Dimitar Dimitrov Agura (; ; Siupiur (2004), p. 217 or Dimitrie Agura, also Agură; 26 October 1849 – 11 October 1911) was a Bulgarian historian, one of the first professors of history at Sofia University and a rector of that same institution. He was born in the Russian Empire as a member of the Bessarabian Bulgarian diaspora; when southern Bessarabia was absorbed back into Moldavia in 1856, he became a Moldavian subject, and acquired fluency in Romanian. His immersion into Romanian culture was enhanced during the United Principalities period of the 1860s and 1870s: young Agura graduated from the Bulgarian School in Bolgrad, from the Socola Seminary in Iași, and finally from the University of Iași, also joining Junimea literary society. Working as a teacher and inspector in Romanian provincial schools, he befriended fellow Junimists such as Mihai Eminescu and Ion Creangă. As a result of a sudden illness, he returned to his alma mater in Bolgrad, and was still active there during the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1877–1878.
Agura ultimately decided to emigrate into the Principality of Bulgaria, joining its fledgling intellectual elite. He entered the Ministry of Interior as a career bureaucrat (1879), and for nine months of 1883 was Minister of Popular Enlightenment. He returned to his teaching profession—with stints as headmaster of gymnasiums in Plovdiv and Sofia—then became lecturer at the newly formed national university (1889). Though his courses there focused on general history and Ancient Rome, he was mainly interested in the Thracians and did work in the field of Slavic studies. With Lyubomir Miletich, he researched Romanian archives and produced a history of Church Slavonic in Romania; inspired by Ivan Shishman and the Sbornik group, they also published an overview of Bulgarian Romanian ethnography. Agura personally handled public relations for the university and the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, becoming noted for his collaborations with international scholars—including Mykhailo Drahomanov (whose biography he penned in 1895), Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, and Pavel Milyukov.
Drawn into the Macedonian Struggle from the position of a right-leaning Bulgarian nationalist, Agura had joined the Secret Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization by 1903. He chaired a Charity Committee which sponsored the anti-Ottoman revolt, including with public monies obtained from Prime Minister Racho Petrov. Drawing into cooperation with left-wingers such as Yane Sandanski, he was for a while singled out as an enemy by Ivan Tsonchev's Supreme Macedonian-Adrianople Committee. Agura was additionally caught up in the conflict between Bulgarian academics and Knyaz Ferdinand I, who had him dismissed from the faculty in 1907. He was reintegrated in 1908, at a time when his Macedonian dealings were being formally investigated by the state. Rendered frail by an unspecified disease, he died while revisiting Iași for that university's 50th anniversary. The Romanian authorities granted him state honors and a lavish farewell ceremony at the Annunciation Church. His son, also named Dimitar, earned distinction as an engineer.
Biography Bessarabian and Romanian periods Agura's paternal family originated from the Ottoman Empire's Silistra Eyalet, being first attested at Nevsha, outside Shumen, in the second half of the 18th century. Исторически календар. 95 години от рождението на арх. Атанас Агура, Sofia History Museum, 25 January 2021 They left the Ottoman during the massive exodus that followed the Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829."С „KAM“ към подстъпите на XXI век", in Uchitelsko Delo, Vol. LXXXV, Issue 47, November 1989, p. 6"130 години БИАД. Инженер Димитър Агура", in Nauka i Obshtestvo, Issue 10/2023, pp. 3, 5 Dimitar's ancestors chose to settle in the Russian Empire's Bessarabia Governorate, leading the community known as Ogurets (Russian for "cucumber"), with his father emerging as its administrator. The name was adapted into a nickname, and then a family name, becoming Agura; alternative etymologies suggest that it originates with the Ukrainian word ohurnyy ("stubborn").
Schoolteacher Petru Bârgăoanu, who met some members of this clan, reports that the scholar's father was a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church in Chushmelia (Cișmeaua-Văruită); Dimitrie's two paternal uncles were likewise men of the clergy—one had his parish in Ismail, the other in Dolichioi. The latter's son, and Dimitar's cousin, was Georgi Agura, future general of the Bulgarian Armed Forces.Petru Bârgăoanu, "Amintiri despre generalul Agura", in Minerva, 12 February 1913, p. 3 According to contemporary records, Dimitar himself was born in the urban center of Bolgrad,Siupiur (2004), p. 252 though later biographies have him as a native of Chushmelia."150 години от рождението на Проф. Димитър Агура", in Izdanie na Muzeia na su Sv. Kliment Ohridski, Issue 2/2003, p. 10Dyakovich, p. 105 His birth date was given as 26 October 1849. As noted by scholar Elena Siupiur, Dimitar and his brother Vasil stand out as among the intellectuals of Bessarabian Bulgarian origin for having a peasant, rather than bourgeois, background.Siupiur (2004), pp. 175–176 When Dimitar was seven years old, southern Bessarabia, including some of the Bulgarian colonies, was assigned to Moldavia, a Romanian-speaking vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. In 1859, Moldavia merged into the United Principalities, making young Agura into a Romanian subject. He started his education at Bolgrad's Bulgarian School,Siupiur (2004), p. 205 and, having been singled out for his talents, including his modesty and resilience, he was sent to a seminary in Ismail. He then graduated from a Socola Seminary in Iași, the Moldavian capital, where he studied alongside his cousin Georgi. Singled out for his academic success, he was once presented to Romania's Domnitor, Carol of Hohenzollern, who remained his personal friend.Iorga, p. 24
The recipient of a scholarship,Siupiur (2004), p. 186 Dimitar Agura majored in history at the University of Iași, completing his education in 1872. In November 1870, he had joined colleagues such as Ioan Bădescu and N. Badenschi in establishing a Society of Students, where he was also lecturing on literary topics."Societatea Studenților din Universitatea de Iassi", in Curierul de Iassi, Issue 108/1870, p. 2 He was probably the first Bessarabian Bulgarian to have graduated in a Romanian, rather than Russian, center of higher learning, and also stood out as a favorite student of Titu Maiorescu, the Romanian philosopher and literary critic.Siupiur, pp. 188–189, 192, 252 In February 1872, Agura presented himself in the competition for a professor's seat at Socola, but lost to Petre Râșcanu.Leonidas Rados, "Constantin Erbiceanu, profesor la Seminarul de la Socola (1868–1886)", in Historia Universitatis Iassiensis, Vol. VI, 2015, p. 99 He worked as a teacher in Botoșani (1873–1874),"Varietăți. Noul ministru de culte al Bulgariei", in Telegraful Român, Issue 29/1882, p. 116 though some authors indicate his having had a similar position in Bârlad.Dyakovich, p. 23 He is known to have been employed for a while by the Pedagogic Institute of Iași."†Dimitrie Agura", in Opinia, 4 October 1911, p. 1
From 1874,Velichi, p. 140 Agura was a minor figure in Maiorescu's cultural and political club, Junimea. His friends there included raconteur Ion Creangă and poet Mihai Eminescu.Lovinescu, pp. 70, 111; Velichi, p. 140 He lived for a while in the former's home, the Bojdeuca, and left behind a cupboard, which Creangă continued to use to his death.Lovinescu, p. 111. See also Velichi, p. 140 In his memoirs, Maiorescu's associate Iacob Negruzzi conflates Dimitar and Georgi into a single figure, "Gheorghe Agură", arguing that he had been won over by Romanian nationalism, and that he was publicly asking for curbs on the Bulgarization of Bessarabian schools.Iacob Negruzzi, Amintiri din Junimea, p. 258. Bucharest: Humanitas, 2011. He was afterwards a school inspector in Iași and Vaslui (1874–1875), before deciding to return to his native areaSiupiur (2004), pp. 192, 213, 252 due to an illness. Eminescu was his successor, from 1 July 1875.Maria Martinescu, "Mihai Eminescu – revizor școlar în județele Vaslui și Iași (partea a II-a)", in Acta Moldaviae Meridionalis, Vol. XXX, Issue 2, 2009, p. 303
According to Negruzzi, Agura also ended his association with Junimea exactly as Maiorescu lost his position as Minister of Public Instruction (1876). For several years, Agura taught Romanian language and Bulgarian history at his Bolgrad alma mater.Siupiur (2004), pp. 192, 252 In an undated letter to Eminescu, Creangă shows his mistaken belief that "Agură the accursed" had settled in the capital city of Bucharest, and that he was doing well for himself.Lovinescu, p. 70 Vasil, meanwhile, had completed his education at Ismail seminary (1867) and had been assigned priesthood in the Romanian Orthodox Church. While teaching at one of Bolgrad's primary schools, he joined the Bulgarian National Revival, leading a branch of the Revolutionary Committee in Chushmelia.Siupiur (2004), pp. 186, 205, 212
Bulgarian career With the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, most Aguras moved into the newly established Principality of Bulgaria. Dimitar took with him a sizable book collection, which remains one of Bulgaria's first.Siupiur (1970), p. 510 He settled with it in Plovdiv, before transferring to Sofia. He worked as a head of department at the Ministry of Interior (1879–1881), rising to the position of secretary general (1881–1883). He was an interim Minister of Popular Enlightenment in Leonid Sobolev's caretaker cabinet (3 March 1883). In the newly formed Kingdom of Romania, he was not immediately identified as the former Romanian professor. When this was revealed by the press, the citizens of Botoșani sent him congratulatory telegrams. His appointment came at a time when the ruling Knyaz, Alexander of Battenberg, had embarked on a diplomatic conflict with Russia, but was trying to contain it. Agura was thus one of only two ministers who did not hold Russian citizenship—though the press still commented on his having been a Russian subject, and his audibly poor grasp of Bulgarian."Lettres de Turquie", in Le Temps, 1 May 1883, p. 2