The boyars who signed the Oath of Allegiance on 12 october 1777. Prosopographical notes
The boyars who signed the Oath of Allegiance on 12 october 1777. Prosopographical notes

Summary/Abstract: In Cernăuţi in 1902, Johann Polek published a long list of the persons who – on 12 October 1777 – signed the oath of allegiance to Empress Maria Theresia and her co-regent Joseph II. Among them were numerous Moldavians who had joined the Austrian nobility ranks, i.e., 26 boyars, 92 mazili, 109 ruptaşi, and 142 şleahtici. Hence, in my opinion, shortly after Bucovina’s annexation by the Habsburg Empire, the Bucovinian nobiliary estates reasserted, through its representatives, the desire to be involved in the political and administrative matter of the new province, in conformity with their privileges and economic position. By using the methodological tools made available by the auxiliary historical sciences, particularly genealogy and prosopography, in this study, I identified them (based on documentary sources). I even reconstructed, when it was possible, the life and activity of the 26 boyars who signed the 1777 document: vornic Anghelachi, Vasile Balş, Toader Flondor, Ioan Flondor, Ioan [Ilie] Herescu, Toader Herescu, Leon Imbault, Ioan Costin, Ioan Calmuţchi senior, Ioan Calmuţchi junior, Nicolae Gafencu, Vasile Flondor, Ruxandra Ştirbăţoaie, Ilie Flondor, Ilie Cârstea, Ianache Codrescu, Iacob Logoteti, Ioan Mitescu, Ioan Strâşca, Vasile Strâşca, Mihalache Giurgiuvan, Dumitraşcu Gafencu, Peter Nagni, Simion Turcul, Vasile Herescu, and Maria Bălşoaia. The main objective of this scientific endeavour was to reconstruct the political, social, and cultural profile of the persons for whom the occupation authorities recognised the most significant nobiliary rank of the new province.

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