Udriște Năsturel,șteNă 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 Wallachian bureaucracy and had served Radu Mihnea's government in Moldavia, being kept as Logothete by Matei Basarab. In office, he had an international correspondence and went on diplomatic travels through Central Europe, while 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 first-born, 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.
Biography
Origins
Despite its claim to have originated in Roman Dacia and its alleged links to the Fogoras nobility, the Năsturel clan was first attested as belonging to boyardom in the late 15th century. A period document by "Vlad Vodă", brother of Radu the Great, confirms that, by 1501, the Năsturels were long established as the owners of Herăști (traditionally in Ilfov County, now in Giurgiu) and other Wallachian villages. The same document suggests that Vrăjoghie, the family patriarch, was "of My Highness' own house", namely the House of Basarab. A 19th-century author, Dimitrie Papazoglu, also argued that the family had a deep connection to the village, and later capital city, of Bucharest, suggesting that they were the builders of an ancient church in Dobroteasa mahala. He also proposed that Herăști took its name from a family patriarch, "Count" Herea Năsturel. The genealogical link with the ruling princes was in any case enhanced ca. 1600, when Udriște's father, the Postelnic and Logothete Radu Năsturel, married Despina, a cousin or niece of Michael the Brave. According to researcher Constantin Gane, Despina, known as Cala in some sources, may have been the daughter of boyar Radu Calomfirescu.
Udriște was probably born in 1596, although other sources also propose 1598. It is also believed that he was a native of Herăști, which he once described as "my parental village". Radu and Despina had two other sons, Șerban and Cazan, both of whom were probably older than Udriște. His first name, Udriște, is an archaic, now obscure, derivative from "Adrian". Năsturel, like other scholars, mistakenly believed that it was from "Uriel" and akin to "Orestes", sometimes signing himself as Uri(i)l, Orest, or Ioriste. His family name originates with nasture ("button"); he sometimes used the variant Năsturelovici, with a Slavic suffix, as was the fashion among intellectual boyars.