Văcărescu Family

Văcărescu Family, Romanian boyars of Phanariote (Greek) origin, a gifted family that gave the first poets to Romanian literature. Ienăchiţă (1740–99), after traveling and studying in St. Petersburg and Vienna, wrote poems inspired by Russian folk songs. He wrote the first Romanian grammar book (Gramatica românească, 1787). His chief poems, Amărîtă turturea (“Sad Turtledove”) and Testamentul, reveal a high artistic level and a mastery of a rich Romanian language. Ienăchiţă’s sons, Alecu (1765–99) and Nicolae...