Radu Golescu-Știrbei, historically known as Radul or Răducanul Golescul (Cyrillic: Радꙋ̆лMarinella Lörinczi Angioni, "Coscienza nazionale romanza e ortografia: il romeno tra alfabeto cirillico e alfabeto latino", in La Ricerca Folklorica, Issue 5, April 1982, p. 81 or Ръдуканꙋ̆л Голєскꙋ̆л;Manea, p. 141 3 May 1746 – 8 October 1818), was a Wallachian statesman, entrepreneur and philanthropist; he was the maternal grandson of Spatharios Radu Leurdeanu Golescu, as well as the father of the writers Iordache and Dinicu Golescu. His life, as well as his participation in government, coincided with the Phanariote reigns, by Greek or Hellenized Princes acting under Ottoman suzerainty. Himself educated in Greek, Golescu was a native boyar, and, like his sons, tended to side with the early manifestations of Romanian nationalism; he was especially prone to economic nationalism—though he alternated this commitment with episodes of participation in Phanariote spoliation, and was vilified as such by Wallachia's taxpayers. Before his political ascent, he established reputation as a businessman and early capitalist, investing in lucrative exports and helping to expand his family manor in Golești. Especially in his final decade, Golescu reinvested much of his wealth into the social uplift of peasant communities, building several rural schools and sponsoring the printing of books.
Golescu's rise began in the early 1780s, when he took over as Spatharios, also overseeing work on the Old Princely Cort of Târgoviște; he remained associated with Dâmbovița County, especially as its Ispravnic (sheriff), in which capacity he served until being deposed by the Ottomans in the Russo-Turkish War of 1787. From 1794, he received a role as foreign-policy overseer, or Great Logothete, and, in 1799–1800, served his first term as Great Ban of Oltenia. During these terms, he was also head of a token Wallachian military force assisting the Ottomans against the rebellious warlord, Osman Pazvantoğlu. Chased out of the country in 1802, when parts of Wallachia were sacked by Pazvantoğlu, he spent some years in relative isolation, including after his return; his sons also took up politics, climbing into the middle and higher reaches of administrative boyardom. During the war of 1806–1812, Golescu pledged himself to the Russian Empire, though he was marginalized within the administrative apparatus of Russian-occupied Wallachia. As an adversary of the returning Prince Constantine Ypsilantis, he opted to go into his second exile, to Moldavia.
Golescu returned to Wallachia under the subsequent reign of John Caradja, who tasked the former Ban with sanitation work, which was supposed to contain the eponymous plague. Rewarded with a second and third terms at the Banship, he was later briefly the Wallachian treasurer (Vistier), in which capacity he supported some of Caradja's most controversial practices. He and Iordache were ultimately sidelined in 1817, following Caradja's definitive clash with the nationalists. Ban Golescu died shortly after, with his funeral being the last public function attended by Caradja, who then fled Wallachia. The junior Golescus endorsed a return to their father's economic policies, trying to obtain support for them during the Regulamentul Organic regime in the 1820s and '30s. Radu's many grandsons embraced liberal radicalism, with most of them playing parts in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848.
Biography Origins and early life Despite his usage of the Golescu surname, Radu was only descended from that family through his mother Anița—she was daughter of Radu Leurdeanu Golescu, who had tried to seize the Wallachian throne for himself during the 1710s, before pledging himself to the Habsburg Monarchy; Anița's brother Constantin had died childless, making Radu Jr an inheritor of the boyar estate.Almaș, p. 78. See also Anghelescu, pp. IX–XI Radu was also the maternal great-great-grandson of Stroe Leurdeanu, one of the major political intriguers of the mid-to-late 17th century.Almaș, pp. 77–78; Fotino, pp. 3–5; Iorga (1906), pp. XLVII–XLVIII; Urechia, p. 34 The latter had also built a long-standing manor in Golești, which was the clan's eponymous estate, on Muscel County's southern border.Fotino, pp. 3–4 The name of "Golescu" had been used sporadically by various members of the clan, the first one of whom was a 16th-century Clucer, also named Radu Golescu, who had served Prince Radu Paisie; it was revived and settled by the early-18th-century Radu, known in some records just as "Radu Leurdeanu".Anghelescu, pp. VI, VIII Radu Sr died in 1731 at his home in the Banat of Craiova—namely, Oltenia, which was then administered as a Habsburg province.Anghelescu, p. XI
The future Great Ban was born on 3 May 1746, from Anița's marriage to Nicolae Șirbei, a Polcovnic in the Wallachian military.Almaș, p. 78. See also Anghelescu, p. XI; Crutzescu & Teodorescu, p. 256 Nicolae's father, Ilie, had joined Leurdeanu Golescu in his political endeavors and his eventual exile to Oltenia; at the time of Radu Jr birth, the latter region had been retaken by Wallachia, now under a Phanariote regime. From the Știrbeis, the boy inherited land in Dâmbovița, including the village of Produlești-Ghinești.Nițulescu, pp. 161–162 Golescu-Știrbei was an educated man by 18th-century standards: probably home-schooled, he preserved his manuscript textbooks, in the Greek original. These show that he was taught geography, geometry, arithmetic, Greek mythology, and Ancient Greek literature (with samples of Hesiod, Theocritus, Anacreon, Bion, and Pindar).Anghelescu, p. XIII. See also Novac, pp. 474–475 His early political climb was tied to administrative functions in Dâmbovița: he probably first entered the administrative service around August 1782, when, as a titular Paharnic and sheriff (Ispravnic) over the entire Dâmbovița, he was called upon to settle a dispute between Nucet and Stelea Monasteries.Nițulescu, pp. 159, 160, 161
From his marriage to ZoițaAnghelescu, pp. XIV–XV or Zinca, daughter of Costache Florescu, Golescu-Știrbei had four sons and a daughter. One version of their succession is provided by literary historian Mircea Anghelescu: the eldest son, Nicolae, was born in 1772 or 1773, while Gheorghe "Iordache" followed in 1774 or 1775, with their more famous brother, Constandin "Dinicu", being the only one whose full date of birth is recorded (7 February 1777). Historian Vasile Novac indicates sources which identify Iordache's birth year as 1768 or 1770, making him the oldest; he also notes that Radu's one daughter, Ana, became the wife of a Great Ban, Mihalache Racoviță. Another son, Ianache, is almost entirely unknown except for passing records, which suggest that he served as a Stolnic and died before 1815Anghelescu, p. XV. See also Novac, p. 474 (though one document may prove that he was alive in 1821).Iorga (1906), p. XLVIII
Radu's political advancement was manifest in 1784, when he became Spatharios of Wallachia's military.Anghelescu, p. XI; Iorga (1906), p. XLVIII In 1785 his liege, Michael Drakos Soutzos, ordered him to carry out restoration work on the Old Princely Cort of Târgoviște—including new frescoes by Popa Ioan Zugravu.Nițulescu, p. 161 An inscription in the princely church, dated August 1785, credits him as a Great Paharnic (a title he no longer held in January 1786, as shown by his deed to the estate of Fundeni, purchased from Neculae Cocoș).Nițulescu, pp. 159, 160–161 His activities also included surveying the city's property boundaries, settling disputes between boyar Grigore Greceanu and the local burghers. He first held the rank of Great Clucer at some point before August 1786, while still serving as the Ispravnic to late 1787. Notes left by Târgoviște burgher Dumitrache al Popii Gheorghe suggest that Golescu was detained by the Ottoman Army, which put an end to his tenure ("I never saw him again"). Historian Gabriela Nițulescu believes that this refers to the Russo-Turkish War of 1787, when Târgoviște was under an Ottoman military administration, and that the events most likely took place in January or February 1788; she notes that, in March, the new Ispravnici were Greceanu and Ioniță Caramanlău.Nițulescu, pp. 160–161
Political rise Historian Constantin Dinu argues that Golescu was one of the "boyars most interested in developing capitalism, one in the a category of those who set up manufactures and advanced commercial life."Anghelescu, pp. XI–XII Much of his life was spent on accumulating a personal wealth; in his last will, dated to February 1815, he notes: ("never have I squandered [properties], but have only added to them, so much so that one could say I've doubled them").Almaș, p. 78; Anghelescu, p. XII; Fotino, pp. 4–5; Nițulescu, p. 162 As noted by historian Nicolae Iorga, his financial standing was precarious around 1800: he "was mixed up in lots of affairs, and owed quite a lot of debts." Though he lost Fundeni, which was sold back and forth between other families, he compensated with other purchases in Dâmbovița—Dâmbovicioara (July 1787) and Ghimpați (before 1815).Nițulescu, p. 162 At some point before 1816, he and his cousin Sandu Golescu set up two watermills (Morile Sandului) at the mouth of Râul Doamnei, just east of Pitești.Pănoiu, pp. 58–61 Radu was a major producer of honey, beeswax, hay, and maize, which he sold abroad through a Transylvanian merchant, Constantin Hagi Pop; an employer of skilled immigrant workers, he opened up a number of shops, and an inn, on Bucharest's Podul Calicilor.Anghelescu, p. XII. See also Iorga (1906), pp. 37, 38, 40, 41, 42; Nițulescu, p. 162; Potra, p. 126; Vintilă-Ghițulescu, p. 266 As Golescu himself put it, the inn had been "bought and refurbished" by him,Novac, p. 474 probably around 1800;Potra, p. 126 it emerged as "one of the city's most important and spacious".Zamani, p. 202
In 1788, Golescu-Știrbei was again Clucer. The following year, he participated in the reopening of Târgoviște church, with a ceremony also attended by Prince Nicholas Mavrogenes. A Habsburg invasion in November 1789 chased out Mavrogenes, and left the country occupied until 1791. The Habsburgs governed using a revamped version of the Boyar Divan, presided upon by Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; Golescu was assigned to it as a Vornic.Nicolae Iorga, Ceva despre ocupațiunea austriacă în anii 1789—1791, p. 221. Bucharest etc.: Librăriile Socec & Comp. etc., 1911 In December 1793, Golescu asked Prince Alexander Mourouzis for approval to donate Vieroși Monastery, located on his lands and established by his Leurdeanu ancestors, but curated by the Wallachian Orthodox church province, to a Greek Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos. His request was denied as contrary to Wallachian customs, with Metropolitan Dositei Filitti also weighing in the fact that Golescu was not agnatically descended from Stroe Leurdeanu.Urechia, pp. 33–35 By September 1794, Golescu, now a Great Logothete, was engaged in tax farming, and bought from Mourouzis the right to collect winemakers' taxes throughout Argeș County. He complained to the Prince that he had been cheated on by the debtors; although the vineyards were entirely located in Muntenia, his claim was addressed by an inquiry headed by the Oltenian Banship.Urechia, pp. 635–636 Shortly after, the bubonic plague erupted in Wallachia, with Mourouzis heading the relief and containment effort—in April 1795, Golescu was personally instructed to disinfect parts of Bucharest.Urechia, p. 754 According to a court document of July 1795, Bucharest had a Golescu quarter (or mahala), in which Grigorie Bujoreanu and boyar Barbucică acted as the plague wardens.Urechia, pp. 748–749