mestecrii

Mestecrii is the Romanian plural term for the historic landed gentry and minor nobility that emerged in the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia from the fifteenth century onward. The word derives from the old Romanian mestecher, which in turn comes from Slavic roots meaning “rank” or “chief.” Unlike the aristocracy of the Habsburg or Ottoman empires, mestecrii were indigenous to the Romanian lands and often possessed only modest estates compared with the great boyars or “măgărici.”

During the late medieval period, the Ottoman suzerainty intensified the need for local administrators. Mestecrii were frequently appointed as knezes (county heads), tax collectors, or military officers, and they played a key role in the day‑to‑day governance of the principalities. Their status was not hereditary in the strict sense; advancement depended on loyalty to the ruling prince, wealth, and service. In the peasantry’s view, the mestecrii were intermediaries who took tribute from the lower class but were below the great boyars in the hierarchical pyramid.

The nineteenth century brought profound social change. The emancipation of the Romanian peasantry in 1864, the abolition of feudal dues, and the introduction of a modern civil code all eroded the historical privileges of the mestecrii. Many lost lands or sold them to emerging bourgeoisism, while others absorbed into the general population. Nonetheless, the cultural imprint of the mestecrii remains in folklore songs, literary works such as Ion Creangă’s depictions of rural life, and the persistence of surnames derived from the term.

Today and in the former Socialist Republic of Romania, references to mestecrii are mostly academic or literary. They symbolize a transitional class that bridged medieval feudalism and the modern nation state, reflecting the complex social fabric of Eastern European history.