Teodor Boldur-Lățescu

Teodor Boldur-Lățescu was a Romanian politician, essayist and newspaper publisher, best known for his violent advocacy of Moldavian separatism. Born into an ancient clan of Moldavian boyars, and claiming Montenegrin Balšić descent on his maternal side, he was unable to maintain his economic status, and eventually had to work as a lawyer. In his late teens, he debuted in politics as an adherent of the National Party, which sought to establish political ties between the Romanian populations of Moldavia and Wallachia. Boldur-Lățescu was disenchanted with the single Romanian state formed in 1859, emerging as an outspoken adversary of its Domnitor, Alexandru Ioan Cuza. His embrace of political separatism took a radical and controversial form, which included stereotyping Wallachians as Gypsies and circulating a historical forgery, the Chronicle of Huru. During the interregnum which followed Cuza's toppling by the "monstrous coalition" in February 1866, he joined a separatist caucus in Iași, convincing Nicolae Rosetti-Rosnovanu to claim the Moldavian throne.