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The
armiger, Filip-Lucian
Iorga (b. 1982), PhD,
a Romanian historian,
writer and professor,
member of the Royal
Historical Society, of
the Heraldry Society
and of the Romanian
Jockey Club, is the
descendant of an old
Romanian moșneni
family, the
Bărbulescu-Stănescu of
Poiana and
Pisculeasca.
The
moșneni were
part of the Wallachian
medieval aristocracy,
an equivalent of the
English gentry. The moșneni
of Poiana, in the
Ialomița county, owned
their estate since at
least the 16th
century. They were
landowners and
warriors. A family
legend speaks about an
ancestor who fought,
around 1600, against
the Ottomans,
alongside Michael the
Brave, the famous
Wallachian prince who
united for the first
time Wallachia,
Moldavia and
Transylvania.
One
branch of the
moșneni of
Poiana, the
Poenaru-Bordea,
received several boyar
ranks (mare
stolnic, serdar,
logofăt, paharnic,
pitar) and they
were related to many
important Romanian
aristocratic families,
including the Ghika
princely family, to
the Russian counts
Kiseleff and the
barons Sachellarie.
Colonel Gheorghe
Poenaru-Bordea (a
direct descendant of
Barbu Roșul
from 1639) was the
first Romanian officer
who died in World War
I.
The
Bărbulescu-Stănescu
branch originates from
Priest Radu, an
Eastern Orthodox
priest born around
1730, the father of
Moșnean Barbu Poppa
Radu (1788-1888). The
family owned parts of
the Poiana and
Pisculeasca estates in
the Ialomița county,
southeast Romania.
They were warriors,
landowners, priests
and scholars related
to families like the
Moldavian boyars
Străjescu (related to
the Phanariot princes
Mavrogheni), the
Russian nobles Onou
(related to the
princes Trubetzkoy,
the princes
Shakhovskoy, the
counts
Chreptowicz-Bouteneff
and the barons Jomini)
and the von Kraus
(Saxon nobles from
Transylvania).
The
traditional stone
cross from the coat
of arms, similar to
the family crosses
still extant in
Poiana, evokes the
Christian tradition
of the family and
the fidelity to the
Church. The cross
stands on a mount
that evokes one of
the family estates,
named Pisculeasca.
The Romanian “pisc”
means “mount”. The
opened book evokes
the family members
who were priests,
teachers,
professors, scholars
and writers. Several
members of the
family taught at the
school of Poiana,
founded by the moșneni as one
of the first schools
in the Romanian
countryside. The
Vert tincture evokes
the name of the main
family estate,
Poiana, that means
“meadow”, and the
family’s love for
freedom.
The
sword brings to memory
the family members who
fought, during the
Middle Ages, against
the invaders, in order
to protect their
country’s freedom. In
modern times, many
members of the
Bărbulescu-Stănescu
family fought in World
War I and World War
II.
The
rifle evokes Stan
Bărbulescu
(1843-1898),
great-great-grandfather
of the armiger, who
shot a bird, during a
hunting party at the
Poiana estate, at the
age of five and was
nicknamed The
Rifleman. Also,
several members of the
family fought as
artillerymen in the
Romanian Royal Army.
The motto,
inspired by Pierre
Corneille’s Le Cid, refers to
Stan Bărbulescu’s
deed, but also to
the nobility, the
bravery and the
various talents of
the family members.
The
coronet evokes the
noble status of the
Bărbulescu-Stănescu
family, as moșneni of
Poiana and
Pisculeasca. The great
bustard from the crest
is the traditional
bird of the Bărăgan
plane and the Ialomița
county, now extinct
from the region. The
horse from the dexter
crest evokes the
ancient heraldic
symbol of the
Râmnicu-Sărat county,
the ancestral home of
the armiger’s paternal
family, the Iorga
(Constantin Iorga, the
paternal grandfather
of the armiger, a
history teacher and
direct descendant of
Priest Ene
Referendaru, fought in
World War II and was a
Knight of the Order of
the Crown of
Romania).
Decoration:
The Medal of King
Michael I for Loyalty,
received by the
armiger in 2008 from
HM King Michael of
Romania
(1921-2017).
Design:
The coat of arms was
created and drawn by
the famous Romanian
heraldist, Mr.
Tudor-Radu Tiron, PhD,
a member of the
International Academy
of Heraldry, of the
National Committee of
Heraldry, Genealogy
and Sigillography of
the Romanian Academy
and a Senior Adviser
at the Romanian
Presidential
Administration, the
Chancellery of
Orders.
This coat
of arms was inspired
by an older version
of the
Bărbulescu-Stănescu
coat of arms,
created by Colonel
and engineer Mircea
Stănescu
(1923-2000), Knight
of the Order of the
Crown of Romania,
and his grandson,
the armiger. Assumed
in Romania, in 1999.
Registered in the Armorial
de France &
d’Europe, No.
11, juillet 2015
(ISSN 1151-0978; dépôt
légal at the
Bibliothèque
Nationale de France;
dedicated to HRH
Prince Louis de
Bourbon, Duke of
Anjou), La Place
Royale, by Frédéric
Luz, French
heraldist and former
heraldic counsellor
of Henri d’Orléans, Count
of Paris, Duke of
France, Head of the
Royal House of
France. Published on
the official website
of The Heraldry
Society, in the
“Members Roll of
Arms” section.
Use: The
coat of arms is used
by the armiger, by
his wife, the news
anchor and linguist
Ana Iorga PhD
(granddaughter of
Colonel Radu C.
Mihail, who fought
in World War II and
was a Knight of the
Order of Michael the
Brave) and by their
descendants. It can
also be used by
Alexandrina
Stănescu, Lucia
Iorga PhD (Knight of
the Military Virtue
Order), Rodica
Copoț, Laura Copoț
and Tomás
Castaño-Copoț. With
the permission of
the armiger, the
coat of arms can
also be used by
other descendants of
Moșnean Stan
Bărbulescu
(1843-1898).
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