thumb|The former Piarist College of [[Cluj-Napoca|Cluj, today the Báthory István Líceum]]

Avram Iancu (; 1824 – 10 September 1872) was a Transylvanian Romanian lawyer who played an important role in the local chapter of the Austrian Empire Revolutions of 1848–1849. He was especially active in the Țara Moților region and the Apuseni Mountains. The rallying of peasants around him, as well as the allegiance he paid to the Habsburg monarchy, earned him the moniker Crăișorul Munților ("The Prince of the Mountains").

Early life

Avram Iancu was born in Vidra de Sus (currently Avram Iancu, Alba County), Transylvania, then part of the Austrian Empire, into a family of peasants that had been emancipated from serfdom. His father was Alisandru Iancu (1787–1855) and his mother was Maria Gligor. He had one elder brother, Ion (born 1822), who became a priest.

Iancu's grandfather was Gheorghe Iancu (deceased before 1812), who had four girls and three boys, including Alisandru. Little is known about Iancu's childhood. Local tradition holds that he had a typical moț character, joyful and witty, and that he had a musical talent, playing the leaf, alphorn, flute, and violin.

Iancu attended primary school in his village, in the Târsa hamlet, and then at Neagra (now Poiana Vadului). He later attended school in Câmpeni, Alba County, from where he graduated at age 13.

After this, he went to Zlatna, where he studied in a Hungarian school, in the Latin language, as there were no Romanian schools in this area. His teachers were Iozephus Stanken (1837–1838), Gregorius Iakabus (1838–1839) and Ludovicus Kovács (1839–1840 and 1840–1841). He graduated at age 17. He studied humanities from 1841, in the Piarist College of Cluj, graduating law school.

Initial stages of 1848 Revolutions

thumb|Portrait of Iancu by [[Mișu Popp, undated]]

Iancu became a law clerk in Târgu Mureș, and it was there that he learned about the events of March 1848 in Vienna and Pest. His attitude at the time showed the nature of the conflict that was to engulf Transylvania: while Iancu welcomed the transition, he was indignant that Hungarian revolutionaries (many of whom were landowners) refused to debate the abolition of serfdom (which at the time was the state of the majority of the Romanian population in Transylvania).

In the Apuseni Mountains, he started rallying peasants in Câmpeni. The protests he organized were recognized as peaceful by the authorities, but nevertheless worried them. Iancu and his associate Ioan Buteanu quickly became the main figures of the Romanian-led actions in the area, especially after they took part in the Blaj Assemblies starting in April, where over 40,000 Romanians met to protest against Transylvania becoming part of Hungary. In Blaj (; ) both opted for the main, radical wing of the movement. Centered on Alexandru Papiu Ilarian, the group opposed the Hungarian revolutionary option of uniting Transylvania and Hungary. It got into conflict with the minority wing around Greek-Catholic Bishop Ioan Lemeni, which chose not to boycott the elections for the Hungarian Parliament.

While the union was carried of on 30 May 1848, the majority of Romanian activists looked towards Vienna and Emperor Ferdinand, sharing the cause of the Transylvanian Saxons. Things became heated after 11 July, when Hungary declared its independence. Austria started to open itself to the Romanian demands, while bloody conflicts ensued between the Hungarian nobles and their Romanian serfs. The last Assembly in Blaj saw the Habsburg governor, Anton Freiherr von Puchner, approve of the arming of National Guards for Romanians and Saxons. On 27 September, the lynching of Austrian plenipotentiary Count Lamberg by a Pest crowd cut off any dialogue between the two centers. The new Emperor Franz Joseph and the Austrian government granted the Romanians numerous liberties and rights; although Lajos Kossuth's government abolished serfdom, this was no longer a match for the Imperial offer.

Conflict

Outbreak

The Austrians clearly rejected the October demand that ethnic criteria become the basis for internal borders, with the goal of creating a province for Romanians (Transylvania grouped alongside Banat and Bukovina), as they did not want to replace the threat of Hungarian nationalism with the potential of Romanian separatism. Yet they did not declare themselves hostile to the rapid creation of Romanian administrative offices within Transylvania.

The territory was organized in ("prefectures"), with Iancu and Buteanu as two prefects in the Apuseni. Iancu's prefecture, the Auraria Gemina (a name charged with Latin symbolism), became the most important one as it took over from bordering areas that were never fully organized.

In the same month, the administrative efforts were halted, as Hungarians under Józef Bem carried out a sweeping offensive through Transylvania. With the discreet assistance of Imperial Russian troops, the Austrian army (except for the garrisons at Alba Iulia and Deva) and the Austrian-Romanian administration retreated to Wallachia and Wallachian Oltenia (both were, at the time, under Russia's occupation).

Attrition

On 8 November, Iancu, along with his 4,000 combatants of the "Auraria Gemina" Legion, took part in joint military actions with Austrian forces. The Legion reached Turda, and the city surrendered without a fight on 20 November. Then, he and his troops returned to the mountains. On 29 November, Iancu had another 1,500 troops mobilized for action. On 4 December, he reached Săcuieu, and on 6–7 December, he and his men were ordered to attack the enemy lines by surprise. However, the attack failed due to the incompetence of an Austrian officer, and the Romanians were forced to withdraw by 10 December. He did not, however, benefit from a surprise, as Iancu and his men retreated and then encircled him. Meanwhile, Dragoș was lynched by the Abrud crowds, in the belief that he was part of Hatvany's ruse.

Hatvany also angered the Romanians by having Buteanu captured and murdered. While his position became weaker, he was permanently attacked by Iancu's men until the major defeat of 22 May. Hatvany and most of his armed group were massacred by their adversaries, as Iancu captured their cannons, switching the tactical advantage for the next months. Hatvany's troops lost 5,000 soldiers and all of their artillery.

Negotiations

Bălcescu and Kossuth met in May 1849, in Debrecen. The contact has long been celebrated by Romanian Marxist historians and politicians: Karl Marx's condemnation of everything opposing Kossuth had led to any Romanian initiative being automatically considered "reactionary". In fact, it appears that the agreement was in no way a pact: Kossuth meant to flatter the Wallachians by getting them to champion the idea of Iancu's armies leaving Transylvania for good, in order to help Bălcescu in Bucharest. While agreeing to mediate for peace, Bălcescu never presented these terms to the fighters in the Apuseni Mountains. His personal documents (commented by ) show that the un-realistic assumptions of Kossuth had made him view the Hungarian leader as a demagogue.

Even more contradictory, the only thing Iancu agreed to (and which no party had asked for) was his forces' neutrality in the conflict between Russia and Hungary. hold that the emperor Franz Joseph was visiting Transylvania and on 21 July 1852, he was in the Apuseni Mountains area, purportedly to attend The Maidens' Fair on Găina Mountain but also hoping that Iancu would agree to meet him. Allegedly, Iancu refused, uttering his famous line "It's all for naught, a madman and a liar can't by any means come to understand each other". Soon after his release, Iancu visited Vienna and attempted to petition the Emperor. He was prevented to do so by the police, a public humiliation which provoked a nervous breakdown that had an impact on the rest of his life. He was marginalized by the authorities who did not allow Romanians to have their own say in Transylvania about their autonomy. Being treated as peripheral by the people in power, he spent the rest of his life traveling the Apuseni Mountains, as a half-mad vagrant, living out of whatever alms that the impoverished moți population could spare for him, singing sad Romanian doina songs on his flute.

Iancu died on 10 September 1872, at Baia de Criș. His body was buried, according to his wish, under Horea's tree in Țebea (by tradition, the place where the Revolt of Horea, Cloșca, and Crișan had started). The international airport serving the city of Cluj-Napoca has been named in his honor.

References

  • Footnotes to Vol. 9 of the Marx-Engels Collected Works at Marxists.org