CHANGING IDENTITIES. THE IDENTITY VOCABULARY OF THE GREAT BOYARS IN THE PRINCIPALITY OF MOLDAVIA TOWARDS THE END OF THE 18TH CENTURY

Abstract

The central theme of our research concerns the terms used to define the identity of great boyar families, both ethnic and religious, in the 18 century. We consider the great local boyar families both those who were rooted in Moldavia (as far back as classic Middle Ages) as well as those who became local during the 17-18 centuries and had Greek origins. According to sources, terms like pământean, moldovean, român, rumân, grec, fanariot, țarigrădean, levantin, insular (native, moldavian, romanian, greek, fanariot, levantin, constantinopolitan, insular), but also creștin, drept credincios, ortodox (christian, true believer, orthodox) have been frequently used. These terms generated confusion within historical research and fuelled two interpretation trends somehow contrasting. The one sustained by the researchers of the Middle Ages insisted on the importance of religious identity, including the Moldavians in the orthodox Christianity and favoring the integration of the Phanariots settled in Moldavia. They also mentioned a supposed Graecization of the Moldavian elite following the religious identity and the use of the Greek language in administration, Church and culture. The other trend, preferred by most modernists, appealed to a recurrent methodology in order to identify the early origin and the alleged time persistence of a modern Romanian ethnic identity since the 17 century. Thus, terms like pământean (native) equals român (Romanian) and Phanariots equals Greek, validating an ethno-national interpretation of the political disputes of the elites. Our historical research led to the conclusion that the identity aspects which operate within the Moldavian elite of the 18 century combine several elements – ethnic, confessionary, social – in a manner specific to the epoch, based on two fundamental terms: pământean (local, native) and venetic (foreign, outlander). The local was, in most cases, Moldavian, his features being determined by orthodoxy, the age of his family on the territory and land possession which would allow the owner to be part of complex social relations built on patronage relations, as defined by .Michael Mann, George M. Foster and S. N. Eisenstadt The outlander (referring to the phanariotes) was also orthodox, but lacking both his belonging to a family rooted in the society and the integration in the complex social relations specific to the local boyars. From our point of view, this historical situation allowed, on one hand, the integration of the phanariotes who were able to adapt to the lifestyle specific to the local boyars up to becoming land owners, and, on the other hand, the use of the Greek language in administration and culture not being perceived by the local boyars as estranging their historical roots, towards the end of the 18 century.