#Metropolitan Stephen of Ungrovlahia

The study presents historical documents from the collection of the scholar-bishop Ghenadie Enăceanu, held at the Library of the Romanian Academy, with a focus on charters adorned with miniatures issued by Matei Basarab, Grigorie I Ghica, Radu Leon, Gheorghe Duca and Constantin Brâncoveanu in the 17th century. The analysis combines the legal and socio-economic content of the documents with an examination of their miniature decoration — plant, zoomorphic and iconographic motifs, as well as votive portraits — highlighting the links between chancery art and the miniatures found in religious manuscripts from Wallachia.

The article traces the history of the wooden church dedicated to Saint Nicholas in the hamlet of Cărpinișu, Anghelești village, Pietrari commune (Vâlcea County), a monument relocated and restored at the Vâlcea Village Museum in Bujoreni in 2009–2010. By deciphering seven inscriptions discovered during the restoration, including two inscriptions on the tympanum beam between the narthex and the nave, three stages in the church’s history have been established: an early form dating from the late 16th century (a monastery chapel or boyar estate chapel dedicated to Saints Constantine and Helena), a second foundation on 8 December 1655 by the priest Vasilie together with the parishioners, during the reign of Constantin Șerban, with the master builder Ognea Ion, and a third reconstruction in 1736–1737 by Gheorghe, son of Priest Vâlcu, in the hamlet of Cărpinișu. These discoveries refute earlier dates (1737 or 1810) and challenge Radu Crețeanu’s theory that the wooden churches in Vâlcea lack their original inscriptions and were built anonymously by peasants, demonstrating that they were founded by priestly families and wealthy communities, and built by specialist craftsmen.