Jitnicerul Ștefan Bosie, un model de ascensiune socială în Moldova secolului al XVIII-lea
The Cellarer Ștefan Bosie, an Exemplary Case of Social Climbing in 18th Century Moldavia

Summary/Abstract: Ștefan Bosie, known by his honorary title as cellarer of the Moldavian court (jitnicer), was a small boyar who worked all his life in the chancery of the princely treasury, as scribe or chancellor. Descendant of a rather poor family of free peasants from the Vaslui county, but born under a lucky star, he spent his childhood at the royal court, where he learnt how to write princely charters. Ștefan Bosie’s entrance to the court was probably due to the great treasurer Toader Palade, who guided him and made him his protégé. A turning point in his life was the marriage with Ilinca, the daughter of Sandu Toma, a highly influential and ambitious merchant from Iași. The marriage gave Ștefan Bosie access to the merchant community from Iași, to which he became a part of and remained close to until the end of his life. The cellarer Ștefan Bosie knew, as no other, to make a fortune out of profitable money-lending and the acquisition of non-depreciable assets, such as estates, shops, houses, vineyards, gipsy families, jewels. In two decades, he managed to amass a significant fortune for a small boyar. Accordingly, in order to enhance his social status, he built a monastic foundation, Saint Spiridon in Iași, where Constantin Racoviță was going to found the first Moldavian hospital, thus ensuring a new status to Ștefan Bosie’s monastery. Ștefan Bosie was married twice and had seven children. From his first wife, Sandu Toma’s spawn, he had a daughter. He also had one boy and five daughters from his second wife, Ilinca, the offspring of Ioan Bujoreanul, a small boyar related to Sandu Toma. He married all his six daughters with small boyars or merchants. His male line died with his son, Ioan, who never get married and did not have any children. Nonetheless, his memory survived as his foundation in Iași became the first public hospital in Moldavia.

• Details
• Contents