Neagoe Basarab

The Holy Right-⁠Believing Prince Neagoe Basarab was prince of Wallachia from 1512 to 1521, the founder of the monastery of Curtea de Argeș and the author of the Teachings to his son Theodosius. He was canonised by the Romanian Orthodox Church in 2008, for his holy deeds and for the flourishing of spiritual life in Wallachia.

Origins and rise to the throne

It is said that he was the son of the great steward Pârvu Craiovescu and Neaga; other sources make him the illegitimate son of Basarab IV the Younger. He grew up in the house of Pârvu Craiovescu, where he received a fine education, knowing Greek and Slavonic, and he travelled through central Europe and the Ottoman Empire. He held offices in the Wallachian state: chamberlain, high chamberlain and high equerry. It is also said that he served Patriarch Nephon II, who sought teaching and soul food from him. The conflict between Prince Vlad the Young and the Craiovești boyars brought Neagoe to the throne after the battle of Văcărești in January 1512.

Reign

He encouraged crafts and trade, kept friendship with Hungary and tried to balance Ottoman overlordship with ties to the Christian powers, seeking relations with Venice and Rome and even offering to mediate between Orthodox and Catholics, with an alliance against the Ottoman Empire in mind. In 1519 he sent, with Stephen IV of Moldavia, an envoy to the Vatican, promising that they would take part in the expedition against the sultan. The country remained, however, a vassal of the Porte. He made generous gifts to Orthodox monasteries in Wallachia, in the Balkans, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and to the holy places of Jerusalem and Mount Sinai. In 1512 the hieromonk Macarius printed a Slavonic Tetraevangelion at Târgoviște. In his time the monastery of Curtea de Argeș was built (consecrated in 1517), around which the legend of Master Manole arose. He also ordered works at the church of Saint Nicholas in Șcheii Brașovului.

The Teachings

He wrote in Church Slavonic the Teachings of Neagoe Basarab to his son Theodosius, one of the earliest great works of Wallachian literature, with counsel on philosophy, diplomacy, morals and ethics. Some scholars see as one of its models the Encomium of Constantine and Helen by Patriarch Euthymius of Tarnovo.

Family and repose

He married Lady Despina Milica, of the Serbian Branković family. They had six children, among them Theodosius, prince in 1521-1522, Stana, wife of Stephen IV of Moldavia, Peter, John, Roxandra, wife of Prince Radu of Afumați, and Angelina. He fell asleep on 15 September 1521 and was buried in the church of the monastery of Curtea de Argeș. The Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church canonised him on 8 July 2008; his feast is on 26 September. In 2018 he was also added to the calendar of the Russian Orthodox Church, with a commemoration on 9 October.