Udriște Năsturel

Udriște Năsturel, first name also Uriil, Uril, Ioriste, or Oreste, last name also Năsturelovici (1596 or 1598 – ca. 1658), was a Wallachian scholar, poet, and statesman, the brother-in-law of Prince Matei Basarab through his sister Elena Năsturel. Together, the three staged a cultural revival centered on Bucharest and Târgoviște. Năsturel had risen through the ranks of the Wallachian bureaucracy and had served Radu Mihnea's government in Moldavia, being kept as Logothete by Matei Basarab. In office, he had international correspondence and went on diplomatic travels through Central Europe, also overseeing the printing presses. He was the titular boyar of Herăști, known in his day as Fierești and Fierăști, where he built a palace that stands as a late example of Renaissance architecture, and earned him a regional fame.

Năsturel was primarily an advocate of Old Church Slavonic, the courtly language. He was one of its last exponents in Romanian literature, and taught it to students at the school in Târgoviște. His favorite forms of expression were the essay and the rhyming preface, but he also perfected a Slavonic answer to the blason, which remained influential for two centuries and was, by some accounts, the first known poem by a Romanian. Năsturel, who made mention of the people's Latin origin, also used the Romanian vernacular, in which he notably produced a translation of Barlaam and Josaphat. In his original works, his themes and his linguistic obscurities show a Baroque streak, while his core ideology has been linked to Renaissance humanism. An Eastern Orthodox theologian and a ktitor within the Wallachian Metropolis, he was nevertheless attracted to Counter-Reformation ideas, and published Catholic-inspired propaganda against Calvinism. Năsturel was versed in both Renaissance Latin and classical scholarship, putting out a Slavonic rendition of The Imitation of Christ.

Udriște's firstborn, Mateiaș, was adopted by the princely couple and groomed as heir to the throne, but died in 1652, before reaching maturity. This event inspired the Logothete to write his last poem, a conventional epitaph. His sister died in 1653, and his brother-in-law a year later. Năsturel survived the rise of Constantin Șerban, being for a while reappointed as Spatharios, although he was cousins with the rebel leader Hrizea. A new Prince, Mihnea III, identified Năsturel as one of the boyars standing in the way of his political projects and included him in his murderous purge. The Spatharios was strangled at Curtea Veche, and his body was desecrated in the streets of Bucharest. He was survived by another son, Radu Toma, who held major political offices under George Ducas. His direct line of descent was maintained until the 1874 death of Constantin Năsturel-Herescu.