| Vasile Lupu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Prince of Moldavia (1st reign) | |
| Reign | April 1634 – 13 April 1653 |
| Predecessor | Moise Movilă |
| Successor | Gheorghe Ștefan |
| Prince of Moldavia (2nd reign) | |
| Reign | 8 May – 16 July 1653 |
| Predecessor | Gheorghe Ștefan |
| Successor | Gheorghe Ștefan |
| Born | 1595 (1595) Arbanasi |
| Died | 1661 (aged 65–66) Constantinople |
| Issue | Ștefăniță Lupu Ruxandra Lupu Maria Lupu |
| Father | Neculai |
| Religion | Orthodox |
Lupu Coci, known asVasile Lupu (Romanian pronunciation:[vaˈsileˈlupu]; 1595 – 1661), was thevoivode ofMoldavia between 1634 and 1653. He was ofAlbanian andGreek origin. Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was a capable administrator and a brilliant financier and was soon almost the richest man in the Christian East. His gifts to Ottoman leaders kept him on good terms with the Ottoman authorities.
The Coci family settled inWallachia (Țara Românească) in the first half of the 16th century.[1][page needed] His father, Nicolae (Neculai) Coci was anAlbanian shopkeeper, the son of Constantin (Coce) and Ecaterina, who originated fromMacedonia orEpirus.[2][3][4][5][6] His mother wasGreek.[7][8] Nicolae entered Moldavian nobility in 1593.[9][page needed] Nikolae was born in Arbanasi. According to different researchers it was a village in modern-day Bulgaria (Arbanasi[10] orDolno Arbanasi - today a suburb ofRazgrad),[11] while some historians claimArbănași (modern Romania).[12][page needed] Vasile Lupu received Greek education.[13]
Lupu had held a high office underMiron Barnovschi, and was subsequently selectedPrince as a sign of indigenousboyars' reaction againstGreek andLevantine competition.[citation needed] This was because Vasile Lupu had led a rebellion againstAlexandru Iliaș and his foreignretinue, being led intoexile byMoise Movilă (although he was backed byPrinceMatei Basarab and the powerfulPasha of Silistra,Abaza Mehmed Pasha). Despite having led the rebellion against Greek influence, Lupu maintained strong ties to the Greeks and the Patriarchate of Constantinople.[14] He pursued a Greek-Orthodox policy and sought to become the new Byzantine Emperor.
His rule was marked by splendor and pomp. He was a builder of notable monuments (the uniqueTrei Ierarhi Monastery inIași and theSt. Paraskeva Church, Lviv, among others), apatron of culture and arts founding theAcademia Vasiliană). These acts also had negative effects, the tax burdens being increased to an intolerable level.
After relations between the two Princes soured, Vasile Lupu spent much of his reign fighting theWallachian Matei Basarab, trying to impose his sonIoan to the throne inBucharest. His army was defeated twice in 1639 at Ojogeni and Nenișori and a third time, atFinta, in 1653. After this last battle, the Moldavian boyars rebelled and replaced him with the Wallachian favorite,Gheorghe Ștefan. Vasile Lupu went into exile and died while being kept in Turkish custody atYedikule prison inConstantinople.
Lupu built a strong alliance withhetmanBohdan Khmelnytsky, arranging the marriage of his own daughterRuxandra Lupu to Khmelnytsky's sonTymofiy (Tymish), who went on to fight alongside Lupu at Finta.
Vasile Lupu made alliances with Ottoman officials, in particular with formerGrand VizierTabanıyassı Mehmed Pasha. Lupu's association with the latter relied on their common Albanian origin.[15]
Vasile Lupu introduced the first codified printed law in Moldavia, theCarte Românească de învățătură ("Romanian book of learning", 1646, published in Iași), known as thePravila lui Vasile Lupu ("Vasile Lupu's code").[16] The document followsByzantine tradition, being a translated review ofcustoms and almost identical to its Wallachian contemporary equivalent.
Lupu founded churches and monasteries throughout his lands. The liturgical language was described as "vulgar Greek" byRobert Bargrave who travelled the lands.[17]
Lupu founded the Princely High School of Trei lerarhi Church in 1640, which taught in Greek and Latin.[18]
TheCoci last name was carried on byStefan Coci (son of Vasile Lupu) who married the daughter ofPetru Rareș, a voivode of Moldavia, but also by the descendant of Gabriel Coci named Hatmanul. The descending line of Coci intersects with aristocratic families from Moldavia, old families such as the Bucioc, Boulesti, and Abazesti.
Vasile Lupu is depicted in a stamp issued by the Post of Moldova in 1999 and in a stamp of Romania issued in 2019.
Vasile Lupu se trage din familia Coci, venită în Țările Române încă din prima jumătate a secolului al XVI-lea, era al treilea fiu al lui Nicolae Coci, ...
{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Voivode of Moldavia was an Albanian from Arbanasi, probably with distant origin from Epirus, a region of mixed population. The majority of the population of the famous region is Greek and Albanian, but there live also thousands of "real Epirotes", the Romanian-speaking Vlachs of Pindus. This has served as a base for fabrications according to which Lupu was a Greek or a Vlach (Aromanian). Some Romanian historians explain that Epirote Vlachs are in fact Romanians and for this reason it is claimed Lupu was a Romanian. However, the most interesting fabrication is that Lupu was a Bulgarian because his father lived in Arbanasi, which today is part of Bulgaria.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)Tot atît de sigur este faptul că Nicolae Coci a fost mare comis în Moldova (martie- aprilie 1593), pe timpul lui Aron vodă Tiranul, că apoi a trecut în Țara Românească, unde a fost mare postelnic (octombrie 1593 — 22 iulie 1594), apoi din nou ...
In the legislative field, he managed to print the Imperial Code of Laws in 1646 (Vasile Lupu's Code, or the Romanian Book of Learning).
| Preceded by | Prince/Voivode of Moldavia April 1634–April 1653 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Prince/Voivode of Moldavia May–June 1653 | Succeeded by |
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