In the period between the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, Oltenia was constantly the prey of the incursions over the Danube of the Vidin Pasha, Pazvantoğlu. His soldiers, called pazvangii, robbed, destroyed or burned houses, workshops and churches. Only the region that had come back between the borders of the Romanian Country after a long time it had been the “Country of Papura Voda”, and now new misfortunes hit it.
Soon, the expression “in the times of Pazvante (Chioru’)” entered the common vocabulary and became widely used, which meant a period of bad governance and great difficulties. Many of the events that took place during that period became popular legends. In time, however, the expression changed its meaning, designating something extremely old or outdated.
Who was Pazvantoğlu?
Osman Pazvantoğlu was an Ottoman soldier whose fascinating and tumultuous life sent him directly to the history books of the Ottoman Empire, but also later of Romania. In his youth he dealt with dloan-sharking, a duty forbidden to Muslims, which is why he was very close to being hanged. He managed, through bribes and interventions, to be allowed to go into exile, crossing the Danube in the Romanian Country. Here he entered the entourage of Nicolae Mavrogheni, the mountain ruler of Phanariotic origin of the Romanian Country, becoming the chief of his personal guards. Later, Pazvantoğlu plotted against the ruler, but his plans were revealed and he was again very close to death. This time he also saved by the intervention of his friend Rigas Feraios, a well-known Greek poet at the time.
Returning south of the Danube, he begins a series of robberies in the Balkans, accompanied by a mob of Turks and Albanians. The money collected from these raids was sent to Sultan Selim, promising that he will send many more if he is called agha. The Sultan agres and appoints Osman agha, but soon his ambitions grow and he begins to want the position of Pasha. Because the High Gate hesitated to appoint him in that high position, Pazvantoğlu rebelled against Sultan Selim. It gathers mercenaries from all corners of Europe and creates his own army, with the help of which Vidin forms an independent state and he is self-proclaimed Pasha. Good fighter and fine diplomat, he manages to rule until 1798 a territory which lies from Belgrade to Varna and from the Danube to the Balkans. He creates private diplomatic relations and issues its own currency, on which is impressed his own face.
It was the drop that filled the glass, and the Sultan decided to give a lesson to the conceided Pasha. He sends 100,000 janissaries under the command of Husein Kukuc agha to punish Pazvantoğlu, but they fail to conquer Vidin. Impressed by Osman’s intelligence, determination, courage and ambition, the Sultan decides to forgive him and offer him the much-wanted turn.
Pazvantoğlu in Wallachia
Satisfied for a period for obtaining the title of Pasha, Pazvantoğlu soon develops other ambitions. Among them, the thirst for money, gold and wealth, but also the unstoppable desire for surrender and struggle. He crosses the Danube and systematically plunders and sets fire to the villages of southern Wallachia, killing men and babies and molesting women. By his actions and those of his pazavagii, he attracted the hatred of the Wallachian population and the outlaws.
The height of their hatred is reached in 1799 and 1800, when Pazvantoğlu orders that Craiova should be robbed and set on fire. His troops made terrible damages, and following these raids, only 300 of the approximately 7,000 homes were not destroyed. If in 1799 the Turks confined themselves to plundering the shops and merchants in the Old Square of the town and a few boyar houses on the outskirts, in 1800 they started a large fire, which destroyed the entire commercial part of Craiova. Then it is said that all the shops, storages, warehouses and workshops were burned, so that neither the Turks nor the Craioveans were left with anything.
Two years later, Pazvante sends his troops to Bucharest. Frightened at the news, the ruler flees the capital, which, without defence, falls into anarchy. The order is restored with the brutal intervention of the Turkish troops.
The legend of the name Pazvante Chioru’
After the numerous attacks of the pazvangii on the north of the Danube, the Oltenian outlaws led by Iancu Jianu gave them a crushing reply. They organized in 1809 a series of raids to track the pazvangii near Vidin. There, Iancu Jianu himself gets into a fight with Pazvantoğlu, taking his eye off with the scimitar. Hence the nickname of Pazvante Chioru’ received by the dreaded Pasha of Vidin! He was helped to escape the fury of the outlaw by a personal guard. Seeing him running away, Iancu would have shouted to him: “With this hand I took your eye, with the same hand I will also kill you, heathen dog!”
According to tradition, on the evening of that win, the troubadour Niţă Băloi from Ișalnița composed for Iancu Jianu the famous song “My mother made me Oltenian”. A few years earlier, on the order of the ruler, the troubadour had his fingers cut off with on the right hand so as not to rise the people through his songs. But he kept singing and composing!
After this victory, Iancu Jianu and the Oltenian outlaws continued their attacks, firing Vidin and Plevna and destroying the Turkish raya from Turnu Magurele. According to the legend, Pazvante Chioru’ would have died after the destruction of Vidin by Iancu Jianu, but other theories claim that he was poisoned by the Jewish doctor of Vidin town, from the order of the Sultan, who would not forget Pazvantoğlu’s slippages.
Craiova in the time of Pazvante Chioru’
According to the popular Oltenian tradition, the expression “in the time of Pazvante Chioru” would have designated a period of great difficulties. This was due both to the problems that Craiova faced during the raids of the pazvangii (robberies, fires, crimes) and other misfortunes that affected the city in those times. For example, it is said that the end of the eighteenth century brought with it an earthquake (1790), a plague epidemic (1795) and the largest and most devastating fire in the city’s history (1796). The beginning of the next century was not even brighter, as it was marked by a rebellion of the slums (1801) and by a new raid of the Turks, after which they took in slavery 50-60 girls for the harem of the Pasha of Vidin (1808).
Over time, the deeds and events of those times have become increasingly distant in the collective memory. For this reason, the meaning of the expression “in the time of Pazvante Chioru” has also changed, which is also used today with the meaning of distant time or outdated thing.
Bibliography:
· Alin Ion, “Where does the phrase “In the time of Pazvante Chiorul” comes from. The story of a bloody Pasha that put the horror in the Oltenians and lost an eye in the fight with the outlaws”, 26 May 2015, https://adevarul.ro/locale/targu-jiu/de-provine-expresia-pe-vremea-pazvante-chiorul-povestea-unui-pasa-sangeros-bagat-groaza-olteni-si-a-pierdut-ochi- fight outlaws-1_5563183fcfbe376e3593deb8 / index.html
· “The Extraordinary story of a Balkan adventurer – Pazvante Chiorul”, 11 May 2010, https://cersipamantromanesc.wordpress.com/2010/05/11/povestea-unui-condotier-balcanic-pazvante-chiorul/
· Nicu Parlog, “The Story of Pazvante Chioru”, 9 August 2008, https://www.descopera.ro/cultura/3144977-povestea-lui-pazvante-chioru
· „… In the time of Pazvante Chioru’…”, 15 May 2010, https://www.gds.ro/Opinii/2010-05-15/%E2%80%9E…+Pe+vremea+lui+Pazvante+Chioru%E2%80%99…%E2%80%9C/
· “Osman Pazvantoğlu”, 12 May 2019, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osman_Pazvanto%C4%9Flu