Constantin Sion, also known as Costandin or Cothi Sion (September 18, 1795 – February 27, 1862), was a Moldavian political conspirator, genealogist, and polemicist. He was born into the lower ranks of the boyar aristocracy, and, though his brothers were able to climb the social ladder, he mostly had petty offices in the provinces. Sion's frustration with this standing, and his resentment toward more successful Greeks, shaped his literary work and his activities as a falsifier of documents, in conjunction with his younger brother Costache. Early on, he fabricated evidence that suggested his family was descended from the Khan Girays of the Crimean Khanate. Constantin experienced an episodic rise in status during the Greek War of Independence, when he supported the Ottoman Empire and had his loyalism rewarded with the title of Paharnic; however, he quickly reverted to the position of a minor copyist for the Moldavian Treasury, in which capacity he began gathering notes for his genealogical manuscript, Arhondologia Moldovei ("Moldavia's Peerage"). The latter, completed only in the 1850s and never published in its author's lifetime, combines historical record with political polemic, making its reliability a subject of dispute among later, professional historians.
The Sions were drawn into passive resistance toward the Russian Empire after the Russian invasion of 1828, and generally resented the constitutional arrangement known as Regulamentul Organic—though Constantin still served for a while in Focșani, including as mayor and guildmaster (Staroste). The family was especially resented, and eventually blacklisted, by the Russian-appointed Prince, Mihail Sturdza, whose rule is castigated throughout Arhondologia. In that context, Constantin and Costache Sion, alongside the scholar Gheorghe Săulescu, began circulating forged documents which passed for official writs, and which managed to persuade the public that they descended from the ancient boyardom. Though sharing some of the goals of the Moldavian 1848 revolutionaries, the brothers kept out of the events, and reverted to deep conservatism, criticizing both Sturdza and his opponents. They maintained this stance under the 1850s reign of Grigore Alexandru Ghica, resenting in particular his overtures toward Romanian nationalism, which included proposals for union with Wallachia. Constantin reluctantly followed his brother in supporting Grigore Sturdza as a candidate for the Moldavian throne.
The Sion brothers are widely credited as authors, or co-authors alongside Săulescu, of a supposed ancient narrative document, the Chronicle of Huru (1856). It fascinated scholars of that age, beginning with those who, like Gheorghe Asachi, also resented the unionist project. The Sion forgery was convenient to them for offering an account of life in the largely undocumented Romanian Dark Ages, and also for suggesting that Moldavian boyardom had its origins planted in the Roman Empire; in addition the work offered justification for the restoration of Greater Moldavia and its separation from Wallachia. The Chronicle was immediately suspicious—a commission appointed by Prince Ghica was called in to investigate, but, with both Asachi and Săulescu as members, failed to produce a verdict. Constantin Sion survived the formation of the United Principalities, which he had opposed, and died before the Huru controversy had been resolved in his disfavor. Frustrated in his efforts to inherit more of his father's estates, he spent some of his final years trying to establish his own village, "Sionești", on the northern outskirts of Pungești.
Biography Early life Though some reference work suggest that Sion was born in 1796,Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. II, p. 572. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. he himself gave the date as September 7 (New Style: September 18), 1795—also listing himself as a native of Iași, the Moldavian princely capital.Șerban Cioculescu, "Breviar. Testamentul paharnicului Constantin Sion", in România Literară, Issue 38/1975, p. 7 He was the third of six sons of the court official (Bașceauș) Iordache Sion and his wife Catrina, née Danu. His elders were Antohi and Ioniță Sion; Costache, Neculai and Toader were younger.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 137, 148–149, 151, 163–164, 169–170. See also Dima et al., pp. 607, 609 Although brothers, Constantin and Costache had only slightly different forms of the same Christian name.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 163, 168; Dima et al., p. 607 To Costache and the other Sions, Constantin was known as "Cothi", a once-common pet name of Greek origin.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 148, 164–165, 167–168. See also Dima et al., p. 608 Despite such familiarity with Greek customs, and his presence at the princely court, Iordache was the descendant of yeomen (răzeși). This is highlighted by literary historian Șerban Cioculescu, who notes that "three genealogical trees" independently confirm the Sions' peasant roots in Tutova County. Their name, he notes, is taken from a 17th-century Sion Coșăscu, linked to the village of Coșești.Cioculescu (1966), p. 151
The same author notes that a 1558 document, first published in 1951, may prove the clan's descent from Stephen the Great's second-Paharnic, Cristea, and as such their "authentic antiquity".Cioculescu (1966), p. 153 This is also argued by historian Lucian-Valeriu Lefter: "the Sion brothers [...] do indeed have ancestors from the times of Stephen the Great [but], back in their day, they could not justify this in fullness, lacking the papers to prove it."Lucian-Valeriu Lefter, "Boldur, mare vornic al lui Ștefan cel Mare. Întregiri genealogice", in Carpica, Vol. XXXIX, 2010, pp. 122–123 Through Catrina Sion and her mother Maria, the Sion brothers were descendants of the Tăutu boyars.Gorovei, p. 100 This family may have originated in Angevin Hungary, and were commonly thought of as West Slavs (or more precisely Slovaks); likely ancestors include Ioan Tăutu, who served as Stephen's Logothete.Gorovei, pp. 99–109 Dissatisfied with his seemingly modest origin, and unaware of any records that would prove a more ancient lineage, Constantin invented a prestigious pedigree, whereby they descended from the Khan Girays of the Crimean Khanate. "This bewildering story" created a 15th-century Tatar patriarch, Demir Khan, who had joined Stephen's Moldavian military forces and undergone conversion to Orthodox Christianity.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 148–149, 151, 152–153, 167–168. See also Dima et al., pp. 607–608; Pippidi, pp. 91–92, 95, 102, 106–107 The Sions also argued that their matriarch, and Demir's daughter-in-law, was Dumitra, daughter of a real-life courtier, Petre Clănău.Pippidi, p. 95 In his other accounts, the chronicler makes false claims about his paternal grandfather—from initiating a (completely fictional) revolt in 1742Pippidi, pp. 98–100, 106 to having led 84 men into defeating a 2,000-strong branch of the Budjak Horde in 1757—, as well as spuriously suggesting that Iordache had been a war hostage.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 151–152
Constantin was born at a time when Moldavia and Wallachia, as Romanian-inhabited vassals of the Ottoman Empire, were entering the final stages of rule by Greek elites, the Phanariotes. The wife of a reigning Phanariote, Michael Drakos Soutzos, had grown fond of Ioniță Sion, and obtained that he made a Paharnic. This ascendancy was replicated by Antohi under another Phanariote, Scarlat Callimachi, who made him Spatharios and legislator, while also encouraging his literary efforts.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 138–140 His appointments coincided with the Russo-Turkish War of 1806–1812, part of which was carried on Moldavian soil, and which resulted in the Russian annexation of Bessarabia (the eastern half of Moldavia). Antohi described this as an intolerable violation of Moldavia's territory, as he explained in a memorandum he addressed to the Congress of Vienna.Dumitru C. Grama, "Dispute politico-juridice vis-a-vis de anexarea Moldovei de Est în 1812 de către Imperiul Rus", in Studii Juridice Universitare, Vols. 3–4, 2011, p. 80 Constantin's early years were spent at Iași; in one fragment of Arhondologia, he himself notes that he grew up in the same mahala (quarter) as his future persecutor Mihail Sturdza.Cioculescu (1966), p. 147
Sion was educated at Iași, where he became rather fluent in Greek; by his own account, he was sent to do work for the Moldavian Treasury at the age of 12. His political ascendancy probably began before 1820, his father having died in 1812.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 148, 163, 169, 170 In old age, Constantin still complained that the only inheritance left to him by his father was a riding horse. The Greek War of Independence, which began on Moldavian soil, found him in a risky position. He acted as a messenger for Serasker Yusuf Pasha deep in occupied territory. As such, he narrowly escaped being lynched by the Sacred Band, which caught up with him outside Lunca Banului in April 1821. The episode saw him emerging as a loyalist of the Ottomans, and overall a Turkophile; in its aftermath, the Ottoman military made him a supervisor of the Ispravnici (civilian administrators).Cioculescu (1966), pp. 148, 166–167 As leader of the pacifying force, Kethüda Kara Ahmed also assigned his brothers to similar positions: Neculai was the Kethüdas boyar aide (Meimandar), while Antohi served as quartermaster (Cămăraș) in Târgu Ocna.Ilie Corfus, Însemnări de demult, pp. 306–307. Iași: Editura Junimea, 1975
Constantin was recognized as Paharnic following the Ottomans' intercession on his behalf.Dima et al., p. 608 However, his status abruptly declined with months, and the post-Phanariote age began with him as a copyist in service to the Moldavian Treasury.Cioculescu (1966), p. 148. See also Djuvara, pp. 349–350 He was seconded there by his in-law, Vasile Mihalache Alecsandri, son of the famous poet Vasile Alecsandri and an in-law of his. His Arhondologia candidly records the Alecsandris' controversial origin, describing their patriarch, known to him as "Mihalachi Botezatu", as a Jewish bureaucrat.Djuvara, pp. 349–350 Also in 1822, Sion began his work as a biographer and historian, seeing out elderly boyar and using their testimonies as sources; "around 1826", he was also consulting documents including the treasury register for 1793 and what he called "historical manuscripts".Cioculescu (1966), pp. 155–156. See also Pippidi, p. 100
Political decline and related polemics The Russian invasion of 1828 again changed Sion's fortunes: in 1829, he was dispatched as an envoy of the Moldavian boyardom at Brăila, Wallachia, where the Imperial Russian Army had been stationed. As Sion himself notes, that same year Peter Zheltukhin, as Russia's military overseer, "forcefully" assigned him to serve as mayor and guildmaster (Staroste) of Focșani.Cioculescu (1966), p. 148 He then became a deputy (Vechil) of the Staroste for the entire Putna County; he married there, to Eufrosina, daughter of Ban Toma Stamatin and sister of Spatharios Gavril.Cioculescu (1966), pp. 148, 157, 159, 166 He would later claim, spuriously, that she was a descendant of the Movilești dynasty. She brought in as her dowry an entrepôt in Focșani, as well as a winery in neighboring Odobești; the couple had seven children, of whom only three survived past their infancy: Nicolae (born 1831), Vasilică (1834), and Catinca (1840).