Avram Iancu

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the historical figure. For other uses, see Avram Iancu
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Avram Iancu – portrait cca. 1865

The former Piarist College of Cluj, today the Báthory István Líceum

Avram Iancu (Romanian: [aˈvram ˈjaŋku]; Hungarian: Janku Ábrahám; 1824 –

September 10, 1872) was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an
important role in the local chapter of the Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849.
He was especially active in the Țara Moților region and the Apuseni Mountains. The
rallying of peasants around him, as well as the allegiance he paid to
the Habsburg monarchy, earned him the moniker Crăișorul Munților ("The Prince of
the Mountains").[1] He was among the organizers of the 1848–1849 massacres in
Transylvania, that happened during the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, during which
7,500–8,500 Hungarians, 4,400–6,000 Romanians, and about 500 Transylvanian
Saxons, Armenians, Jews, and members of other groups where killed.

Early life[edit]
Avram Iancu was born in Vidra de Sus (currently Avram Iancu, Alba
County), Transylvania, then part of the Austrian Empire into a family of peasants that
had been emancipated from serfdom. His father was Alisandru Iancu[2] (1787–1855)
and his mother was Maria Gligor.[3] He had one elder brother, Ion (born 1822), who
became a priest.
Avram Iancu's grandfather was Gheorghe Iancu [4] (deceased before 1812), who had
seven children (four girls and three boys): girls – Sântioana, Maria, Zamfira and Ana;
boys – Alisandru (the father), Avram and Ioan.
Little is known today about Avram Iancu's childhood. It is known, by local tradition,
that he had a typical moț character, joyful and witty and he had a musical talent,
playing the leaf, alphorn, flute and violin.
Avram Iancu attended primary school in his village, in the "Târsa" hamlet. His
teacher was Mihai Gomboș. After a while, he was sent by his parents at the school
in Neagra (now Poiana Vadului) village. Further, he attended the school
from Câmpeni, Alba county, his teacher being Mihai Ioanette. He graduated
the Câmpeni school at age 13.
After this, he went to school in Zlatna, where he studied in a Hungarian school, in
the Latin language, as Romanian schools didn't exist in this area. His teachers were
Iozephus Stanken (1837–1838), Gregorius Iakabus (1838–1839) and Ludovicus
Kovács (1839–1840 and 1840–1841). He graduated at age 17.
He studied humanities from 1841, in the Piarist College of Cluj, graduating law
school.

Initial stages of 1848 Revolutions[edit]

Portrait of Avram Iancu by Mișu Popp, undated

Avram Iancu became a law clerk in Târgu Mureș, and it was there that he learned
about the events of March 1848 of Vienna and Pest. His attitude at the time showed
the nature of the conflict that was to engulf Transylvania: while Iancu welcomed the
transition, he was indignant at the fact that Hungarian revolutionaries (many of whom
were landowners) refused to debate the abolition of serfdom (which at the time was
the state of the larger part of the Romanian population in Transylvania). [5]
In the Apuseni Mountains, he started rallying peasants in Câmpeni. The protests he
organized were recognized as peaceful by the authorities, but nevertheless worried
them. Iancu and his associate Ioan Buteanu quickly became the main figures of the
Romanian-led actions in the area, especially after they took part in
the Blaj Assemblies starting in April, where over 40,000 Romanians met to protest
against Transylvania becoming a part of Hungary.
[6]
 In Blaj (Hungarian: Balázsfalva; German: Blasendorf) both opted for the main,
radical wing of the movement. Centered on Alexandru Papiu Ilarian, the group
opposed the Hungarian revolutionary option of uniting Transylvania and Hungary. It
got into conflict with the minority wing around Greek-Catholic Bishop Ioan Lemeni,
one which chose not to boycott the elections for the Hungarian Parliament.
While the union was carried of on May 30, 1848, the majority of Romanian activists
looked towards Vienna and Emperor Ferdinand, sharing the cause of
the Transylvanian Saxons. Things became heated after July 11, when Hungary
declared its independence. Austria started to open itself to the Romanian demands,
while bloody conflicts ensued between the Hungarian nobles and their
Romanian serfs. The last Assembly in Blaj saw the Habsburg governor, Anton
Freiherr von Puchner, approve of the arming of National Guards for Romanians and
Saxons. On September 27, the lynching of Austrian plenipotentiary Count
Lemberg by a Pest crowd cut off any dialogue between the two centers. The new
Emperor Franz Joseph and the Austrian government granted the Romanians
numerous liberties and rights; although Lajos Kossuth's government abolished
serfdom, this was no longer a match for the Imperial offer.

Conflict[edit]
 Transylvanian Revolution

Part of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 and the 1848–1849 massacres in

Transylvania

Date 8 November 1848 – 29 July 1849

Location Principality of Transylvania, Austrian Empire,
now Transylvania, Romania
Result Austro-Romanian victory

Belligerents

 Hungary
 Transylvanian Romanians
 Polish volunteers
 Austrian Empire

Commanders and leaders

 Avram Iancu  Imre Hatvany [ro]

 Józef Bem

Strength

10,000 troops (a third of the Hungarian

4,000 troops of the "Auraria Gemina"
Army in Transylvania)[8]
Legion[7]

Unknown amount of Austrian soldiers

Casualties and losses

Unknown 5,500[9][10]

show
 v

 t

 e
Hungarian Revolution
of 1848

Outbreak[edit]
The Austrians clearly rejected the October demand that the ethnical criteria become
the basis for internal borders, with the goal of creating a province for Romanians
(Transylvania grouped alongside Banat and Bukovina), as they did not want to
replace the threat of Hungarian nationalism with the potential of
Romanian separatism. Yet they did not declare themselves hostile to the rapid
creation of Romanian administrative offices within Transylvania.
The territory was organized in prefecturi ("prefectures"), with Avram Iancu and
Buteanu as two prefects in the Apuseni. Iancu's prefecture, the Auraria Gemina (a
name charged with Latin symbolism), became the most important one as it took over
from bordering areas that were never really fully organized.
In the same month, the administrative efforts were put to a halt, as Hungarians
under Józef Bem carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania. With the
discreet assistance of Imperial Russian troops, the Austrian army (except for the
garrisons at Alba Iulia and Deva) and the Austrian-Romanian administration
retreated to Wallachia and Wallachian Oltenia (both were, at the time, under
Russia's occupation).
Attrition[edit]
On 8 November, Avram Iancu, along with his 4,000 combatants of the "Auraria
Gemina" Legion took part in joint military actions with Austrian forces. The Legion
reached Turda, and the city surrendered without a fight on 20 November. Then, he
and his troops returned to the mountains. [11] On 29 November, Avram Iancu had
another 1,500 troops mobilized for action. On 4 December, he reached Săcuieu, and
on 6–7 December, he and his men were ordered to attack the enemy lines by
surprise. However, the attack failed, due to the incompetence of an Austrian officer,
and the Romanians were forced to withdraw by 10 December. [11] By early January
1849, the control over Transylvania was almost entirely regained by the Hungarian
Army. The Romanian fighters holding out in their mountains stronghold were running
low of supplies, having only 800 rifles to arm a few thousand men, and were
completely surrounded by Hungarian troops by the end of March. [12][11]
In April 1849, Iancu was approached by the Hungarian envoy Ioan Dragoș [ro] (in
fact, a Romanian deputy in the Hungarian Parliament). Dragoș appeared to have
been acting out of his own desire for peace, since Iancu's troops were tying down too
many Hungarian troops, about 10,000, a third of the Hungarian Army in
Transylvania, according to Hungarian general János Czetz.[8] He worked hard to get
the Romanian leaders to meet him in Abrud and listen to the Hungarian demands.
Iancu's direct adversary, Hungarian commander Imre Hatvany [ro], seems to have
taken advantage of the provisional armistice to attack the Romanians in Abrud.[13] He
did not, however, benefit from a surprise, as Iancu and his men retreated and then
encircled him. Meanwhile, Dragoș was lynched by the Abrud crowds, in the belief
that he was part of Hatvany's ruse.
Hatvany also angered the Romanians by having Buteanu captured and murdered.
While his position became weaker, he was permanently attacked by Iancu's men,
until the major defeat of May 22. Hatvany and most of his armed group were
massacred by their adversaries, as Iancu captured their cannons, switching the
tactical advantage for the next months. Hatvany's troops lost 5,000 soldiers and all of
their artillery.[9][5][13] Kossuth was angered by Hatvany's gesture (an inspection of the
time dismissed all of Hatvany's close collaborators), especially since it made future
negotiations unlikely.
On 8 June, the Romanian stronghold in the mountains was attacked by the largest
Hungarian force yet: 4,000 men supported by 19 cannons led by General Farkas
Kemény [hu]. The battle lasted between 11 and 17 June and ended in a crushing
victory for the Romanians, the Hungarians having at least 500 troops killed during
the battle.[10]
The Russian intervention in June precipitated events, especially since Poles fighting
in the Hungarian revolutionary contingents wanted to see an all-out resistance to
the Tsarist armies. People like Henryk Dembiński mediated for an understanding
between Kossuth and the Wallachian émigré revolutionaries. The latter,
understandably close to Avram Iancu (especially Nicolae Bălcescu, Gheorghe
Magheru, Alexandru G. Golescu, and Ion Ghica) were also keen to inflict a defeat on
the Russian armies that had crushed their movement in September 1848. Fighting
also continued in July, during the peace negotiations, on 2, 4, and 22 July, all
Hungarian attacks being repulsed yet again. Finally, the conflict ended on 29 July, as
Avram Iancu offered a guarantee to the Hungarian troops that he would not attack
them, allowing them to withdraw in front of the Austro-Russian offensive. [14]
Negotiations[edit]
Bălcescu and Kossuth met in May 1849, in Debrecen. The contact has for long been
celebrated by Romanian Marxist historians and politicians: Karl Marx's
condemnation of everything opposing Kossuth had led to any Romanian initiative
being automatically considered "reactionary". In fact, it appears that the agreement
was in no way a pact: Kossuth meant to flatter the Wallachians, by getting them to
champion the idea of Iancu's armies leaving Transylvania for good, in order to help
Bălcescu in Bucharest. While agreeing to mediate for peace, Bălcescu never
presented these terms to the fighters in the Apuseni Mountains. His personal
documents (commented by Liviu Maior [ro]) show that the un-realistic assumptions of
Kossuth had made him view the Hungarian leader as a "demagogue".[15]
Even more contradictory, the only thing Avram Iancu agreed to (and which no party
had asked for) was his forces' "neutrality" in the conflict between Russia and
Hungary.[15] Thus, he secured his position as the Hungarian armies suffered defeats
in July, culminating in the Battle of Segesvár (Sighișoara), and then the capitulation
of August 13.

Later years[edit]

Avram Iancu Square with National Theater of Cluj-Napoca and the statue of Avram Iancu.

Avram Iancu agreed to disarm as soon as the Austrians took over, and wrote a
detailed report to the new Governor of Transylvania, General Ludwig von
Wohlgemuth (in 1850). In order to avoid suspicion of Romanian separatism, the
document does not mention the contacts with the Wallachians. As the Austrians
granted the abolition of serfdom, they also forbade all representative institutions in
Transylvania. While Hungarian nationalism was slowly fitting in the pattern that
would make the Ausgleich acceptable for both sides involved, the Romanian option
raised more and more irritation. The revolutionary zeal it had found under Iancu,
although profiting the Monarchy, could also prove to be a weapon used for very
different goals (the Austrians were especially fearful that the Greek Orthodox faith of
the Romanians would accommodate itself with Pan-Slavism, completing the gap
between Serbia and the Russian Empire).
It is very possible that Iancu was not able to properly observe the new status quo.
While the decision for his initial arrest (in December 1849) was quickly overturned
after local protests (and explained as an abuse), he was censored throughout his
life, had his library confiscated, and was placed under surveillance. He was even
arrested a second time, in 1852, after it was presumed that his presence alone
served to inflame local sentiments. Local traditions [16] hold that the emperor Franz
Joseph was visiting Transylvania and on July 21, 1852, he was in the Apuseni
Mountains area, purportedly to attend The Maidens' Fair on Găina Mountain but also
hoping that Iancu would agree to meet him. Allegedly, Iancu refused, uttering his
famous line "It's all for naught, a madman and a liar can't by any means come to
understand each other". Soon after his release, Iancu visited Vienna and attempted
to petition the Emperor. He was prevented to do so by the police, a public humiliation
which provoked a nervous breakdown that had an impact on the rest of his life. He
was marginalized by the authorities who didn't allow Romanians to have their own
say in Transylvania about their own autonomy. Being treated as peripheral by the
people in power, he spent the rest of his life traveling the Apuseni Mountains, as a
half-mad vagrant, living out of whatever alms that the impoverished moți population
could spare for him, singing sad Romanian doina songs on his flute.

Avram Iancu in his later years, after his nervous breakdown

Avram Iancu died on September 10, 1872, at Baia de Criș. His body was buried,
according to his wish, under Horea's tree in Țebea (by tradition, the place where
the Revolt of Horea, Cloșca and Crișan had started).[1]
Avram Iancu's tomb in Țebea

Avram Iancu was officially declared a Hero of the Romanian Nation in November
2016 by the Parliament of Romania and President Klaus Iohannis.[17]

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to:a b Ion Ranca, Valeriu Nițu, Avram Iancu: documente și bibliografie, Bucharest,
Editura Științifică, 1974 (most contemporary documents about Avram Iancu, including his report to
Wohlgemuth)
2. ^ Dudaș, Florian (10 March 1989). Avram Iancu în tradița poporului român. Editura
Facla. ISBN 9789733600664 – via Google Books.
3. ^ Lupaș, Ioan; Vlasiu, Marina; Constantiniu, Florin (10 March 1988). "Din istoria Transilvaniei".
Editura Eminescu – via Google Books.
4. ^ ""Gheorghe Iancu" "avram iancu" – Google Search". www.google.com.
5. ^ Jump up to:a b Ioan N. Ciolan, Constantin Voicu, Mihai Racovițan, "Transylvania:Romanian
history and perpetuation, or, what official Hungarian documents say", Military Publishing House,
1993
6. ^ Stoica, Vasile (1919). The Roumanian Question: The Roumanians and their Lands. Pittsburgh:
Pittsburgh Printing Company. p. 23.
7. ^ Dragomir 1968, pp. 104-105
8. ^ Jump up to:a b Czecz János (1850), Bem’s Feldzug in Siebenbürgen in den Jahren 1848 und
1849, Hamburg, p. 32
9. ^ Jump up to:a b Dragomir 1968, pp. 188-192
10. ^ Jump up to:a b Dragomir 1968, pp. 209-216
11. ^ Jump up to:a b c Dragomir 1968, p. 118
12. ^ Dragomir 1968, p. 117
13. ^ Jump up to:a b Keith Hitchins, Românii 1774–1866, Bucharest, Humanitas, 1996
14. ^ Dragomir 1968, pp. 270-271
15. ^ Jump up to:a b Liviu Maior [ro], 1848–1849. Români și unguri în revoluție, Bucharest, Editura
Enciclopedică, 1998
16. ^ "Apel la memoria românismului: Replici celebre ale lui Avram Iancu". Curentul Internațional. 15
March 2015.
17. ^ "Iohannis a promulgat legea prin care Avram Iancu este proclamat "Erou al Națiunii
Române"". Revista 22 (in Romanian). November 17, 2016. Retrieved September 19, 2021.

External links[edit]
  Media related to Avram Iancu at Wikimedia Commons

 Footnotes to Vol. 9 of the Marx-Engels Collected Works at Marxists.org

show
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Categories: 
 Romanian revolutionaries
 19th-century Romanian lawyers
 Romanian people in the Principality of Transylvania (1711–1867)
 People from Alba County
 People of the Revolutions of 1848
 Ethnic Romanian politicians in Transylvania
 Târgu Mureș
 1824 births