Chronicle of Huru

The Chronicle of Huru (Romanian: Cronica lui Huru) was a forged narrative, first published in 1856-1857; it claimed to be an official chronicle of the medieval Moldavian court and to shed light on Romanian presence in Moldavia from Roman Dacia and up to the 13th century, thus offering an explanation of problematic issues relating to the origin of the Romanians and Romanian history in the Dark Ages. Publicized and endorsed by the Romantic nationalist intellectuals Gheorghe Asachi (who edited the published version) and Ion Heliade Rădulescu, it was argued to have been the work of Paharnic Constantin Sion (or another member of his family) or that of Gheorghe Săulescu, Asachi's friend and lifelong collaborator.
The document claimed to be the version of a text from the 13th century, relying on information first written down by a certain Arbore the Campodux (Campoduxul Arbore) and edited in Medieval Latin by Huru, depicted as chancellor for Moldavia's founder, Prince Dragoş (who, the text claimed, had ruled ca. 1270-1280); the final version was claimed to be a transcription of Huru's chronicle through the intervention of Spătar Clănău, a member of Stephen the Great's court (late 15th century). Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who believed it was "the oldest Moldavian chronicle", argued that Stephen the Great had discovered Huru's version in Lviv, at the time part of Jagiellon Poland, "while robbing the palace of a Galician magnate".
The chronicle began by stressing continuity between Roman colonists in the region and the inhabitants of Moldavia: according to the text, in 274, when Emperor Aurelian ordered his troops to retreat from areas north of the Danube, colonists gathered in Iaşi and voted to stand their ground and resist migratory intrusions. Consequently, they decided to organize themselves as a federal republic extending from the Carpathians in the west to the Dniester in the east
It was ultimately proven spurious by linguist Alexandru Philippide in 1882.
More information on the Wikipedia page .
Category:Fakes and forgeries
Category:19th century