
with the blessing of Metropolitan Veniamin Costache, who was the bishop of
Roman at that time and gave him the monastic tonsure in 1798, ordained him as
priest in 1799 and named him hegumen of Gologofta Skete, “knowing that the skete
was made by my father with the help of some of my mother’s relatives”.
Ghenadie endowed the church with everything necessary, books and
religious items (silverware and vestments), 30 seats, two bells, etc. Mention should
be made on the “iconostasis, entirely decorated with flowers, painted, having
golden edges and flowers”, and on the four sovereign icons, one seraph and the
table of oblation, which were gilded. Ghenadie dedicated his entire skilfulness in
managing his family fortune for the interest of the church, and between 1800 and
1823 he completed the works for the additional buildings: the renewal of the church
roof using new shingle (1807), monastic homes with porches, brick cellar, two
wooden basements and a very large underground storage place, “for keeping the
pickles and other vegetables coming out of the ground”, a barn for the storage of
“the products of the land”, granaries, stables for the animals, shelters for carts and
carriages, stone fountain, fence to enclose the yard, and a bell tower on the top of
the gate (1818); he planted an orchard with 2000 perji (autumn plum trees) and
other trees, as well as a fenced vineyard, he built a cellar which sheltered 55 casks
and also a barrelhouse and two houses. The skete also had a bee garden with
50 hives, 60 sheep, 60 pigs, 12 bulls, 6 cows, 3 horses and others, a fortune about
which Ghenadie wanted to point out that he had established “on the grounds of the
lawful part of estate I had from my mother”, a fortune raised “in 30 years, as I was
the head of the mentioned skete” 28, with the earnings coming from the estates and
parts of estates given in Ivănești, Broșteni, Stângaci, Stoienești, Vlădești and other
places, mentioned in 15 documents, with vineyards, orchards, woods ,and fields 29.

27
Ibidem, p. 168.
28
Ibidem, p. 174.
29
For more information, see also Costin Clit, Documente inedite privind istoria schitului
Gologofta și a moșiilor din jur, in “Acta Moldaviae Meridionalis”, XXXIII, 2012, p. 40-99.

107
 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

While reaching the age in which “the voice of God” was closer, he began to
put in order the skete’s affairs 30, for fear that “if falling into the wrong hands,
wastage or ravage could happen and, along with these, our remembrance would
fade and our effort and expense would have been in vain”.
By will, he left the skete to the care of his nephew’s trusteeship, spătar
Răducanu Cazimir, under certain conditions: not to be sold, to be “forever a house of
nuns”, under the rules of Văratec Monastery, and in case a Cazimir woman would
join monachism and prove good behaviour, she should “by all means be advanced to
abbess or superioress”, because the skete “had a lot of help from Cazimir boyars and
their entire kin”; and, above all, “this skete shall not be dedicated, but remain to the
care of the trustee”, because “it was of much more use like this”.
A princely document dated 1814 confirmed hegumen Luca of Floreşti
Monastery, Tutova region, the dedication 31 to Mount Athos, along with another two
metokian sketes: “the skete in Hârsova in the name of the Holy Dormition, of
Găluşcă, and the one in Ivăneşti, in the name of the saint parent Nicholas,
Golgofta”. After more than one decade, hieromonk Ghenadie Cazimir revokes the
dedication, mentioning in the above mentioned will that if Esfigmen Monastery
would ever show a document of offering Golgofta and “would want to subordinate
the skete, it should not be taken into account, because, through the monastery of the
right priest Luca, archimandrite of Floreşti monastery, in a time of illness, I released
such a wrong letter, and afterwards, finding its purpose, I abandoned that opinion of
mine and I decide that this mistake should be considered corrected from now on” 32.
The present shape of Gologofta church is the result of a major rehabilitation
undertaken before 1830 by hieromonk Veniamin Naciu. The three towers
embellishing the roof of the church, placed one after the other on the altar, naos and
pronas, were added in this period. For his effort, Veniamin earned an honoured

30
On this subject, see Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Schitul Gol(o)gofta din ţinutul Vaslui, în anii
de dinaintea secularizării averilor mănăstireşti, in “Monumentul”, vol. XI, Part 1, p. 99-128;
it includes the short version of Ghenadia Cazimir's will, namely the second part (ANI,
Mitropolia Moldovei. Mănăstiri [Metropolis of Moldavia. Monasteries], dosar [dossier] 245,
p. 2-3).
31
On this subject, see Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Ultima închinare către Locurile Sfinte și
premizele secularizării averilor ecleziastice, in “Prutul”, new series, VI(XV), nr. 2(58),
2016, p. 39-46. Florești Monastery was founded by Costache family, being dedicated to
the Esfigmen Monastery of Mount Athos by Metropolitan Veniamin Costache, in 1806.
32
Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, Schitul Gol(o)gofta din ţinutul Vaslui, p. 108.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

place between the Gologofta’s founders mentioned in the diptych 33 of the skete
dated 1839. The list of the “dead” begins with the name of hieromonk Ghenadie
Cazimir, followed by hieroschemamonk Ioan, hieromonk Veniamin, hieromonk
Ioasaf, etc., but also by laic founders, some of them being members of the founders’
families. The church owns an epitaphios offered by the founder, which preserves
the memory of this gesture; one can read the year 1809 and the inscription, both of
them painted: “This Epitaphios was made with the endeavour and help of the right
priest <Ghe>nadie hier(o)monk and hegumen”. In 1851, the skete had 32 monastic
rooms in 16 flats, with 35 “independent” 34 nuns, and in 1859 the wooden church
was “covered with shingle and three wooden towers” 35.
Deriving from an old boyar family 36, Xenia Donici was the abbess of the
skete for two decades. She resigned in the autumn of 1857, due to a trial with the
bailiff of the skete estate, sulger Marin Drăghici, who had been there before nun
Xenia came as an abbess in 1837. Răducanu Cazimir named Drăghici as bailiff
under the recommendation of the president of Vaslui Court, Gheorghe Racoviţă; the
bailiff claimed he had received no remuneration for his work. The dissension
amplified in 1855, when the bailiff forbidden the abbess to interfere in the estate’s
administration. Subsequently, a commission appointed by the Diocese of Huşi and
the Metropolis of Moldavia examined the irregularities disclosed by Xenia Donici
in her report of 16 November 1857, which included, annexed, the list of the money
“received from me, time after time, by sluger Marin Drăghici and recorded in the
skete’s register” 37, starting with 1841. The journal of the trial, drawn up by the
commission on 23 November, presented the result of the investigation in 21 points

33
Ibidem, p. 110. The diptych is made of wood and is sized 59.5 x 65 cm – open, 59.5 x 33
cm – closed; it is kept in the altar of the church, being written on a thick paper, glued on
the central section of the triptych, and afterwards fixed with drawing pins, as it can be seen
today; it includes c. 220 names, out of which 217 are legible. The paper is degraded in the
middle, following a horizontal line, and on the edges.
34
Costin Clit, Testamentul ieromonahului Drăghici, p. 176.
35
Ibidem, p. 177.
36
Along with Xenia, in Gologofta skete also lived Eufrosina, her nephew, daughter of
postelnic Costache Donici, from the age of 3. As a teenage girl, Eufrosina had to embrace
the monastic life against her will, as she was not allowed in her parents’ home, not even as
a servant. After the death of her aunt, Xenia Donici, in 1860, she abandoned the monastic
life and tried to get married; this rebellious attitude had been present before, when she
renounced the nun cloths and transformed them into men cloth for her lover (Costin Clit,
Documente inedite, p. 48-49).
37
ANI, Mitropolia Moldovei. Mănăstiri [Metropolis of Moldavia. Monasteries], dosar
[dossier] 245, p. 28.

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 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

and observed lacks in skete’s budget caused by both parties, according to a

revealing expenses report.
After Răducanu Cazimir’s death in 1843, the trusteeship was taken over by
his sons. At first Petrache, and, after his death in 1850, aga Costache Cazimir
became trustee.
The new trustee Costachi Cazimir intervene by concluding a new contract
with Marin Drăghici, on 20 December 1857 38, “intending to reward the named
bailiff’s 20 years of work”, under certain conditions. In the next six years, from
23 April 1858 till 23 April 1864, the bailiff had to make use only of certain incomes
of the estate, excepting the vineyard, orchard, meadow, leases, the mill, and the
obligations towards the owner, and of the wood, which he could use it only “to
speculate for opening nourishment places”; likewise, he had to close all the trials of
Gologofta estate on his expense, being under the duty to reward the abbess with
“products” yearly.
The place of Xenia Donici was taken by Zenaida Hâncu on 18 March 1858,
on which occasion an inventory of the skete’s estate was carried out 39; Xenia
returned as abbess in the beginning of the following year, according to the skete’s
registry for 16 January 1859 40. But the trial had to be suspended, because of the law
enacted by Alexandru Ioan Cuza on 16 August 1860, which dissolved two
monasteries and 29 sketes, the latter including Gologofta or Hușenii and
Orgoeștii 41, the responsibility of their administration being transferred to the State.
The Cazimirs came into prominence not only by founding religious
buildings, but also by their large houses in Iași, which reflected their fortune and
prestige. Brothers Panaite and Petrache Cazimir were known even by paharnic
Costandin Sion, because they “had big houses in Iași, which can be seen even now;
the ones of Panaite Cazimir are on Golia Alley, they were bought by logofăt Alecu
Ghica, father of ruler Grigore Ghica, who transformed them into an institute for
delivery and birth. The houses of Petrache Cazimir are those who host the
Academy, but only the ones on the west side, because the ones on the east side

38
Ibidem, p. 58.
39
Ibidem, p. 72-77; ANV, Episcopia Huşilor [Diocese of Huşi], dosar [dossier] 25/1858-
1866, p. 10-16.
40
Costin Clit, Testamentul ieromonahului Drăghici, p. 177-182.
41
Gheorghe Baciu, op. cit., p. 168-169; Costin Clit, Testamentul ieromonahului Drăghici,
p. 187-188.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

belonged to his brother-in-law, sărdar Alexandru Voinescu, and when they were
both bought by the state the arch placed in front joined them” 42.
The house of Petrache Cazimir, built after 1790 nearby Talpalari Church,
was the place where Academia Mihăileană 43 was opened on 16 June 1835 by ruler
Mihai Sturdza, the one who gave the name of the University of Iași – “Universitatea
Mihăileană” – until 1942, when it took the name “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”. In 1838,
in the recently purchased Anastase-Voinescu house, the administration and the
boarding house of the school were settled, and in 1842 the two buildings were
joined on the first-floor level by a passage way in the form of an arch, built above
the street that retains its memory, Arcu Street; the passage way was demolished in
1890, when the works for the building of the National College began on the place of
Alexandru Anastase-Voinescu’s house. Placed across the street, the house of
Petrache Cazimir had seven rooms on each floor, and two superposed rotundas used
as amphitheatres. Here was hosted, starting with 1848, the painting collection that
would represent the basis of The National Painting Gallery 44, founded in 1860, at
the same time with The Fine Arts School, both functioning in the Cazimir house for
more than five decades (1895-1948); afterwards, the building hosted the Iași Branch
of the Romanian Academy until its reasonless demolishment in 1963. In front of the
block of flats located behind “Victoria” Cinema, a stone plaque marks the place of
the old education institution Academia Mihăileană.
The house of Panaite Cazimir has remained standing 45 up to these days,
people passing under its pillars while walking on Cuza Vodă Street of Iași. In this
house located on Golia’s old alley, ruler Grigore Ghica founded the maternity,
which represents nowadays the old body of the “Cuza Vodă” Hospital.
Cazimir family proved a founding vocation not only by building and
endowing churches, but also by offering high-quality education to their own
children. Petru Cazimir was “a very promising young man”. He was sent, along
with two brothers, to study in Athens, but only Costachi remained there and

42
Paharnic Costandin Sion, op. cit., p. 120-121. We owe the reproduction of the postal card
illustrating Academia Mihăileană to Mr. Sorin Iftimi. I take this opportunity to thank him
once again.
43
Dan Bădărău, Academia Mihăileană, in “Cronica veche”, III (XLVIII), nr. 4(27), April
2013, p. 3.
44
Șt. Dimitrescu, Pinacoteca Națională din Iași, in “Boabe de grâu”, III, nr. 3-4, August
1932, p. 65-73.
45
In its initial shape, the house was built around 1745, being the property of Toader Nacul
from the treasure house, then it belonged to various owners; it was bought from Panaite
Cazimir by Alexandru Ghica, in 1849 (Dan Bădărău, Ioan Caproşu, Iaşii vechilor zidiri
pînă la 1821, 2nd edition, revised, Iaşi, 2007, p. 310 and fig. 133, p. 311).

111
 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

obtained a PhD in law. Together with the other brother, probably Mihail, Petru
continued his studies in Berlin, where he became a PhD in law. Then he went to
Paris, for advanced studies; there his brother got sick and died. He came back to
Moldavia in 1847 and was part of the events related to the 1848 revolution. The
Cazimir brothers were involved in the revolutionary events of the year 1848, in 30
March, in Iași. They were arrested and beaten in the garrison’s prison, then expelled
over the Moldavian boundary of the time, in Bukovina, from where Petru Cazimir
went to the meeting in Blaj 46.
In 1849, having returned home, Petru was appointed Director of the Cults
Department; here, “he develops a rare energy, a laudably fervour for school
progress, acting honestly and with no preconceptions”, but not for long, because he
got sick and died in 1850 47. The early death of Petru Cazimir was evoked by
George Sion in the moving lyrics he dedicated to his friend 48.
Spread through entire Moldavia, the evidence on the founding vocation of the
Cazimir family stand, on the right side and on the left side of the Prut River until the
bank of the Dniester River, as signs of a history that should not be forgotten.

Colonel Teodor Cazimir's funerary monument, “Eternitatea” Cemetery in Iaşi;

detail of the family's coat of arms

46
George Sion, Versuri. Suvenire contimpurane/ Lyrics. Contemporary Souvenirs. Edited
by Radu Albala, vol. II, București, 1973, p. 91.
47
Ibidem, note 1; ibidem, vol. I, p. 21, note 1.
48
Ibidem, p. 21-23.

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 Evidence on the Founding Vocation of the Cazimir Family

The houses of Petrache Cazimir (left) and Alexandru Anastase-Voinescu (right), which
housed “Academia Mihăileană”, established in 1835 during the rule of Mihail Sturdza,
predecessor of the University of Iaşi founded in 1860; the buildings were joined by a
passage way in the shape of an arch over the street in 1841, which was demolished in 1890.
(Postcard; “Lucian Blaga” Central University Library in Cluj-Napoca)

“Academia Belle Arte”/The Fine Arts Academy (left) and

“Liceul Național”/The National High School (right); illustrated in 1936

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 Lucian-Valeriu Lefter

Abstract: Cazimir family’s founding vocation follows the tradition of the other boyar
families of Moldavia. This study establishes the main genealogical reference points of this
family of Polish origins, belonging to the Bilberstein coat of arms; it starts with the family
tree in the first part of the 19th century, in which the founder is Kazimir Kazimirski, who
came to Moldavia in 1662, as descendant of Jan Kazimir, Palatine of Krakow in 1487. It is
surely clear that Cazimir family of Moldavia descends from Constantin Cazimir, attested in
documents in 1692, who must have been the son of Kazimir Kazimirski. Out of the two sons
of Constantin Cazimir, namely Gavril and Ioniţă, the bloodline has been perpetuated until
the 20th century only by Ioniţă Cazimir’ successors, who were the founders of many
churches in Moldavia, both on the west of the Prut River, in the counties Vaslui and Tutova,
and on the east, on the bank of Dniester River, in Vadu lui Vodă. The family has gradually
squandered, yet its churches and houses remained, one notable example being the house of
Petrache Cazimir in Iași, in which the “Academia Mihăileană”, the precursor of
“Universitatea Mihăileană” (the current “Al. I. Cuza” University), was founded in 1835,
during the reign of Mihail Sturdza.

Keywords: Cazimir family; genealogy; church; high school; Moldavia; Poland.

114
 ABBREVIATIONS

AARMSI = Analele Academiei Române, Memoriile Secţiunii Istorice, Bucureşti

AICSUS = Anuarul Institutului de Cercetări Socio-Umane Sibiu
AIIAI = Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie “A. D. Xenopol”, Iaşi
AIIX = Anuarul Institutului de Istorie “A. D. Xenopol”, Iaşi
ANI = Arhivele Naţionale, Iaşi
ANIC = Arhivele Naţionale Istorice Centrale
ANR = Arhivele Naţionale ale României
ANV = Arhivele Naţionale, Vaslui
ANSMB = Arhivele Naţionale. Serviciul Municipiului Bucureşti
ANV = Arhivele Naţionale, Vaslui
AP = Analele Putnei
ArhGen = Arhiva Genealogică, Iaşi
“Arhiva” = “Arhiva”. Organul Societăţii Ştiinţifice şi Literare, Iaşi
ARMSI = Academia Română, Memoriile Secţiunii Istorice, Bucureşti
AŞUI = Analele Ştiinţifice ale Universităţii “Alexandru Ioan Cuza”, Iaşi
AUB = Analele Universităţii “Bucureşti”
BAR = Biblioteca Academiei Române
BCIR = Buletinul Comisiei Istorice a României
BOR = Biserica Ortodoxă Română
CDM = Catalogul documentelor moldoveneşti din Arhivele Centrale de Stat, Bucureşti
CDŢR = Catalogul documentelor Ţării Româneşti din Arhivele Statului, Bucureşti
CI = Cercetări istorice, Iaşi (both series)
CL = Cercetări literare
DIR = Documente privind istoria României (all series)
DRH = Documenta Romaniae Historica (all series)
IN = “Ioan Neculce”. Buletinul Muzeului Municipal Iaşi (1921-1932)
IN, (s.n.) = “Ioan Neculce”. Buletinul Muzeului de Istorie a Moldovei (new series after 1995)
MEF = Moldova în epoca feudalismului, Chişinău
MI = Magazin istoric, Bucureşti
MMS = Mitropolia Moldovei şi Sucevei
MOf = Monitorul Oficial al României, Bucureşti
NEH = Nouvelles études d’histoire
RESEE = Revue des études Sud-Est européennes
RI = Revista istorică (both series)
RIM = Revista de Istorie a Moldovei, Chişinău
RIS = Revista de istorie socială, Iași
RRH = Revue roumaine d’histoire
SAI = Studii şi Articole de Istorie
SMIM = Studii şi materiale de istorie medie, Bucureşti
SRdI = Studii. Revista de Istorie, Bucureşti
ST = Studii Teologice, Bucureşti