VACARESCU

This article appears in Volume V27, Page 831 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: TUM-VAN

VACARESCU , the name, according to tradition, of one of the oldest noble families in Walachia. Its mythical founder is said to have been a certain Kukenus, of Spanish origin, settled in Transylvania as lord over Fogaras. Others connect the family with Ugrin,

count

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

of Fogaras. The first member of historical importance was Ianache (b. 1654), the grand treasurer of Walachia, who was killed with his master, Prince

Brancovan

BRANCOVAN, or BRANCOVRANU

, in

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

, 1714. His grandson through his son Stephan, also called Ianache (or " Enakitza the Ban," 1730-1796), starts a line of Rumanian scholars and poets; he was the author of the first known Rumanian grammar in the vernacular, printed in 1787. While in

exile

EXILE (Lat. exsilium or exilium, from exsul or exul, which is derived from ex, out of, and the root sal, to go, seen in salire, to leap,
consul
- CONSUL
- CONSUL (in Gr. generally ihraros,ashortened form of errpavgybs 8hraeos, i.e. praetor maximus)
, &c.; the connexion with solum, soil, country is now generally considered wrong)

in Nicopolis he wrote the contemporary history of the Turkish

empire

EMPIRE

in two volumes (1740-1799). He was also the first to attempt Rumanian versification. Greater as a poet is his son Alecu '(Alexander), who died as a prisoner in

Constantinople

CONSTANTINOPLE
CONSTANTINOPLE, COUNCILS OF

in 1798. In 1796 a collection of his poems appeared in Rumania. His brother Nikolaes (d. 183o) also wrote some poems, but they remained in MS. until 186o, when they were published. By
far the greatest member of the Vacarescu family in the male line was Iancu (1786-1863), the son of Alexander. He received an excellent education not only in Greek but also in German and French, and was well versed in the literature of the West. An ardent patriot, he sided with the national

movement

MOVEMENT

in 1821, and assisted in establishing the Rumanian theatre, translating many books and plays from German and French into Rumanian, notably the Britannicus of Corneille, a literary event of no small importance at the time. He inaugurated

modern

MODERN

Rumanian poetry. In 183o appeared his first volume of verse. He died in 1863. A niece of Alexander is the gifted writer Elena Vacarescu (Helene Vacaresco), who inherited the poetical talent of her family and has enriched Rumanian literature with her

Bard

BARD

of the Dimbovitza, and other poems and novels in Rumanian and in French. (M. G.)

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