Mihail Sturdza

For the Iron Guard politician, see Michel Sturdza.

Mihail Sturdza
Prince of Moldavia
Reign	April 1834 – June 1849
Predecessor	Ioan Sturdza
Successor	Grigore Alexandru Ghica
Born	24 April 1794 Iași
Died	8 May 1884 (aged 90) Paris
Spouse	Elisabeth Rosetti (m.1817 – div.1822) Doamna Smaranda
Issue	Dimitrie, Grigore, Mihail, Maria
House	Sturdza family
Father	Grigore Sturdza
Mother	Mariora Callimachi
Religion	Orthodox

Mihail Sturdza (24 April 1794, Iași – 8 May 1884, Paris), sometimes anglicized as Michael Stourdza, was prince of Moldavia from 1834 to 1849. He was cousin of Roxandra Sturdza and Alexandru Sturdza.

Biography

He was son of Grigore Sturdza, seigneur de Cozmesti, grand Logothete and of Mariora Callimachi, daughter of Gregory Callimachi prince of Moldavia. A man of liberal education, he established in Iași, the Academia Mihăileană, the first University in Romania, a institution of higher education, and the precursor of the University of Iași. He brought scholars from foreign countries to act as teachers, and gave a very powerful stimulus to the educational development of the country.

In 1844 he decreed the emancipation of the Gypsies, which until then had been treated as slaves and owned by the Church or by private landowners; they had been bought and sold in the open market. Mihail also attempted the secularization of monastic establishments, which was carried out by Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza in 1864, and the utilization of their endowments for national purposes.

Mihail quelled the attempted Moldavian Revolution of 1848 without bloodshed by arresting all the few conspirators and expelling them from the country.

Mihail's first wife was Elena Rosetti. His second wife was Princesse Smaragda Vogoridis, a Bulgarian aristocrat, daughter of Stefan Bogoridi, ruler of Samos.

He vacationed with his family annually at Baden in Germany. When his and Vogoride's 16-year-old son was killed in Paris there in 1863, he erected a Greek Orthodox church on Michaelsberg to serve as his crypt.

Gallery

• 
  Commemorative stamp
• 
  Bust of Mihail Sturdza in Baden-Baden
• 
  The Princely Court of Moldavia during the first half of the 19th century

See also

• Sturdza family

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Moses Gaster (1911). "Sturdza". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.