Latent Crusaders: Narrative Strategies of Survival in Early Modern Danubian Principalities, 1550-1750

1550-1750, Journal of Global Initiatives, Volume 6, Number 2, 2011, pp.31-48

18 Pages Posted: 28 Feb 2016 Last revised: 8 Jul 2016

See all articles by Caius Dobrescu

Caius Dobrescu

University of Bucharest

Sorin Adam Matei

Purdue University - College of Liberal Arts

Date Written: June 1, 2011

Abstract

The essay reveals that a master narrative strategy of gnostic-like national salvation presides over the early emergence of modernity in the area in which contemporary Romania is situated. This narrative strategy draws on the neo-Byzantine survival strategies of the Greek elites who ruled the Danubian Principalities (Moldova and Valahia) during the earlier stages of Romanian modernization (18th century). Early modem Romanian political and intellectual elites borrowed from the post-Byzantine political theology a set of Gnostic-inflected narrative strategies to explain their subordination to alien powers (Turkish, Ottoman, Russian, Austrian, or Hungarian). These strategies operated a reversal of "real" and "unreal" or of "essential" and "fleeting" attributes of social-historical situations. The aim of these strategies was to construct the local elites as the agents of a political ideology of national redemption that will ultimately put them above their temporary masters. The paper focuses mainly on the so-called Phanariot period (17th to 18th Centuries).

Keywords: Modernity, Romania, Romanian, Rhetoric, Discourse Analysis, Salvation, Eschatology, Political Discourse, National Identity, Legitimation

Suggested Citation

Dobrescu, Caius and Matei, Sorin, Latent Crusaders: Narrative Strategies of Survival in Early Modern Danubian Principalities, 1550-1750 (June 1, 2011). 1550-1750, Journal of Global Initiatives, Volume 6, Number 2, 2011, pp.31-48 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2286746

Caius Dobrescu

University of Bucharest ( email )

Bucharest
Romania

Sorin Matei (Contact Author)

Purdue University - College of Liberal Arts ( email )

100 N. University St.
BRNG 1290P
WEST LAFAYETTE, IN 47907
United States
3174165807 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://matei.org

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