Dimitrie Onciul (26 October / 7 November 1856 – 20 March 1923) was aRomanian historian. He was amember of the Romanian Academy and its president from 1920 until his death in 1923.
Onciul was born inStraja, at the time in theDuchy of Bukovina,Austrian Empire, now inSuceava County, Romania. He studied at theUniversity of Czernowitz, where he was active inArboroasa and then inSocietatea Academică Junimea, and at theUniversity of Vienna. In 1884, he received his doctorate in philosophy from the University of Czernowitz.
He became a professor at theUniversity of Bucharest and director of theNational Archives of Romania. He was the first chairman of the Advisory Heraldic Commission. Together withIoan Bogdan, Onciul founded a school-of-thought in Romanian historiography that approached history critically.[1] He dealt with the issue ofRomanian origin, demonstrating the formation of the Romanian people over a wide area on both sides of the Danube and rejected the theory of medieval migration of Romanians from theBalkan Peninsula. Much of his work dealt with and documented the formation of the early Romanian feudal states. He sought to separate Medieval realities from 20th century politics.[1]
The Romanian Academy established an historiography prize in his name, known as the "Dimitrie Onciul Award".[2]
There are streets named after him inSector 2 ofBucharest, and in the cities ofCluj-Napoca,Pitești, andSuceava.
| Preceded by | President of the Romanian Academy 1920–1923 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| People | |
| Other | |
