Gavril Istrati, or Istrate (died 1838), was a Moldavian boyar who mounted military resistance to the Filiki Eteria during the Greek War of Independence. Probably hailing from the yeomanry, he spent a while servicing the more powerful boyar Teodor "Frederic" Balș, and became a Paharnic in Botoșani city, near Moldavia's border with the Austrian Empire. An exponent of Romanian nationalism and a presumed ally of the Austrians, he participated in the boyar conspiracy which liberated Botoșani County, though his troops disbanded without making further gains; his effort matched a similar counter-rebellion in neighboring Wallachia.
Istrati was shunned by his former co-conspirator Ioan Sturdza, who took over as Prince of Moldavia after the clampdown on Eterism. He spent much of the following decade in Botoșani and Pașcani, and was at some point disfigured during a robbery attempt. Prince Mihail Sturdza reinstated the Istratis to high office, with Gavril carrying on as a Paharnic and Chief Justice in Iași County. He went into retirement in 1836, at the height of the Regulamentul Organic period, with his son Iancu replacing him as judge.
Gavril was also the father of politician and writer Nicolae Istrati, best known as the proponent of conservatism and Moldavian separatism during the United Principalities regime. Through him, the Istratis preserved their connections with Austria into the Crimean War and after. Another son, Manolachi (Meletie) Istrati, embraced a career in the Moldavian Orthodox Church, but assisted Nicolae in his intrigues. The brothers' agenda acquired a visual representation in monuments they erected at Rotopănești. Gavril's grandchildren also had careers in the justice system of the Romanian Kingdom, while a great-grandson, Edgar Istratty, was a noted opera singer.
Biography The Istratis, who belonged to the middle stratum of Moldavian boyardom, claimed descent from Eustratie Dabija, who had occupied the Moldavian throne in the 1660s;Dima et al., p. 581 as noted by genealogist Ștefan S. Gorovei, this should be regarded as "entirely unjustified", since Dabija only had one child, a daughter, who "died very young".Ștefan S. Gorovei, "Note de istorie a literaturii", in România Literară, Issue 17/1970, p. 12 Other accounts suggest that they were yeomen (răzeși), with Gavril and his brothers, Constantin and Iancu (or Ioniță), being the first Istratis to receive boyar titles and manorial estates.Sion, pp. 110–111; Zahariuc, pp. 276–277 All three began as Captains of the Moldavian administration in Botoșani County. From this position, Gavril became titular owner of Coșuleni village.Zahariuc, p. 277 Researcher Petronel Zahariuc notes that the family origin is ultimately obscure, but that Gavril may have been born to a landowner from Tamași, Grigoraș Istrati, or to the Orthodox priest Ioniță Istrati of Săucești and his wife Ilinca (a widower by 1807).Zahariuc, p. 276 His social advancement was helped by his marriage to Ecaterina (or Catrina) Ilschi, who was related to the leading boyar houses of both Moldavia and neighboring Austrian Bukovina.Zahariuc, pp. 277, 279 Her sister Ileana (died 1813) was the wife of Vornic Gheorghe Tăutu, and mother of the "famous Comis Ionică Tăutu".
In 1806, Istrati had joined the retinue of Moldavia's Spatharios, Teodor "Frederic" Balș. Some three years later, in the latter half of 1809, he was disgraced and had to flee after being blamed for the fire that destroyed Balș's townhouse in Iași.Zahariuc, pp. 277–278 From the early 18th century, Moldavia and Wallachia (the Danubian Principalities) had been placed under a tighter control by the Ottoman Empire, exercised through the Greek-speaking Phanariotes. A Romanian by birth, Gavril reached political prominence in 1814 or 1815, when he was made Paharnic of the Moldavian court.Iorga, p. 173; Zahariuc, pp. 277, 278 In 1816, he was also a Stolnic,Sion, p. 110; Zahariuc, p. 278 and, by 1820, was registered among the tax exempt nobility of Botoșani.A. Gorovei, pp. 79–80, 128 The following year, Alexander Ypsilantis' Eteria sparked the fight for Greek independence by invading Moldavia from the Russian Empire, chasing away its titular Prince, Michael Soutzos. Even before his takeover of Iași, he was met with the refusal of many boyars to even recognize him. A delegation was sent to İbrail, openly asking for the Ottoman Army to intervene and chase out the Eterists. Following this, a false rumor spread that the Ottomans had entered Moldavia, and this helped coalesce boyar resistance.Eliade, p. 388
Along with other Romanian and Phanariote boyars, Istrati also rejected offers to collaborate with the new regime—as noted by chronicler Manolachi Drăghici, Botoșani and the entire Upper Country were under very loose Eterist control, as Ypsilantis feared exposing his troops to an Austrian attack from Bukovina.A. Gorovei, p. 21 The city had preserved a small Ottoman outpost, whose soldiers got along well with the Romanian, Jewish and Armenian population, though they persecuted Greeks; it was overpowered by a 100-strong portion of the Sacred Band, which celebrated its victory by assaulting Jews and publicly decapitating an Ottoman soldier, whose blood was consumed by the Eterists in a mock version of the Eucharist.A. Gorovei, pp. 21, 22–23
Drăghici reports that Istrati then took to the border village of Zvoriștea, where he secretly met with a boyar assembly that planned military resistance; other conspirators included his boss "Frederic" Balș and his nephew Ionică Tăutu, Vornici Ioan Sturdza and Gheorghe Cuza—alongside Hatmani Răducanu Ruset and Costachi Cerchez, and Spatharios Petrachi Sturdza. They assembled a 3,000-strong peasant army from villages along the Siret, gathered under a plain red flag, the "symbol of war and killing."A. Gorovei, pp. 21–22. See also Eliade, p. 388; Iorga, pp. 173, 174; Zahariuc, p. 278 Historian Nicolae Iorga argues that these "counter-revolutionary" troops were financed and armed by Austria, whose government was upset by Ypsilantis' connection with the Russians. Noting that the boyars themselves were motivated "exclusively" by Romanian nationalism, he draws a parallel with the Pandur uprising in Wallachia, which also culminated as a war with the Greeks.Iorga, pp. 174, 175 Scholar Pompiliu Eliade contrarily believes that the movement, "patriotic as it was in appearance", rested on conservatism, and represented "the progress of corruption under the [Phanariote] regime"; the aristocracy feared Ypsilantis as an usurper of their privilege, and resented the fact that he himself demanded to be served like a Phanariote Prince.Eliade, pp. 388–389
The guerilla force, led into battle by Istrati and Ștefanachi Gherghel, took Botoșani by storm, disarming the Eterist guard and appointing Petru Vârnav as the city Ispravnic.A. Gorovei, pp. 21–22; Iorga, pp. 173, 174–175; Zahariuc, p. 278 The remaining Greek garrison abandoned the Upper Country and regrouped in Țuțora; they attempted to cross into Russian Bessarabia, but refrained from doing so when Eterist commander Pendidekas threatened to execute all deserters.A. Gorovei, p. 22; Iorga, pp. 173–174 Istrati and Gherghel camped out at Stâncești, where a new boyar gathering was convened. They awaited reinforcements and new orders, but none came, and the army simply scattered, with peasants returning to their villages.A. Gorovei, p. 22; Iorga, pp. 174, 175; Zahariuc, pp. 278–279 Eliade suggests that, "although they had some trouble distinguishing between their many oppressors", the peasants "understood very well that, whatever the movement's outcome, they would be the only ones to suffer." However, as argued by Iorga, the boyars themselves had been informed that Ypsilantis could not expect Russian backing, and therefore that the Eterists were doomed (see Battle of Sculeni).Iorga, p. 175
Istrati backed Balș as the loyalist candidate for the Moldavian throne, but "Frederic" failed to act in time for also winning the Ottomans' favor.Zahariuc, p. 279 Phanariote rule was brought to an end when Vornic Sturdza took over as Prince; this regime probably repressed the Istratis, with Gavril being kept out of office for the duration; he compensated by leasing a lucrative estate in Pașcani. As noted by historian Petronel Zahariuc, in 1823 he "felt threatened", and for this reason sent his wife and children to Crasna, over what was then the Austrian border. Around that same time, his home was invaded by robbers, who absconded with much of his currency and other goods. He attempted to resist, and narrowly escaped death after being shot in the face: "his whole face was burned and for this reason he was left with black marks on his cheek [but] had quite the luck, since the buckshot went right past his head, having had the time to push the pistol away with his hand."
The boyar ascendancy was itself curbed by the Russian occupation of 1829. At this stage, Gavril helped his son Iancu enter the Moldavian administrative apparatus as a Postelnic in direct service to the Imperial Army.Zahariuc, p. 280 The Russian takeover gave way a Russian–Ottoman condominium, with both Principalities placed under a new constitutional regime, called Regulamentul Organic. A new Prince, Mihail Sturdza, reappointed Gavril as a Paharnic, and assigned him Chief Justice of Iași County, where he would serve until 1836. Istrati died in 1838; his widow Ecaterina became a nun at Agafton Monastery, where she remained until her own death, at some point in the late 1840s.Zahariuc, pp. 279–280, 286–287 She was probably joined there by her daughter, Safta Istrati, who is later known to have resided at Agapia.
The Paharnic and his wife also left three sons, of whom the eldest, Iancu, was his immediate successor as Iași County Judge, in which capacity he helped to quell peasant unrest. A client of the court potentate Nicolae Șuțu, he took the additional title of Ban as a reward for his services.Zahariuc, pp. 279, 282–285 He remains mainly known for his activity as a landowner in Călimănești-Tutova.Sion, pp. 110–111; Zahariuc, passim In the early 1830s, he and his brother Nicolae (or Neculai) Istrati had a shared interest in the promotion of literature, penning manuscript versions of Voltaire's Memnon, from the translation done by Costache Negruzzi.Eugen Lovinescu, "Un poem inedit al lui Costache Negruzzi", in Convorbiri Literare, Vol. XLV, Issue 6, June 1911, pp. 623–624, 629–630 The Botoșani census of 1832 recorded that Gavril and Nicolae were living together; by then, Manolachi, known as "Agachii", was already a monk.A. Gorovei, p. 128
Posterity