Basarab I the Founder Basarab Întemeietorul
Voivode of Wallachia
Basarab I. (fresco in Argeş)
Reign	c. 1310/1319–1352 (maybe with Nicolae Alexandru from c. 1345)
Born	Unknown
Birthplace	Unknown
Died	1352
Place of death	Câmpulung
Buried	Argeş
Predecessor	(?) Thocomerius
Successor	Nicolae Alexandru
Consort	Anna
Offspring	Theodora Nicolae Alexandru
Dynasty	Basarab dynasty
Father	Thocomerius
Mother	Unknown

Basarab I the Founder (Romanian: Basarab Întemeietorul, also Basarab I the Great, Basarab cel Mare;^[1] Romanian pronunciation: [basaˈrab] ( listen)) was voivode^[1][2][3] or prince^[1] of Wallachia (c. 1310/1319–1352).^[4] His rise seems to have taken place in the context of the war between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Orthodox states in the north of the Balkan Peninsula.^[3] Around 1324^[3] Basarab became a vassal of King Charles I of Hungary (1308–1342), but later the king called him ‘unfaithful’ on the pretext that Basarab had occupied crown territories.^[2]

Basarab I's name was originally Basarabai and lost the ending -a when it was borrowed into Romanian. The name is of Cuman or Pecheneg^[5] origin and most likely meant "father ruler". Basar was the present participle of the verb "to rule", derivatives attested in both old and modern Kypchak languages. The Romanian historian Nicolae Iorga believed the second part of the name, -aba ("father"), to be an honorary title, as recognizable in many Cuman names, such as Terteroba, Arslanapa, and Ursoba.

In 1330 King Charles I launched an expedition into Wallachia to restore his authority over that area.^[1] On November 12, after three days of fighting, Basarab defeated the Hungarian forces^[1] at the battle of Posada.^[4] The battle marked the end of Hungarian rule and the appearance of the first independent Romanian principality.^[2]

Basarab founded the first Romanian ruling dynasty which was named after him.^[4]

From the mid-14th century onwards his name appears in Serbian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Polish sources as the name of Wallachia, and from the 15th century as a name for the territory between the lower reaches of the rivers Prut and Dniester.^[6] Bessarabia became the name of the whole land between the Prut and the Dniester (i.e., today’s Republic of Moldova) only after the Russian conquest of the area in 1812.^[6]

Descent[link]

Basarab was the son of a local potentate called Thocomerius whose status cannot be specified.^[3] Several Romanian historians (e.g., Vlad Georgescu) suggest that Thocomerius followed Bărbat^[2] (the latter had been mentioned in a letter of grant of 8 January 1285 issued by King Ladislaus IV of Hungary as the brother and successor of Litovoi, a voivode in modern Oltenia).^[6]

Basarab was expressly stated to be a Romanian (Vlach); King Charles I of Hungary speaks of him as ‘our unfaithful Vlach’.^{[note 1][6]}

The linguist Sorin Paliga suggests that - despite many opposite hypotheses - his name may be one of the Thracian anthroponomical relics in Romanian, since the root bas-, bes- is well attested in Thracian (cf. Albanian besë ‘creed, faith’).^[7] He thinks that the name may be the continuation of the similar Thracian names (e.g., Bassaros, Bassos, Bassus) and may be connected to Bassarái (a garment of Bacchus priestesses).^[7]

Vassal of the king of Hungary[link]

Toward the middle of the 13th century voivodates dependent on the Kingdom of Hungary began to form on the territories of future Wallachia, but evidence shows that they soon sought independence from the Hungarian crown.^[2] The trend toward unification seems to have begun with Litovoi who was at war with the Hungarians in 1277 and was killed in battle.^[2]

The Kingdom of Hungary underwent a strong political crisis at the end of the Árpád dynasty.^[3] The Golden Horde’s domination also decreased in the territories between the Carpathian Mountains and the river Danube at the end of the 13th century.^[3] These enabled the states in the sub-Carpathian regions to consolidate their autonomy and to progressively extend their authority over the Danube plains.^[3]

The battle of Posada (Viennese Illuminated Chronicle)

Basarab was a vassal of King Charles I of Hungary, who called him^[2] ‘our voivode of Wallachia’ in a diploma issued on 26 July 1324.^{[note 2][3]} He became the king’s vassal probably after 1321, because it was towards the end of 1321 or the beginning of 1322 when the king personally lead a campaign to the Banat that resulted in his recapture of the castle of Mehadia from the rebel Vejteh family.^[6] Basarab, however, was already referred to as ‘Basarab of Wallachia, unfaithful to the king’s Holy Crown’ in a diploma issued on 18 June 1325.^{[note 3][6]} The diploma also narrates that a certain Stephen, son of Parabuh, a Cuman count in Hungary, in the course of a dispute, stated that Basarab’s strength exceeded that of the Hungarian king himself.^[6]

The Hungarian historian István Vásáry suggests that the king must have referred to him as a rebellious vassal because Basarab had occupied the Banate of Severin, a province of the Kingdom of Hungary on the territory of modern Oltenia.^[6] The Romanian historian Tudor Sălăgean thinks that by 1325 Basarab had already been in possession of the strategic fortress of Severin as a result of a peace treaty between Hungary and Wallachia in 1324.^[3] Nevertheless, between 1324 and 1330 no reference can be found in the sources to any ban of Severin, so it must have been during these years that Basarab seized the province.^[6]

The fact that Pope John XXII (1316-1334) addressed Basarab, in 1327, as a ‘devoted Catholic prince’ and praised his actions against the unfaithful seems to show some collaboration between the Romanian voivode and the Catholic world, but the precise details are missing.^{[note 4][3]}

The battle of Posada and its background[link]

King Charles I fleeing from the battle at Posada

Basarab gave his daughter in marriage to Ivan Alexander, a nephew of Tzar Michael Shishman of Bulgaria (1323–1330) who was an enemy of the Hungarian king.^[6] In a document issued on 27 March 1329, Basarab was mentioned among King Charles I’s enemies alongside the Bulgarians, the Serbs and the Tatars who constantly attacked the Hungarian confines.^[6] In 1330, Basarab took part in the military campaign Tzar Michael Sishman launched against Serbia, which ended on July 18 with the Serb victory at Velbazhd.^[3]

Immediately following the Serbian defeat of the Bulgarians and Romanians at Velbazhd, King Charles I made an expedition against Basarab.^[2] When the Banate of Severin was retaken, Basarab offered to pay yearly tribute and 7,000 silver marks in compensation, and to recognize the king’s sovereignty; but his offers were rejected, and the king advanced into Wallachia as far as Curtea de Argeş.^[2] However, the king was eventually forced to withdraw toward Transylvania without having engaged the Romanian army in battle,^[2] because difficulties rose in the provision of food supplies.^[6]

But a large contingent of Wallachian soldiers was waiting for the Hungarians at Posada, and as they were winding their way through a narrow valley, the Hungarians found themselves trapped.^[1] On November 12, after three days of fighting,^[1] the Hungarians were soundly defeated, the king managing with difficulty to escape with his life.^[2]

The independent Wallachia[link]

The victory of 1330 sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown and also essentially altered its international position.^[3] Only a few month after his great victory, in February, 1331, Basarab contributed to the establishment of his son-in-law, Ivan Alexander on the throne of the tsars of Tarnovo.^[3] In 1331-32, Wallachian troops supported the Bulgarians in a victorious war against Byzantium.^[3] During the same period Basarab seems to have regained the fortress of Severin.^[3]

A new Hungarian offensive took place between 1343 and 1345, after King Charles’ death and the coronation of his son King Louis I.^[3] This time, Basarab lost the fortress of Severin and his son, Nicolae Alexandru, probably associated to the throne, accepted paying the homage of vassalage to the king of Hungary.^[3]

Marriage and children[link]

His wife’s name was possibly Anna.^[8]

• Theodora, the wife of Tzar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (? – February 17, 1371)
• Voivode Nicolae Alexandru of Wallachia (? – November, 1364)

See also[link]

• Foundation of Wallachia
• House of Basarab
• Cuman people
• Cumania
• Cuman language

Notes[link]

References[link]

Sources[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Basarab I

• Georgescu, Vlad (Author) – Calinescu, Matei (Editor) – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra (Translator): The Romanians – A History; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus; ISBN 0-8142-0511-9
• Klepper, Nicolae: Romania: An Illustrated History; Hippocrene Books, 2005, New York; ISBN 0-7818-0935-5^{[unreliable source?]}
• Sălăgean, Tudor: Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th-10th Centuries); in: Ioan-Aurel Pop – Ioan Bolovan (Editors): History of Romania: Compendium; Romanian Cultural Institute (Center for Transylvanian Studies), 2006, Cluj-Napoca; ISBN 978-973-7784-12-4
• Treptow, Kurt W. – Popa, Marcel: Historical Dictionary of Romania (entries ‘Basarab I’, ‘Posada, Battle of (9–12 November 1330)’, and ‘Wallachia (Ţara Românească)’); The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham (Maryland, US) & Folkestone (UK); ISBN 0-8108-3179-1
• Vásáry, István: Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; ISBN 0-521-83756-1

Florin Stoian (born 1979, Bucharest), better known under the stage name of Florin Salam and (previously) Florin Fermecătoru, is a Gypsy singer of manele from Romania. He is one of the best known and appreciated manele performers.

Stoian has been singing since he was a child; his first contact with music took place at age of four. His father and uncle were well-known lăutari. He debuted in 2002 with help from bandleader Dan Bursuc. His first hit single was "Ce gagică şmecherită" (Romanian: "Such a picky chick"). He played an important part when the smash hit "Of, viaţa mea" (Romanian: "Oh, my life") was released in 2000, sung by Adrian Minune and Costi Ioniţă. In 2002 Florin Stoian changed his stage name from Fermecătoru (Romanian: "The Glamorous") to Salam (Arabian: "peace", cf. Hebrew "shalom", and Romanian: "salami" ).

In 2008 he performed a song together with pop singer Paula Seling and the Bucharest Symphonic Orchestra. The show host described their performance as a reconciliation between manele and mainstream pop music; in the same respect, the song's lyrics raised the problem of ethnic intolerance.

Florin Stoian is the vice-president of Asociaţia Artiştilor, Muzicanţilor şi Lăutarilor Romi din România (Romanian: "The association of Romani artists, musicians and lăutari from Romania".) In December 2005 he was announced the best manele performer of the year. According to the daily paper Libertatea, politician Mădălin Voicu and footballer Marius Niculae count among his fans.

Florin's parents are Maria and Robert Stoian. In September 2007 he married Ştefania Victoria, his first wife according to the Romani law; the best man was manele singer Adrian Minune. The wedding took place in the Anatolia Resort (Turkey.) The couple gave birth to two children. On April 12, 2009, Ştefania (aged 27) died from hepatic cirrhosis.

References[link]

• Florin Salam at starmania.ro
• Florin Salam Bio
• Salam Fermecatorul at libertatea.ro

Basarab Nicolescu (b. March 25, 1942, Ploieşti, Romania) is an honorary theoretical physicist at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. He is also a Professor at the Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania and Docteur ès-Sciences Physiques (PhD), 1972, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris. He was appointed Professor Extraordinary at Stellenbosch University, South Africa for the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2013 and was elected as Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) Fellow in 2011.

He is the president and founder of the International Center for Transdisciplinary Research and Studies (CIRET), a non-profit organization (163 members from 26 countries).

In addition, he is the co-founder, with René Berger, of the Study Group on Transdisciplinarity at UNESCO (1992) and the founder and Director of the "Transdisciplinarity" Series, Rocher Editions, Monaco and of the "Romanians of Paris", Piktos/Oxus Editions, Paris.

He is also a specialist in the theory of elementary particles. Basarab Nicolescu is the author of more than one hundred thirty articles in leading international scientific journals, has made numerous contributions to science anthologies and participated in several dozens French radio and multimedia documentaries on science.

Basarab Nicolescu is a major advocate of the transdisciplinary reconciliation between science and the humanities. He has published many articles on the role of science in contemporary culture in journals in France, Romania, Italy, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Japan and in the USA.

Biographical profile[link]

• Romanians in Western Science and Culture, American-Romanian Academy Publications, USA, 1992

Awards and prizes[link]

• Member of the Romanian Academy, 2001
• Doctor Honoris Causa of University of Veracruz, Mexico, "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University, Iaşi, Romania, Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, "Vasile Goldiş" University, Arad, Romania and "George Bacovia" University, Bacau, Romania.
• Great Officer, Faithful Service Order, Romania, 2002
• Honorary citizenship of the cities of Cluj-Napoca, Iaşi and Ploieşti, Romania
• Prize of the Union of Writers of Romania, 1993
• The ATLAS Ramamoorthy§Yeh Transdisciplinary Distinguished Award, USA, 2010
• "Inter-Balkan Cultural Association - Rigas' Charta" Award, Athens, Greece, 2007
• Benjamin Franklin Award for Best History Book, USA, 1992, for the book Science, Meaning and Evolution - The Cosmology of Jacob Boehme
• Silver Medal of the French Academy, 1986, for the book Nous, la particule et le monde. The same book has been selected by "Universalia 1986", Encyclopaedia Universalis Editions
• Gold Medal at the First International Olympiad of Mathematics, Braşov, Romania, 1959
• Opera Omnia Prize, Nichita Stănescu International Festival, Romania, 2006

Books and texts in English[link]

• Transdisciplinarity - Theory and Practice (Ed.), Hampton Press, Cresskill, NJ, USA, 2008.
• Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity, State University of New York (SUNY) Press, New York, 2002, translated from the French by Karen-Claire Voss.
• Science, Meaning and Evolution - The Cosmology of Jacob Boehme, with selected texts by Jacob Boehme, translated from the French by Rob Baker, foreword by Joscelyn Godwin, afterword by Antoine Faivre, Parabola Books, New York, 1991.
• "A New Vision of the World - Transdisciplinarity", in The Design and Delivery of Inter- and Pluridisciplinary Research, Proceedings of the Muscipoli Workshop Two, The Danish Institute for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Denmark, 2002, pp. 108–111.
• "In vitro and in vivo knowledge", in Unità del sapere e del fare: una soluzione transdisciplinare?, Istituto per Ricerche ed Attività Educative, Napoli, Italie, 2001, pp. 81–100, sous la direction de Ezio Mariani.
• "Transdisciplinarity and Complexity: Levels of Reality as Source of Indeterminacy", in Determinismo e Complessità, Armando Editore, Roma, 2000, pp. 127–142, edited by F. Tito Arecchi.
• "Hylemorphism, Quantum Physics and Levels of Reality", in Aristotle and Contemporary Science, Vol. I, Peter Lang, New York, 2000, pp. 173–184, edited by Demetra Sfendoni-Mentzou, introduction by Hilary Putnam.
• "Gödelian Aspects of Nature and Knowledge", in Systems - New Paradigms for the Human Sciences, De Gruyter, Berlin, 1998, translation from French by Karen-Claire Voss, pp. 385–403, edited by Gabriel Altmann and Walter A. Koch.
• "Levels of Representation and Levels of Reality: Towards an Ontology of Science", in The Concept of Nature in Science and Theology (part II), in collaboration with Michel Camus, Thierry Magnin et Karen-Claire Voss, Éditions Labor et Fides, Genève, 1998, pp. 94–103, edited by Niels H. Gregersen, Michael W.S. Parsons and Christoph Wassermann.
• "Peter Brook and Traditional Thought", in Contemporary Theater Review, Vol.7, Part 1, 1997, Harwood Academic Publishers, Amsterdam, translated from the French by David Williams (translated also into Japanese).
• "In the Valley of Astonishment, an interview with Basarab Nicolescu" by Jean Biès, in Parabola, Vol.XXII, No.4, Winter 1997, New York.
• "Levels of Complexity and Levels of Reality", in The Emergence of Complexity in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, Proceedings of the Plenary Session of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 27–31 October 1992, Casina Pio IV, Vatican, Pontificia Academia Scientiarum Editions, Vatican City, 1996 (distributed by Princeton University Press).
• "Science as Testimony", in Science and the Boundaries of Knowledge, Proceedings of the Venice Symposium, UNESCO Editions, Paris, 1986 (translated into Spanish and many other languages)

Editor of collective works[link]

• Transdisciplinarity - Theory and Practice, Hampton Press, USA (in press)

External links[link]

• Basarab Nicolescu : Biobibliography The complete biobibliography of Basarab Nicolescu.
• International Center for Transdisciplinary Research and Studies The site of Centre International de Recherches et Etudes Transdisciplinaires (CIRET). The only existent site dedicated, in its totality, to transdisciplinarity. E-zine "Transdisciplinary Encounters".