Lupu, Vasile

Lupu, Vasile, b 1593?, d 1661. Hospodar of Moldavia (1634–54). He was a supporter of Poland and then became an ally of his son-in-law's father, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, with whom he made a pact in 1652. Lupu played a key role in Khmelnytsky's plans for creating a Danube League, in which Ukraine was to have a decisive influence. The plans were thwarted when Tymish Khmelnytsky died in 1653. During Lupu's reign (1634–54) the Romanian language was used for the first time in official deeds, and at his request professors from the Kyivan Mohyla Academy founded a Slavic-Latin college in Iaşi in 1640 (headed by Sofronii Pochasky). In 1641, with the help of Petro Mohyla, the first Moldavian print shop was established in Iaşi. In 1642 a common synod of the Ukrainian and Moldavian Orthodox churches was held in Iaşi, with the participation of Mohyla's representatives (including Isaia Kozlovsky-Trofymovych).