Early life Asachi was born in
Herța, a small town which is now part of
Ukraine. His family originated in
Austrian-ruled
Transylvania, where it was known under the name
Asachievici. His father, Lazăr, was an
Orthodox priest who kept close contacts with
Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi; according to several sources, he was of
Armenian descent. In summer 1795, after deciding not to send Gheorghe and Petru to a Moldavian Greek-language school in the capital city of
Iași, Lazăr Asachi opted to give them a more modern education in the Austrian lands, sending them to
Lemberg, where they attended
gymnasium. After completing seven terms of education in
Latin,
Polish and
German, Gheorghe Asachi entered university (the present-day
Lviv University) at the age of 14. He studied at the Faculty of Letters, Philosophy and Sciences (attending lectures in
logic,
metaphysics,
ethics,
mathematics,
physics,
natural history, and
architecture), but, in 1804, after two years of studies, he withdrew and returned to Moldavia. Despite this, his level of familiarity with
Western culture was arguably unparalleled in his native country during the first half of the 19th century. His return followed the death of his mother and Lazăr Asachi's appointment as
First Protopope of the Moldavian Metropolitan Seat, and saw the family settling in Iași. Through Bianca Milesi, Asachi met
François Miollis, the French commander in Rome, who reportedly told him that
Napoleon Bonaparte intended to emancipate Moldavia and
Wallachia as a result of the
expedition into Russia, and thus create a new "
Dacian Kingdom" in the area of present-day Romania. Partly as a result of this encouragement, Asachi decided to travel back home on 22 June 1812, and, sailing down to
Galați, arrived in Iași on 30 August. His designs regarding French protection over the
Danubian Principalities were ended by Napoleon's retreat from Russia, and by the restoration of
Ottoman suzerainty and
Phanariote rule, when
Sultan Mahmud II appointed
Scarlat Callimachi as
Prince. In 1814, increasingly opposed to the Greek-language teaching favored by the Phanariotes, Asachi proposed the first in a series of Romanian-language educational institutions, a course in
engineering and
topography to be held at the
Princely Academy in Iași; once approved by the ruler and countersigned by Veniamin, the lectures attracted a number of young
boyars (including the future Ottoman diplomat
Alexandros Kallimachis, Scarlat's son,
Teodor Balș (who was to serve as Moldavia's
kaymakam in 1856–1857),
Daniel Scavinschi, as well as Gheorghe Asachi's brother Petru. He gave various lectures, and offered additional training in drawing and
art history, Nevertheless, Asachi was not stripped of his professorship, and was allowed to maintain both his position as head of the Princely Library and his house on Academy grounds. Later in the same year, he was involved in reorganizing the Orthodox
seminary at Iași's
Socola Monastery, and traveled to
Transylvania in order to enlist the help of scholars active there. His friendly relations with various leaders of the
Transylvanian School helped in achieving this goal; in 1820, he returned to Moldavia accompanied by
Vasile Fabian Bob,
Ioan Costa,
Ion Manfi, and
Vasile Pop, all of whom became teachers at the Academy. With this, he was awarded the
traditional rank of
Great Comis, and thus joined the ranks of nobility. As a diplomat, Asachi was foremost noted for his contacts with nationalist intellectuals who represented various ethnicities subject to the Austrian Empire. While in
Vienna, he met the
Austrian woman
Elena Tauber, former
governess of the
Sturdza children and widow of the merchant Kiriako Melirato; she was his
concubine until 1827, when they were married in an Orthodox church in Iași. In April 1829, Russia endorsed his project for a magazine titled
Albina Românească, which first saw print in July of the same year. Over the following decades, it oversaw the publishing of several other magazines, which were originally designed as supplements; among these,
Alăuta Românească (1837–1838) and
Foaea Sătească a Prințipatului Moldovei (1839) were initiated by the younger activist
Mihail Kogălniceanu, who, through his influential publication
Dacia Literară, become a vocal critic of Asachi's political and cultural views. Another magazine created by Asachi, the short-lived
Spicuitorul Moldo-Român (1841–1842), was published in both Romanian and
French, having a Frenchman named Gallice, who worked as a teacher, for its co-editor. Despite the protests, the board continued its activities, being overseen by the former consul Minciaky; together with Mihail Sturdza and the Wallachian
Alexandru Vilara, Asachi was dispatched to
Saint Petersburg to obtain the approval of
Emperor Nicholas I, which led to the document being enforced in both Principalities. In its final version, the
Regulament endorsed his efforts as educator, regulating
public education and transferring assets donated by Vasile Lupu to
Școala Vasiliană. The trade regulations offered by the
Regulament were welcomed with enthusiasm by Asachi, prompting him to write an
ode in their honor, titled
Annul nou al moldo-românilor 1830, în care s-a lucrat Regulamentul organic, acel întâi cod administrativ al Moldovei ("The New Year of the Moldo-Romanians 1830, in Which
Regulamentul Organic, the First Administrative Code of Moldavia, Was Completed"). At the time, he took a compassionate view in respect to peasants, denouncing the exploitation of their labor by the boyars.
Under Mihail Sturdza Gheorghe Asachi was deeply impressed by the institutions he saw functioning in the Russian capital, and did his best to replicate them in Moldavia. In July of the same year, Asachi visited the Wallachian capital of
Bucharest, being charged by Minciaky with strengthening the common framework of the
Regulament by ensuring that its two versions did not differ in content. By May 1833, he was able to move into a new house, which he designed and erected in the
Muntenimea area of
Copou Hill, on a large plot of land he had purchased from
Lupu Balș; at around the same time,
Institutul Albinei was also reopened on the new location. At the head of a committee, he took charge of translating a
German-language dictionary into Romanian, stressing that this was a response to the Moldavians' need for knowledge. Over the same decade, Asachi moved towards
Conservatism, defending
Regulamentul Organic in opposition to the increasingly popular
liberal current. As most other press venues submitted to the minimal requirement of Russian officials and avoided publishing any material related to the revolution,
Albina Românească criticized the revolutionaries for having discarded "their duty to the powers that be", and praised Russia for sending its troops to combat "
anarchy". Between 1851 and 1854, he was head of
censorship, using this position to award
imprimatur for reformist ideas (with Prince Ghica's tacit approval). He was himself a candidate in the Iași
electoral college, receiving 197 votes and placing second among the representatives it sent to the Divan. His magazine stood alone in claiming that the regime had acted impartially. He was no longer elected a deputy, and his candidature for the position of secretary of the electoral board was awarded just one vote. In 1858,
Gazeta de Moldavia was entirely dedicated to political subjects and support for Vogoride's policies, and ceased print in October, as the
Kaymakam ended his mandate. In late November, it reemerged under the title
Patria, which continued to criticize
Partida Națională from a conservative position, notably hosting articles by the anti-unionist Istrati. As a new
regency of three was preparing elections, the magazine rallied with
Ștefan Catargiu, Asachi's lifelong collaborator and the separatist representative in the body of
kaymakams, against the two unionists (
Vasile Sturdza and
Anastasie Panu), before Catargiu was replaced with
I. A. Cantacuzino. In November 1837, Asachi and another 36 separatist boyars issued a memorandum unsuccessfully asking the Ottoman
Grand Vizier Aali Pasha to intervene against the unionist
kaymakams, restore censorship, and to narrow down the electoral lists.
Final years The situation changed in January 1859, when
Partida Națională was able to ensure the election of
Alexandru Ioan Cuza as both Prince of Moldavia and
Prince of Wallachia, in what was the
de facto union of the two countries. After congratulating Cuza on his accomplishment, Asachi authored a poem titled
Odă la Dumnezeu ("An Ode to God"), which proclaimed the brotherhood of Romanians and the notion that "power resides in Unity".
Patria drastically reduced its articles in support of separation, while allocating most of its space to reprinting official papers. Nevertheless, as
Domnitor Cuza was deposed and the election of a foreign ruler over the
Romanian Principality was being assessed, it is probable that Gheorghe Asachi again switched to a separatist stance: on 14 April 1866, after an incident during which Iași crowds protested the prolongation of unification beyond Cuza's reign, he was the subject of an inquiry on charges of
sedition. This remains a mysterious aspect of his political career, and it is certain that Asachi eventually rallied with
Carol later in the year. It is likely, however, that his inconsistent views prompted other intellectuals to reject his participation in founding the
Romanian Academy. The various projects also involved Asachi's own financial reserves, which led him to become indebted and
mortgage his assets on several occasions: in 1862, after Asachi was declared
insolvent, the Copou house was put up for
auction, but the writer was able to come up with the money before the sale was completed. He continued to depend on loans in order to feed his family, and unsuccessfully offered
Institutul Albinei to be purchased by the state. In February 1869, the
Dimitrie Ghica government awarded Asachi a yearly pension of 8,888
lei, "for the important services he has brought to the country from 1813 to 1862". He died several months later in Iași, and was buried at the
Patruzeci de Sfinți Church. His printing press ceased its activity in 1867. ==Literature==