death_date birth_place name birth_date image article_title birth_name occupation
07 august 1911 cârțișoara , austrian empire badea cârțan 24 january 1849 badea cartan.jpg badea cârțan
 gheorghe cârțan shepherd
badea cârțan

badea cârțan -lrb- roughly : `` brother cârțan '' -- the common nickname of gheorghe cârțan ; 24 january 1849 -- 7 august 1911 -rrb- was a self-taught ethnic romanian shepherd who fought for the independence of the romanians of transylvania -lrb- then under hungarian rule inside austria-hungary -rrb- , distributing romanian-language books that he secretly brought from romania to their villages .
in all he smuggled some 200,000 books for pupils , priests , teachers and peasants ; he used several routes to pass through the făgăraş mountains .
he was born in cârțișoara , present-day sibiu county , the second child of poor peasants -lrb- nicolae and ludovica -rrb- who were former serfs , and he spent his childhood tending sheep at the edge of his village .
in between his later brushes with fame , he would always return to this activity .
he became the head of his family on 2 october 1865 with the death of his father .
cârţan first crossed the mountains into the romanian old kingdom with his sheep and a friend at the age of 18 , and it was at that time that his interest in romanian national unity became powerful .
in 1877 he enrolled as a volunteer in the romanian war of independence , serving until 1881 .
in 1895 he travelled to vác and szeged to visit imprisoned romanians , including the signatories of the `` transylvanian memorandum '' .
badea cârțan himself was arrested twice : once because he asked the emperor-king franz joseph at vienna for transylvania 's self-determination , and once because he asked the authorities for permission to sell romanian books .
cârțan made a journey on foot to rome , and when he arrived at the city 's edge after 45 days , said , '' `` bine te-am găsit , maica roma '' '' -lrb- `` pleased to meet you , mother rome '' -rrb- .
he wished to see trajan 's column with his own eyes , as well as other evidences of the latin origin of the romanian people .
after pouring romanian soil and wheat at the column 's base , he wrapped himself in a peasant 's coat -lrb- `` cojoc '' -rrb- and fell asleep at the column 's base .
the next day he was awakened by a policeman who shouted in amazement , `` a dacian has fallen off the column ! ''
, as cârţan was dressed just like the dacians carved into the column ; the event was reported in roman newspapers and duiliu zamfirescu , romanian representative in italy , showed him around the city and introduced him to its important personalities .
this january-february 1896 trip was but one of three visits to rome ; on his last , in october 1899 , on the occasion of a meeting of the international congress of orientalists , he laid a wreath at the column 's base .
cârțan also visited france , spain , belgium , switzerland , germany , egypt and jerusalem .
he was buried in sinaia , on soil belonging to independent romania -lrb- transylvania still being seven years away from its post-world war i union with romania -rrb- ; on the stone cross atop his grave is inscribed the phrase : '' `` aici doarme badea cârțan visând întregirea neamului său '' '' -lrb- `` here lies badea cârțan dreaming of the unity of his people '' -rrb- .
