Maria Rosetti was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

-born Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n and Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n political activist, journalist, essayist, philanthropist and socialite. The sister of British

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....

 diplomat Effingham Grant and wife of radical

Liberalism and radicalism in Romania

This article gives an overview of Liberalism and Radicalism in Romania. It is limited to liberal parties with substantial support, mainly proved by having had a representation in parliament. The sign ⇒ denotes another party in this scheme...

 leader C. A. Rosetti

C. A. Rosetti

Constantin Alexandru Rosetti was a Romanian literary and political leader, born in Bucharest into a Phanariot Greek family.In 1845, Rosetti went to Paris, where he met Alphonse de Lamartine, the patron of the Society of Romanian Students in Paris. In 1847, he married Mary Grant, the sister of the...

, she played an active part in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848

Wallachian Revolution of 1848

The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...

. A journalist and feminist

Feminism

Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

, she was also noted for her enduring friendships with the painter Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal was a Romanian painter and sculptor of Hungarian birth and a 1848 revolutionary, best known for his portraits and his choice of Romanian Romantic nationalist subjects.-Early career:Born into a Jewish merchant family in Pest , he left the city...

 and with Pia Brătianu, the wife of National Liberal

National Liberal Party (Romania)

The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...

 politician Ion Brătianu

Ion Bratianu

Ion C. Brătianu was one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintilă Brătianu...

. The Rosettis were parents to three sons: Mircea, Vintilă and Horia, all of whom were noted for their political activities.

Biography

Born to Captain Edward Grant, a ship-owning resident of Guernsey

Guernsey

Guernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...

, and his French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 wife Marie Lavasseur, Mary belonged to the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

. The Grants, who eventually settled in Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, claimed lineage from the Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 Clan Grant

Clan Grant

-Origins:The Grants are one of the clans of Siol Alpin, and descend from the 9th century Kenneth MacAlpin, King of Scots; and also of Norse origin, from settlers who are the descents of Haakon inn Riki Sigurdarsson , Jarl of Hladr, Protector of Norway ,-Origins:The Grants are one of the clans of...

 of Cannon, but this is uncertain.

In 1837, her younger brother Effingham was appointed secretary of Robert Gilmour Colquhoun

Robert Gilmour Colquhoun

Sir Robert Gilmour Colquhoun, KCB was a British diplomat.He was educated at Pembroke College, Oxford. He was appointed Consul in Bucharest, Romania on 18 January 1835, Consul-General on 15 December 1837, and Agent and Consul-General on 18 November 1851. He received the Order of the Nichan Iftikhar...

, the British consul

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 in Wallachia; soon after, Mary herself arrived in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

, where she began work as a tutor

Tutor

A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...

. It was then that she met Rosetti, Effingham Grant's close friend and a member of the Rosetti family of boyar

Boyar

A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....

s, who fell in love with her. Mary Grant was employed by the family of Wallachian Militia Colonel Ioan Odobescu, and gave lessons to his children—including his son Alexandru

Alexandru Odobescu

Alexandru Ioan Odobescu was a Romanian author, archaeologist and politician.-Biography:He was born in Bucharest, the second child of General Ioan Odobescu and his wife Ecaterina. After attending Saint Sava College and, from 1850, a Paris lycée, he took the baccalauréat in 1853 and studied...

, the future writer and politician. At the time, she was residing in the Bucharest area around Curtea Veche

Curtea Veche

Curtea Veche , built as a place or residence during the rule of Vlad III Dracula in the 15th century, now operates as a museum in the centre of Bucharest, Romania. The residence was moved under the rule of Radu cel Frumos, who moved the princely residence and the Wallachian capital to Bucharest...

.

Grant married C. A. Rosetti at her family's house in Plymouth, with an Anglican

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 service (August 31, 1847); they remarried later in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, through an Orthodox

Romanian Orthodox Church

The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Eastern Orthodox church. It is in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox churches, and is ranked seventh in order of precedence. The Primate of the church has the title of Patriarch...

 ceremony. The latter was attended by Rosetti's collaborators, Ştefan

Stefan Golescu

Ştefan Golescu was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for two terms from March 1, 1867 to August 5, 1867 and from November 13, 1867 to April 30, 1868, and as Prime Minister of Romania between November 26, 1867 and May 12, 1868.-Biography:Born in a boyar...

 and Alexandru Golescu, who were the couple's godfathers

Godparent

A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...

. According to historian Paul Cernovodeanu, she met difficulty in integrating boyar society, but "[her] innate qualities, noble demeanor, intelligence and culture did not fail [...] to impose her".

During the 1848 revolution, her husband played a prominent part in rallying the Bucharest populace to the radical cause, and sat on the Provisional Government. As Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 troops entered the country, crushing the rebellion and arresting its leaders, he was himself taken into Ottoman custody and, together with other prominent participants, transported by barge

Barge

A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...

 from Giurgiu

Giurgiu

Giurgiu is the capital city of Giurgiu County, Romania, in the Greater Wallachia. It is situated amid mud-flats and marshes on the left bank of the Danube facing the Bulgarian city of Rousse on the opposite bank. Three small islands face the city, and a larger one shelters its port, Smarda...

, on his way to the Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

-ruled Sviniţa

Svinita

Sviniţa is a commune in Mehedinţi County, Romania, located on the Danube . It is composed of a single village, Sviniţa. In 2002, its population numbered 1,132 people and was mostly composed of Serbs...

, near the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 port of Orschowa

Orsova

Orșova is a port city on the Danube river in southwestern Romania's Mehedinți County. It is one of four localities in the county located in the Banat historical region. It is situated just above the Iron Gates, on the spot where the Cerna River meets the Danube.- History :The first documented...

. With the Jewish Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal was a Romanian painter and sculptor of Hungarian birth and a 1848 revolutionary, best known for his portraits and his choice of Romanian Romantic nationalist subjects.-Early career:Born into a Jewish merchant family in Pest , he left the city...

, Maria followed the ships on shore; upon arrival, she pointed out to the local authorities that the Ottomans had stepped out of their jurisdiction, persuading the mayor of Sviniţa to disarm the guards, which in turn allowed the prisoners to flee. The Rosettis then made their way to France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

. Her role in this last stage of the revolution was celebrated by French historian Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet

Jules Michelet was a French historian. He was born in Paris to a family with Huguenot traditions.-Early life:His father was a master printer, not very prosperous, and Jules assisted him in the actual work of the press...

 in his 1851 essay Madame Rosetti, and by her husband, who compared her to Anita

Anita Garibaldi

Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro di Garibaldi, best known as Anita Garibaldi, was the Brazilian wife and comrade-in-arms of Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi...

, the Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian-born wife of Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 insurgent Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...

.

Around 1850, Rosenthal completed one of his most celebrated paintings, România revoluţionară ("Revolutionary Romania"). A national personification

National personification

A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda.Some early personifications in the Western world tended to be national manifestations of the majestic wisdom and war goddess Minerva/Athena, and often took the...

 showing a woman in Romanian folk costume

Romanian dress

Romanian dress refers to the traditional clothing worn by Romanians, who live primarily in Romania and Moldova, with smaller communities in Ukraine and Serbia. Today, a strong majority of Romanians wear Western-style dress on most occasions, and the garments described here largely fell out of use...

, it was also a portrait of Maria Rosetti. The artist died in July 1851, after his attempt to cross into Wallachia was intercepted by Austrian authorities, who tortured him to death in his native Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

. In 1878, Maria Rosetti authored a piece for her Mama şi Copilul ("Mother and Child") magazine, in which she offered praise to her deceased friend: "[Rosenthal was] one of the best and the most loyal people that God created after His image. He died for Romania, for its liberties; he died for his Romanian friends. [...] This friend, this son, this martyr of Romania is an Israelite. His name was Daniel Rosenthal."

During the 1850s, before and after the 1856 Treaty of Paris

Treaty of Paris (1856)

The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...

 allowed her family to return to the Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...

, Maria Rosetti and her husband invested their energies into support for Partida Naţională

Partida Nationala

The Partida Naţională was a liberal Romanian political party active between 1856 and 1859. It was a loose group which supported the union of the Danubian Principalities....

, calling for Wallachia's union with Moldavia

Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 (effected in 1859 by the election of Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza

Alexander John Cuza was a Moldavian-born Romanian politician who ruled as the first Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia between 1859 and 1866.-Early life:...

 as Wallachian Prince, and subsequently Domnitor

Domnitor

Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....

of the two states). She was a collaborator on C. A. Rosetti's numerous publications, including Românul, before issuing her own weekly magazine, Mama şi Copilul. The latter, which mostly featured advice on educating young children, and motivated by the concern that the society had changed after union, was only published between 1865 and 1866. Such activities give Rosetti a claim to the title of Romania's first female journalist, ahead of Maria Flechtenmacher.

Maria Rosetti was subsequently involved in organizing charity events and public ceremonies: in 1866-1867, she raised funds to combat famine

Famine

A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...

, and, in 1871, organized celebrations in the Moldavian locality of Putna

Putna, Suceava

Putna is a commune in Suceava County, in the Moldavia region of Romania. It is composed of two villages, Gura Putnei and Putna. The Putna Monastery, Putna River and the cave of Daniil Sihastrul are located in this commune....

. Her prestige increased especially after 1875, when C. A. Rosetti joined the National Liberal Party

National Liberal Party (Romania)

The National Liberal Party , abbreviated to PNL, is a centre-right liberal party in Romania. It is the third-largest party in the Romanian Parliament, with 53 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 22 in the Senate: behind the centre-right Democratic Liberal Party and the centre-left Social...

's leadership. As a journalist, she contributed articles promoting women's liberation. In 1877, as Romania proclaimed her independence and joined the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 in the anti-Ottoman war, Maria Rosetti rallied funds to aid the wounded, establishing and managing the hospital in Turnu Măgurele

Turnu Magurele

Turnu Măgurele is a city in Teleorman County, Romania . Developed nearby the site once occupied by the medieval port of Turnu, it is situated north-east of the confluence between the Olt River and the Danube....

.

Maria and C. A. Rosetti had eight children, only four of whom reached adulthood. These were a daughter, Liberty Sofia (commonly known as Libby, born June 1848) and three sons born in exile: Mircea, Vintilă and Horia Rosetti. Her brother was himself a resident of Romania, and married to Zoe, the daughter of Wallachian landowner and politician Alexandru Racoviţă (among their children was the painter Nicolae Grant). Through her brother Effingham, who married into the Racoviţă family, Maria Rosetti was also distantly related with physician Carol Davila

Carol Davila

Carol Davila was a prestigious Romanian physician of Italian ancestry.-Biography:He started from humble beginnings, most probably as an abandoned child, and the surname Davila was bestowed on him by his adoptive family and guirdian...

 and his son, playwright Alexandru Davila

Alexandru Davila

Alexandru Davila was a Romanian dramatist, diplomat, public administrator, and memoirist.-Biography:The son of Carol Davila, a distinguished military physician of French origin, and Ana Racoviţă , he studied in his native Goleşti and at V. A...

.

Upon her death, a large obituary

Obituary

An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...

 was published in the National Liberal newspaper Voinţa Naţională, who proclaimed her one of the most outstanding Romanian women of her generation. Her writings of the 1860s were collected in an 1893 volume carrying Michelet's introduction. She is also one of the characters in Camil Petrescu

Camil Petrescu

Camil Petrescu was a Romanian playwright, novelist, philosopher and poet. He marked the end of the traditional novel era and laid the foundation of the modern novel era.- Life :...

's novel Un om între oameni. A street in central Bucharest, nearby Bulevardul Magheru

Bulevardul Magheru

Bulevardul Gheorghe Magheru is a boulevard in central Bucharest, located between Piaţa Romană and Bulevardul Nicolae Bălcescu, which leads to the University Square. It is named after General Gheorghe Magheru, a Romanian revolutionary and soldier from Wallachia.Formerly known as Bulevardul Take...

, was named in her honor—it constitutes the eastward extension of C. A. Rosetti Street; a school in the Floreasca neighborhood of the city was also named after her. Several monograph

Monograph

A monograph is a work of writing upon a single subject, usually by a single author.It is often a scholarly essay or learned treatise, and may be released in the manner of a book or journal article. It is by definition a single document that forms a complete text in itself...

s on her life were published during the communist regime

Communist Romania

Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

years.