- University of North Carolina at Asheville, Humanities, Faculty Memberadd
- Andronikos Falangas received his PhD from Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is the author of two books on the humanist a... moreAndronikos Falangas received his PhD from Paris I, Panthéon-Sorbonne. He is the author of two books on the humanist and prince of Moldavia, Jacob Vassilikos, and on Greek-Romanian relations of the fourteenth-sixteenth centuries. He has taught at various academic institutions in France, Romania, Cyprus, Greece, Israel, and the United States. His last academic position in Europe was an associate professor of the History and Civilization of the Black Sea Region at a major Greek university, Democritus University of Thrace. He currently resides in Asheville, North Carolina, where he is a volunteer instructor at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at UNC Asheville. He is the founder and owner of FalangasTours, LLC, offering high quality cultural tours based on his scholarly knowledge.edit
A thorough analysis of the old Romanian chronicles, as well as other narrative and diplomatic sources (Polish, English, French, etc.) related to the first Greek ruler of Moldavia, Jacob Vassilikos (1561-1563), with an emphasis on the... more
A thorough analysis of the old Romanian chronicles, as well as other narrative and diplomatic sources (Polish, English, French, etc.) related to the first Greek ruler of Moldavia, Jacob Vassilikos (1561-1563), with an emphasis on the impact of his reign in the religious and cultural life of his subjects.
Vassilikos (b. ca. 1510) was an officer of Charles V with a strong humanistic background and a supporter of the Reformation. His personality and reign reveals the influence that the Renaissance and its related movements exercised upon the Greek diaspora of the 16th century. The case of Vassilikos also illustrates the split within the late Byzantine and post-Byzantine World between tradition and innovation.
The author’s research focuses on the reaction of Moldavian society to Vasilikos’ religious and cultural policy. His failure as prince of Moldavia proves the attachment of the principality’s clergy and nobility, as well as of the mass of the local population, to the traditional Byzantine religious and cultural values. Other themes the author addresses are:
• The Hapsburg influence over the Hungarian and Romanian lands.
• The involvement of the Polish/Ukrainian nobility in the political life of the Romanian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia).
• The emergence of a Greek “proto-nationalism” by scholarly and military circles of the post-Byzantine diaspora.
Vassilikos (b. ca. 1510) was an officer of Charles V with a strong humanistic background and a supporter of the Reformation. His personality and reign reveals the influence that the Renaissance and its related movements exercised upon the Greek diaspora of the 16th century. The case of Vassilikos also illustrates the split within the late Byzantine and post-Byzantine World between tradition and innovation.
The author’s research focuses on the reaction of Moldavian society to Vasilikos’ religious and cultural policy. His failure as prince of Moldavia proves the attachment of the principality’s clergy and nobility, as well as of the mass of the local population, to the traditional Byzantine religious and cultural values. Other themes the author addresses are:
• The Hapsburg influence over the Hungarian and Romanian lands.
• The involvement of the Polish/Ukrainian nobility in the political life of the Romanian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia).
• The emergence of a Greek “proto-nationalism” by scholarly and military circles of the post-Byzantine diaspora.
The book is the result of the comprehensive research of old Romanian chronicles, hagiographical literature and other narrative texts of the 16th-18th centuries, as well as of the parallel study of similar Slavonic and Greek writings. All... more
The book is the result of the comprehensive research of old Romanian chronicles, hagiographical literature and other narrative texts of the 16th-18th centuries, as well as of the parallel study of similar Slavonic and Greek writings. All these sources are particularly useful for the better comprehension of the Greek-Romanian and inter-Balkan relations. They reveal that the Greek influence on the Romanian principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia manifested long before the reign of the Greek princes known under the name of Phanariots in these principalities (early 18th – early 19th centuries). Furthermore, they help us to understand the circumstances which determined this early Greek influence throughout the Romanian world.
More precisely, the above narrative sources, compared to diplomatic and other documents, as well as archeological evidences, allow us to formulate the following statements:
• A very important factor to the consolidation of the Byzantine influence in the Romanian principalities was the direct dependency of their churches from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This dependency facilitated the spread in the Romanian World of the mystical movements which dominated the spiritual life of the late Byzantium.
• The strong links between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Romanian churches did not impede two serious conflicts which emerged by the following reasons: a) the determination of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to impose his own candidates on the metropolitan throne of Moldavia; b) the acceptance by the Greek religious hierarchy of the act of union with the Catholic church in Florence (1439).
• Another manifestation of the Greek religious influence in the Romanian World is the veneration of a number of Byzantine Greeks as saints by the Romanians. This veneration is linked with the translation and presence on the Romanian soil of their relics. Furthermore, we are able to understand that this particular veneration is associated with political and ideological aspirations of various Romanian princes.
• The marriage of the prince of Moldavia Steven the Great (1457-1504) with the princess Maria of Mangop in Crimea was dictated not only by immediate political aims, but also by the desire of this prestigious Romanian ruler and national hero of the Romanians to link his person and dynasty to the imperial families of Byzantium.
• The Ecumenical Patriarchate reinforced his prestige upon the Romanian world through the decades which followed the fall of Constantinople. This is reason which conditioned the invitation of the former Ecumenical Patriarch Niphon II (1486-1488 and 1496-1498) in Wallachia as the re-organizer of the local Church. However, his eventual conflict with the prince of the country, Radu the Great (1495-1508), reveals the incompatibility of the Byzantine traditionalism with the mentality of the Romanian aristocracy.
• The canonization of Niphon II in Wallachia, during a grandiose ceremony organized by Prince Neagoe Basarab (1517), constitutes another important episode of the Greek-Romanian relations. Neagoe appears as the heir of the Byzantine and Southern Slav sovereigns, able to establish a real protectorate all over the Orthodox Christianity of Balkans and Near East.
• Neagoe’s successors, with their large donations, continue Neagoe’s policy toward the Greek church under Ottoman domination. In the same times, the high Greek clergy promotes the political ambitions of the Romanian princes.
• The Greek influence during the 16th-17th centuries is also revealed by the matrimonial strategies of the Romanian princes seeking links and alliances with the post-Byzantine aristocracy, as well as by the presence on Romanian thrones of a number of princes of Greek ancestry or culture. These personal relations between the Greek and Romanian elites bring as consequence the Greek interference in the political life of both Wallachia and Moldavia with some dramatic effects. A characteristic example is the dethronement of Peter the Young of Wallachia (1559-1568) and his exile with the entire princely family, after the intrigues by Michael Cantacuzene, a Greek tycoon the sultan’s supplier.
• In the second half of the 16th century, the Romanian principalities knew a number of ambitious Greeks who were able to penetrate in the inner circle of the local aristocracy. Some of them bore the names of illustrious Byzantine families, but others appears to be of modest origin. Meanwhile, all of them systematically applied a social strategy based on matrimonial links with the most important Romanian families. These unions enjoyed princes’ support.
• During this same period the Greek elite of Constantinople, due to their connection with the Ottoman officials, continued to exercise their influence on the affairs of the Romanian principalities. Consequently, it is easy to understand why Andronikos Cantacuzene, the son of the above mentioned Michael, was able to secure in 1593 the throne of Wallachia for his favorite, and apparently blood relative, Michel, surnamed the Brave. Andronikos became a protagonist of Michaels’ anti-Ottoman struggle and supported him in his plans to unify Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia under his scepter.
• Michael the Brave in his military epic was actively assisted by Greek or Hellenized Balkan people. Among them were his general Manta, his counselor Mihalcea, his treasurer Stavrinos and his Albanian or Greek soldiers who valiantly confronted a numerous Tatar army. After Michael’s death (1601), the pathetic verses of his dignitary, Stavrinos, reveal his vain hope, indubitably shared by many other Greeks, to see his lord on the throne of a resuscitated Byzantine Empire.
More precisely, the above narrative sources, compared to diplomatic and other documents, as well as archeological evidences, allow us to formulate the following statements:
• A very important factor to the consolidation of the Byzantine influence in the Romanian principalities was the direct dependency of their churches from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. This dependency facilitated the spread in the Romanian World of the mystical movements which dominated the spiritual life of the late Byzantium.
• The strong links between the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Romanian churches did not impede two serious conflicts which emerged by the following reasons: a) the determination of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to impose his own candidates on the metropolitan throne of Moldavia; b) the acceptance by the Greek religious hierarchy of the act of union with the Catholic church in Florence (1439).
• Another manifestation of the Greek religious influence in the Romanian World is the veneration of a number of Byzantine Greeks as saints by the Romanians. This veneration is linked with the translation and presence on the Romanian soil of their relics. Furthermore, we are able to understand that this particular veneration is associated with political and ideological aspirations of various Romanian princes.
• The marriage of the prince of Moldavia Steven the Great (1457-1504) with the princess Maria of Mangop in Crimea was dictated not only by immediate political aims, but also by the desire of this prestigious Romanian ruler and national hero of the Romanians to link his person and dynasty to the imperial families of Byzantium.
• The Ecumenical Patriarchate reinforced his prestige upon the Romanian world through the decades which followed the fall of Constantinople. This is reason which conditioned the invitation of the former Ecumenical Patriarch Niphon II (1486-1488 and 1496-1498) in Wallachia as the re-organizer of the local Church. However, his eventual conflict with the prince of the country, Radu the Great (1495-1508), reveals the incompatibility of the Byzantine traditionalism with the mentality of the Romanian aristocracy.
• The canonization of Niphon II in Wallachia, during a grandiose ceremony organized by Prince Neagoe Basarab (1517), constitutes another important episode of the Greek-Romanian relations. Neagoe appears as the heir of the Byzantine and Southern Slav sovereigns, able to establish a real protectorate all over the Orthodox Christianity of Balkans and Near East.
• Neagoe’s successors, with their large donations, continue Neagoe’s policy toward the Greek church under Ottoman domination. In the same times, the high Greek clergy promotes the political ambitions of the Romanian princes.
• The Greek influence during the 16th-17th centuries is also revealed by the matrimonial strategies of the Romanian princes seeking links and alliances with the post-Byzantine aristocracy, as well as by the presence on Romanian thrones of a number of princes of Greek ancestry or culture. These personal relations between the Greek and Romanian elites bring as consequence the Greek interference in the political life of both Wallachia and Moldavia with some dramatic effects. A characteristic example is the dethronement of Peter the Young of Wallachia (1559-1568) and his exile with the entire princely family, after the intrigues by Michael Cantacuzene, a Greek tycoon the sultan’s supplier.
• In the second half of the 16th century, the Romanian principalities knew a number of ambitious Greeks who were able to penetrate in the inner circle of the local aristocracy. Some of them bore the names of illustrious Byzantine families, but others appears to be of modest origin. Meanwhile, all of them systematically applied a social strategy based on matrimonial links with the most important Romanian families. These unions enjoyed princes’ support.
• During this same period the Greek elite of Constantinople, due to their connection with the Ottoman officials, continued to exercise their influence on the affairs of the Romanian principalities. Consequently, it is easy to understand why Andronikos Cantacuzene, the son of the above mentioned Michael, was able to secure in 1593 the throne of Wallachia for his favorite, and apparently blood relative, Michel, surnamed the Brave. Andronikos became a protagonist of Michaels’ anti-Ottoman struggle and supported him in his plans to unify Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia under his scepter.
• Michael the Brave in his military epic was actively assisted by Greek or Hellenized Balkan people. Among them were his general Manta, his counselor Mihalcea, his treasurer Stavrinos and his Albanian or Greek soldiers who valiantly confronted a numerous Tatar army. After Michael’s death (1601), the pathetic verses of his dignitary, Stavrinos, reveal his vain hope, indubitably shared by many other Greeks, to see his lord on the throne of a resuscitated Byzantine Empire.
The centuries that followed the spread of Ottoman domina-tion throughout the Greek world, which culminated with the fall of Constantinople, are generally considered one of the darkest periods in the history of Hellenism. Nevertheless,... more
The centuries that followed the spread of Ottoman domina-tion throughout the Greek world, which culminated with the fall of Constantinople, are generally considered one of the darkest periods in the history of Hellenism. Nevertheless, many historical sources from the sixteenth-...
