Peregrin în Suedia. Nicolae Milescu Spătarul

Abstract

Nicolae Milescu Spătarul, a scholar from Moldova (born in 1636), is known especially for his activity during the second half of his life, from his permanent relocation to Russia (1671) to the year of his death (1708). Within this interval, in which he served the Tsars’ interests as a translator at Posolski Prikaz, some sort of Ministry of External Affairs, he is sent by the Tsar Alexei Mihailovici with an embassy to the Emperor of China, thus becoming the first European scholar who travelled from Moscow to Pekin, crossing through Siberia. This paper is focused on the first half of his life, following, firstly, his studies at the Great School of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the education he received there, his relationships with the princes of Moldova, the relationships with other scholars from his time. Then follows his European journey: Berlin – Stettin – Stockholm – Paris, his relationship with the jansenists of Port Royal and the presentation of his work Enchiridion sive Stella Orientalis splendens Occidentali, in which he analyses a theological dispute that was of interest for the jansenists. The Enchiridion is made in Paris, in the year 1699, and is the first work published by a Romanian in the Occident. Our paper includes, for the first time integrally translated into Romanian, a few pages of correspondence, which illustrate, on one hand, the bond with the French ambassador of Stockholm and on the other, the accreditation of Milescu at the Court of Sweden as a representative of the former prince, Gheorghe Ștefan.