onciul studied at chernivtsi university, where he was active in arboroasa and then in societatea academică junimea, and the university of vienna. in 1884, he received his doctorate in philosophy from chernivtsi university. he became a professor at the university of bucharest and director of the national archives of romania. he was the first chairman of the advisory heraldic commission. together with ioan bogdan, onciul founded a school-of-thought in romanian historiography that approached history critically. he dealt with the issue of romanian origin, demonstrating the formation of the romanian people over a wide area on both sides of the danube and rejected the theory of medieval migration of romanians from the balkan peninsula. much of his work dealt with and documented the formation of the early romanian feudal states. he sought to separate medieval realities from 20th century politics.