Iancu Jianu

Iancu Jianu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈjaŋku ʒiˈanu]; 1787 – December 14, 1842), also Ioniţă Jianu, was a Wallachian Romanian hajduk.

Born in Caracal, Oltenia, Wallachia, in 1787, to the Jianu boyar family, as the youngest of four brothers. His father, Costache Jianu was a paharnic and an ispravnic of Romanaţi County.

Despite being rather wealthy, owning parts of four estates and 14 gypsy slaves, he chose to become an outlaw, opposing the idea that the leadership of the country was given to Phanariotes instead of the local boyars. According to Petre V. Nasturel, what made him become a hajduk was a tax collector (zapciu) who enforced the collection of due taxes while Iancu was away. On his return, Iancu killed the tax collector and became a runaway.

He organized a band of outlaws, which numbered 20-25 people, but usually used smaller groups of 10-12 people in his interventions. In 1821, he brought to the army of Tudor Vladimirescu just 21 people. The first known document mentioning Jianu as a hajduk is from May 6, 1812, when a report of the Great Spătar mentioned two groups of outlaws in Romanaţi County, among them being the one of Jianu.

In the following months, Jianu and a part of his hajduks were caught and on December 30, 1812, the new voivode of Wallachia, Ioan Gheorghe Caragea, ordered to the ispravnics of Romanaţi to hand them over to Bucharest where he was sent to prison, but following his relatives' intervention, he was pardoned. Iancu continued his robberies in Romanaţi and Dolj counties and his brother, Amza Jianu had to deposit at the treasury a sum of 1833 thalers which were supposed to compensate those robbed by his brother.

On 10 April 1817, Caragea wrote a letter to the Caimacam of Craiova which said that he is pardoned for all his misdeeds, but if he ever repeats his acts, he would be hanged as soon as he is caught. Nevertheless, Iancu returned to his life as an outlaw, he was caught and sentenced to death by hanging. Iancu was saved by an old custom, according to which a man sentenced to death is pardoned if a noble woman asks him to become her husband and he accepts. Sultana Gălăşescu, a young woman from the retinue of princess Ralu, Caragea's daughter wanted him to become her husband. After the marriage with Sultana, Iancu gave up being an outlaw and retired to his estate from Fălcoi.

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