The Paharnic (plural: Paharnici; also known as Păharnic, Paharnec, or Păharnec; Moldavian dialect: ceașnic,[1] Greek: παχάρνικος, pakharnikos,[2] Russian: пахарник, paharnik) was a historical Romanian rank, one of the non-hereditary positions ascribed to the boyar aristocracy in Moldavia and Wallachia (the Danubian Principalities). It was the local equivalent of a cup-bearer or cześnik, originally centered on pouring and obtaining wine for the court of Moldavian and Wallachian Princes. With time, it became a major administrative office and, in Wallachia, also had a lesser military function. The retinue of such boyars, usually called Păhărnicei, was in both countries also a private army.
Dating back to c. 1400, the Paharnici were at the forefront of political life in Wallachia over the following two centuries, often as a title associated with the Craiovești and Florescu boyars. Wallachian Paharnici were especially important during the 16th and 17th centuries, when they included figures such as Lupu Mehedințeanu, Șerban of Coiani, and Matei Basarab. They and other Paharnici established means of boyar protection against the social ascent of immigrant Greeks. Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu, himself a former Paharnic, gave a privileged position to the Păhărnicei, but put to death their controversial Paharnic, Staico Bucșanu. Before 1700, figures associated with the Moldavian office included close relatives of the monarchs, such as Alexandru Coci and Ștefan Lupașcu Hâjdău. Though the office itself steadily declined in importance, it was still subjected to a meritocratic reform by Prince Dimitrie Cantemir.
The Paharnici grew in numbers and declined in political relevancy from ca. 1720, with the rise of the Phanariotes, and ultimately fell into a second class of boyars. Their descendants were recognized as a branch of the small boyardom, alongside the Păhărnicei. While these became a rural middle class, the Paharnici offices were increasingly permeable to the commercial classes of the city. The three groups intertwined, with some Paharnici, including Ianache Hafta and Manuc Bei, having a noted effect on the development of Bucharest. Various Paharnici also participated first-hand in the cultivation of Romanian nationalism, leading up to Gavril Istrati's clashes with the Greek "Sacred Band".
From Moldavia, the office was for a while inherited by the Russian Empire, which preserved titular Paharnici in its Bessarabia Governorate. In both Moldavia and Wallachia, the Russian regime of 1834–1854 recognized a multitude of titular Paharnici, from inspectors Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Constantin N. Brăiloiu to painter Constantin Lecca. The proliferation of Paharnici and other offices, taken up by Moldavian Princes Ioan and Mihail Sturdza, contributed to social tensions, and then to a failed revolutionary attempt. Following the Crimean War, the position of Paharnic was abolished, alongside all other historical titles.