The Religious Fundations of Coțofeanu Boyars

Ileana CIOAREC
Scientific Researcher III, PhD.
Institute of Socio-Human Research from Craiova – C.S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor, of the Romanian Academy
E-mail: ileanacioarec@yahoo.com

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5437-3204
DOI: https://doi.org/10.59277/CSNPISSH.2025.08

Copyright (c) 2025.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Published on December 28, 2025

Abstract
In the Middle Ages, the founders designated the people who, through initiated actions, made a concrete contribution either to the construction of a place of worship or to ensuring the conditions for the survival of such an edifice.
All these categories of founders had the right to be mentioned in writing (commemorations, registers, documents), epigraphically (funerary slabs, inscriptions) and iconographically (votive or funerary paintings) and to benefit from special chapel or commemoration services. They had the obligation to watch over the smooth running of the life of the founded place, as well as the defence of the material goods with which it had been endowed.
Such a constructive spirit was also answered by the great Crăsnari boyars, those from the old boyar families of Oltenia, probably from the beginning of the feudal state.
Originally from Coțofeni, where the family took its name, the Coțofeanu boyars are first attested under this name at the beginning of the 17th century, when the documents mention a certain Mihai Coțofeanu, son of Hârșova and Preda from Țânțăreni.
The Crăsnari boyars founded numerous churches in Dolj County, such as those in the villages of Coțofenii din Față, Rojiștea and Săotești (Sohotoești).
All these churches built by the members of the Coțofeanu family highlight the role the great founders played in Oltenia.

Keyword
the religious fundations, boyars, Coțofeanu, the founders, the church

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