From the turn of the eighteenth century onward the Habsburg Monarchy and Russia became major players on the Lower Danube in their pursuit of war against the Ottomans. Despite their colliding ambitions over the region, higher stakes in Europe kept the two powers allied with each other for much of the period. Nevertheless, keen to further its political agenda, Russia employed a range of tactics to destabilize its Balkan competitor. Public diplomacy was used creatively to recruit the aid of Serbs and Romanians who inhabited the eastern parts of the Habsburg Monarchy. Their discriminated Byzantine Orthodox faith gave Russia a leverage, as it advertised itself as the single most powerful patron of the tsar’s afflicted coreligionists. This strategy reached its climax during the Seven Years’ War, when renewed attempts to gain Serbian settlers for the border regions of Russia and reiterated interventions with the court in Vienna in support of the Orthodox demands for toleration in Habsburg Transylvania strained relations between the two empires.

By focusing on the news and calls coming from Transylvania in the 1750s and early 1760s, my paper follows the interplay between politics, religion, and society to measure how influential Russia was in the province. On the one hand, there is the very tangible Russian engagement with the Orthodox Christians—from the money contributed to renovating the largest church in the suburbs of Brașov, to the backing offered by ambassadors Bestuzhev-Ryumin and Keyselring to the demands submitted to the court in Vienna. Under stress, the Habsburg bureaucracy began conflating every single incident in Transylvania as part of a Russian conspiracy, to which disparate evidence seemed to point. The Orthodox Romanians themselves added to the pressure by exploiting the existing fears that the Monarchy might lose a significant share of its taxpayers if they chose to migrate to Russia.

[1] Ivan Părvev, Habsburgs and Ottomans between Vienna and Belgrade (1683-1739) (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1995), 289-295; Robert J. W. Evans, Austria, Hungary, and the Habsburgs: Essays on Central Europe, c. 1683-1867 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 5; A. Wess Mitchell, The Grand Strategy of the Habsburg Empire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008), 54-55.

[2] Paul Bushkovitch, Peter the Great: The Struggle for Power, 1671-1725 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), 183-187; John P. LeDonne, The Grand Strategy of the Russian Empire, 1650-1831 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 25-28.

[3] Mitchell, The Grand Strategy, 126-127; Karl Vocelka, Glanz und Untergang der höfischen Welt: Repräsentation, Reform und Reaktion im habsburgischen Vielvölkerstaat (Wien: Ueberreuter, 2001), 154-178; Michael Hochedlinger, Austria’s Wars of Emergence: War, State, and Society in the Habsburg Monarchy 1683-1797 (London, New York: Routledge, 2003), 212-217, 349-396; Virginia H. Aksan, Ottoman Wars 1700-1870: An Empire Besieged (London, New York: Routledge, 2007), 83-179.

[4] Anna Coreth, Pietas Austriaca: Austrian Religious Practices in the Baroque Era (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 2004); Robert J. W. Evans, The Making of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1550-1700: An Interpretation (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1979); Robert Bireley, “Confessional Absolutism in the Habsburg Lands in the Seventeenth Century,” in Charles W. Ingrao, ed., State and Society in Early Modern Austria (West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press, 1994), 36-53. On the continued relevance of the formula into the eighteenth century, see Derek Beales, Joseph II, vol. 1: In the Shadow of Maria Theresa, 1741-1780 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987), 465-479 and vol. 2: Against the World, 1780-1790 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 168-177; Grete Klingenstein, “Modes of Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Eighteenth-Century Habsburg Politics,” AHY 24 (1993): 1-16; Vocelka, Glanz und Untergang, 208-221.

[5] Harvey L. Dyck, “New Serbia and the Origins of the Eastern Question, 1751-55: A Habsburg Perspective,” Russ. Rev. 40, 1 (1981): 1-19; Mita Kostić, Nova Srbija i Slavenosrbija [New Serbia and Slaveno-Serbia] (Novi Sad: Srpsko-Ukrajinsko Društvo, 2001). See also the studies included in the festive volume Seoba Srba u Rusko carstvo polovinom 18. veka [The Serb Migration to the Russian Empire in the Middle of the Eighteenth Century] (Novi Sad: Srpsko-Ukrajinsko Društvo/Arhiv Vojvodine/Muzej grada Novog Sada, 2005).

[6] Mathias Bernath, Habsburg und die Anfänge der Rumänischen Nationsbildung (Leiden: Brill, 1972), 49-62.

[7] Radu Nedici, Formarea identității confesionale greco-catolice în Transilvania veacului al XVIII-lea: Biserică și comunitate [The Formation of Greek Catholic Confessional Identity in Eighteenth-Century Transylvania: Church and Community] (Bucharest: Editura Universității din București, 2013), 155-185.

[8] Daniel Dumitran, “Formen der Identitäsdefinition im Siebenbürgen des 18. Jhs. Einführung in die Kritik des Geschichtsbildes der nich-unierten Rumänen,” in Johann Marte et al., eds., Die Union der Rumänen Siebenbürgens mit der Kirche von Rom, vol. 2 (Bucharest: Editura Enciclopedică, 2015), 739-839.

[9] Radu Nedici, “Religious Violence, Political Dialogue, and the Public: The Orthodox Riots in Eighteenth-Century Transylvania,” in Daniel Dumitran, Valer Moga, eds., Economy and Society in Central and Eastern Europe: Territory, Population, Consumption (Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2013), 87-100; Radu Nedici. “Rethinking Religious Dissent in Mid-Eighteenth-Century Transylvania: Political Practices and the Plebeian Public Sphere,” AUB ist. 53, 1 (2014): 101-124.

[10] Virgil Ciobanu, “Statistica românilor ardeleni din anii 1760-1762” [The Figure of the Romanians in Transylvania in the Years 1760-1762], AIIN 3 (1924-1925): 699.

[11] Silviu Dragomir, Contribuții privitoare la relațiile Bisericii românești cu Rusia în veacul XVII [Contributions Regarding the Relationship between the Romanian Church and Russia during the Seventeenth Century] (Bucharest: Socec & Comp., 1912), 1129; Candid C. Mușlea, Biserica Sf. Nicolae din Șcheii-Brașovului [St Nicholas Church in Șcheii-Brașovului], vol. 1: 1292-1742 (Brașov: Institutul de Arte Grafice Astra, 1943), 122-123.

[12] Silviu Dragomir, Relațiile bisericești ale Românilor din Ardeal cu Rusia în veacul XVIII [The Church Relations between the Transylvanian Romanians and Russia during the Eighteenth Century] (Sibiu: Tipografia Arhidiecezană, 1914), 4-9.

[13] Mușlea, Biserica Sf. Nicolae, vol. 2: 1743-1837 (Brașov: Institutul de Arte Grafice Astra, 1946), 409.

[14] Mihai Săsăujan, Habsburgii și Biserica Ortodoxă din Imperiul Austriac (1740-1761) [The Habsburgs and the Orthodox Church in the Austrian Empire (1740-1761] (Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2003), 247-248, 252.

[15] Dragomir, Relațiile bisericești, 9.

[16] Mușlea, Biserica Sf. Nicolae, 2, 56; Săsăujan, Habsburgii, 252.

[17] Mușlea, Biserica Sf. Nicolae, 2, 409.

[18] Mușlea, Biserica Sf. Nicolae, 2, 17, 58.

[19] To this day it reads: “Pia Liberalitate Elisabethæ Petrovnæ Monocratricis Totius Rusiæ Imperatricis Invictæ Hic Sacer Locus Est Renovatus Anno 1751” [This place of worship was renovated in the year 1751 by the pious grace of Elizabeth Petrovna, sole ruler and undefeated empress of all Russia].

[20] Sterie Stinghe, Documente privitoare la trecutul Romînilor din Șcheĭ [Documents Regarding the Past of the Romanians in Șchei], vol. 1: 1700–1783 (Brașov: Tipografia Ciurcu & Comp., 1901), 333-335.

[21] Eugenia Dima, Gabriela E. Dima, ‘Vita di Pietro’ de Antonio Catiforo și versiunile românești din secolul al XVIII-lea [‘Vita di Pietro’ by Antonio Catiforo and the Romanian Versions from the Eighteenth Century] (Iași: Editura Universității Alexandru Ioan Cuza, 2013), 151-222; Alexandru Mareș, “În căutarea unei paternități” [In Search of a Paternity], LR 64, 4 (2015): 548-558.

[22] Ioachim Crăciun, Aurora Ilieș, Repertoriul manuscriselor de cronici interne sec. XV-XVIII privind istoria României [The Catalogue of Internal Chronicles’s Manuscripts Regarding the History of Romania, Fifteenth-Eighteenth Centuries] (București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române, 1963), 479.

[23] N. A. Ursu, “Un cronicar brașovean necunoscut, din secolul XVIII: Simeon Hîrs” [An Unknown Chronicler of the Eighteenth Century: Simeon Hîrs], AIIX 29 (1992): 251-276; Ioan-Aurel Pop, Contribuții la istoria culturii românești (Cronicile brașovene din secolele XVII-XVIII) [Contributions to the History of Romanian Culture (The Brașov Chronicles of the Seventeenth-Eighteenth Centuries)] (Cluj-Napoca: Dacia, 2003), 164-185.

[24] Beales, Joseph II, vol. 2: Against the World, 104-123; Matthew Z. Mayer, “The Price for Austria’s Security: Part 1 – Joseph II, the Russian Alliance, and the Ottoman War, 1787-1789,” Int. Hist. Rev. 26, 2 (2004): 257-299, here 257-264.

[25] For a brief biography, see Iosif Pervain, “Dimitrie Eustatievici,” Studia Philol. 3, 6 (1958): 27-40.

[26] Pieter M. Judson, The Habsburg Empire: A New History (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press, 2016), 51-63.

[27] David Prodan, Supplex Libellus Valachorum: Din istoria formării națiunii române [Supplex Libellus Valachorum: From the History of the Formation of the Romanian Nation] (București: Editura Enciclopedică, 1998), 252-253, 310.

[28] Nedici, Formarea identității confesionale, 174-179.

[29] Sergey Mikhaylovich Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii s drevneyshikh vremen [The History of Russia from Ancient Times], vol. 23: Istoriya Rossii v tsarstvovanie imperatritsy Elisavety Petrovny (Saint Petersburg: Tovarishchestvo Obshchestvennaya Polza, 1895), 639-640.

[30] Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii, vol. 23, 640.

[31] George Barițiu, Părți alese din istoria Transilvaniei. Pe două sute de ani din urmă [Selected Fragments from the History of Transylvania. The Last Two Hundred Years], edition by Ștefan Pascu and Florin Salvan, vol. 1 (Brașov: Inspectoratul pentru Cultură al Județului Brașov, 1993), 724-726.

[32] F szkeció: Erdélyi országos kormányhatósági levéltárak, Gubernium Transylvanicum (in Politicis), Fund Commissio in publico-ecclesiasticis (hereafter: F 53), bundle 29, fols. 283-287, Magyar Nemzeti Levéltár, Országos Levéltár (hereafter: MNL OL).

[33] B szekció: Erdélyi udvari kancelláriai levéltár, Erdélyi Kancellária regisztratúrája, Acta generalia (hereafter: B 2), 1750, unnumbered bundle, fols. 2-3, MNL OL.

[34] Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii, vol. 23, 640-641.

[35] Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii, vol. 23, 641-642.

[36] Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii, vol. 23, 710-711.

[37] The opinion of the interministerial conference of 7 November 1750, B 2, 297/1750, fols. 6-11, MNL OL, together with the ensuing imperial rescript of 11 December 1750, Colecția Brukenthal, O 1-6, fols. 1-4, Arhivele Naționale ale României, Serviciul Județean Sibiu.

[38] Augustin Bunea, Din istoria românilor. Episcopul Ioan Inocențiu Klein (1728-1751) [From the History of the Romanians. Bishop Ioan Inocențiu Klein (1728-1751)] (Blaj: Tipografia Seminariului Archidiecesan, 1900), 252-255; Augustin Bunea, Episcopii Petru Paul Aron și Dionisiu Novacovici sau istoria românilor transilvăneni de la 1751 pănă la 1764 [Bishops Petru Paul Aron and Dionisiu Novacovici or the History of the Transylvanian Romanians from 1751 to 1764] (Blaj: Tipografia Seminarului Archidiecesan, 1902), 66-67; Săsăujan, Habsburgii, 264-265.

[39] B 2, 297/1750, fol. 10, MNL OL.

[40] Hans Uebersberger, Russlands Orientpolitik in den letzten zwei Jahrhunderten, vol. 1: Bis zum Frieden von Jassy (Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1913), 250-255; Dyck, “New Serbia,” 5-7.

[41] Maksim Yuryevich Anisimov, “Rossiyskiy diplomat A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693-1766)” [The Russian Diplomat A. P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin (1693-1766)], Novaya i noveyshaya istoriya 6, 2005: 175-192, here 180-181; Dyck, “New Serbia,” 7.

[42] LeDonne, The Grand Strategy, 87-89.

[43] Quoted in Dyck, “New Serbia,” 3.

[44] Quoted in Silviu Dragomir, “La politique religieuse des Habsbourgs et les interventions russes au XVIII^e siècle,” Balcania 7, 1 (1944): 152-172, here 156.

[45] Stevan M. Dimitrijević, “Građa za srpsku istoriju iz ruskih arhiva i biblioteka” [Materials for Serbian History from the Russian Archives and Libraries], Spomenik Srpske Kraljevske Akademije 53 (1922): 1-329, here 18-31.

[46] Săsăujan, Habsburgii, 105-116.

[47] Dragomir, “La politique religieuse,” 153.

[48] Dragomir, “La politique religieuse,” 154.

[49] Dragomir, “La politique religieuse,” 155-156.

[50] Dragomir, “La politique religieuse,” 157.

[51] Săsăujan, Habsburgii, 145; Mihai Săsăujan, Politica bisericească a Curții din Viena în Transilvania (1740-1761) [The Church Policy of the Viennese Court in Transylvania (1740-1761)] (Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană, 2002), 194-211.

[52] Solovyev, Istoriya Rossii, vol. 23, 640-641.

[53] On his alleged contacts with Ambassador Bestuzhev-Ryumin, see Silviu Dragomir, Istoria desrobirei religioase a românilor din Ardeal în secolul XVIII [The History of the Religious Emancipation of the Romanians from Transylvania in the Eighteenth Century], vol. 1 (Sibiu: Editura și Tiparul Tipografiei Arhidiecezane, 1920), 192, 196.

[54] Nedici, “Rethinking Religious Dissent,” 111-114; Radu Nedici, “Cum să pornești o revoltă în veacul al XVIII-lea: Activism, adunări publice și propagandă în comunitățile ortodoxe din Transilvania (1740-1760)” [How to Start a Revolt in the Eighteenth Century: Activism, Public Meetings, and Propaganda in the Orthodox Communities in Transylvania (1740s-1760s)], RI 28, 5-6 (2017): 479-498, here 490-495.

[55] Nedici, “Rethinking Religious Dissent,” 119-120.

[56] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 27-28.

[57] Bunea, Episcopii Aron și Novacovici, 438.

[58] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 28-31.

[59] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 32; Bunea, Episcopii Aron și Novacovici, 438.

[60] Dimitrijević, “Građa za srpsku istoriju,” 32-36; Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 33-34, 52-54.

[61] Bunea, Episcopii Aron și Novacovici, 439.

[62] Nedici, “Cum să pornești o revoltă,” 484-485.

[63] Bunea, Episcopii Aron și Novacovici, 140-142.

[64] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 35-36.

[65] Two of his letters in Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 54-55. The report on the activity of the Orthodox priest from Drașov, A szekció: A Magyar kancelláriai levéltár, Magyar Királyi Kancellária registratúrája, Ungarn und Siebenbürgen (hereafter: A 108), box 19, bundle 17, fols. 118-120, MNL OL.

[66] Dimitrijević, “Građa za srpsku istoriju,” 261-266. On his conflict with the archbishop of Sremski Karlovci, see Nenad Ninković, Mitropolit Pavle Nenadović [Archbishop Pavle Nenadović] (Novi Sad: Filozofski Fakultet/Istorijski Arhiv Srem, 2017), 314-316.

[67] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 36-39.

[68] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 39.

[69] Dragomir, “Relațiile bisericești,” 54-55.

[70] Ninković, Mitropolit Nenadović, 245-247.

[71] Săsăujan, Habsburgii, 144-150, 180-182.

[72] Péter Bod, Brevis Valachorum Transylvaniam incolentium historia, edition by Ana Dumitran, Botond Gudor, Nicolae Dănilă, in Relații interconfesionale româno-maghiare în Transilvania (mijlocul secolului XVI - primele decenii ale secolului XVIII) / Román-magyar felekezetközi kapcsolatok Erdélyben (a XVI. század közepe - a XVIII. század első évtizedei között) [Romanian-Hungarian Interconfessional Relations in Transylvania (Mid-Sixteenth Century - The First Decades of the Eighteenth Century)] (Alba Iulia: Altip, 2000), 421.

[73] F szekció: Erdélyi országos kormányhatósági levéltárak, Gubernium Transylvanicum levéltára, Commissio aulica Sofroniana (hereafter: F 71), bundle 13, fol. 272, MNL OL.

[74] See also the comments by Ana Dumitran, “The Russian Icons of Transylvania. From Political Destabilization to Cultural Transfer,” in Ana Dumitran, Dumitrița-Daniela Filip, eds., Russian Icons from Transylvania: Exhibition Catalogue (Alba Iulia, Cluj-Napoca: Editura Muzeului Național al Unirii, Editura Mega, 2023), 7-13.

[75] B 2, 312/1752, p. 497, MNL OL.

[76] Ioan Lupaș, “Contribuțiuni documentare la istoria satelor transilvane” [Documentary Contributions to the History of Transylvanian Villages], in Ioan Lupaș, Studii istorice [Historical Studies], vol. 4 (Sibiu: Institutul de Arte Grafice Dacia Traiană, 1943), 257.

[77] Virgil Șotropa, “Revolta districtului năsăudean: 1755-1762” [The Revolt of the District of Năsăud: 1755-1762], AS 22 (1937): 1-177, here 158, 164.

[78] F 71, bundle 3, fols. 65, 72, MNL OL.

[79] F 71, bundle 5, fols. 198-199, MNL OL.

[80] Quoted in Bunea, Episcopii Aron și Novacovici, 146, footnote 1.