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. Radu was also the maternal great-great-grandson of
Stroe Leurdeanu, one of the major political intriguers of the mid-to-late 17th century. The latter had also built a long-standing manor in Golești, which was the clan's eponymous estate, on
Muscel County's southern border. 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". Radu Sr died in 1731 at his home in the
Banat of Craiova—namely, Oltenia, which was then administered as a Habsburg province. The future Great Ban was born on 3 May 1746, from Anița's marriage to Nicolae Șirbei, a
Polcovnic in the Wallachian military. 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. 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). 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. From his marriage to Zoița or Zinca, (though one document may prove that he was alive in 1821). Radu's political advancement was manifest in 1784, when he became
Spatharios of Wallachia's military. 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. 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). His activities also included surveying the city's property boundaries, settling disputes between boyar Grigore Greceanu and the local burghers.
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." 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"). 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." 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. 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. As Golescu himself put it, the inn had been "bought and refurbished" by him, probably around 1800; it emerged as "one of the city's most important and spacious". appearing inside a clinic, showing treatment of the sick in 18th-century Wallachia. From a 1706 manuscript,
Cronica Frățietății In 1788, Golescu-Știrbei was again
Clucer. 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. By September 1794, Golescu, now a Great
Logothete, 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. 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. By January 1796, Golescu had been made Great
Vornic of "the Lower Land", in which capacity he collected and distributed funds resulting from the auctioning of
other boyar ranks and titles. In July 1796, during the final stages of Mourouzis' reign, Golescu, alongside members of the Divan such as
Ienăchiță Văcărescu and Nicolae Filipescu, called for a relaxation of fiscal pressures. They persuaded Mourouzis to denounce the
Ispravnici for confiscating crops directly from the tenant farmers, at harvest-time. On 7 August, still a Great
Vornic, Golescu stood on a jury that reviewed the land dispute between I. Cioranu and the
Catholic monastery of Târgoviște. Some days before, he had been named caretaker (
Epitrop) of the Wallachian hospitals and quarantine facilities, which had been established at
Dudești. He had various dealings with the eponymous Dudescu boyars, and, around 1801, collected rent for Safta Dudescu's inn. Around that time, he acted as a tutor for his orphaned nephew
Constantin Dudescu. The latter alleged that Golescu wanted to have him take religious orders in order to confiscate his estate, and, with help from Habsburg authorities, crossed into Transylvania. Dudescu was financially ruined by this initiative, and returned willingly in 1805, when Golescu again took him into his direct care.
Under Hangerli and Prozorovsky The short-reigned
Alexander Ypsilantis (1796–1797) recognized Golescu's merits. By May 1797, he was Great
Vornic of the armies (
vel vornic al obștirilor ), in which capacity he carried out an inspection of Bucharest's
drugstores. While serving under the new Prince
Constantine Hangerli (1797–1799), Golescu advanced the cause of
economic nationalism—according to Novac, he was inspired to do so by echoes of the
French Revolution. Specifically, he supported bringing in traders as advisers in the Army Supply Department (
Departamentul Epitropiei Obștirilor), also urging Hangerli to curb imports and prop up local factories. His activity at the Department resulted in the co-option as councilors of the
Aromanian merchants: Spirea Cazoti, Mihai Chiriță, and Ioan "Ianache" Scufa. At the same time, Golescu endorsed Hangerli's very controversial tax on cowherds, called
văcărit. He was still seen as a champion for the common man, and asked by the citizens of
Ploiești to act as judge at a trial opposing them to the Prince. His expertise in geometry was acknowledged in 1798, when he was asked to draw up a plan of
Ulmeni estate, a disputed Ypsilantis fief. In 1800, he commissioned in
Vienna a world map, which included a smaller map of Wallachia. At an unspecified moment in 1798, Hangerli was confronted by the threat of a marauding mercenary leader,
Osman Pazvantoğlu, who had established a basis south of Wallachia, in the
Rumelia Eyalet. A consular report by the Habsburg diplomat
Joseph Hammer suggests that Golescu was called upon by Hangerli, who appointed him
Serasker, to assist a token Wallachian expeditionary force, which supported the Ottoman Empire against the rebels. In 1799, with Mourouzis returning on the throne, Golescu proceeded to address matters of internal trade by establishing a glassmaking factory at
Șotânga in Dâmbovița, initially staffed by
Transylvanian Saxons who "live[d] in his houses". The "German" staff also included Transylvanian Romanians from
Porumbacu, for whom he provided additional housing. Golescu first rose to the Great Banship in 1799, was the
Ispravnic of Pitești. Along with other boyars, Radu had to flee from Wallachia in 1802, and lived for a while at
Kronstadt, in Habsburg Transylvania, where he is known to have been followed by Dinicu. His departure was prompted by Pazvantoğlu, who had stormed into Oltenia. Upon his return (from what was by then the
Austrian Empire) in 1804, he focused on expanding his manor in Golești, but also became a benefactor of various schools—including one in
Slatina, and another in one in
Nămăești. Possibly around this time, he became personally invested in the education of his younger boys. Iordache and Dinicu received their education at the
Princely Academy, where they became fluent in Greek and possibly French as well; at least from 1804, Dinicu pursued a career in the administrative boyardom, being himself named as the
Ispravnic of Pitești in March 1811. Still a
Vornic under Prince
Constantine Ypsilantis, in 1805 Golescu Sr ruled exemptions from the
tithe for the Bucharest bakers. The
eastern war of 1806 brought Wallachia and
Moldavia under occupation by the
Russian Empire, abruptly ending Ypsilantis' first reign. Golescu remained in place, as the third-oldest member of the administrative Divan, and cooperated with the new regime: he and
Barbu Văcărescu, together with Ivan Meshchersky, formed an investigative triumvirate which looked into abuse by Ypsilantis' Muntenian
Ispravnici. In May 1808, both he and Văcărescu signed up to a French-language public protest, which asked the new authorities not to cut back on expenditures by eliminating eleven boyar ranks. His own good faith was questioned in Russian sources, with one anonymous report, preserved by the
Governing Senate archives, calling him "very astute when it comes to business, but immeasurably thirsty for wealth, and mean-spirited." Golescu was deposed on 6 September 1808, after an inspection ordered by
Alexander Prozorovsky. In January 1809, alongside other boyars, he signed a letter of recommendation for the
Dragoman and merchant
Manuc Bei, describing him as an "honest patriot" who had lent money to the Wallachian state. In August 1811, alongside Isaac Ralet and Mihalache Manu, he petitioned General Steter, who commanded upon the Russian troops in Wallachia, to clamp down on the
Bulgarians and
Serbs of
Lichirești in southern Muntenia; these communities had refused to pay government taxes, viewing themselves as under Russia's protection. He was sidelined until February 1812, when he was promoted to the core of the Divan; this was after, and because, some of the boyars had spoken out against Russian policies, and had then been sent into internal exile, vacating their seats. Ypsilantis himself had fled to safety in Transylvania, while some of the boyars freely moved between Austrian and newly Russian-conquered territory; many, including Golescu, denounced Ypsilantis and declared themselves loyal to
Russian Emperor Alexander I, moving to Moldavia when Ypsilantis staged his return. In a letter preserved by the Austrian consulate, they defied the Prince, who had invited them back, demanding that Wallachia be placed under a boyar republic with a Russian governor. This project never came to fruition; under the
treaty of Bucharest, Russia allowed the Ottomans and Phanariotes to return as leaders in both Wallachia and Moldavia. Radu's own public career peaked again under Prince
John Caradja, who took the throne in late 1812. On 17 October, just as the last Russian troops were leaving Bucharest, Georgios Argyropoulous took over as Caradja's regent (or
Caimacam), assigning leading positions in the Divan to Golescu,
Grigore D. Ghica, and Constantin Bălăceanu.
Under Caradja Iordache also participated in the national government, as both
Stolnic and caretaker of the schools, emerging as a protector of
Gheorghe Lazăr, the progressive educationist. In early 1813, Caradja left an official document praising Iordache for his dedication and faith. As noted by literary historian
Mircea Iorgulescu, Dinicu and Iordache were in fact part of the opposition, a "Golescu party" whereby "the Wallachian boyars, having been turned from soldiers into courtiers," used their influence to undermine Caradja. In July 1813, Radu Golescu was assigned to a boyars' team which tried to contain "
Caragea's plague"; according to Iorgulescu, this was Caradja's attempt at "buying off" the Golescus. In 1815, this experience allowed him to contribute directly towards funding
Filantropia Hospital, alongside
Constantin Caracaș and
Grigore Brâncoveanu. In August, he and his colleagues ordered a
metochion-and-inn on that same street to be used as a provisional hospital. The plague continued to kill Wallachians, including, in September 1813, members of the Great Ban's own household. In June 1813, Caradja made Radu Golescu his Great Ban, as a replacement for Argyropoulous, but without moving him to
Craiova (where he was represented by his own
Caimacam, Constantin Samurcaș). Golescu only served to August, when he was replaced by Constantin Crețulescu—Samurcaș continued in his role to 1815. That same year, Golescu was again attested as Great
Vornic, but "of the Upper Land". From at least July 1814, Golescu the elder replaced Constantin Filipescu as treasurer (
Vistier), serving as such to April 1815, when Filipescu retook the office. In August 1814, he produced a letter of protest in which he claimed that, due to the confiscations and privations of war, Wallachians "no longer have anything". He himself still openly engaged in tax farming, paying Caradja 1 million
thaler for the privilege of collecting the tithe, as well as taxes on mutton and wine, and making what was reportedly a hefty profit on this deal. Meanwhile, he protected his own retinue from visits by other tax collectors, and, by the time of his death, had registered 188 people as "known to be exempt" (
poslușnici știuți). Treasury records noted that the Saxons of Șotânga owned no property of their own, and therefore owed no tax. A habitual litigator, he was also a claimant to the estate held by Elena, a member of the
Ghica family. During his final years, he defended this inheritance with a series of lawsuits, claiming that a banker had stolen Elena's emerald ring, from her deposit, and had presented him with a fake. In December 1815, he spent 40,000 thaler on purchasing a Bucharest townhouse previously owned by
Clucer Mihalache Lahovari. In parallel, Dinicu also built himself a townhouse, on land located near Stejarul Church. Competed in 1815, it was the Wallachian example of
cast-iron architecture, and had uniquely large rooms; according to an anecdote relayed by
Ulysse de Marsillac, Ban Radu was struck by the ambitious project, pointing out to Dinicu that there was no way to ensure its indoor lighting (to which Golescu Jr replied: "Father, I am building for the future"). The Ban was himself in beautification works, when, in July 1814, he proposed to Caradja that all inhabitants of every seventh home on Podul Mogoșoaiei be forced to maintain a streetlight candle. During these years, Golescu-Șirbei alternated exploitation with philanthropy. Throughout his final decades, he sponsored the printing of books, including, in 1800, Iordache's papers and, in 1812, Constantin Vardalah's manual of physics. He also financed an edition from Rafail Monahul's book of ethics,
Ușa pocăinții. He was additionally a co-
ktitor at
Țigănești Monastery in 1812 (alongside Iordache Florescu and Anica Soutzos-Florescu), as well as a benefactor of
Arnota Monastery—commissioning in 1817 its silver
reliquary, which contains the hand of
Margaret the Virgin. In November 1815, he bought a forest outside Șotânga, which he knew to be frequented by
Rudari drifters. He then organized it into a village for both the Rudari and Saxons, calling it
Goleasca. It is also possible, but not certain, that the boys' school established by Ban Radu for the peasants of Golești dates back to 1814. in Greek, at the family manor in
Golești In late 1816 and early 1817, Caradja directed his persecution among the boyar champions of
Romanian nationalism, being especially harsh on Filipescu, who was exiled. Noting this succession of events, Manuc also informs that Radu and Iordache Golescu were coarsely pressured into conformity by the Prince. Reappointed Great Ban for a while in 1818 (with Grigore Romaniti as the
Caimacam), though a service was held at Bucharest on 11 October (
Old Style: 29 September), being the last public function attended by the fugitive Prince. Golescu's last will provided for the upkeep of Wallachia's poor, to whom he transferred revenue from a bridge toll over the
Argeș River, as well as that of his three watermills in
Leordeni. Fixed sums were also allocated for three funds, one benefiting impoverished boyars, another destitute girls of marrying age, and finally one for ransoming debt-prisoners. He also demanded that a two-bed clinic be organized on his Golești estate, with services provided by the physician of Pitești. ==Legacy==