Nicolae Iorga
Encyclopedia
Nicolae Iorga was a Romania
n historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder (in 1910) of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament
, President of the Deputies' Assembly
and Senate
, cabinet minister and briefly (1931–32) as Prime Minister
. A child prodigy
, polymath
and polyglot
, Iorga produced an unusually large body of scholarly works, consecrating his international reputation as a medievalist
, Byzantinist
, Latinist
, Slavist, art historian
and philosopher of history
. Holding teaching positions at the University of Bucharest
, the University of Paris
and several other academic institutions, Iorga was founder of the International Congress of Byzantine Studies and the Institute of South-East European Studies (ISSEE). His activity also included the transformation of Vălenii de Munte
town into a cultural and academic center.
In parallel with his scientific contributions, Nicolae Iorga was a prominent right-of-center
activist, whose political theory bridged conservatism
, nationalism
and agrarianism
. From Marxist
beginnings, he switched sides and became a maverick disciple of the Junimea
movement. Iorga later became a leadership figure at Sămănătorul
, the influential literary magazine with populist
leanings, and militated within the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians, founding vocally conservative publications such as Neamul Românesc, Drum Drept, Cuget Clar and Floarea Darurilor. His support for the cause of ethnic Romanians
in Austria-Hungary
made him a prominent figure in the pro-Entente
camp by the time of World War I
, and ensured him a special political role during the interwar existence of Greater Romania
. Initiator of large-scale campaigns to defend Romanian culture
in front of perceived threats, Iorga sparked most controversy with his antisemitic rhetoric, and was for long an associate of the far right
ideologue A. C. Cuza
. He was an adversary of the dominant National Liberals
, later involved with the opposition Romanian National Party
.
Late in his life, Iorga opposed the radically fascist
Iron Guard
, and, after much oscillation, came to endorse its rival King
Carol II
. Involved in a personal dispute with the Guard's leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
, and indirectly contributing to his killing, Iorga was also a prominent figure in Carol's corporatist
and authoritarian
party, the National Renaissance Front
. He remained an independent voice of opposition after the Guard inaugurated its own National Legionary
dictatorship, but was ultimately assassinated by a Guardist commando
.
, and is generally believed to have been born on January 17, 1871 (although his birth certificate has June 6). His father Nicu Iorga (a practicing lawyer) and mother Zulnia (née Arghiropol) belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church
. Details on the family's more distant origins remain uncertain: Iorga was widely reputed to be of partial Greek-Romanian descent; the rumor, still credited by some commentators, was rejected by the historian. In his own account: "My father was from a family of Romanian
traders from Botoşani, who were later received into the boyar
class, while my mother is the daughter of Romanian writer Elena Drăghici, the niece of chronicler Manolache Drăghici [...]. The [Greek] name Arghiropol notwithstanding, my maternal grandfather [was] from a family that moved in [...] from Bessarabia
". Elsewhere, however, he acknowledged that the Arghiropols were possibly Byzantine Greeks
. Iorga credited the five-generation-boyar status, received from his father's side, and the "old boyar" roots of his mother (the Miclescu family), with having turned him into a political man. His parallel claim of being related to noble families such as the Cantacuzinos
and the Craioveşti
is questioned by other researchers.
In 1876, aged thirty-seven or thirty-eight, Nicu Sr. was incapacitated by an unknown illness and died, leaving Nicolae and his younger brother George orphans—a loss which, the historian would recall in writing, dominated the image he had of his own childhood. In 1878, he was enlisted at the Marchian Folescu School, where, as he took pride in noting, he excelled in most areas, discovering a love for intellectual pursuits and, by age nine, even being allowed by his teachers to lecture his schoolmates in Romanian history. His history teacher, a refugee Pole
, sparked his interest in research and his lifelong Polonophilia. Iorga also credited this earliest formative period with having shaped his lifelong views on Romanian language
and local culture
: "I learned Romanian [...] as it was spoken back in the day: plainly, beautifully and above all resolutely and colorfully, without the intrusions of newspapers and best-selling books". He credited the 19th century polymath Mihail Kogălniceanu
, whose works he had first been reading as a child, with having shaped this literary preference.
A student at Botoşani's Laurian gymnasium
and high school after 1881, the young Iorga received top honors, and, beginning 1883, began tutoring some of his colleagues to increase his family's main revenue (according to Iorga, a "miserable pension of pittance"). Aged thirteen, while on extended visit to his maternal uncle Emanuel "Manole" Arghiropol, he also made his press debut with paid contributions to Arghiropol's Romanul newspaper, including anecdote
s and editorial pieces on European politics. The year 1886 was described by Iorga as "the catastrophe of my school life in Botoşani": on temporary suspension for not having greeted a teacher, Iorga opted to leave the city and apply for the National College of Iaşi
, being received into the scholarship
program and praised by his new principal, the philologist Vasile Burlă. The adolescent was already fluent in French
, Italian
, Latin
and Greek
, later referring to Greek studies
as "the most refined form of human reasoning".
By age seventeen, Iorga was becoming more rebellious. This was the time when he first grew interested in political activities, but displaying convictions which he later strongly disavowed: a self-confessed Marxist
, Iorga promoted the left-wing magazine Viaţa Socială, and lectured on Das Kapital
. Seeing himself confined in the National College's "ugly and disgusting" boarding school
, he defied its rules and was suspended a second time, losing scholarship privileges. Before readmission, he decided not to fall back on his family's financial support, and instead returned to tutoring others. Again expelled for reading during a teacher's lesson, Iorga still graduated in the top "first prize" category (with a 9.24 average) and subsequently took his Baccalaureate
with honors.
's Education Ministry, and, as a result, applied for and passed his third term examinations, effectively graduating one year ahead of his class. Before the end of the year, he also passed his license examination magna cum laude, with a thesis on Greek literature
, an achievement which consecrated his reputation inside both academia and the public sphere. Hailed as a "morning star" by the local press and deemed a "wonder of a man" by his teacher A. D. Xenopol, Iorga was honored by the faculty with a special banquet. Three academics (Xenopol, Nicolae Culianu, Ioan Caragiani) formally brought Iorga to the attention of the Education Ministry, proposing him for the state-sponsored program which allowed academic achievers to study abroad.
The interval witnessed Iorga's brief affiliation with Junimea
, a literary club with conservative
leanings, whose informal leader was literary and political theorist Titu Maiorescu
. In 1890, literary critic Ştefan Vârgolici and cultural promoter Iacob Negruzzi published Iorga's essay on poetess Veronica Micle
in the Junimist tribune Convorbiri Literare. Having earlier attended the funeral of writer Ion Creangă
, a dissident Junimist and Romanian literature
classic, he took a public stand against the defamation of another such figure, the dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale
, groundlessly accused of plagiarism
by journalist Constantin Al. Ionescu-Caion. He expanded his contribution as an opinion journalist, publishing with some regularity in various local or national periodicals of various leanings, from the socialist Contemporanul
and Era Nouă to Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
's Revista Nouă. This period saw his debut as a socialist
poet (in Contemporanul) and critic (in both Lupta and Literatură şi Ştiinţă).
Also in 1890, Iorga married Maria Tasu, whom he was to divorce in 1900. He had previously been in love with an Ecaterina C. Botez, but, after some hesitation, decided to marry into the family of Junimea man Vasile Tasu, much better situated in the social circles. Xenopol, who was Iorga's matchmaker, also tried to obtain for Iorga a teaching position at Iaşi University. The attempt was opposed by other professors, on grounds of Iorga's youth and politics. Instead, Iorga was briefly a high school professor of Latin in the southern city of Ploieşti
, following a public competition overseen by writer Alexandru Odobescu
. The time he spent there allowed him to expand his circle of acquaintances and personal friends, meeting writers Caragiale and Alexandru Vlahuţă
, historians Hasdeu and Grigore Tocilescu
, and Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
.
(April and June 1890), and subsequently left for a longer stay in France
, enlisting at the École pratique des hautes études
. He was a contributor for the Encyclopédie française
, personally recommended there by Slavist Louis Léger
. Reflecting back on this time, he stated: "I never had as much time at my disposal, as much freedom of spirit, as much joy of learning from those great figures of mankind [...] than back then, in that summer of 1890". While preparing for his second diploma, Iorga also pursued his interest in philology, learning English, German
, and rudiments of other Germanic languages
. In 1892, he was in England
and in Italy, researching historical sources for his French-language thesis on Philippe de Mézières
, a Frenchman in the Crusade of 1365
. In tandem, he became a contributor to Revue Historique, a leading French academic journal.
Somewhat dissatisfied with French education
, Iorga presented his dissertation and, in 1893, left for the German Empire
, attempting to enlist in the University of Berlin's Ph. D. program. His working paper, on the 14th century Margrave of Saluzzo Thomas III
, was not received, because Iorga had not spent three years in training, as required. As an alternative, he gave formal pledge that the paper in question was entirely his own work, but his statement was invalidated by technicality: Iorga's work had been redacted by a more proficient speaker of German, whose intervention did not touch the substance of Iorga's research. The ensuing controversy led him to apply for a University of Leipzig
Ph. D.: his text, once reviewed by a commission grouping three prominent German scholars (Adolf Birch-Hirschfeld, Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, Charles Wachsmuth
), earned him the needed diploma in August. On July 25, Iorga had also received his École pratique diploma for the earlier work on de Mézières, following its review by a commission of scientists (Gaston Paris
, Charles Bémont
etc.). He spent his time further investigating the historical sources, at archives in Berlin
, Leipzig
and Dresden
. Between 1890 and the end of 1893, he had published three works: his debut in poetry (Poezii, "Poems"), the first volume of Schiţe din literatura română ("Sketches on Romanian Literature", 1893; second volume 1894), and his Leipzig thesis, printed in Paris
as Thomas III, marquis de Saluces. Étude historique et littéraire ("Thomas, Margrave of Saluzzo. Historical and Literary Study").
Living in poor conditions (as reported by visiting scholar Teohari Antonescu), the four-year engagement of his scholarship still applicable, Nicolae Iorga decided to spend his remaining time abroad, researching more city archives in Germany (Munich
), Austria
(Innsbruck
) and Italy (Florence
, Milan
, Naples
, Rome
, Venice
etc.). In this instance, his primordial focus was on historical figures from his Romanian homeland, the defunct Danubian Principalities
of Moldavia
and Wallachia
: the Moldavian Prince Peter the Lame
, his son Ştefăniţă, and Romania's national hero, the Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave. He also met, befriended and often collaborated with fellow historians from European countries other than Romania: the editors of Revue de l'Orient Latin
, who first published studies Iorga later grouped in the six volumes of Notes et extraits ("Notices and Excerpts") and Frantz Funck-Brentano
, who enlisted his parallel contribution for Revue Critique. Iorga's articles were also featured in two magazines for ethnic Romanian
communities in Austria-Hungary
: Familia
and Vatra
.
. He changed residence several times, until eventually settling in Grădina Icoanei
area. He agreed to compete in a sort of debating society, with lectures which only saw print in 1944. He applied for the Medieval History Chair at the University of Bucharest
, submitting a dissertation in front of an examination commission comprising historians and philosophers (Caragiani, Odobescu, Xenopol, alongside Aron Densuşianu, Constantin Leonardescu and Petre Râşcanu), but totaled a 7 average which only entitled him to a substitute professor's position. The achievement, at age 23, was still remarkable in its context.
The first of his lectures came later that year as personal insight on the historical method
, Despre concepţia actuală a istoriei şi geneza ei ("On the Present-day Concept of History and Its Genesis"). He was again out of the country in 1895, visiting the Netherlands
and, again, Italy, in search of documents, publishing the first section of his extended historical records' collection Acte şi fragmente cu privire la istoria românilor ("Acts and Excerpts Regarding the History of Romanians"), his Romanian Atheneum conference on Michael the Brave's rivalry with condottiero Giorgio Basta
, and his debut in travel literature
(Amintiri din Italia, "Recollections from Italy"). The next year came Iorga's official appointment as curator and publisher of the Hurmuzachi brothers
collection of historical documents, the position being granted to him by the Romanian Academy
. The appointment, first proposed to the institution by Xenopol, overlapped with disputes over the Hurmuzachi inheritance, and came only after Iorga's formal pledge that he would renounce all potential copyright
s resulting from his contribution. He also published the second part of Acte şi fragmente and the printed rendition of the de Mézières study (Philippe de Mézières, 1337–1405). Following an October 1895 reexamination, he was granted full professorship with a 9.19 average.
1895 was also the year when Iorga began his collaboration with the Iaşi-based academic and political agitator A. C. Cuza
, making his earliest steps in antisemitic politics, founding with him a group known as the Romanian (or Universal) Antisemitic Alliance. In 1897, the year when he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy, Iorga traveled back to Italy and spent time researching more documents in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
, at Dubrovnik
. He also oversaw the publication of the 10th Hurmuzachi volume, grouping diplomatic reports authored by Kingdom of Prussia
diplomats in the two Danubian Principalities (covering the interval between 1703 and 1844). After spending most of 1898 on researching various subjects and presenting the results as reports for the Academy, Iorga was in Transylvania
, the largely Romanian-inhabited subregion of Austria-Hungary. Concentrating his efforts on the city archives of Bistriţa
, Braşov
and Sibiu
, he made a major breakthrough by establishing that Stolnic Cantacuzino, a 17th century man of letters and political intriguer, was the real author of an unsigned Wallachian chronicle that had for long been used as a historical source. He published several new books in 1899: Manuscrise din biblioteci străine ("Manuscripts from Foreign Libraries", 2 vols.), Documente româneşti din arhivele Bistriţei ("Romanian Documents from the Bistriţa Archives") and a French-language book on the Crusades
, titled Notes et extraits pour servir à l'histoire des croisades ("Notes and Excerpts Covering the History of the Crusades", 2 vols.). Xenopol proposed his pupil for a Romanian Academy membership, to replace the suicidal Odobescu, but his proposition could not gather support.
Also in 1899, Nicolae Iorga inaugurated his contribution to the Bucharest-based French-language newspaper L'Indépendance Roumaine, publishing polemical articles on the activity of his various colleagues and, as a consequence, provoking a lengthy scandal. The pieces often targeted senior scholars who, as favorites or activists of the National Liberal Party
, opposed both Junimea and the Maiorescu-endorsed Conservative Party: his estranged friends Hasdeu and Tocilescu, as well as V. A. Urechia
and Dimitrie Sturdza
. The episode, described by Iorga himself as a stormy but patriotic
debut in public affairs, prompted his adversaries at the Academy to demand the termination of his membership for undignified behavior. Tocilescu felt insulted by the allegations, challenged Iorga to a duel
, but his friends intervened to mediate. Another scientist who encountered Iorga's wrath was George Ionescu-Gion, against whom Iorga enlisted negative arguments that, as he later admitted, were exaggerated. Among Iorga's main defenders were academics Dimitrie Onciul, N. Petraşcu
, and, outside Romania, Gustav Weigand
.
. In 1900, he collected the scattered polemical articles into the French-language books Opinions sincères. La vie intellectuelle des roumains en 1899 ("Honest Opinions. The Romanians' Intellectual Life in 1899") and Opinions pérnicieuses d'un mauvais patriote ("The Pernicious Opinions of a Bad Patriot"). His scholarly activities resulted in a second trip into Transylvania, a second portion of his Bistriţa archives collection, the 11th Hurmuzachi volume, and two works on early modern Romanian history
: Acte din secolul al XVI-lea relative la Petru Şchiopul ("16th Century Acts Relating to Peter the Lame") and Scurtă istorie a lui Mihai Viteazul ("A Short History of Michael the Brave"). His controversial public attitude had nevertheless attracted an official ban on his Academy reports, and also meant that he was ruled out from the national Academy prize (for which distinction he had submitted Documente româneşti din arhivele Bistriţei). The period also witnessed a chill in the Iorga's relationship with Xenopol.
In 1901, shortly after his divorce from Maria, Iorga married Ecaterina (Catinca), the sister of his friend and colleague Ioan Bogdan. Her other brother was cultural historian Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică, whose son, painter Catul Bogdan, Iorga would help achieve recognition. Soon after their wedding, the couple were in Venice, where Iorga received Karl Gotthard Lamprecht's offer to write a history of the Romanians to be featured as a section in a collective treatise of world history. Iorga, who had convinced Lamprecht not to assign this task to Xenopol, also completed Istoria literaturii române în secolul al XVIII-lea ("The History of Romanian Literature in the 18th Century"). It was presented to the Academy's consideration, but rejected, prompting the scholar to resign in protest. In order to receive his imprimatur later in the year, Iorga appealed to fellow intellectuals, earning pledges and a sizable grant from the aristocratic Callimachi family
.
Before the end of that year, the Iorgas were in the Austro-Hungarian city of Budapest
. While there, the historian set up tight contacts with Romanian intellectuals who originated from Transylvania and who, in the wake of the Transylvanian Memorandum
affair, supported ethnic nationalism
while objecting to the intermediary Cisleithania
n (Hungarian Crown
) rule and the threat of Magyarization
. Interested in recovering the Romanian contributions to Transylvanian history
, in particular Michael the Brave's precursory role in Romanian unionism, Iorga spent his time reviewing, copying and translating Hungarian-language
historical texts with much assistance from his wife. During the 300th commemoration of Prince Michael's death, which ethnic Romanian students transformed into a rally against Austro-Hungarian educational restrictions, Iorga addressed the crowds and was openly greeted by the protest's leaders, poet Octavian Goga
and Orthodox priest Ioan Lupaş
. In 1902, he published new tracts on Transylvanian or Wallachian topics: Legăturile Principatelor române cu Ardealul ("The Romanian Principalities' Links with Transylvania"), Sate şi preoţi din Ardeal ("Priests and Villages of Transylvania"), Despre Cantacuzini ("On the Cantacuzinos
"), Istoriile domnilor Ţării Româneşti ("The Histories of Wallachian Princes").
Iorga was by then making known his newly found interest in cultural nationalism
and national didacticism
, as expressed by him in an open letter
to Goga's Budapest-based Luceafărul magazine. After further interventions from Goga and linguist Sextil Puşcariu, Luceafărul became Iorga's main mouthpiece outside Romania. Returning to Bucharest in 1903, Iorga followed Lamprecht's suggestion and focused on writing his first overview of Romanian national history, known in Romanian as Istoria românilor ("The History of the Romanians"). He was also involved in a new project of researching the content of archives throughout Moldavia and Wallachia, and, having reassessed the nationalist politics of Junimist poet Mihai Eminescu
, helped collect and publish a companion to Eminescu's work.
review. The moment brought Iorga's emancipation from Maiorescu's influence, his break with mainstream Junimism, and his affiliation to the traditionalist, ethno-nationalist
and neoromantic
current encouraged by the magazine. The Sămănătorist school was by then also grouping other former or active Junimists, and Maiorescu's progressive withdrawal from literary life also created a bridge with Convorbiri Literare: its new editor, Simion Mehedinţi
, was himself a theorist of traditionalism. A circle of Junimists more sympathetic to Maiorescu's version of conservatism reacted against this realignment by founding its own venue, Convorbiri Critice, edited by Mihail Dragomirescu.
In tandem with his full return to cultural and political journalism, which included prolonged debates with both the "old" historians and the Junimists, Iorga was still active at the forefront of historical research. In 1904, he published the historical geography
work Drumuri şi oraşe din România ("Roads and Towns of Romania") and, upon the special request of National Liberal Education Minister Spiru Haret
, a work dedicated to the celebrated Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great
, published upon the 400th anniversary of the monarch's death as Istoria lui Ştefan cel Mare ("The History of Stephen the Great"). Iorga later confessed that the book was an integral part of his and Haret's didacticist agenda, supposed to be "spread to the very bottom of the country in thousands of copies". During those months, Iorga also helped discover novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
, who was for a while the leading figure of Sămănătorist literature.
In 1905, the year when historian Onisifor Ghibu
became his close friend and disciple, he followed up with over 23 individual titles, among them the two German-language volumes of Geschichte des Rümanischen Volkes im Rahmen seiner Staatsbildungen ("A History of the Romanian People within the Context of Its National Formation"), Istoria românilor în chipuri şi icoane ("The History of the Romanians in Faces and Icons"), Sate şi mănăstiri din România ("Villages and Monasteries of Romania") and the essay Gânduri şi sfaturi ale unui om ca oricare altul ("Thoughts and Advices from a Man Just like Any Other"). He also paid a visits to the Romanians of Bukovina
region, in Austrian territory, as well as to those of Bessarabia
, who were subjects of the Russian Empire
, and wrote about their cultural struggles in his 1905 accounts Neamul romănesc în Bucovina ("The Romanian People of Bukovina"), Neamul romănesc în Basarabia ("...of Bessarabia"). These referred to Tsarist autocracy
as a source of "darkness and slavery", whereas the more liberal regime of Bukovina offered its subjects "golden chains".
Nicolae Iorga ran in the 1905 election and won a seat in Parliament
's lower chamber
. He remained politically independent until 1906, when he attached himself to the Conservative Party, making one final attempt to change the course of Junimism. His move was contrasted by the group of left-nationalists
from the Poporanist
faction, who were allied to the National Liberals and, soon after, in open conflict with Iorga. Although from the same cultural family as Sămănătorul, the Poporanist theorist Constantin Stere
was dismissed by Iorga's articles, despite Sadoveanu's attempts to settle the matter.
A peak in Nicolae Iorga's own nationalist campaigning occurred that year: profiting from a wave of Francophobia
among young urbanites, Iorga boycott
ed the National Theater
, punishing its staff for staging a play entirely in French, and disturbing public order. According to one of Iorga's young disciples, the future journalist Pamfil Şeicaru, the mood was such that Iorga could have led a successful coup d'état
. These events had several political consequences. The Siguranţa Statului intelligence agency soon opened a file on the historian, informing Romanian Premier
Sturdza about nationalist agitation. The perception that Iorga was a xenophobe
also drew condemnation from more moderate traditionalist circles, in particular the Viaţa Literară weekly. Its panelists, Ilarie Chendi and young Eugen Lovinescu
, ridiculed Iorga's claim of superiority; Chendi in particular criticized the rejection of writers based on their ethnic origin and not their ultimate merit (while alleging, to Iorga's annoyance, that Iorga himself was a Greek).
(among which it was freely distributed), promoting antisemitic theories and raising opprobrium from the authorities and the urban-oriented press.
Also in 1906, Iorga traveled into the Ottoman Empire
, visiting Istanbul
, and published another set of volumes—Contribuţii la istoria literară ("Contributions to Literary History"), Neamul românesc în Ardeal şi Ţara Ungurească ("The Romanian Nation in Transylvania and the Hungarian Land"), Negoţul şi meşteşugurile în trecutul românesc ("Trade and Crafts of the Romanian Past") etc. In 1907, he began issuing a second periodical, the cultural magazine Floarea Darurilor, and published with Editura Minerva
an early installment of his companion to Romanian literature (second volume 1908, third volume 1909). His published scientific contributions for that year include, among others, an English-language study on the Byzantine Empire
. At home, he and pupil Vasile Pârvan
were involved in a conflict with fellow historian Orest Tafrali, officially over archeological theory, but also because of a regional conflict in academia: Bucharest and Transylvania against Tafrali's Iaşi.
A seminal moment in Iorga's political career took place during the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
, erupting under a Conservative cabinet and repressed with much violence by a National Liberal one. The bloody outcome prompted the historian to author and make public a piece of social critique, the Neamul Românesc pamphlet Dumnezeu să-i ierte ("God Forgive Them"). The text, together with his program of agrarian conferences and his subscription lists for the benefit of victims' relatives again made him an adversary of the National Liberals, who referred to Iorga as an instigator. The historian did however struck a chord with Stere, who had been made prefect of Iaşi County
, and who, going against his party's wishes, inaugurated an informal collaboration between Iorga and the Poporanists. The political class as a whole was particularly apprehensive of Iorga's contacts with the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians and their common irredentist
agenda, which risked undermining relations with the Austrians over Transylvania and Bukovina. However, Iorga's popularity was still increasing, and, carried by this sentiment, he was first elected to Chamber during the elections of that same year.
Iorga and his new family had relocated several times, renting a home in Bucharest's Gara de Nord
(Buzeşti) quarter. After renewed but failed attempts to become a Iaşi University professor, he decided, in 1908, to set his base away from the urban centers, at a villa in Vălenii de Munte
town (nestled in the remote hilly area of Prahova County
). Although branded an agitator by Sturdza, he received support in this venture from Education Minister Haret. Once settled, Iorga set up a specialized summer school
, his own publishing house, a printing press and the literary supplement of Neamul Românesc, as well as an asylum managed by writer Constanţa Marino-Moscu. He published some 25 new works for that year, such as the introductory volumes for his German-language companion to Ottoman history (Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, "History of the Ottoman Empire"), a study on Romanian Orthodox institutions (Istoria bisericii româneşti, "The History of the Romanian Church"), and an anthology on Romanian Romanticism
. He followed up in 1909 with a volume of parliamentary speeches, În era reformelor ("In the Age of Reforms"), a book on the 1859 Moldo–Wallachian Union
(Unirea principatelor, "The Principalities' Union"), and a critical edition of poems by Eminescu. Visiting Iaşi for the Union Jubilee, Iorga issued a public and emotional apology to Xenopol for having criticized him in the previous decade.
newspaper described Iorga's school as an instrument for radicalizing Romanian Transylvanians. Iorga also alienated the main Romanian organizations in Transylvania: the Romanian National Party
(PNR) dreaded his proposal to boycott the Diet of Hungary
, particularly since PNR leaders were contemplating a loyalist "Greater Austria" devolution project
.
The consequences hit Iorga in May 1909, when he was stopped from visiting Bukovina, officially branded a persona non grata
, and expelled from Austrian soil (in June, it was made illegal for Bukovinan schoolteachers to attend Iorga's lectures). A month later, Iorga greeted in Bucharest the English scholar R.W. Seton-Watson
. This noted critic of Austria-Hungary became Iorga's admiring friend, and helped popularize his ideas in the Anglosphere
.
In 1910, the year when he toured the Old Kingdom
's conference circuit, Nicolae Iorga again rallied with Cuza to establish the explicitly antisemitic Democratic Nationalist Party. Partly building on the antisemitic component of the 1907 revolts, its doctrines depicted the Jewish-Romanian community
and Jews in general as a danger for Romania's development. During its early decades, it used as its symbol the right-facing swastika
(卐), promoted by Cuza as the symbol of worldwide antisemitism and, later, of the "Aryans
". Also known as PND, this was Romania's first political group to represent the petty bourgeoisie, using its votes to challenge the tri-decennial two-party system
.
Also in 1910, Iorga published some thirty new works, covering gender history
(Viaţa femeilor în trecutul românesc, "The Early Life of Romanian Women"), Romanian military history
(Istoria armatei româneşti, "The History of the Romanian Military") and Stephen the Great's Orthodox profile (Ştefan cel Mare şi mănăstirea Neamţului, "Stephen the Great and Neamţ Monastery
"). His academic activity also resulted in a lengthy conflict with art historian Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
, his godfather and former friend, sparked when Iorga, defending his own academic postings, objected to making Art History a separate subject at University.
Reinstated into the Academy and made a full member, he gave his May 1911 reception speech with a philosophy of history
subject (Două concepţii istorice, "Two Historical Outlooks") and was introduced on the occasion by Xenopol. In August of that year, he was again in Transylvania, at Blaj
, where he paid homage to the Romanian-run ASTRA Cultural Society. He made his first contribution to Romanian drama with the play centered on, and named after, Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), one of around twenty new titles for that year—alongside his collected aphorism
s (Cugetări, "Musings") and a memoir of his life in culture (Oameni cari au fost, "People Who Are Gone"). In 1912, he published, among other works, Trei drame ("Three Dramatic Plays"), grouping Mihai Viteazul, Învierea lui Ştefan cel Mare ("Stephen the Great's Resurrection") and Un domn pribeag ("An Outcast Prince"). Additionally, Iorga produced the first of several studies dealing with Balkan
geopolitics
in the charged context leading up to the Balkan Wars
(România, vecinii săi şi chestia Orientală, "Romania, Her Neighbors and the Eastern Question
"). He also made a noted contribution to ethnography
, with Portul popular românesc ("Romanian Folk Dress
").
for an International Congress of History, presenting a proposal for a new approach to medievalism
and a paper discussing the sociocultural effects of the fall of Constantinople
on Moldavia and Wallachia. He was later in the Kingdom of Serbia
, invited by the Belgrade Academy
and presenting dissertations on Romania–Serbia relations
and the Ottoman decline
. Iorga was even called under arms in the Second Balkan War
, during which Romania fought alongside Serbia and against the Kingdom of Bulgaria
. The subsequent taking of Southern Dobruja
, supported by Maiorescu and the Conservatives, was seen by Iorga as callous and imperialistic
.
Iorga's interest in the Balkan crisis was illustrated by two of the forty books he put out that year: Istoria statelor balcanice ("The History of Balkan States") and Notele unui istoric cu privire la evenimentele din Balcani ("A Historian's Notes on the Balkan Events"). Noted among the others is the study focusing on the early 18th century reign of Wallachian Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu
(Viaţa şi domnia lui Constantin vodă Brâncoveanu, "The Life and Rule of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu"). That same year, Iorga issued the first series of his Drum Drept monthly, later merged with the Sămănătorist magazine Ramuri. Iorga managed to publish roughly as many new titles in 1914, the year when he received a Romanian Bene Merenti distinction, and inaugurated the international Institute of South-East European Studies or ISSEE (founded through his efforts), with a lecture on Albanian history
.
Again invited to Italy, he spoke at the Ateneo Veneto
on the relations between the Republic of Venice
and the Balkans, and again about Settecento culture. His attention was focused on the Albanians
and Arbëreshë—Iorga soon discovered the oldest record of written Albanian
, the 1462 Formula e pagëzimit
. In 1916, he founded the Bucharest-based academic journal Revista Istorică ("The Historical Review"), a Romanian equivalent for Historische Zeitschrift
and The English Historical Review
.
Nicolae Iorga's involvement in political disputes and the cause of Romanian irredentism became a leading characteristic of his biography during World War I
. In 1915, while Romania was still keeping neutral, he sided with the dominant nationalist, Francophile
and pro-Entente
camp, urging for Romania to wage war on the Central Powers
as a means of obtaining Transylvania, Bukovina and other regions held by Austria-Hungary; to this goal, he became an active member of the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians, and personally organized the large pro-Entente rallies in Bucharest. A prudent anti-Austrian, Iorga adopted the interventionist
agenda with noted delay. His hesitantation was ridiculed by hawkish Eugen Lovinescu
as pro-Transylvanian but anti-war
, costing Iorga his office in the Cultural League. The historian later confessed that, like Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu
and the National Liberal cabinet, he had been waiting for a better moment to strike. In the end, his "Ententist" efforts were closely supported by public figures such as Alexandru I. Lapedatu and Ion Petrovici
, as well as by Take Ionescu
's National Action advocacy group. Iorga was also introduced to the private circle of Romania's young King
, Ferdinand I
, whom he found well-intentioned but weak-willed. Iorga is sometimes credited as a tutor to Crown Prince Carol
(future King Carol II), who reportedly attended the Vălenii school.
In his October 1915 polemic with Vasile Sion, a Germanophile
physician, Iorga at once justified suspicion of the German Romanians
and praised those Romanians who were deserting the Austrian Army
. The Ententists' focus on Transylvania pitted them against the Poporanists, who delpored the Romanians of Bessarabia
. That region, the Poporanist lobby argued, was being actively oppressed by the Russian Empire
with the acquiescence of other Entente powers. Poporanist theorist Garabet Ibrăileanu
, editor of Viaţa Românească
review, later accused Iorga of not ever speaking in support of the Bessarabians.
Political themes were again reflected in Nicolae Iorga's 1915 report to the Academy (Dreptul la viaţă al statelor mici, "The Small States' Right to Exist") and in various of the 37 books he published that year: Istoria românilor din Ardeal şi Ungaria ("The History of the Romanians in Transylvania and Hungary"), Politica austriacă faţă de Serbia ("The Austrian Policy on Serbia") etc. Also in 1915, Iorga completed his economic history
treatise, Istoria comerţului la români ("The History of Commerce among the Romanians"), as well as a volume on literary history and Romanian philosophy
, Faze sufleteşti şi cărţi reprezentative la români ("Spiritual Phases and Relevant Books of the Romanians"). Before spring 1916, he was commuting between Bucharest and Iaşi, substituting the ailing Xenopol at Iaşi University. He also gave a final touch to the collection Studii şi documente ("Studies and Documents"), comprising his commentary on 30,000 individual documents and spread over 31 tomes.
.
Still a member of Parliament, Iorga joined the authorities in the provisional capital of Iaşi, but opposed the plans of relocating government out of besieged Moldavia and into the Russian Republic
. The argument was made in one of his parliamentary speeches, printed as a pamphlet and circulated among the military: "May the dogs of this world feast on us sooner than to find our happiness, tranquility and prosperity granted by the hostile foreigner." He did however allow some of his notebooks to be stored in Moscow
, along with the Romanian Treasure
, and sheltered his own family in Odessa
.
Iorga, who reissued Neamul Românesc in Iaşi, resumed his activity at Iaşi University and began working on the war propaganda daily România, while contributing to R.W. Seton-Watson's international sheet The New Europe. His contribution for that year included a number of brochures dedicated to maintaining morale among soldiers and civilians: Războiul actual şi urmările lui în viaţa morală a omenirii ("The Current War and Its Effects on the Moral Life of Mankind"), Rolul iniţiativei private în viaţa publică ("The Role of Private Initiative in Public Life"), Sfaturi şi învăţături pentru ostaşii României ("Advices and Teachings for Romania's Soldiers") etc. He also translated from English and printed My Country, a patriotic essay by Ferdinand's wife Marie of Edinburgh
.
The heightened sense of crisis prompted Iorga to issue appeals against defeatism
and reissue Neamul Românesc from Iaşi, explaining: "I realized at once what moral use could come out of this for the thousands of discouraged and disillusioned people and against the traitors who were creeping up all over the place." The goal was again reflected in his complementary lectures (where he discussed the "national principle") and a new set of works; these featured musings on the Allied commitment (Relations des Roumains avec les Alliès, "The Romanians' Relations with the Allies"; Histoire des relations entre la France et les roumains, "The History of Relations between France and the Romanians"), the national character (Sufletul românesc, "The Romanian Soul") or columns against the loss of morale (Armistiţiul, "The Armistice"). His ideal of moral regeneration through the war effort came with an endorsement of land reform projects
. Brătianu did not object to the idea, being however concerned that landowners would rebel. Iorga purportedly gave him a sarcastic reply: "just like you've been shooting the peasants to benefit the landowners, you'll then be shooting the landowners to benefit the peasants."
In May 1918, Romania yielded to German demands and negotiated the Bucharest Treaty, an effective armistice. The conditions were judged humiliating by Iorga ("Our ancestors would have preferred death"); he refused to regain his University of Bucharest chair. The German authorities in Bucharest reacted by blacklist
ing the historian.
sealed Germany's defeat. Celebrating the Compiègne Armistice
, Iorga wrote: "There can be no greater day for the entire world". Iorga however found that Bucharest had become "a filthy hell under lead skies." His celebrated return also included the premiere of Învierea lui Ştefan cel Mare at the National Theater
, which continued to host productions of his dramatic texts on a regular basis, until ca. 1936.
He was reelected to the lower chamber in the November 1918 suffrage, becoming President of the body and, due to the rapid political developments, the first person to hold this office in the history of Greater Romania
. The year also brought his participation alongside Allied envoys in the 360th anniversary of Michael the Brave's birth. On December 1, later celebrated as Great Union Day, Iorga was participant in a seminal event of the union with Transylvania
, as one of several thousand Romanians who gathered in Alba Iulia
to demand union on the basis of self-determination
. Despite these successes, Iorga was reportedly snubbed by King Ferdinand, and only left to rely on Brătianu for support. Although he was not invited to attend the Paris Peace Conference
, he supported Queen Marie in her role of informal negotiatior for Romania, and cemented his friendship with her.
Shortly after the creation of Greater Romania, Iorga was focusing his public activity on exposing collaborators
of the wartime occupiers. The subject was central to a 1919 speech he held in front of the Academy, where he obtained the public condemnation of actively Germanophile academicians, having earlier veto
ed the membership of Poporanist Constantin Stere
. He failed at enlisting support for the purge of Germanophile professors from University, but the attempt rekindled the feud between him and Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
, who had served in the German-appointed administration. The two scholars later took their battle to court and, until Iorga's death, presented mutually exclusive takes on recent political history. Although very much opposed to the imprisoned Germanophile poet Tudor Arghezi
, Iorga intervened on his behalf with Ferdinand.
Following 1919 elections, Iorga became a member of the Senate
, representing the Democratic Nationalists. Although he resented the universal male suffrage and viewed the adoption of electoral symbols as promoting political illiteracy, his PND came to use a logo representing two hands grasping (later replaced with a black-flag-and-sickle). The elections seemed to do away with the old political system: Iorga's party was third, trailing behind two newcomers, the Transylvanian PNR and the Poporanist Peasants' Party
(PŢ), with whom it formed a parliamentary bloc supporting an Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
cabinet. This union of former rivals also showed Iorga's growing suspicion of Brătianu, whom he feared intended to absorb the PND into the National Liberal Party, and accused of creating a political machine
. He and his disciples were circulating the term politicianism ("politicking"), expressing their disappointment for the new political context.
Also in 1919, Iorga was elected chairman of the Cultural League, where he gave a speech on "the Romanians' rights to their national territory", was appointed head of the Historical Monuments' Commission, and met the French academic mission to Romania (Henri Mathias Berthelot
, Charles Diehl
, Emmanuel de Martonne and Raymond Poincaré
, whom he greeted with a speech about the Romanians and the Romance peoples). Together with French war hero Septime Gorceix, he also compiled Anthologie de la littérature roumaine ("An Anthology of Romanian Literature"). That year, the French state granted Iorga its Legion of Honor.
A founding president of the Association of Romanian Public Libraries, Iorga was also tightening his links with young Transylvanian intellectuals: he took part in reorganizing the Cluj
Franz Joseph University
into a Romanian-speaking institution, meeting scholars Vasile Pârvan
and Vasile Bogrea (who welcomed him as "our protective genius"), and published a praise of the young traditionalist poet Lucian Blaga
. He was in correspondence with intellectuals of all backgrounds, and, reportedly, the Romanian who was addressed the most letters in postal history. Touring the larger conference circuit, he also wrote some 30 new books, among them: Histoire des roumains de la Peninsule des Balcans ("The History of Romanians from the Balkan Peninsula": Aromanians
, Istro-Romanians
and Megleno-Romanians
), Istoria poporului francez ("The History of the French People
"), Pentru sufletele celor ce muncesc ("For The Souls of Working Men"), and Istoria lui Mihai Viteazul ("The History of Michael the Brave"). Iorga was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa by the University of Strasbourg
, while his lectures on Albania, collected by poet Lasgush Poradeci
, became Brève histoire de l'Albanie ("Concise History of Albania"). In Bucharest, Iorga received as a gift from his admirers a new Bucharest home on Bonaparte Highway (Iancu de Hunedoara Boulevard).
, and elected on PŢ lists in Soroca County
. Iorga's speech, "Stere's Betrayal", turned attention back to Stere's Germanophilia (with quotes that were supposedly taken out of context) and demanded his invalidation—the subsequent debate was tense and emotional, but a new vote in Chamber confirmed Stere as Soroca deputy.
The overall election victory belonged to the radical, eclectic and anti-PNR People's Party, led by war hero Alexandru Averescu
. Iorga, whose PND had formed the Federation of National Democracy with the PŢ and other parties, was perplexed by Averescu's sui generis
appeal and personality cult, writing: "Everything [in that party] was about Averescu." His partner Cuza and a portion of the PND were however supportive of this force, which threatened the stability of their vote. Progressively after that moment, Iorga also began toning down his antisemitism, a process of the end of which Cuza left the Democratic Nationalists to establish the more militant National-Christian Defense League
(1923). Iorga's suggestions that new arrivals from Transylvania and Bessarabia were becoming a clique also resulted in collisions with former friend Octavian Goga
, who had joined up with Averescu's party.
His publishing activity continued at a steady pace during that year, when he first presided over the Romanian School of Fontenay-aux-Roses
; he issued the two volumes of Histoire des roumains et de leur civilisation ("The History of the Romanians and Their Civilization") and the three tomes of Istoria românilor prin călătorii ("The History of the Romanians in Travels"), alongside Ideea Daciei româneşti ("The Idea of a Romanian Dacia
"), Istoria Evului Mediu ("The History of the Middle Ages") and some other scholarly works. His biographical studies were mainly focused on his nationalist predecessor Mihail Kogălniceanu
. Iorga also resumed his writing for the stage, with two new drama plays: one centered on the Moldavian ruler Constantin Cantemir
(Cantemir bătrânul, "Cantemir the Elder"), the other dedicated to, and named after, Brâncoveanu. Centering his activity as a public speaker in Transylvanian cities, Iorga was also involved in projects to organize folk theaters throughout the country, through which he intended to spread a unified cultural message. The year also brought his presence at the funeral of A. D. Xenopol.
In 1921 and 1922, the Romanian scholar began lecturing abroad, most notably at the University of Paris
, while setting up a Romanian School in the French capital and the Accademia di Romania of Rome
. In 1921, when his 50th birthday was celebrated at a national level, Iorga published a large number of volumes, including a bibliographic study on the Wallachian uprising of 1821
and its leader Tudor Vladimirescu
, an essay on political history
(Dezvoltarea aşezămintelor politice, "The Development of Political Institutions"), Secretul culturii franceze ("The Secret of French Culture"), Războiul nostru în note zilnice ("Our War as Depicted in Daily Records") and the French-language Les Latins de l'Orient ("The Oriental Latins
"). His interest in Vladimirescu and his historical role was also apparent in an eponymous play, published with a volume of Iorga's selected lyric poetry
.
In politics, Iorga began objecting to the National Liberals' hold on power, denouncing the 1922 election as a fraud
. He resumed his close cooperation with the PNR, briefly joining the party ranks in an attempt to counter this monopoly. In 1923, he donated his Bonaparte Highway residence and its collection to the Ministry of Education, to be used by a cultural foundation and benefit university students. Receiving another honoris causa doctorate, from the University of Lyon
, Iorga went through an episode of reconciliation with Tudor Arghezi
, who addressed him public praise. The two worked together on Cuget Românesc newspaper, but were again at odds when Iorga began criticizing modernist literature
and "the world's spiritual crisis".
Among his published works for that year were Formes byzantines et réalités balcaniques ("Byzantine Forms and Balkan Realities"), Istoria presei româneşti ("The History of the Romanian Press"), L'Art populaire en Roumanie ("Folk Art in Romania"), Istoria artei medievale ("The History of Medieval Art
") and Neamul românesc din Ardeal ("The Romanian Nation in Transylvania"). Iorga had by then finished several new theatrical plays: Moartea lui Dante ("The Death of Dante"), Molière se răzbună ("Molière
Gets His Revenge"), Omul care ni trebuie ("The Man We Need") and Sărmală, amicul poporului ("Sărmală, Friend of the People").
community. In 1925, when he was elected a member of the Kraków Academy of Learning
in Poland
, Iorga gave conferences in various European countries, including Switzerland
(where he spoke at a League of Nations
assembly on the state of Romania's minorities
). His bibliography for 1925 includes some 50 titles. Iorga also increased his personal fortune, constructing villas in two resort towns: in Sinaia
(designer: Toma T. Socolescu
) and, later, Mangalia
. More controversial still was his decision to use excess funds from the International Congress to improve his Vălenii printing press.
Iorga was again abroad in 1926 and 1927, lecturing on various subjects at reunions in France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark
, Spain
, Sweden
and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
, many of his works being by then translated into French, English, German and Italian. His work for 1926 centered on the first of four volumes in his series Essai de synthèse de l'histoire de l'humanité ("Essay on the Synthesis of World History"), followed in 1927 by Istoria industriei la români ("The History of Industry among the Romanians"), Originea şi sensul democraţiei ("The Origin and Sense of Democracy"), a study of Romanian contributions to the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War (Războiul de independenţă, "The War of Independence") etc. At home, the PND's merge into the PNR, accepted by Iorga, was stoped once the historian asked to become the resulting union's chief. Acting PNR leader Iuliu Maniu
successfully resisted this move, and the two parties split over the issue.
For a while in 1927, Iorga was also local leader of the Pan-European movement, created internationally by Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi. A honoris causa doctor of Genoa University
, he opened his course at the University of Paris with lectures on France's Levant
ine policy (1927) and, during 1928, was again invited to lecture in Spain, Sweden and Norway
. His published works for that time grouped the political essay Evoluţia ideii de libertate ("The Evolution of Liberty as an Idea"), new historical studies and printed versions of his conferences: Istoria învăţământului ("The History of Education"), Patru conferinţe despre istoria Angliei ("Four Conferences on the History of England
"), Ţara latină cea mai îndepărtată din Europa: Portugalia ("The Remotest Latin Country in Europe: Portugal
"). In addition to his Bucharest Faculty of History chair, Iorga also took over the History of Literature course hosted by the same institution (1928).
Appointed the university's Rector
in 1929, he followed up with new sets of conferences in France, Italy or Spain, and published some 40 new books on topics such as Romanian folklore
and Scandinavian history
. For a while, he also held the University's concise literature course, replacing Professor Ion Bianu. Iorga's circle was joined by researcher Constantin C. Giurescu
, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, who had been Iorga's rival a generation before.
Iorga embarked on a longer journey during 1930: again lecturing in Paris during January, he left for Genoa and, from there, traveled to the United States
, visiting some 20 cities, being greeted by the Romanian-American community and meeting with President
Herbert Hoover
. He was also an honored guest of Case Western Reserve University
, where he delivered a lecture in English. Returning to attend the London International Congress of History, Iorga was also made a honoris causa doctor by the University of Oxford
(with a reception speech likening him to both Livy
and Pliny the Elder
). That year, he also set up the Casa Romena institute in Venice. His new works included America şi românii din America ("Romania and the Romanians of America") and Privelişti elveţiene ("Swiss Landscapes"), alongside the plays Sfântul Francisc ("Saint Francis
") and Fiul cel pierdut ("The Lost Son"). In 1931-1932, he was made a honoris causa doctor by four other universities (the University of Paris, La Sapienza
, Stefan Batory
, Comenius
), was admitted into both Accademia dei Lincei
and the Accademia degli Arcadi
, and published over 40 new titles per year.
in April 1931, upon the request of Carol II, who had returned from exile to replace his own son, Michael I
. The authoritarian
monarch had cemented this relationship by visiting the Vălenii de Munte establishment in July 1930. A contemporary historian, Hugh Seton-Watson
(son of R.W. Seton-Watson), documented Carol's confiscation of agrarian politics for his own benefit, noting: "Professor Iorga's immense vanity delivered him into the king's hands." Iorga's imprudent ambition is mentioned by cultural historian Z. Ornea, who also counts Iorga among those who had already opposed Carol's invalidation. In short while, Iorga's support for the controversial monarch resulted in his inevitable break with the PNR and PŢ. Their agrarian union, the National Peasants' Party
(PNŢ), took distance from Carol's policies, whereas Iorga prioritized his "Carlist" monarchism
. The moment aggravated the running personal rivalry between the PND founder and Iuliu Maniu, but Iorga had on his side Maniu's own brother, lawyer Cassiu Maniu, who rejected the PNR's regionalistic
stance.
Once confirmed on the throne, Carol experimented with technocracy, borrowing professionals from various political groups, and closely linking Iorga with Internal Affairs Minister Constantin Argetoianu
. Iorga survived the election of June, in which he led a National Union coalition, with support from his rivals, the National Liberals. During his short term, he traveled throughout the country, visiting around 40 cities and towns, and was notably on a state visit to France, being received by Prime Minister
Aristide Briand
and by Briand's ally André Tardieu
. In recognition of his merits as an Albanologist
, the Albanian Kingdom
granted Iorga property in Sarandë
town, on which the scholar created a Romanian Archeological Institute.
The backdrop to Iorga's mandate was Carol's conflict with the Iron Guard
, an increasingly popular fascist
organization. In March 1932, Iorga signed a decree outlawing the movement, the beginning of his clash with the Guard's founder Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
. At the same time, his new education law
enhancing university autonomy, for which Iorga had been campaigning since the 1920s, was openly challenged as unrealistic by fellow scholar Florian Ştefănescu-Goangă, who noted that it only encouraged political agitators to place themselves outside the state. Also holding the office of Education Minister, he allowed auditing students to attend university lectures without holding a Romanian Baccalaureate
degree. Reserving praise for the home-grown youth movement Micii Dorobanţi, he was also an official backer of Romanian Scouting. In addition, Iorga's time in office brought the creation of another popular summer school, in the tourist resort of Balcic
, Southern Dobruja
.
The major issue facing Iorga was the economic crisis, part of the Great Depression
, and he was largely unsuccessful in tackling it. To the detriment of financial markets, the cabinet tried to implement debt relief
for bankrupt land cultivators, and signed an agreement with Argentina
, another exporter of agricultural produce, to try and limit deflation. The mishandling of economic affairs made the historian a target of derision and indignation among the general public. The reduction of deficit with pay cuts for all state employees ("sacrificial curves") or selective layoff
s was particularly dramatic, leading to widespread disillusionment among the middle class, which only increased grassroots support for the Iron Guard. Other controversial aspects were his alleged favoritism and nepotism
: perceived as the central figure of an academic clique, Iorga helped Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică's family and Pârvan, promoted young historian Andrei Oţetea, and made his son in law Colonel Chirescu (m. Florica Iorga in 1918) a Prefect of Storojineţ County
. His premiership also evidenced the growing tensions between the PND in Bucharest and its former allies in Transylvania: Iorga arrived to power after rumors of a PNŢ "Transylvanian conspiracy", and his cabinet included no Romanian Transylvanian politicians. It was however open to members of the Saxon community
, and Iorga himself created a new government position for ethnic minority
affairs.
Nicolae Iorga presented his cabinet's resignation in May 1932, returning to academic life. This came after an understanding between Carol II and a rightist PNŢ faction, who took over with Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
as Premier. The PND, running in elections under a square-in-square logo (回), was rapidly becoming a minor force in Romanian politics. It survived through alliances with the National Liberals or with Averescu, while Argetoianu left it to establish an equally small agrarian group. Iorga concentrated on redacting memoirs, published as Supt trei regi ("Under Three Kings"), whereby he intended to counter political hostility. He also created the Museum of Sacred Art, housed by the Creţulescu Palace
.
in their conclusions. The political discrepancy was highlighted by the more radical support these academics were directing toward King Carol II. In later years, Iorga also feuded with his Transylvanian disciple Lucian Blaga
, trying in vain to block Blaga's reception to the Academy over differences in philosophy and literary preference. On Blaga's side, the quarrel involved philologist and civil servant Bazil Munteanu; his correspondence with Blaga features hostile remarks about Iorga's "vulgarity" and cultural politics.
On his way to a pan-European congress, Iorga stirred further controversy by attending, in Rome, the tenth anniversary of the 1923 March
, celebrating Italian Fascism
. He resumed his participation in conference cycles during 1933, revisiting France, as well as taking back his position at the University of Bucharest; he published another 37 books and, in August 1933, attended the History Congress in Warsaw
. His new project was a cultural version of the Polish–Romanian Alliance, working together with poet-diplomat Aron Cotruş to increase awareness of his country, and publishing his own work in the Polish press.
Early in 1934, Iorga issued a condemnation of the Iron Guard, following the assassination of National Liberal Premier Ion G. Duca
by an Legionary death squad
. However, during the subsequent police round-ups of Guardist activists, Iorga intervened for the release of fascist philosopher Nae Ionescu
, and still invited Guardist poet Radu Gyr
to lecture at Vălenii. At the same time, he was again focusing his attention on the condemnation of modernists and the poetry of Arghezi, first with the overview Istoria literaturii româneşti contemporane ("History of Contemporary Romanian Literature"), then with his press polemics. Also in 1934, Iorga also published a book which coined his image of Romania's early modern culture
—Byzance après Byzance ("Byzantium after Byzantium"), alongside the three-volume Histoire de la vie byzantine ("A History of Byzantine Life"). He followed up with a volume of memoirs Orizonturile mele. O viaţă de om aşa cum a fost ("My Horizons. The Life of a Man as It Was"), while inaugurating his contribution to Romania's official cultural magazine, Revista Fundaţiilor Regale.
Iorga again toured Europe in 1935, and, upon his return to Romania, gave a new set of conferences under the auspices of the Cultural League, inviting scholar Franz Babinger
to lecture at the ISSEE. Again in Iaşi, the historian participated in a special celebration of 18th century Moldavian Prince and Enlightenment
thinker Dimitrie Cantemir
, whose remains had been retrieved from the Soviet Union
to be reburied in the Romanian city. Among the books Iorga published in 1935 are a new version of Istoria lui Mihai Viteazul, alongside Originalitatea lui Dimitrie Cantemir ("Dimitrie Cantemir's Originality"), Comemorarea unirii Ardealului ("The Commemoration of Transylvania's Union") and two volumes of his Memorii ("Memoirs"). His additional essays covered the careers of 17th century intellectuals (Anthim the Iberian
, Axinte Uricariul, Constantin Cantacuzino). Also in 1935, Iorga and his daughter Liliana co-authored a Bucharest guide book
.
Early in 1936, Nicolae Iorga was again lecturing at the University of Paris, and gave an additional conference at the Société des études historiques, before hosting the Bucharest session of the International Committee of Historians. He was also in the Netherlands
, with a lecture on Byzantine social history
: L'Homme byzantin ("Byzantine Man"). Upon his return, wishing to renew his campaign against the modernists, Iorga founded Cuget Clar, the neo-Sămănătorist magazine.
By that moment in time, he was publicly voicing his concern that Transylvania was a target of expansion for Regency-period Hungary
, while cautioning the public against Nazi Germany
and its revanchism
. Similarly, he was concerned about the Soviet threat and the fate of Romanians in the Soviet Union, working closely with the Transnistria
n anti-communist
refugee Nichita Smochină
. Such worries were notably expressed by Iorga in a series of Bucharest Radio
broadcasts, Sfaturi pe întuneric ("Advice at Dark", soon after published in brochure format). He completed several new volumes, among which were Dovezi despre conştiinţa originii românilor ("Evidence on the Conscious Origin of the Romanians"), the polemical essay Lupta mea contra prostiei ("My Fight against Stupidity"), and the first two volumes of the long planned Istoria românilor.
's Academy of History. He also mentored German biographer Eugen Wolbe, who collected data on the Romanian kings. This contribution was doubled by a steady participation in the country's political life. Iorga attended the Cultural League congress in Iaşi, where he openly demanded for the Iron Guard to be outlawed on the grounds that it served Nazi interests, and discussed the threat of war in his speeches at Vălenii de Munte and his Radio conferences. With his Neamul Românesc disciple N. Georgescu-Cocoş, he was also continuing his fight against modernism, inspiring a special Romanian Academy report on the modernists' "pornography
".
The early months of 1938 saw Nicolae Iorga joining the national unity government
of Miron Cristea
, formed by Carol II's right-wing power base. A Crown Councillor, he then threw his reluctant support behind the National Renaissance Front
, created by Carol II as the driving force of a pro-fascist but anti-Guard single-party state
(see 1938 Constitution of Romania
). Iorga was upset by the imposition of uniforms on all public officials, calling it "tyrannical", and privately ridiculed the new constitutional regime's architects, but he eventually complied to the changes. In April, Iorga was also at the center of a scandal which resulted in Codreanu's arrest and eventual extrajudicial killing. By then, the historian had attacked the Guard's policy of setting up small commercial enterprises and charity ventures. This prompted Codreanu to address him an open letter
, which accused Iorga of being dishonest. Premier Armand Călinescu
, who had already ordered a clampdown on Guardist activities, seized Iorga's demand for satisfaction as an opportunity, ordering Carol's rival to be tried for libel—the preamble to an extended trial on grounds of conspiracy
. An unexpected consequence of this move was the protest resignation of General Ion Antonescu
from the office of Defense Minister.
Iorga himself refused to attend the trial; in letters he addressed to the judges, he asked the count of libel to be withdrawn, and advised that Codreanu should follow the insanity defense on the other accusations. Iorga's attention then moved to other activities: he was Romanian Commissioner for the 1938 Venice Biennale
, and supportive of the effort to establish a Romanian school of genealogists.
In 1939, as the Guard's campaign of retribution had degenerated into terrorism
, Iorga used the Senate tribune to address the issue and demand measures to curb the violence. He was absent for part of the year, again lecturing in Paris. Steadily publishing new volumes of Istoria românilor, he also completed work on several other books: in 1938, Întru apărarea graniţei de Apus ("For the Defense of the Western Frontier"), Cugetare şi faptă germană ("German Thought and Action"), Hotare şi spaţii naţionale ("National Borders and Spaces"); in 1939 Istoria Bucureştilor ("History of Bucharest
"), Discursuri parlamentare ("Parliamentary Addresses"), Istoria universală văzută prin literatură ("World History as Seen through Literature"), Naţionalişti şi frontiere ("Nationalists and Frontiers"), Stări sufleteşti şi războaie ("Spiritual States and Wars"), Toate poeziile lui N. Iorga ("N. Iorga's Complete Poetry") and two new volumes of Memorii. Also in 1938, Iorga inaugurated the open-air theater of Vălenii de Munte with one of his own dramatic texts, Răzbunarea pământului ("The Earth's Revenge"). The total number of titles he presented for publishing in 1939 is 45, including a play about Christina of Sweden
(Regele Cristina, "King C[h]ristina") and an anti-war
cycle of poems. Some of his Anglophile essays were printed by Mihail Fărcăşanu
in Rumanian Quarterly, which sought to preserve Anglo–Romanian cooperation.
Iorga was again Romanian Commissioner of the Venice Biennale in 1940. The accelerated political developments led him to focus on his activities as a militant and journalist. His output for 1940 included a large number of conferences and articles dedicated to the preservation of Greater Romania's borders and the anti-Guardist cause: Semnul lui Cain ("The Mark of Cain"), Ignoranţa stăpâna lumii ("Ignorance, Mistress of the World"), Drumeţ în calea lupilor ("A Wayfarer Facing Wolves") etc. Iorga was troubled by the outbreak of World War II
and saddened by the fall of France, events which formed the basis of his essay Amintiri din locurile tragediilor actuale ("Recollections from the Current Scenes of a Tragedy"). He was also working on a version of Prometheus Bound
, a tragedy which probably reflected his concern about Romania, her allies, and the uncertain political future.
made Northern Transylvania
a part of Hungary. This loss sparked a political and moral crisis, eventually leading to the establishment of a National Legionary State
with Ion Antonescu as Conducător
and the Iron Guard as a governing political force. In the wake of this reshuffling, Iorga decided to close down his Neamul Românesc, explaining: "When a defeat is registered, the flag is not surrendered, but its fabric is wrapped around the heart. The heart of our struggle was the national cultural idea." Perceived as Codreanu's murderer, he received renewed threats from the Iron Guard, including hate mail
, attacks in the movement's press (Buna Vestire and Porunca Vremii) and tirades from the Guardist section in Vălenii. He further antagonized the new government by stating his attachment to the abdicated royal.
Nicolae Iorga was forced out of Bucharest (where he owned a new home in Dorobanţi
quarter) and Vălenii de Munte by the massive earthquake of November
. He then moved to Sinaia, where he gave the finishing touches to his book Istoriologia umană ("Human Historiology
"). He was kidnapped by a Guardist squad, the best-known member of which was agricultural engineer Traian Boeru, on the afternoon of November 27, and killed in the vicinity of Strejnic
(some distance from the city of Ploieşti
). He was shot at some nine times in all, with 7.65 mm and 6.35 mm handguns. Iorga's killing is often mentioned in tandem with that of agrarian politician Virgil Madgearu
, kidnapped and murdered by the Guardists on the same night, and with the Jilava Massacre
(during which Carol II's administrative apparatus was decimated). These acts of retribution, placed in connection with the discovery and reburial of Codreanu's remains, were carried out independently by the Guard, and enhanced tensions between it and Antonescu.
Iorga's death caused much consternation among the general public, and was received with particular concern by the academic community. Forty-seven universities worldwide flew their flags at half-staff
. A funeral speech was delivered by the exiled French historian Henri Focillon
, from New York City
, calling Iorga "one of those legendary personalities planted, for eternity, in the soil of a country and the history of human intelligence." At home, the Iron Guard banned all public mourning
, excepting an obituary
in Universul
daily and a ceremony hosted by the Romanian Academy. The final oration was delivered by philosopher Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
, who noted, in terms akin to those used by Focillon, that the murdered scientist had stood for "our nation's intellectual prowess", "the full cleverness and originality of the Romanian genius".
Iorga's remains were buried at Bellu
, in Bucharest, on the same day as Madgearu's funeral—the attendants, who included some of the surviving interwar politicians and foreign diplomats, defied the Guard's ban with their presence. Iorga's last texts, recovered by his young disciple G. Brătescu, were kept by literary critic Şerban Cioculescu
in published at a later date. Gheorghe Brătianu later took over Iorga's position at the South-East Europe Institute and the Institute of World History (known as Nicolae Iorga Institute from 1941).
and national conservatism
. This fusion is identified by political scientist Ioan Stanomir as a mutation of Junimea
s ideology, running contrary to Titu Maiorescu
's liberal conservatism
, but resonating with the ideology of Romania's national poet, Mihai Eminescu
. A maverick Junimist, Eminescu added to the conservative vision of his contemporaries an intense nationalism with reactionary
, racist
and xenophobic
tinges, for which he received posthumous attention in Iorga's lifetime. Identified by researcher Ioana Both as a source for the "Eminescu myth", Iorga saw in him the poet of "healthy race" ideas and the "integral expression of the Romanian soul", rather than a melancholy artist. This ideological source shaped the attitudes of many Sămănătorists
, eroding Junimeas influence and redefining Romanian conservatism for the space of one generation. A definition provided by political scientist John Hutchinson
lists Iorga among those who embraced "cultural nationalism
", which rejected modernization
, as opposed to "political nationalism", which sought to modernize the nation-state.
Borrowing Maiorescu's theory about how Westernization
had come to Romania as "forms without concept" (meaning that some modern customs had been forced on top of local traditions), Iorga likewise aimed it against the liberal establishment
, but gave it a more radical expression. A significant point of continuity between Junimism and Iorga was the notion of two "positive" social class
es, both opposed to the bourgeoisie
: the lower class, represented by the peasantry, and the aristocratic class of boyar
s. Like Maiorescu, Iorga attacked the centralizing
1866 Constitution
, to which he opposed a statehood based on "organic" growth, with self-aware local communities as a source of legitimacy. Also resonating with the Junimist club was Iorga's vision of the French Revolution
—according to French author René Girault, the Romanian was an "excellent connaisseur" of this particular era. The revolutionary experience was, in Iorga's view, traumatic, while its liberal or Jacobin
inheritors were apostates
disturbing the traditional equilibrium. His response to the Jacobin model was an Anglophile and Tocquevillian
position, favoring the British constitutional system
and praising the American Revolution
as the positive example of nation-building
.
Like Junimism, Iorga's conservatism did not generally rely on religion. A secularist
among the traditionalists, he did not attach a special meaning to Christian ethics
, and, praising the creative force of man, saw asceticism
as a negative phenomenon. However, he strongly identified the Romanian Orthodox Church
and its hesychasm
with the Romanian psyche, marginalizing the Latin Rite Church
and the Transylvanian School
. In rejecting pure individualism
, Iorga also reacted against the modern reverence toward Athenian democracy
or the Protestant Reformation
, giving more positive appraisals to other community models: Sparta
, Macedonia, the Italian city-states
. As argued by political scientist Mihaela Czobor-Lupp, his was an "alternative" to the rationalist
perspective, and a counterweight to Max Weber
's study on The Protestant Ethic
. His theories identified the people as a "natural entity [with] its own organic life", and sometimes justified the right of conquest
when new civilizations toppled decadent ones
—the conflict, he argued, was between Heracles
and Trimalchio
. In his private and public life, Iorga's conservatism also came with sexist
remarks: like Maiorescu, Iorga believed that women were only truly gifted for nurturing and assisting male protagonists in public affairs.
Despite the various similarities, Iorga and the Junimist loyalists became political enemies. Early on, Maiorescu would respond to his letters with disdain, while novelist Ioan Slavici
called his irredentist projects "nonsense". Writing in 1920, Convorbiri Critice editor Mihail Dragomirescu accused those Junimists who followed Iorga's "chauvinist
nationalism" of having forgotten that Maiorescu's art for art's sake
principles "substituted the political criterion of patriotism
for the criterion of truth." The conflict between Iorga and Dragomirescu was also personal, and, as reported by Iorga's disciple Alexandru Lapedatu, even caused the two to physically assault each other.
Iorga's brand of national conservatism was more successful than its more conventional predecessor: while the Conservative Party disappeared from the public eye after 1918, Iorga's more nationalistic interpretation was still considered relevant in the 1930s. One of the last Conservative leaders, Nicolae Filipescu, even pondered forging an alliance with the historian, in an attempt to save the group for dissolution. According to Ioan Stanomir, Iorga and fellow historian Ioan C. Filitti were together responsible for "the most memorable pages" in Romanian conservative theory for "the 1928–1938 decade". In Stanomir's assessment, this last period of Iorga's activity also implied a move toward the main sources of traditional conservatism, bringing Iorga closer to the line of thought represented by Edmund Burke
, Thomas Jefferson
or Mihail Kogălniceanu
, and away from that of Eminescu.
The final years brought Iorga's stark condemnation of all etatism, from the absolute monarchy
to modern state capitalism
, accompanied by a dystopia
n perspective on industrialization as the end of the individual. Like Eminescu, Iorga was essentially a conservative anti-capitalist
and economic corporatist
, who confessed his admiration for pre-modern guild
s. In Stanomir's account, these ideals, alongside the dreams of a "ghostly" organic identity, anti-ideological monarchism
and national regeneration, brought Iorga into Carol II's camp. Another factor was the rise of Nazi Germany, which, Iorga thought, could only be met by national unity under a powerful ruler. The realignment came with contradictory statements on Iorga's part, such as when, in 1939, he publicly described Carol's Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
house as having usurped the throne of Domnitor
Alexander John I
, statements which enraged monarchist writer Gala Galaction
.
Iorga found himself in Kogălniceanu's conservative statement, "civilization stops when revolutions begin", being especially critical of communist revolution
. He described the Soviet experiment
as a "caricature" of the Jacobin age and communist leader Joseph Stalin
as a dangerous usurper. Iorga found the small Romanian Communist Party
an amusement and, even though he expressed alarm for its terrorist tendencies and its "foreign" nature, disliked the state's use of brutal methods against its members.
" were frequently supported by violent language, which left traces on his journalist activity (even though, Oldson notes, he did not resort to racial slurs). In 1901, when he helped prevent Jewish linguist Lazăr Şăineanu
from obtaining an academic position, Iorga wrote that Jews had a "passion for high praise and multiple earnings"; three years later, in Sămănătorul
, he argued that Iaşi was "polluted" by a "business-minded", "pagan and hostile" community. Similar accusations were stated, in his travel accounts, where he even justified pogrom
s against Bukovinan and Bessarabian Jews
.
The PND, coming from the same ideological family as Poland's Roman Dmowski
and the National Democracy movement, proclaimed that local Jews were suffocating the Romanian middle class
and needed to be expelled, using slogans such as Evreii la Palestina ("The Jews to Palestine
"). The program was criticized from early on by Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
, Iorga's fellow nationalist and post-Junimist, who noted that the economic rationale behind it was unsound. According to Oldson, the claim that Jews were economic "vampires" was entirely unsubstantiated, even hypocritical: "[Iorga was] a Moldavia
n and fully aware of the complex causes of that province's poverty".
Iorga's personal conservative outlook, passed into the party doctrines, also implied a claim that the Jews were agents of rebellion against political and cultural authority. He had nevertheless opted for religious-cultural over racial antisemitism, believing that, at the core of civilization, there was a conflict between Christian values
and Judaism
. He also suggested that Romanian antisemitism was conjectural and defensive, segregationist
rather than destructive, and repeatedly argued that xenophobia was not in the national character—ideas paraphrased by Oldson as a "humane antisemitism". Oldson also refers to a paradox in the attitude of Iorga (and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
before him): "A self-consciously proclaimed esteem for a minuscule [Jewish] elite, then, went hand in hand with the utmost contempt and condescension for the bulk of Romanian Jewry."
Reviewing the impact of such ideas, literary critic William Totok referred to Neamul Românesc as "the most important platform of antisemitic agitation prior to World War I." Habitually, the magazine attacked the Jewish-owned papers Adevărul
and Dimineaţa, while claiming to document the "Judaization
" of Romania's intellectual environments. It also specifically targeted Romanians who were friendly with Jews, one such case being that of writer Ion Luca Caragiale
(attacked for his contacts with Şăineanu, dramatist Ronetti Roman and other Jews). Caragiale replied with noted irony, calling Iorga "tall but crooked".
Nicolae Iorga and A. C. Cuza
's modern revival of antisemitism, together with the core themes of Sămănătorul propaganda, were paradoxical sources of inspiration for the Iron Guard
in its early years. However, with the interwar period
came a relaxation of Iorga's own antisemitic discourse. He recorded being touched by his warm reception among the Romanian American
Jewish community in 1930, and, after 1934, published his work with the Adevărul group. As Cuza himself began censuring this more tolerant discourse, Iorga even voiced his admiration for the Jewish mecena Aristide Blank. As noted by researcher George Voicu, the anti-"Judaization" discourse of the far right was by then turning against Iorga. However, the aging Iorga made occasional returns to antisemitic themes: in 1937-1938, he alleged that Jews were pressuring Romanians into leaving the country, and described the necessity of "delousing" Romania by colonizing Romanian Jews elsewhere.
. The Romanian scholar explained in detail his dislike for the Third Republic
's social and political landscape. He recalled that, in the 1890s, he had been shocked by the irreverence and cosmopolitanism
of French student society. In a 1906 speech, Iorga also noted that Francophone
elites and urban diglossia
were slowly destroying the country's social fiber, by creating a language gap between classes. Also, Neamul Românesc showed a preference for Action Française
and the French reactionary right in their conflict with the Third Republic. Shortly after the beginning of World War I, during the Battle of the Frontiers
, Iorga publicized his renewed love for France, claiming that she was the only belligerent engaged in a purely defensive war
; in the name of Pan-Latinism, he later chided Spain for keeping neutral
.
Iorga's coverage of European culture and continental affairs also opened bridges with other cultural areas, particularly so during the interwar. By that time, historian Lucian Boia
notes, he was seeing Europe as a community of nations, and, "in his own way", was rejecting isolationism or "primitive" xenophobia. According to academic Francesco Guida, Iorga's political and scholarly activities displayed a "great openness towards the outside world", even as, in 1930s France, public opinion was turning against him. Instead, Iorga affirmed himself as a promoter of English culture, making noted efforts at promoting awareness of its defining traits among the Romanian public. At the time, although flirting with Pan-European nationalism
, he stood in contrast with the Transylvanian-born Iuliu Maniu
for displaying no sympathy toward Danubian Confederation projects, believing them to conceal Hungary
's revanchism
.
Disenchanted with German culture after the shock of World War I, Iorga also had strong views on Adolf Hitler
, Nazi Germany
and Nazism
in general, taking in view their contempt for the Versailles system
, but also their repressive politics. He summarized this in Sfaturi pe întuneric: "Beware my people for great dangers are stalking you... Borders are attacked, gutted, destroyed, gulped up. [...] There reemerges, in its cruelest form, the old theory that small states have no right to independence, that they fall within living spaces
[...]. I cannot forget the past and I cannot reach an agreement with Hitler's dictatorship, being a man who cherishes freedom of thought". He later called Germany's Bohemia Protectorate
a "Behemoth
", referring to its annexation as a "prehistoric" act. His anti-war
texts of 1939 replied to claims that a new armed conflict would usher in national "vitality", and, during the September Campaign, expressed solidarity with Poland—Iorga's Polonophila was even noted by the Nazis, causing more frictions between Berlin and Bucharest. The conservative Iorga was however inclined to sympathize with other forms of totalitarianism
or corporatism
, and, since the 1920s, viewed Italian Fascism
with some respect. Italian agents of influence hesitated between Iorga and the Iron Guard, but the Fascist International sought to include Iorga among its Romanian patrons; Iorga himself expressed regret that the Italian regime was primarily an ally of revanchist Hungary, but applauded the 1935 invasion of Ethiopia
, and, to the alarm of France, repeatedly argued that an Italian alliance was more secure than the Little Entente
.
Nicolae Iorga's bitterness about Romanian geopolitical disadvantages was encoded in his oft-quoted remark about the country only having two peaceful borders: one with Serbia
, the other with the Black Sea
. Despite these views, he endorsed the idea of minority rights
in Greater Romania, attempting to find common ground with the Hungarian-Romanian community
. In addition to promoting inclusive action in government, Iorga declared himself against turning Hungarians and Transylvanian Saxons
into "pharisaic" Romanians by coercing them to adopt the Romanian tradition. In 1936, he even spoke in favor of Armenian Hungarian
archeologist Márton Roska, prosecuted in Romania for challenging official theses about Transylvania, arguing that Transylvania "cannot be defended with prison sentences". Iorga was also noted for fostering the academic career of Eufrosina Dvoichenko-Markov
, one of the few Russian-Romanian researchers of the interwar period. He was however skeptical about the Ukrainian identity
and rejected the idea of an independent Ukraine
on Romania's border, debating the issues with ethnographer Zamfir Arbore
.
Various of Iorga's tracts speak in favor of a common background uniting the diverse nations of the Balkans
. Bulgaria
n historian Maria Todorova
suggests that, unlike many of his predecessors, Iorga was not alarmed Romania being perceived as a Balkan country, and did not attach a negative connotation to this affiliation (even though, she notes, Iorga explicitly placed the northern limit of the Balkans on the Danube
, just south of Wallachia). In the 1930s, the Romanian scholar spoke with respect about all the Balkan peoples, but claimed that Balkan statehood was "Oriental" and underdeveloped.
, Jules Michelet
, Leopold von Ranke
and Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz. Having achieved fluency in some 12 foreign languages, he was an exceptionally prolific author: according to his biographer Barbu Theodorescu, the total of his published contributions, both volumes and brochures, was 1,359. His work in documenting Romania's historical past could reach an unprecedented intensity, one such exceptional moment being a 1903 study trip to Târgu Jiu
, a three-day interval during which he copied and summarized 320 individual documents, covering the entire period between 1501 and 1833. His mentor and rival Xenopol was among the first voices to discuss his genius, his 1911 Academy speech in honor of Nicolae Iorga making special note of his "absolutely extraordinary memory" and his creative energy, and concluding: "one asks himself in wonder how a brain was able to conceive of so many things and a hand was able to record them". In 1940, Rădulescu-Motru likewise argued that Iorga had been "a creator [...] of unparalleled fecundity", while Enciclopedia Cugetarea deemed him the greatest-ever mind in Romania. According to literary historian George Călinescu
, Iorga's "huge" and "monstrously" comprehensive research, leaving no other historian "the joy of adding something", was matched by the everyday persona, a "hero of the ages".
The level of Iorga's productivity and the quality of his historical writing were also highlighted by more modern researchers. Literary historian Ovid Crohmălniceanu opined that Iorga's scientific work was one of the "illustrious accomplishments" of the interwar years, on par with Constantin Brâncuşi
's sculptures and George Enescu
's music. Romanian historian of culture Alexandru Zub
finds that Iorga's is "surely the richest opus coming from the 20th century", while Maria Todorova calls Iorga "Romania's greatest historian", adding "at least in terms of the size of his opus and his influence both at home and abroad". According to philosopher Liviu Bordaş, Iorga's main topic of interest, the relation between Romania and the Eastern world
, was exhaustively covered: "nothing escaped this sacred monster's attention: Iorga had read everything."
" school, with which Junimism tackled Romantic nationalism
in the name of objectivity. However, even at that stage, Iorga's ideas accommodated a belief that history needed to be written with a "poetic talent" that would make one "relieve" the past.
By 1902, he had changed his approach in historiography
to include and illustrate his belief in emotional attachment as a positive value of cultural nationalism. He would speak of historians as "elders of [their] nation", and dismissed academic specialization
as a "blindfold". Reflecting back on the transition, Iorga himself stated: "The love for the past, for great figures of energy and sincerity, [...] the exact contrary of tendencies I had found existed among my contemporaries, had gripped me and, added to my political preoccupations, such awakenings served me, when it came to criticizing things present, more than any argument that is abstract, logical in nature." The point of his research, Iorga explained in 1922, was to show "the nation itself as a living being". According to literary historian Victor Iova: "[Iorga's] overall activity [...] did not just seek the communication of knowledge, but also expressly sought to define the social finality of his time, its ethical sense and his own patriotic
ideal." The 1911 speech Două concepţii istorice nevertheless provided a more nuanced outline, cautioning against a potential cult of heroes and suggesting that national histories were inextricably linked to each other: "The life of a people is at all times mingled with the lives of others, existing in relation with these and at all times feeding into the others' lives."
According to George Călinescu, Nicolae Iorga was overdependent on his memory, which could result in "utterly fictitious" critical apparatus
es for his scientific works. Călinescu suggests that Iorga was an "anachronistic" type in his context: "approved only by failures", aged before his time, modeling himself on ancient chroniclers and out of place in modern historiography. In the 1930s, Iorga's status in regulating the official historical narrative was challenged by Constantin C. Giurescu
, P. P. Panaitescu and Gheorghe Brătianu, who wanted to return academic discourse back to the basic Junimist caveats, and were seen by Iorga as "denialists". For all the controversy, Lucian Boia suggests, neither of the Revista Istorică Română publishers was completely beyond Iorga's subjectivity, pathos or political bias, even though Panaitescu was for long "closer" to the Junimist model. A particular challenge to Iorga's historical narrative also came from rival Hungarian historiography: in 1929, Benedek Jancsó called Iorga's science a branch of "Romanian imperialist
nationalism", his argument rejected as "false logic" by the Romanian. Iorga had a friendly attitude toward other Hungarian scholars, including Árpád Bitay and Imre Kádár, who were his guests at Vălenii.
Several other historians have expressed criticism of Iorga's bias and agenda. R.W. Seton-Watson
regarded him as "prolific" and "bahnbrechend", but mentioned his "slovenly style." In 1945, Hugh Seton-Watson
spoke of the "great Roumanian Professor" having contributed "erudite chronology, written in a highly romantic and bombastic spirit." In his own Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, Iorga's German colleague Franz Babinger
also noted that Iorga could get "carried away by national pride". Medievalist Kenneth Setton
also described Iorga as "the great Rumanian historian [...] who was sometimes intoxicated by the grandeur of his own historical concepts, but whose work is always illuminating." While Japan
ese sociologist Kosaku Yoshino sees Iorga as a main contributor to didactic and dramatized cultural nationalism in Europe, University of Trento
academic Paul Blokker suggests that, although "politicized, essentialist
and sometimes anachronistic", Iorga's writings can be critically recovered. Ioana Both notes: "A creator with titan-like forces, Iorga is more a visionary of history than a historian". Bordaş criticizes Iorga's habit of recording "everything" into his studies, and without arranging the facts described into an "epistemological relationship".
Despite Iorga's ambition of fusing research and pedagogy
, his students, both rivals and friends, often noted that he was inferior to other colleagues when it came to teaching, in particular in directing advanced classes—his popularity, it was claimed, dropped with time, after the aging Iorga became aggressive toward some of his students. In 1923, even an old friend like Sextil Puşcariu could accuse Iorga of behaving like a "dictator". In compensation, the historian fulfilled this function with his activity in the media and in the field of popular history
, at which he was, according to historian Lucian Nastasă, masterful but vulgarizing.
process, were shaped by his both his scientific and ideological preoccupations. Some of Iorga's studies focused specifically on the original events in the process: ancient Dacia
's conquest by the Roman Empire
(Trajan's Dacian Wars), and the subsequent foundation of Roman Dacia
. His account is decidedly in support of Romania's Roman (Latin)
roots, and even suggests that Romanization
preceded the actual conquest. However, he viewed the autochthonous element in this acculturation
, the Dacians
(collocated by him with the Getae
), as historically significant, and he even considered them the source for Romania's later links with the Balkan "Thracian
" space. Through the Thracians and the Illyrians
, Iorga believed to have found a common root for all Balkan peoples, and an ethnic layer which he believed was still observable after later conquests. He was nevertheless explicit in distancing himself from the speculative texts of Dacianist Nicolae Densuşianu
, where Dacia was described as the source of all European civilization.
Iorga had a complex personal perspective on the little-documented Dark Age history
, between the Roman departure (271 AD) and the 14th century emergence of two Danubian Principalities
: Moldavia
and Wallachia
. Despite the separate histories and conflicting allegiances these regions had during the High Middle Ages
, he tended to group the two Principalities and medieval Transylvania
together, into a vague non-stately entity he named "the Romanian Land". Iorga cautioned about the emergence of states from a stateless society
such as the proto-Romanian one: "The state is a late, very elevated, very delicate form that, under certain conditions, may be reached by a people. [...] There was therefore no state, but a Romanian mass living in the midst of forests, in those villages harbored by protective forests, where it is just as true that a certain way of life could emerge, sometimes on a rather elevated level."
Echoing his political conservatism, Iorga's theory proposed that the Romanized Dacians, or all their Vlach-Romanian successors, had created peasant republics to defend themselves against the invading nomads. It spoke of the rapid ruralization of Latin urban dwellers—suggested to him by etymologies
such as the derivation of pământ ("soil") from pavimentum, and the creation of "genealogical villages" around common ancestors (moşi) or the ancient communal sharing of village lands, in the manner imagined by writer Nicolae Bălcescu
. Iorga also supposed that, during the 12th century, there was an additional symbiosis between settled Vlachs and their conquerors, the nomadic Cumans
.
Iorga's peasant polities, sometimes described by him as Romanii populare ("people's Romanias", "people's Roman-like polities"), were seen by him as the sources of a supposed uncodified constitution in both Moldavia and Wallachia. That constitutional system, he argued, created solidarity: the countries' hospodar
rulers were themselves peasants, elected to high military office by their peers, and protecting the entire community. Unlike Ioan Bogdan and others, Iorga strongly rejected any notion that the South Slavs
had been an additional contributor to ethnogenesis, and argued that Slavic idioms
were a sustained but nonessential influence in historical Romanian
. Until 1919, he was cautious about counting the Romanians and Aromanians
as one large ethnic group, but later came to share the inclusivist views of his Romanian colleagues. Iorga also stood out among his generation for flatly rejecting any notion that the 12th-century Second Bulgarian Empire
was a "Vlach-Bulgarian" or "Romanian-Bulgarian" project, noting that the Vlach achievements there benefited "another nation" (Iorga's italics).
The stately foundation of Moldavia
and of Wallachia
, Iorga thought, were linked to the emergence of major trade route
s in the 14th century, and not to the political initiative of military elites. Likewise, Iorga looked into the genesis of boyar
dom, describing the selective progression of free peasants into a local aristocracy. He described the later violent clash between hospodars and boyars as one between national interest
and disruptive centrifugal tendencies, suggesting that prosperous boyardom had undermined the balance of the peasant state. His theory about the peasant nature of Romanian statehood was hotly debated in his lifetime, particularly after a 1920 discovery showed that Radu I of Wallachia
had been buried in the full regalia of medieval lords. Another one of his influential (but disputed) claims attributed the appearance of pre-modern slavery
, mainly affecting the Romani (Gypsy) minority
, exclusively on alien customs borrowed from the Mongol Empire
. Iorga's verdicts as a medievalist also produced a long-standing controversy about the real location of the 1330 Battle of Posada
—so-named by him after an obscure reference in the Chronicon Pictum
—whereby the Wallachian Princes secured their throne.
A major point of contention between Panaitescu and Iorga referred to Michael the Brave's historical achievements: sacrilegious in the eyes of Iorga, Panaitescu placed in doubt Michael's claim to princely descent, and described him as mainly the political agent of boyar interests. Contradicting the Romantic nationalist tradition, Iorga also agreed with younger historians that, for most of their history, Romanians in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania were more justifiably attached to their polities than to national awakening
ideals. Panaitescu was however more categorical than Iorga in affirming that Michael the Brave's expeditions were motivated by political opportunism rather than by a pan-Romanian national awareness.
and Turkology
. A significant portion of his contributions in the field detailed the impact of Byzantine influences on the Danubian Principalities and the Balkans at large. He described the "Byzantine man" as embodying the blend of several cultural universes: Greco-Roman
, Levant
ine and Eastern Christian
. In this context, Iorga was also exploring Romania's own identity issues as a confluence of Byzantine Eastern Orthodoxy and a Western Roman
linguistic imprint.
Iorga's writings insisted on the importance of Byzantine Greek
and Levantine influences in the two countries after the fall of Constantinople
: his notion of "Byzantium after Byzantium" postulated that the cultural forms produced by the Byzantine Empire had been preserved by the Principalities under Ottoman suzerainty
(roughly, between the 16th and 18th centuries). Additionally, the Romanian scholar described the Ottoman Empire itself as the inheritor of Byzantine government, legal culture
and civilization, up to the Age of Revolution
. However, the Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches postulated that the Ottoman decline
was irreversible, citing uncompromising Islam
as one of the causes, and playing down the cohesive action of Ottomanism
.
The post-Byzantine thesis was taken by various commentators as further proof that the Romanian historian, unlike many of his contemporaries, accepted a level of multiculturalism
or acculturation in defining modern Romanian identity. Semiotician
Monica Spiridon writes: "Iorga highly valued the idea of cultural confluence and hybridity." Similarly, Maria Todorova
notes that, although it minimized the Ottoman contribution and displayed "emotional or evaluative overtones", such a perspective ran against the divisive interpretations of the Balkans, offering a working paradigm for a global history of the region: "Although Iorga's theory may be today [ca. 2009] no more than an exotic episode in the development of Balkan historiography, his formulation Byzance après Byzance is alive not only because it was a fortunate phrase but because it reflects more than its creator would intimate. It is a good descriptive term, particularly for representing the commonalities of the Orthodox peoples in the Ottoman Empire [...], but also in emphasizing the continuity of two imperial traditions". With his research, Iorga also rehabilitated the Phanariotes
, Greek or Hellenized
aristocrats who controlled Wallachia and Moldavia in Ottoman times, and whom Romanian historiography before him presented as wreckers of the country.
, whose indifference in front of nationality issues enraged the historian, was notably illustrated by his 1902 letter to the like-minded Luceafărul editors, which stated: "You gentlemen should not allow aesthetic preoccupations to play the decisive part, and you are not granted such circumstances as to dedicate yourselves to pure art. [...] Do not imitate [...], do not allow yourselves to be tempted by things you have read elsewhere. Write about things from your country and about the Romanian soul therein." His ambition was to contribute an alternative to Junimist literary history, and, according to comparatist
John Neubauer, for the first time integrate "the various Romanian texts and writers into a grand narrative of an organic and spontaneous growth of native creativity, based on local tradition and folklore
." Iorga described painter Nicolae Grigorescu
as the purveyor of national pride, and was enthusiastic about Stoica D., the war artist
. He recommended artists to study handicraft
s, even though, an adversary of the pastiche
, he strongly objected to Brâncovenesc revival style taken up by his generation. His own monographs on Romanian art
and folklore, admired in their time by art historian Gheorghe Oprescu, were later rated by ethologist Romulus Vulcănescu a sample of microhistory
, rather than a groundbreaking new research.
Initially, with Opinions sincères, Iorga offered a historian's manifesto against the whole cultural establishment, likened by historian Ovidiu Pecican
with Allan Bloom
's 1980s critique of American culture. Before 1914, Iorga focused his critical attention on Romanian Symbolists
, whom he denounced for their erotic style
(called "lupanarium
literature" by Iorga) and aestheticism
—in one instance, he even scolded Sămănătorul
contributor Dimitrie Anghel
for his floral-themed Symbolist poems. His own theses were ridiculed early in the 20th century by Symbolists such as Emil Isac
, Ovid Densusianu
or Ion Minulescu
, and toned down by Sămănătorul poet Ştefan Octavian Iosif
.
After his own Marxist beginnings, Iorga was also a critic of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
's socialist and Poporanist
school, and treated its literature with noted disdain. In reply, Russian Marxist journalist Leon Trotsky
accused him of wishing to bury all left-wing contributions to culture, and local socialist Henric Sanielevici wrote that Iorga's literary doctrine did not live up to its moral goals. Iorga wrote with noted warmth about Contemporanul
and its cultural agenda, but concluded that Poporanists represented merely "the left-wing current of the National Liberal Party".
, initiating polemics with all the circles representing Romania's new literary and artistic trends: the moderate Sburătorul
review of literary theorist Eugen Lovinescu
; the eclectic Contimporanul
magazine; the Expressionist
cell affiliated with the traditionalist magazine Gândirea
; and ultimately the various local branches of Dada
or Surrealism
. In some of his essays, Iorga identified Expressionism with the danger of Germanization, a phenomenon he described as "intolerable" (although, as art historian Dan Grigorescu notes, these texts meant that Iorga was, unwittingly, among the first Romanian critics to comment on Expressionism). In an analogy present in a 1922 article for Gazeta Transilvaniei, Iorga suggested that the same "German" threat was agitating the avant-garde voices of Latin Europe
, Futurists
and Dadaist "energumens" alike. During the 1930s, as the cultural and political climate changed, Iorga's main accusation against Tudor Arghezi
, Lucian Blaga
, Mircea Eliade
, Liviu Rebreanu
, George Mihail Zamfirescu and other Romanian modernists was their supposed practice of literary "pornography
".
The ensuing polemics were often bitter, and Iorga's vehemence was met with ridicule by his modernist adversaries. Sburătorul literary chronicler Felix Aderca
saw in Iorga the driver of "the boorish carts of Sămănătorism", and Blaga called him "the collective name for a multitude of monsters." Iorga's stance on "pornography" only attracted provocation from the younger avant-garde writers. While he was Premier, the Dada youth printing the licentious art magazine Alge sent him a copy for review; prosecuted on Iorga's orders, they all later became left-wing authors and artists: Aurel Baranga, Gherasim Luca
, Paul Păun
, Jules Perahim.
A lengthy polemic consumed Iorga's relationship with Lovinescu, having at its core the irreconcilable differences between their visions of cultural history. Initially a Iorga aficionado and an admirer of his attack on foreign influences, the Sburătorul leader left sarcastic comments on Iorga's rejection of Symbolism, and, according to Crohmălniceanu, "entire pages of ironies targeting Iorga's advice to writers that they should focus of the sufferings of their 'brother' in the village". Lovinescu also ridiculed Iorga's traditionalist mentoring, calling him a "pontiff of indecency and insult", an enemy of "democratic freedom", and the patron of forgettable "literature about hajduk
s".
Other authors back Lovinescu's verdict about the historian's lack of critical intuition and prowess. According to Călinescu, Iorga was visibly embarrassed by even 19th century Romanticism
, out of his territory with virtually everything after "Villani
and Commynes
", and endorsing the "obscure manqués" in modern Romanian letters. Alexandru George only supports in part this verdict, noting that Iorga's literary histories degenerated from "masterpiece" to "gravest mistake". An entire category of minor, largely forgotten, writers was endorsed by Iorga, among them Vasile Pop, Ecaterina Pitiş, Constantin T. Stoika and Sandu Teleajen.
Iorga's views were in part responsible for a split taking place at Gândirea, occurring when his traditionalist disciple, Nichifor Crainic
, became the group's new leader and marginalized the Expressionists. Crainic, who was also a poet with Sămănătorist tastes, was held in esteem by Iorga, whose publications described him and his disciples as the better half of Gândirea. Iorga was also the subject of a Gândirea special issue, being recognized as a forerunner (a title he shared with Octavian Goga
and Vasile Pârvan
). There was however a major incompatibility between the two traditionalist tendencies: to Iorga's secularism
, Crainic opposed a quasi-theocratic
vision, based on the Romanian Orthodox Church
as a guarantee of Romanian identity. Crainic saw his own theory as an afterthought of Sămănătorism, arguing that his Gândirism had erected an "azure tarpaulin", symbolizing the Church, over Iorga's nationalism.
In particular, his ideas on the Byzantine connections and organic development of Romanian civilization were welcomed by both the Gândirists and some representatives of more conventional modernism. One such figure, affiliated with Contimporanul, was essayist Benjamin Fondane
. His views on the bridging of tradition with modernism quoted profusely from Iorga's arguments against cultural imitation, but parted with Iorga's various other beliefs. According to Călinescu, the "philosopher-myths" (Iorga and Pârvan) also shaped the anti-Junimist outlook of the 1930s Trăirists, who returned to ethnic nationalism and looked favorably on the Dacian layer of Romanian identity. Iorga's formative influence on Trăirists such as Eliade and Emil Cioran
was also highlighted by some other researchers. In 1930s Bessarabia, Iorga's ideology helped influence poet Nicolai Costenco
, who created Viaţa Basarabiei
as a local answer to Cuget Clar.
, a Junimist academic, who recounted that hearing Iorga lecture had made him overcome a prejudice which rated Maiorescu above all Romanian orators. In 1931, critic Tudor Vianu
found that Iorga's "great oratorical skill" and "volcanic nature" complimented a passion for the major historical phenomena. A decade later, George Călinescu described in detail the historian's public speaking routine: the "zmeu
"-like introductory outbursts, the episodes of "idle grace", the apparent worries, the occasional anger and the intimate, calm, addresses to his bewildered audience.
The oratorical technique flowed into Iorga's contribution to belles-lettres
. The antiquated polished style, Călinescu notes, even surfaced in his works of research, which revived the picturesque tone of medieval chronicles. Tudor Vianu believed it "amazing" that, even in 1894, Iorga had made "so rich a synthesis of the scholarly, literary and oratorical formulas". Critic Ion Simuţ suggests that Iorga is at his best in travel writing
, combining historical fresco and picturesque detail. The travel writer in young Iorga blended with the essayist and, occasionally, the philosopher, although, as Vianu suggests, the Cugetări aphorism
s were literary exercises rather than "philosophical system." In fact, Iorga's various reflections attack the core tenets of philosophy, and describe the philosopher prototype as detached from reality, intolerant of others, and speculative.
Noted among Iorga's poems are his ode
s to Poland, written shortly after the 1939 German invasion. Essayist Nicolae Mareş has described them as "without parallel in any other literature", citing Iorga's lyrics about the slumber of Polish kings at Wawel Cathedral
. Overall, however, Iorga as poet has enlisted negative characterizations, being described by Simuţ as "uninteresting and obsolete".
The historian was a highly productive dramatist, inspired by the works of Carlo Goldoni
, William Shakespeare
, Pierre Corneille
and the Romanian Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea
. According to critic Ion Negoiţescu
, he was at home in the genre, which complimented his vision of "history as theater". Other authors are more reserved about Iorga's value for this field: noting that Negoiţescu's verdict is an isolated opinion, Simuţ considers the plays' rhetorical monologues "hardly bearable". Literary historian Nicolae Manolescu
found some of the texts in question illegible, but argued: "It is inconceivable that Iorga's theater is entirely obsolete". Of the twenty-some plays, including many verse works, most are in the historical drama genre. Manolescu, who argues that "the best" of them have a medieval setting, writes that Constantin Brâncoveanu, Un domn pribeag and Cantemir bătrânul are "without any interest". Iorga's other work for the stage also includes the "five-act fairy tale
" Frumoasa fără trup ("Bodyless Beauty"), which repeats a motif found in Romanian folklore
, and a play about Jesus Christ (where Jesus is not shown, but heard).
Among Iorga's other contributions are translations from foreign writers: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
, Kostis Palamas
, Goldoni etc. A special target for his interest was English literature
, whom he believed had a "fundamental bond" with Romanian lore, as traditions equally "steeped in mystery." In addition to translating from Marie of Edinburgh
, Iorga authored versions of poems by William Butler Yeats
("Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
", "When You Are Old").
model of Ion Neculce
. Many of the volumes were quickly written as Iorga's attempt to rehabilitate himself after a failed premiership; Orizonturile comprises messages on the power and justness of his cause: "And so I stand at age sixty-two, confident and strong, proud, upright in front of my conscience and the judgment of time." The works offer retrospective arguments against Iorga's adversaries and sketch portraits of people who crossed Iorga's path—attributes which, Iova suggests, fully exploit Iorga's talents as a "polemicist" and "portraitist"; according to Alexandru Zub, they also fall into place within the Romanian ego-history vogue, between Xenopol's and Pârvan's.
Both the diaries and the memoirs are noted for their caustic and succinct portraits of Iorga's main rivals: Maiorescu as inflexible and unemotional, Dimitrie Sturdza
as avaricious, Nae Ionescu
as "an awful temper", Hungarian politician István Tisza
as a "Turanian" tyrant; Iorga contributed particularly emotional, and critically acclaimed, tributes for his political friends, from Vasile Bogrea to Yugoslavia's Nikola Pašić
. Supt trei regi abunds in positive and negative portrayals, but, Călinescu notes, it fails to show Iorga as politically astute: "he gives the impression that he knows no more [of the events] than the man of the street."
At times, Iorga sheds a nostalgic light on his one-time opponents (similar, in Călinescu's view, to "inscriptions on their graves"). Notably in this context, Iorga reserved praise for some who had supported the Central Powers
(Carol I
, Virgil Arion, George Coşbuc
, Dimitrie Onciul), but also stated that collaboration was unforgivable. His obituary piece of socialist activist I. C. Frimu
, part of Oameni cari au fost, was so sympathetic that the authorities had to censor it.
The fields of scientific inquiry opened by Iorga, in particular his study into the origin of the Romanians, were taken up after his death by other researchers: Gheorghe Brătianu, Constantin C. Giurescu
, P. P. Panaitescu, Şerban Papacostea, Henri H. Stahl
. As cultural historian, Iorga found a follower in N. Cartojan, while his thoughts on the characteristics of Romanianness inspired the social psychology
of Dimitrie Drăghicescu
. In the postmodern age
, Iorga's pronouncements on the subject arguably contributed to the birth of Romanian imagological, post-colonial
and cross-cultural studies
. The idea of Romanii populare has endured as a popular working hypothesis
in Romanian archeology.
Aside from being himself a writer, Iorga's public image was also preserved in the literary work of both his colleagues and adversaries. One early example is a biting epigram
by Ion Luca Caragiale
, where Iorga is described as the dazed savant. In addition to the many autobiographies which discuss him, he is a hero in various works of fiction. As geographer Cristophor Arghir, he is the subject of a thinly disguised portrayal in the Bildungsroman
În preajma revoluţei ("Around the Time of the Revolution"), written by his rival Constantin Stere
in the 1930s. Celebrated Romanian satirist and Viaţa Românească
affiliate Păstorel Teodoreanu was engaged in a lengthy polemic with Iorga, enshrining Iorga in Romanian humor as a person with little literary skill and an oversized ego, and making him the subject of an entire collection of poems and articles, Strofe cu pelin de mai pentru Iorga Neculai ("Stanzas in May Wormwood for Iorga Neculai"). One of Teodoreanu's own epigrams in Contimporanul
ridiculed Moartea lui Dante, showing the resurrected Dante Aligheri pleading with Iorga to be left in peace. Iorga was also identified as the subject of fictional portrayals in a modernist novel by N. D. Cocea
and (against the author's disclaimer) in George Ciprian
's play The Drake's Head.
Iorga became the subject of numerous visual portrayals. Some of the earliest were satires, such as an 1899 portrait of him as a Don Quixote and images of him as a ridiculously oversized character, in Ary Murnu's drawings for Furnica review. Later, Iorga's appearance inspired the works of some other visual artists, including painter Constantin Piliuţă and sculptor Ion Irimescu
, who was personally acquainted with the scholar. Irimescu's busts of Iorga are located in places of cultural importance: the ISSEE building in Bucharest and a public square in Chişinău
, Moldova
(ex-Soviet Bessarabia). The city has another Iorga bust, the work of Mihail Ecobici, in the Aleea Clasicilor complex. Since 1990, Iorga's face is featured on a highly circulated Romanian leu
bill: the 10,000 lei banknote, which became the 1 leu bill following a 2005 monetary reform
.
Several Romanian cities have "Nicolae Ioga" streets or boulevards: Bucharest (also home of the Iorga High School and the Iorga Park), Botoşani
, Braşov
, Cluj-Napoca
, Constanţa
, Craiova
, Iaşi
, Oradea
, Ploieşti
, Sibiu
, Timişoara
, etc. In Moldova, his name was also assigned to similar locations in Chişinău and Bălţi
. The Botoşani family home, restored and partly rebuilt in 1965, is currently preserved as a Memorial House. The house in Vălenii is a memorial museum.
, who found that it contradicted his resolutions on public order—the first clash in a dispute which, early in 1941, erupted as the Legionary Rebellion and saw the Guard's ouster from power. Reportedly, Iorga's murder instantly repelled some known supporters of the Guard, such as Radu Gyr
and Mircea Eliade
. Responding to condemnation of his actions from his place of exile in Francoist Spain, the Guard leader Horia Sima
claimed to have played no part in the killing. Sima stated that he did not regret the act, noting that Iorga the scholar had had a long enough career, and arguing, counterfactually, that the revenge was saluted by most Romanians.
Romania's communist regime
, set up in the late 1940s, originally revised Iorga's role in the historical narrative: a record 214 works of his were banned by communist censors
, and remained banned until 1965. From 1948, the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History was merged into a communist institution headed by Petre Constantinescu-Iaşi, while Papacostea was assigned as head of the reorganized ISSEE. Beginning in the 1960s, the national communist
authorities capitalized on Nicolae Iorga's image, suggesting that he was a forerunner of Nicolae Ceauşescu
's official ideology. Iorga was promoted to the national communist pantheon as an "anti-fascist" and "progressive
" intellectual, and references to his lifelong anti-communism
were omitted. The ban on his works was selectively lifted, and some of his main books were again in print between 1968 and 1989, along with volumes of his correspondence. In 1988, Iorga was the subject of Drumeţ în calea lupilor, a Romanian film
directed by Constantin Vaeni. It depicted an imaginary encounter and clash between the historian (Valentin Teodosiu) and a character based on Horia Sima (Dragoş Pâslaru). However, the Bonaparte Highway villa, bequeathed by Iorga to the state, was demolished during the Ceauşima
campaign of 1986.
Iorga's theories on the Dacians
and the Thracians
were among the many elements synthesized into the nationalist current known as Protochronism
, which claimed that the sources of Romanian identity were to be found in pre-Roman history, and was offered support by Ceauşescu's regime. His work was selectively reinterpreted by Protochronists such as Dan Zamfirescu, Mihai Ungheanu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor
. Contrasting perspectives on Iorga's legacy were held by the various voices within the Romanian diaspora
. On the 40th anniversary of his death, the Munich
-based Romanian section of the anti-communist Radio Free Europe
(RFE) broadcast an homage piece with renewed condemnation of Iorga's killers. RFE received death threats from obscure Iron Guard diaspora members, probably agents of the Securitate
secret police.
Iorga has enjoyed posthumous popularity in the decades since the Romanian Revolution of 1989
: present at the top of "most important Romanians" polls in the 1990s, he was voted in at No. 17 in the 100 greatest Romanians televised poll. As early as 1989, the Iorga Institute was reestablished under Papacostea's direction. Since 1990, the Vălenii summer school has functioned regularly, having Iorga exegete Valeriu Râpeanu as a regular guest. In later years, the critical interpretation of Iorga's work, first proposed by Lucian Boia
around 1995, was continued by a new school of historians, who distinguished between the nationalist-didactic and informative contents.
jurist, Francisco P. Laplaza. One of Iorga's sons, Mircea, was married into the aristocratic Ştirbey family, and then to Mihaela Bohăţiel, a Transylvanian noblewoman who was reputedly a descendant of the Lemeni clan and of the medieval magnate Johannes Benkner. An engineer by trade, Mircea Iorga was headmaster of the Bucharest Electro-technical College in the late 1930s. Another son, Ştefan N. Iorga, was a writer active with the Cuget Clar movement, and later a physician. Iorga's niece Micaella Filitti, who worked as a civil servant in the 1930s, defected from Communist Romania and settled in France.
Iorga's descendants include historian Andrei Pippidi, son of Dionisie Pippidi, who is noted as a main editor of Iorga's writings. Pippidi also prefaced collections of Iorga's correspondence, and published a biographical synthesis on his grandfather. Andrei Pippidi is married to political scientist and journalist Alina Mungiu
, the sister of award-winning filmmaker Cristian Mungiu.
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 historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, poet and playwright. Co-founder (in 1910) of the Democratic Nationalist Party (PND), he served as a member of Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
, President of the Deputies' Assembly
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
and Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
, cabinet minister and briefly (1931–32) as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
. A child prodigy
Child prodigy
A child prodigy is someone who, at an early age, masters one or more skills far beyond his or her level of maturity. One criterion for classifying prodigies is: a prodigy is a child, typically younger than 18 years old, who is performing at the level of a highly trained adult in a very demanding...
, polymath
Polymath
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas. In less formal terms, a polymath may simply be someone who is very knowledgeable...
and polyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
, Iorga produced an unusually large body of scholarly works, consecrating his international reputation as a medievalist
Medievalism
Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
, Byzantinist
Byzantine studies
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, costumes, religion, art, such as literature and music, science, economy, and politics of the Byzantine Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus...
, Latinist
Romance studies
Romance studies is an umbrella academic discipline that covers the study of the languages, literatures, and cultures of areas that speak a Romance language. Romance studies departments usually include the study of Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese...
, Slavist, art historian
Art history
Art history has historically been understood as the academic study of objects of art in their historical development and stylistic contexts, i.e. genre, design, format, and style...
and philosopher of history
Philosophy of history
The term philosophy of history refers to the theoretical aspect of history, in two senses. It is customary to distinguish critical philosophy of history from speculative philosophy of history...
. Holding teaching positions at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
, the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
and several other academic institutions, Iorga was founder of the International Congress of Byzantine Studies and the Institute of South-East European Studies (ISSEE). His activity also included the transformation of Vălenii de Munte
Valenii de Munte
Vălenii de Munte is a town in Prahova County, southern Romania , with a population of about 13,309. It lies on the Teleajen River valley, 28 km north of the county seat of Ploieşti....
town into a cultural and academic center.
In parallel with his scientific contributions, Nicolae Iorga was a prominent right-of-center
Right-wing politics
In politics, Right, right-wing and rightist generally refer to support for a hierarchical society justified on the basis of an appeal to natural law or tradition. To varying degrees, the Right rejects the egalitarian objectives of left-wing politics, claiming that the imposition of equality is...
activist, whose political theory bridged conservatism
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and agrarianism
Agrarianism
Agrarianism has two common meanings. The first meaning refers to a social philosophy or political philosophy which values rural society as superior to urban society, the independent farmer as superior to the paid worker, and sees farming as a way of life that can shape the ideal social values...
. From Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
beginnings, he switched sides and became a maverick disciple of the Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
movement. Iorga later became a leadership figure at Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...
, the influential literary magazine with populist
Populism
Populism can be defined as an ideology, political philosophy, or type of discourse. Generally, a common theme compares "the people" against "the elite", and urges social and political system changes. It can also be defined as a rhetorical style employed by members of various political or social...
leanings, and militated within the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians, founding vocally conservative publications such as Neamul Românesc, Drum Drept, Cuget Clar and Floarea Darurilor. His support for the cause of ethnic Romanians
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
made him a prominent figure in the pro-Entente
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
camp by the time of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, and ensured him a special political role during the interwar existence of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
. Initiator of large-scale campaigns to defend Romanian culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
in front of perceived threats, Iorga sparked most controversy with his antisemitic rhetoric, and was for long an associate of the far right
Far right
Far-right, extreme right, hard right, radical right, and ultra-right are terms used to discuss the qualitative or quantitative position a group or person occupies within right-wing politics. Far-right politics may involve anti-immigration and anti-integration stances towards groups that are...
ideologue A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.-Early life:Born in Iaşi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles...
. He was an adversary of the dominant National Liberals
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...
, later involved with the opposition Romanian National Party
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party , initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat , was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in...
.
Late in his life, Iorga opposed the radically fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, and, after much oscillation, came to endorse its rival King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
Carol II
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
. Involved in a personal dispute with the Guard's leader Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael , an ultra-nationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period...
, and indirectly contributing to his killing, Iorga was also a prominent figure in Carol's corporatist
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
and authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
party, the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
. He remained an independent voice of opposition after the Guard inaugurated its own National Legionary
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
dictatorship, but was ultimately assassinated by a Guardist commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
.
Child prodigy and Marxist militant
Nicolae Iorga was a native of BotoşaniBotosani
Botoșani is the capital city of Botoșani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu and Nicolae Iorga.- Origin of the name :...
, and is generally believed to have been born on January 17, 1871 (although his birth certificate has June 6). His father Nicu Iorga (a practicing lawyer) and mother Zulnia (née Arghiropol) belonged to the Romanian Orthodox Church
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...
. Details on the family's more distant origins remain uncertain: Iorga was widely reputed to be of partial Greek-Romanian descent; the rumor, still credited by some commentators, was rejected by the historian. In his own account: "My father was from a family of Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
traders from Botoşani, who were later received into the 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....
class, while my mother is the daughter of Romanian writer Elena Drăghici, the niece of chronicler Manolache Drăghici [...]. The [Greek] name Arghiropol notwithstanding, my maternal grandfather [was] from a family that moved in [...] from Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
". Elsewhere, however, he acknowledged that the Arghiropols were possibly Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor , Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Near East...
. Iorga credited the five-generation-boyar status, received from his father's side, and the "old boyar" roots of his mother (the Miclescu family), with having turned him into a political man. His parallel claim of being related to noble families such as the Cantacuzinos
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
and the Craioveşti
Craiovesti
The Craiovești , later Brâncovenești , were a boyar family in Wallachia who gave the country several of its Princes and held the title of Ban of Oltenia for ca...
is questioned by other researchers.
In 1876, aged thirty-seven or thirty-eight, Nicu Sr. was incapacitated by an unknown illness and died, leaving Nicolae and his younger brother George orphans—a loss which, the historian would recall in writing, dominated the image he had of his own childhood. In 1878, he was enlisted at the Marchian Folescu School, where, as he took pride in noting, he excelled in most areas, discovering a love for intellectual pursuits and, by age nine, even being allowed by his teachers to lecture his schoolmates in Romanian history. His history teacher, a refugee Pole
Great Emigration
The Great Emigration was an emigration of political elites from Poland from 1831–1870. Since the end of the 18th century, a major role in Polish political life was played by people who carried out their activities outside the country as émigrés...
, sparked his interest in research and his lifelong Polonophilia. Iorga also credited this earliest formative period with having shaped his lifelong views on Romanian language
Romanian language
Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...
and local culture
Culture of Romania
Romania has a unique culture, which is the product of its geography and of its distinct historical evolution. Like Romanians themselves, it is defined as the meeting point of three regions: Central Europe, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, but cannot be truly included in any of them...
: "I learned Romanian [...] as it was spoken back in the day: plainly, beautifully and above all resolutely and colorfully, without the intrusions of newspapers and best-selling books". He credited the 19th century polymath Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
, whose works he had first been reading as a child, with having shaped this literary preference.
A student at Botoşani's Laurian gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and high school after 1881, the young Iorga received top honors, and, beginning 1883, began tutoring some of his colleagues to increase his family's main revenue (according to Iorga, a "miserable pension of pittance"). Aged thirteen, while on extended visit to his maternal uncle Emanuel "Manole" Arghiropol, he also made his press debut with paid contributions to Arghiropol's Romanul newspaper, including anecdote
Anecdote
An anecdote is a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person. It may be as brief as the setting and provocation of a bon mot. An anecdote is always presented as based on a real incident involving actual persons, whether famous or not, usually in an identifiable place...
s and editorial pieces on European politics. The year 1886 was described by Iorga as "the catastrophe of my school life in Botoşani": on temporary suspension for not having greeted a teacher, Iorga opted to leave the city and apply for the National College of Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, being received into the scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
program and praised by his new principal, the philologist Vasile Burlă. The adolescent was already fluent in French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
and Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
, later referring to Greek studies
Hellenic studies
Hellenic Studies is an interdisciplinary scholarly field that focuses on the study of Greek culture, ancient, Medieval and modern, including Hellenic diaspora communities around the world....
as "the most refined form of human reasoning".
By age seventeen, Iorga was becoming more rebellious. This was the time when he first grew interested in political activities, but displaying convictions which he later strongly disavowed: a self-confessed Marxist
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
, Iorga promoted the left-wing magazine Viaţa Socială, and lectured on Das Kapital
Das Kapital
Das Kapital, Kritik der politischen Ökonomie , by Karl Marx, is a critical analysis of capitalism as political economy, meant to reveal the economic laws of the capitalist mode of production, and how it was the precursor of the socialist mode of production.- Themes :In Capital: Critique of...
. Seeing himself confined in the National College's "ugly and disgusting" boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
, he defied its rules and was suspended a second time, losing scholarship privileges. Before readmission, he decided not to fall back on his family's financial support, and instead returned to tutoring others. Again expelled for reading during a teacher's lesson, Iorga still graduated in the top "first prize" category (with a 9.24 average) and subsequently took his Baccalaureate
Romanian Baccalaureate
The Bacalaureat is an exam held in Romania when one graduates high school .Unlike the French Baccalaureate, the Romanian one has a single degree...
with honors.
University of Iaşi and Junimist episode
In 1888, Nicolae Iorga passed his entry examination for the University of Iaşi Faculty of Letters, becoming eligible for a scholarship soon after. Upon the completion of his second term, he also received a special dispensation from the Kingdom of RomaniaKingdom of Romania
The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
's Education Ministry, and, as a result, applied for and passed his third term examinations, effectively graduating one year ahead of his class. Before the end of the year, he also passed his license examination magna cum laude, with a thesis on Greek literature
Greek literature
Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, throughout the whole period in which the Greek-speaking people have existed.-Ancient Greek literature :...
, an achievement which consecrated his reputation inside both academia and the public sphere. Hailed as a "morning star" by the local press and deemed a "wonder of a man" by his teacher A. D. Xenopol, Iorga was honored by the faculty with a special banquet. Three academics (Xenopol, Nicolae Culianu, Ioan Caragiani) formally brought Iorga to the attention of the Education Ministry, proposing him for the state-sponsored program which allowed academic achievers to study abroad.
The interval witnessed Iorga's brief affiliation with Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
, a literary club with conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
leanings, whose informal leader was literary and political theorist Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
. In 1890, literary critic Ştefan Vârgolici and cultural promoter Iacob Negruzzi published Iorga's essay on poetess Veronica Micle
Veronica Micle
Veronica Micle was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian poet, whose work was influenced by Romanticism. She is best known for her love affair with the poet Mihai Eminescu, one of the most important Romanian writers.-Biography:Born in Năsăud, Micle was the second child of the shoemaker Ilie Câmpeanu...
in the Junimist tribune Convorbiri Literare. Having earlier attended the funeral of writer Ion Creangă
Ion Creanga
Ion Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes...
, a dissident Junimist and Romanian literature
Literature of Romania
Romanian literature is literature written by Romanian authors, although the term may also be used to refer to all literature written in the Romanian language.Eugène Ionesco is one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd....
classic, he took a public stand against the defamation of another such figure, the dramatist Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
, groundlessly accused of plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
by journalist Constantin Al. Ionescu-Caion. He expanded his contribution as an opinion journalist, publishing with some regularity in various local or national periodicals of various leanings, from the socialist Contemporanul
Contemporanul
Contemporanul is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891 being sponsored by the socialist circle of the city....
and Era Nouă to Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
's Revista Nouă. This period saw his debut as a socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
poet (in Contemporanul) and critic (in both Lupta and Literatură şi Ştiinţă).
Also in 1890, Iorga married Maria Tasu, whom he was to divorce in 1900. He had previously been in love with an Ecaterina C. Botez, but, after some hesitation, decided to marry into the family of Junimea man Vasile Tasu, much better situated in the social circles. Xenopol, who was Iorga's matchmaker, also tried to obtain for Iorga a teaching position at Iaşi University. The attempt was opposed by other professors, on grounds of Iorga's youth and politics. Instead, Iorga was briefly a high school professor of Latin in the southern city of Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
, following a public competition overseen by writer Alexandru Odobescu
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 time he spent there allowed him to expand his circle of acquaintances and personal friends, meeting writers Caragiale and Alexandru Vlahuţă
Alexandru Vlahuta
Alexandru Vlahuţă was a Romanian writer. His best known work is România pitorească, an overview of Romania's landscape in the form of a travelogue. He was also the main editor of Sămănătorul magazine, alongside George Coşbuc....
, historians Hasdeu and Grigore Tocilescu
Grigore Tocilescu
Grigore George Tocilescu was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, epigrapher and folkorist, member of Romanian Academy....
, and Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....
.
Studies abroad
Having received the scholarship early in the year, he made his first study trips to ItalyItaly
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...
(April and June 1890), and subsequently left for a longer stay in 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...
, enlisting at the École pratique des hautes études
École pratique des hautes études
The École pratique des hautes études is a Grand Établissement in Paris, France. It is counted among France's most prestigious research and higher education institutions....
. He was a contributor for the Encyclopédie française
Encyclopédie française
The Encyclopédie française was a French encyclopedia designed by Anatole de Monzie and Lucien Febvre. It appeared between 1935 and 1966.-Volumes:*I. L'Outillage mental. Pensée, langage, mathématique.*II. La physique.*III. Le Ciel et la Terre....
, personally recommended there by Slavist Louis Léger
Louis Léger
Louis Léger was a French writer and pioneer in Slavic studies. Léger studied under Aleksander Chodźko at the Collège de France, whose position he eventually succeeded in 1885 by taking up the Slav Literature and Language chair of Adam Mickiewicz, which he occupied until 1923...
. Reflecting back on this time, he stated: "I never had as much time at my disposal, as much freedom of spirit, as much joy of learning from those great figures of mankind [...] than back then, in that summer of 1890". While preparing for his second diploma, Iorga also pursued his interest in philology, learning English, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and rudiments of other Germanic languages
Germanic languages
The Germanic languages constitute a sub-branch of the Indo-European language family. The common ancestor of all of the languages in this branch is called Proto-Germanic , which was spoken in approximately the mid-1st millennium BC in Iron Age northern Europe...
. In 1892, he was in England
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...
and in Italy, researching historical sources for his French-language thesis on Philippe de Mézières
Philippe de Mézières
Philippe de Mézières , French soldier and author, was born at the chateau of Mézières in Picardy.He belonged to the poorer nobility, and first served under Lucchino Visconti in Lombardy, but within a year he entered the service of Andrew, Duke of Calabria, who was assassinated in September 1345...
, a Frenchman in the Crusade of 1365
Alexandrian Crusade
The brief Alexandrian Crusade occurred in October of 1365 and was led by Peter I of Cyprus against Alexandria. Almost completely devoid of religious impetus, it differs from the more prominent Crusades in that it seems to have been motivated entirely by economic interests.-History:Peter I spent...
. In tandem, he became a contributor to Revue Historique, a leading French academic journal.
Somewhat dissatisfied with French education
Education in France
The French educational system is highly centralized, organized, and ramified. It is divided into three different stages:* the primary education ;* secondary education ;...
, Iorga presented his dissertation and, in 1893, left for the German Empire
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...
, attempting to enlist in the University of Berlin's Ph. D. program. His working paper, on the 14th century Margrave of Saluzzo Thomas III
Thomas III of Saluzzo
-Biography:He was born in Saluzzo in north-western Italy to Frederick II del Vasto and Beatrice of Geneva. His maternal grandfather was Hugh of Geneva, Lord of Gex, Anthon and Varey....
, was not received, because Iorga had not spent three years in training, as required. As an alternative, he gave formal pledge that the paper in question was entirely his own work, but his statement was invalidated by technicality: Iorga's work had been redacted by a more proficient speaker of German, whose intervention did not touch the substance of Iorga's research. The ensuing controversy led him to apply for a University of Leipzig
University of Leipzig
The University of Leipzig , located in Leipzig in the Free State of Saxony, Germany, is one of the oldest universities in the world and the second-oldest university in Germany...
Ph. D.: his text, once reviewed by a commission grouping three prominent German scholars (Adolf Birch-Hirschfeld, Karl Gotthard Lamprecht, Charles Wachsmuth
Charles Wachsmuth
Charles Wachsmuth was an American paleontologist born in Hanover, Germany. Educated as a lawyer, he left his profession due to ill-health and emigrated to the United States. He settled in Burlington, Iowa where he became fascinated with the crinoid fossils found in the local limestone formations...
), earned him the needed diploma in August. On July 25, Iorga had also received his École pratique diploma for the earlier work on de Mézières, following its review by a commission of scientists (Gaston Paris
Gaston Paris
Bruno Paulin Gaston Paris , known as Gaston Paris, was a French writer and scholar.He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1901, 1902 and 1903.-Biography:Paris was born at Avenay...
, Charles Bémont
Charles Bémont
Charles Bémont , French scholar, was born at Paris.In 1884 he graduated with two theses, one on Simon de Montfort translated as Simon de Montfort: Earl of Leicester, 1208-1265 , without the thesis' appendices of historical documents, and La Condamnation de Jean Sansterre...
etc.). He spent his time further investigating the historical sources, at archives in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
and Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. Between 1890 and the end of 1893, he had published three works: his debut in poetry (Poezii, "Poems"), the first volume of Schiţe din literatura română ("Sketches on Romanian Literature", 1893; second volume 1894), and his Leipzig thesis, printed in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
as Thomas III, marquis de Saluces. Étude historique et littéraire ("Thomas, Margrave of Saluzzo. Historical and Literary Study").
Living in poor conditions (as reported by visiting scholar Teohari Antonescu), the four-year engagement of his scholarship still applicable, Nicolae Iorga decided to spend his remaining time abroad, researching more city archives in Germany (Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
), Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
(Innsbruck
Innsbruck
- Main sights :- Buildings :*Golden Roof*Kaiserliche Hofburg *Hofkirche with the cenotaph of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor*Altes Landhaus...
) and Italy (Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
etc.). In this instance, his primordial focus was on historical figures from his Romanian homeland, the defunct 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...
of 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...
and 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...
: the Moldavian Prince Peter the Lame
Peter the Lame
Petru Şchiopul was ruler of Moldavia from June 1574 to November 1577. He also ruled 1578-1579 and 1582-1591. He was known as "the Lame" due to a physical deformity...
, his son Ştefăniţă, and Romania's national hero, the Wallachian Prince Michael the Brave. He also met, befriended and often collaborated with fellow historians from European countries other than Romania: the editors of Revue de l'Orient Latin
Revue de l'Orient Latin
The Revue de l'Orient latin is a 12-volume set of medieval documents which was published from 1893-1911. It was a continuation of the Archives de l'Orient latin, two volumes of which were published from 1881 - 1884. Various medieval documents and letters are often cited in other scholarly works...
, who first published studies Iorga later grouped in the six volumes of Notes et extraits ("Notices and Excerpts") and Frantz Funck-Brentano
Frantz Funck-Brentano
Frantz Funck-Brentano was a French historian and librarian. He was born in the castle of Munsbach and died at Montfermeil...
, who enlisted his parallel contribution for Revue Critique. Iorga's articles were also featured in two magazines for ethnic Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
communities in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
: Familia
Familia (literary magazine)
The Romanian-language Familia literary magazine was first published by Iosif Vulcan in Budapest from June 5, 1865 to April 17, 1880. The magazine moved to Oradea and continued publication from April 27, 1880 to December 31, 1906....
and Vatra
Vatra (Romanian magazine)
The Vatra literary magazine was founded in 1885 by Ion Luca Caragiale, George Coşbuc and Ioan Slavici and was published in Romanian in the city of Târgu Mureş, Transylvania, Austria-Hungary ....
.
Return to Romania
Making his comeback to Romania in October 1894, Iorga settled in the capital city of BucharestBucharest
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....
. He changed residence several times, until eventually settling in Grădina Icoanei
Gradina Icoanei
Grădina Icoanei is a small park in central Bucharest, situated not far away from Piaţa Romană and Bulevardul Magheru.The Bulandra Theatre , Ioanid Park , the Icoanei Church and the Anglican Church are located in the park's immediate vicinity....
area. He agreed to compete in a sort of debating society, with lectures which only saw print in 1944. He applied for the Medieval History Chair at the University of Bucharest
University of Bucharest
The University of Bucharest , in Romania, is a university founded in 1864 by decree of Prince Alexander John Cuza to convert the former Saint Sava Academy into the current University of Bucharest.-Presentation:...
, submitting a dissertation in front of an examination commission comprising historians and philosophers (Caragiani, Odobescu, Xenopol, alongside Aron Densuşianu, Constantin Leonardescu and Petre Râşcanu), but totaled a 7 average which only entitled him to a substitute professor's position. The achievement, at age 23, was still remarkable in its context.
The first of his lectures came later that year as personal insight on the historical method
Historical method
Historical method comprises the techniques and guidelines by which historians use primary sources and other evidence to research and then to write histories in the form of accounts of the past. The question of the nature, and even the possibility, of a sound historical method is raised in the...
, Despre concepţia actuală a istoriei şi geneza ei ("On the Present-day Concept of History and Its Genesis"). He was again out of the country in 1895, visiting the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and, again, Italy, in search of documents, publishing the first section of his extended historical records' collection Acte şi fragmente cu privire la istoria românilor ("Acts and Excerpts Regarding the History of Romanians"), his Romanian Atheneum conference on Michael the Brave's rivalry with condottiero Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt was an Italian general of Arbëreshë descent, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591-1606 and later to administer Transylvania as an Imperial vassal to restore Catholicism as a predominant religion in...
, and his debut in travel literature
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
(Amintiri din Italia, "Recollections from Italy"). The next year came Iorga's official appointment as curator and publisher of the Hurmuzachi brothers
Hurmuzachi brothers
The Hurmuzachi brothers, Alexandru , Constantin , Eudoxiu , Gheorghe , and Nicolae , were members of an old Hurmuzachi family of Romanian nobles in Austrian Bukovina of Greek origin, with an estate in Cernăuca...
collection of historical documents, the position being granted to him by the Romanian Academy
Romanian Academy
The Romanian Academy is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 acting members who are elected for life....
. The appointment, first proposed to the institution by Xenopol, overlapped with disputes over the Hurmuzachi inheritance, and came only after Iorga's formal pledge that he would renounce all potential copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
s resulting from his contribution. He also published the second part of Acte şi fragmente and the printed rendition of the de Mézières study (Philippe de Mézières, 1337–1405). Following an October 1895 reexamination, he was granted full professorship with a 9.19 average.
1895 was also the year when Iorga began his collaboration with the Iaşi-based academic and political agitator A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.-Early life:Born in Iaşi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles...
, making his earliest steps in antisemitic politics, founding with him a group known as the Romanian (or Universal) Antisemitic Alliance. In 1897, the year when he was elected a corresponding member of the Academy, Iorga traveled back to Italy and spent time researching more documents in the Austro-Hungarian Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia
The Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia or Croatia Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. It was part of the Hungarian Kingdom within the dual Austro-Hungarian state, being within the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen or Transleithania...
, at Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
. He also oversaw the publication of the 10th Hurmuzachi volume, grouping diplomatic reports authored by Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
diplomats in the two Danubian Principalities (covering the interval between 1703 and 1844). After spending most of 1898 on researching various subjects and presenting the results as reports for the Academy, Iorga was in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, the largely Romanian-inhabited subregion of Austria-Hungary. Concentrating his efforts on the city archives of Bistriţa
Bistrita
Bistrița is the capital city of Bistriţa-Năsăud County, Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistriţa River. The city has a population of approximately 80,000 inhabitants, and it administers six villages: Ghinda, Sărata, Sigmir, Slătiniţa, Unirea and Viişoara.-History:The earliest sign of...
, Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
and Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, he made a major breakthrough by establishing that Stolnic Cantacuzino, a 17th century man of letters and political intriguer, was the real author of an unsigned Wallachian chronicle that had for long been used as a historical source. He published several new books in 1899: Manuscrise din biblioteci străine ("Manuscripts from Foreign Libraries", 2 vols.), Documente româneşti din arhivele Bistriţei ("Romanian Documents from the Bistriţa Archives") and a French-language book on the Crusades
Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...
, titled Notes et extraits pour servir à l'histoire des croisades ("Notes and Excerpts Covering the History of the Crusades", 2 vols.). Xenopol proposed his pupil for a Romanian Academy membership, to replace the suicidal Odobescu, but his proposition could not gather support.
Also in 1899, Nicolae Iorga inaugurated his contribution to the Bucharest-based French-language newspaper L'Indépendance Roumaine, publishing polemical articles on the activity of his various colleagues and, as a consequence, provoking a lengthy scandal. The pieces often targeted senior scholars who, as favorites or activists of 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...
, opposed both Junimea and the Maiorescu-endorsed Conservative Party: his estranged friends Hasdeu and Tocilescu, as well as V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia
V. A. Urechia was a Moldavian-born Romanian historian, Romantic author of historical fiction and plays, academic and politician...
and Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.-Biography:Born in Iaşi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihăileană, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time,...
. The episode, described by Iorga himself as a stormy but patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
debut in public affairs, prompted his adversaries at the Academy to demand the termination of his membership for undignified behavior. Tocilescu felt insulted by the allegations, challenged Iorga to a duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
, but his friends intervened to mediate. Another scientist who encountered Iorga's wrath was George Ionescu-Gion, against whom Iorga enlisted negative arguments that, as he later admitted, were exaggerated. Among Iorga's main defenders were academics Dimitrie Onciul, N. Petraşcu
N. Petrascu
N. Petraşcu or Pĕtraşcu was a Romanian journalist, essayist, literary critic, novelist, and memoirist...
, and, outside Romania, Gustav Weigand
Gustav Weigand
Gustav Weigand , was a German linguist and specialist in Balkan languages, especially Rumanian and Aromanian. He is known for his seminal contributions to the dialectology of the Romance languages of the Balkans and to the study of the relationships between the languages of the Balkan...
.
Opinions sincères and Transylvanian echoes
The young polemicist persevered in supporting this anti-establishment cause, moving on from L'Indépendance Roumaine to the newly established publication România Jună, interrupting himself for trips to Italy, the Netherlands and Galicia-LodomeriaKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
The Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria was a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy, the Austrian Empire, and Austria–Hungary from 1772 to 1918 .This historical region in eastern Central Europe is currently divided between Poland and Ukraine...
. In 1900, he collected the scattered polemical articles into the French-language books Opinions sincères. La vie intellectuelle des roumains en 1899 ("Honest Opinions. The Romanians' Intellectual Life in 1899") and Opinions pérnicieuses d'un mauvais patriote ("The Pernicious Opinions of a Bad Patriot"). His scholarly activities resulted in a second trip into Transylvania, a second portion of his Bistriţa archives collection, the 11th Hurmuzachi volume, and two works on early modern Romanian history
Early Modern Romania
Early Modern Romania is the portion of Romanian history that falls in the early modern period, roughly from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
: Acte din secolul al XVI-lea relative la Petru Şchiopul ("16th Century Acts Relating to Peter the Lame") and Scurtă istorie a lui Mihai Viteazul ("A Short History of Michael the Brave"). His controversial public attitude had nevertheless attracted an official ban on his Academy reports, and also meant that he was ruled out from the national Academy prize (for which distinction he had submitted Documente româneşti din arhivele Bistriţei). The period also witnessed a chill in the Iorga's relationship with Xenopol.
In 1901, shortly after his divorce from Maria, Iorga married Ecaterina (Catinca), the sister of his friend and colleague Ioan Bogdan. Her other brother was cultural historian Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică, whose son, painter Catul Bogdan, Iorga would help achieve recognition. Soon after their wedding, the couple were in Venice, where Iorga received Karl Gotthard Lamprecht's offer to write a history of the Romanians to be featured as a section in a collective treatise of world history. Iorga, who had convinced Lamprecht not to assign this task to Xenopol, also completed Istoria literaturii române în secolul al XVIII-lea ("The History of Romanian Literature in the 18th Century"). It was presented to the Academy's consideration, but rejected, prompting the scholar to resign in protest. In order to receive his imprimatur later in the year, Iorga appealed to fellow intellectuals, earning pledges and a sizable grant from the aristocratic Callimachi family
Callimachi family
Callimachi, Calimachi, or Kallimachi was a Moldavian boyar and princely family, originating with a group of free peasants living in the Orhei area of Bessarabia. It still remains present today in modern Romania.-Members:*Vasile Călmaşul: b...
.
Before the end of that year, the Iorgas were in the Austro-Hungarian city of 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...
. While there, the historian set up tight contacts with Romanian intellectuals who originated from Transylvania and who, in the wake of the Transylvanian Memorandum
Transylvanian Memorandum
The Transylvanian Memorandum was a petition sent in 1892 by the leaders of the Romanians of Transylvania to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor-King Franz Joseph, asking for equal ethnic rights with the Hungarians, and demanding an end to persecutions and Magyarization attempts.-Status:After the Ausgleich...
affair, supported ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
while objecting to the intermediary Cisleithania
Cisleithania
Cisleithania was a name of the Austrian part of Austria-Hungary, the Dual Monarchy created in 1867 and dissolved in 1918. The name was used by politicians and bureaucrats, but it had no official status...
n (Hungarian Crown
Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen
The historical term Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen was used to denote a group of territories connected to the Kingdom of Hungary within Austria-Hungary...
) rule and the threat of Magyarization
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
. Interested in recovering the Romanian contributions to Transylvanian history
History of Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of the Romania. In ancient times it was part of the Dacian Kingdom and Roman Dacia. Since the 10th century, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary...
, in particular Michael the Brave's precursory role in Romanian unionism, Iorga spent his time reviewing, copying and translating Hungarian-language
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
historical texts with much assistance from his wife. During the 300th commemoration of Prince Michael's death, which ethnic Romanian students transformed into a rally against Austro-Hungarian educational restrictions, Iorga addressed the crowds and was openly greeted by the protest's leaders, poet Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
and Orthodox priest Ioan Lupaş
Ioan Lupas
Ioan Lupaş was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian historian, academic, politician, Orthodox theologian and priest. He was a member of the Romanian Academy.-Biography:...
. In 1902, he published new tracts on Transylvanian or Wallachian topics: Legăturile Principatelor române cu Ardealul ("The Romanian Principalities' Links with Transylvania"), Sate şi preoţi din Ardeal ("Priests and Villages of Transylvania"), Despre Cantacuzini ("On the Cantacuzinos
Cantacuzino family
The Cantacuzino or Cantacuzène family is an old boyar family of Wallachia and Moldavia, a branch of Greek Kantakouzinos family, allegedly descended from the Byzantine Emperor John VI Cantacuzenus. No definite genealogical links between Byzantine Greek and Romanian Cantacuzinos have been established...
"), Istoriile domnilor Ţării Româneşti ("The Histories of Wallachian Princes").
Iorga was by then making known his newly found interest in cultural nationalism
Cultural nationalism
Cultural nationalism is a form of nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture. It is an intermediate position between ethnic nationalism on one hand and liberal nationalism on the other....
and national didacticism
Didacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
, as expressed by him in an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
to Goga's Budapest-based Luceafărul magazine. After further interventions from Goga and linguist Sextil Puşcariu, Luceafărul became Iorga's main mouthpiece outside Romania. Returning to Bucharest in 1903, Iorga followed Lamprecht's suggestion and focused on writing his first overview of Romanian national history, known in Romanian as Istoria românilor ("The History of the Romanians"). He was also involved in a new project of researching the content of archives throughout Moldavia and Wallachia, and, having reassessed the nationalist politics of Junimist poet Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
, helped collect and publish a companion to Eminescu's work.
Sămănătorul and 1906 riot
Also in 1903, Nicolae Iorga became one of the managers of SămănătorulSămănătorul
Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...
review. The moment brought Iorga's emancipation from Maiorescu's influence, his break with mainstream Junimism, and his affiliation to the traditionalist, ethno-nationalist
Ethnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
and neoromantic
Neo-romanticism
The term neo-romanticism is used to cover a variety of movements in music, painting and architecture. It has been used with reference to very late 19th century and early 20th century composers such as Gustav Mahler particularly by Carl Dahlhaus who uses it as synonymous with late Romanticism...
current encouraged by the magazine. The Sămănătorist school was by then also grouping other former or active Junimists, and Maiorescu's progressive withdrawal from literary life also created a bridge with Convorbiri Literare: its new editor, Simion Mehedinţi
Simion Mehedinti
Simion Mehedinţi was a Romanian geographer and member of the Romanian Academy. A figure of importance in the Junimea literary club, he was for a while editor of its magazine, Convorbiri Literare....
, was himself a theorist of traditionalism. A circle of Junimists more sympathetic to Maiorescu's version of conservatism reacted against this realignment by founding its own venue, Convorbiri Critice, edited by Mihail Dragomirescu.
In tandem with his full return to cultural and political journalism, which included prolonged debates with both the "old" historians and the Junimists, Iorga was still active at the forefront of historical research. In 1904, he published the historical geography
Historical geography
Historical geography is the study of the human, physical, fictional, theoretical, and "real" geographies of the past. Historical geography studies a wide variety of issues and topics. A common theme is the study of the geographies of the past and how a place or region changes through time...
work Drumuri şi oraşe din România ("Roads and Towns of Romania") and, upon the special request of National Liberal Education Minister Spiru Haret
Spiru Haret
Spiru C. Haret was a Romanian mathematician, astronomer and politician. He made a fundamental contribution to the n-body problem in celestial mechanics by proving that using a third degree approximation for the disturbing forces implies instability of the major axes of the orbits, and by...
, a work dedicated to the celebrated Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great
Stephen III of Moldavia
Stephen III of Moldavia was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Mușat.During his reign, he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence against the ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the...
, published upon the 400th anniversary of the monarch's death as Istoria lui Ştefan cel Mare ("The History of Stephen the Great"). Iorga later confessed that the book was an integral part of his and Haret's didacticist agenda, supposed to be "spread to the very bottom of the country in thousands of copies". During those months, Iorga also helped discover novelist Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu
Mihail Sadoveanu was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting republican head of state under the communist regime . One of the most prolific Romanian-language writers, he is remembered mostly for his historical and adventure novels, as...
, who was for a while the leading figure of Sămănătorist literature.
In 1905, the year when historian Onisifor Ghibu
Onisifor Ghibu
Onisifor Ghibu was a Romanian teacher of pedagogy, member of the Romanian Academy, and politician.-Early life:...
became his close friend and disciple, he followed up with over 23 individual titles, among them the two German-language volumes of Geschichte des Rümanischen Volkes im Rahmen seiner Staatsbildungen ("A History of the Romanian People within the Context of Its National Formation"), Istoria românilor în chipuri şi icoane ("The History of the Romanians in Faces and Icons"), Sate şi mănăstiri din România ("Villages and Monasteries of Romania") and the essay Gânduri şi sfaturi ale unui om ca oricare altul ("Thoughts and Advices from a Man Just like Any Other"). He also paid a visits to the Romanians of Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
region, in Austrian territory, as well as to those of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
, who were subjects of 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...
, and wrote about their cultural struggles in his 1905 accounts Neamul romănesc în Bucovina ("The Romanian People of Bukovina"), Neamul romănesc în Basarabia ("...of Bessarabia"). These referred to Tsarist autocracy
Tsarist autocracy
The Tsarist autocracy |transcr.]] tsarskoye samoderzhaviye) refers to a form of autocracy specific to the Grand Duchy of Muscovy . In a tsarist autocracy, all power and wealth is controlled by the tsar...
as a source of "darkness and slavery", whereas the more liberal regime of Bukovina offered its subjects "golden chains".
Nicolae Iorga ran in the 1905 election and won a seat in Parliament
Parliament of Romania
The Parliament of Romania is made up of two chambers:*The Chamber of Deputies*The SenatePrior to the modifications of the Constitution in 2003, the two houses had identical attributes. A text of a law had to be approved by both houses...
's lower chamber
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
. He remained politically independent until 1906, when he attached himself to the Conservative Party, making one final attempt to change the course of Junimism. His move was contrasted by the group of left-nationalists
Left-wing nationalism
Left-wing nationalism describes a form of nationalism officially based upon equality, popular sovereignty, and national self-determination. It has its origins in the Jacobinism of the French Revolution. Left-wing nationalism typically espouses anti-imperialism...
from the Poporanist
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...
faction, who were allied to the National Liberals and, soon after, in open conflict with Iorga. Although from the same cultural family as Sămănătorul, the Poporanist theorist Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
was dismissed by Iorga's articles, despite Sadoveanu's attempts to settle the matter.
A peak in Nicolae Iorga's own nationalist campaigning occurred that year: profiting from a wave of Francophobia
Francophobia
Francophobia or Gallophobia are terms that refer to a dislike or hatred toward France, the People of France, the Government of France, or the Francophonie...
among young urbanites, Iorga boycott
Boycott
A boycott is an act of voluntarily abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with a person, organization, or country as an expression of protest, usually for political reasons...
ed the National Theater
National Theatre Bucharest
The National Theatre Bucharest is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest.-Founding:It was founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din Bucureşti in 1852, its first director being Costache Caragiale...
, punishing its staff for staging a play entirely in French, and disturbing public order. According to one of Iorga's young disciples, the future journalist Pamfil Şeicaru, the mood was such that Iorga could have led a successful coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
. These events had several political consequences. The Siguranţa Statului intelligence agency soon opened a file on the historian, informing Romanian Premier
Prime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
Sturdza about nationalist agitation. The perception that Iorga was a xenophobe
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
also drew condemnation from more moderate traditionalist circles, in particular the Viaţa Literară weekly. Its panelists, Ilarie Chendi and young Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
, ridiculed Iorga's claim of superiority; Chendi in particular criticized the rejection of writers based on their ethnic origin and not their ultimate merit (while alleging, to Iorga's annoyance, that Iorga himself was a Greek).
Neamul Românesc, Peasants' Revolt and Vălenii de Munte
Iorga eventually parted with Sămănătorul in late 1906, moving on to set up his own tribune, Neamul Românesc. The schism was allegedly a direct result of his conflicts with other literary venues, and inaugurated a brief collaboration between Iorga and Făt Frumos journalist Emil Gârleanu. The newer magazine, illustrated with idealized portraits of the Romanian peasant, was widely popular with Romania's rural intelligentsiaIntelligentsia
The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...
(among which it was freely distributed), promoting antisemitic theories and raising opprobrium from the authorities and the urban-oriented press.
Also in 1906, Iorga traveled into the Ottoman Empire
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...
, visiting Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, and published another set of volumes—Contribuţii la istoria literară ("Contributions to Literary History"), Neamul românesc în Ardeal şi Ţara Ungurească ("The Romanian Nation in Transylvania and the Hungarian Land"), Negoţul şi meşteşugurile în trecutul românesc ("Trade and Crafts of the Romanian Past") etc. In 1907, he began issuing a second periodical, the cultural magazine Floarea Darurilor, and published with Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva
Editura Minerva is one of the largest publishing houses in Romania. Located in Bucharest, it is known, among other things, for publishing classic Romanian literature, children's books, and scientific books.-External links:**...
an early installment of his companion to Romanian literature (second volume 1908, third volume 1909). His published scientific contributions for that year include, among others, an English-language study on the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. At home, he and pupil Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.He studied history in Bucharest, with Nicolae Iorga as one of his professors. He continued his studies in Germany. His Ph.D. thesis, written in 1909, was titled The nationality of merchants in the Roman Empire...
were involved in a conflict with fellow historian Orest Tafrali, officially over archeological theory, but also because of a regional conflict in academia: Bucharest and Transylvania against Tafrali's Iaşi.
A seminal moment in Iorga's political career took place during the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt
The 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt took place in March 1907 in Moldavia and it quickly spread, reaching Wallachia. The main cause was the discontent of the peasants about the inequity of land ownership, which was in the hands of just a few large landowners....
, erupting under a Conservative cabinet and repressed with much violence by a National Liberal one. The bloody outcome prompted the historian to author and make public a piece of social critique, the Neamul Românesc pamphlet Dumnezeu să-i ierte ("God Forgive Them"). The text, together with his program of agrarian conferences and his subscription lists for the benefit of victims' relatives again made him an adversary of the National Liberals, who referred to Iorga as an instigator. The historian did however struck a chord with Stere, who had been made prefect of Iaşi County
Iasi County
Iași is a county of Romania, in Moldavia, with the administrative seat at Iași.-Demographics:As of 1 July 2007, Iași County had a population of 825,100, making it the second most populous county in Romania after Bucharest, with a population density of 150/km².*Romanians - 98.1%*Roma -...
, and who, going against his party's wishes, inaugurated an informal collaboration between Iorga and the Poporanists. The political class as a whole was particularly apprehensive of Iorga's contacts with the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians and their common irredentist
Irredentism
Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. Some of these movements are also called pan-nationalist movements. It is a feature of identity politics and cultural...
agenda, which risked undermining relations with the Austrians over Transylvania and Bukovina. However, Iorga's popularity was still increasing, and, carried by this sentiment, he was first elected to Chamber during the elections of that same year.
Iorga and his new family had relocated several times, renting a home in Bucharest's Gara de Nord
Gara de Nord
București Gara de Nord is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania...
(Buzeşti) quarter. After renewed but failed attempts to become a Iaşi University professor, he decided, in 1908, to set his base away from the urban centers, at a villa in Vălenii de Munte
Valenii de Munte
Vălenii de Munte is a town in Prahova County, southern Romania , with a population of about 13,309. It lies on the Teleajen River valley, 28 km north of the county seat of Ploieşti....
town (nestled in the remote hilly area of Prahova County
Prahova County
Prahova is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploieşti.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 829,945 and the population density was 176/km². It is Romania's most populated county, having a population density double than the country's mean...
). Although branded an agitator by Sturdza, he received support in this venture from Education Minister Haret. Once settled, Iorga set up a specialized summer school
Summer school
Summer school is a school, or a program generally sponsored by a school or a school district, that teaches students during the summer vacation....
, his own publishing house, a printing press and the literary supplement of Neamul Românesc, as well as an asylum managed by writer Constanţa Marino-Moscu. He published some 25 new works for that year, such as the introductory volumes for his German-language companion to Ottoman history (Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, "History of the Ottoman Empire"), a study on Romanian Orthodox institutions (Istoria bisericii româneşti, "The History of the Romanian Church"), and an anthology on Romanian Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
. He followed up in 1909 with a volume of parliamentary speeches, În era reformelor ("In the Age of Reforms"), a book on the 1859 Moldo–Wallachian Union
United Principalities
The United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, also known as the Romanian Principalities, was the official name of Romania following the 1859 election of Alexandru Ioan Cuza as prince or domnitor of both territories...
(Unirea principatelor, "The Principalities' Union"), and a critical edition of poems by Eminescu. Visiting Iaşi for the Union Jubilee, Iorga issued a public and emotional apology to Xenopol for having criticized him in the previous decade.
1909 setbacks and PND creation
At that stage in his life, Iorga became an honorary member of the Romanian Writers' Society. He had militated for its creation in both Sămănătorul and Neamul Românesc, but also wrote against its system of fees. Once liberated from government restriction in 1909, his Vălenii school grew into a hub of student activity, self-financed through the sale of postcards. Its success caused alarm in Austria-Hungary: Budapesti HírlapBudapesti Hírlap
The Budapesti Hírlap was a Hungarian daily newspaper, published in Budapest from 1881 to 1938. It had a conservative and nationalistic orientation.-References:* Kútfalvy Oszkár: Újságpaloták. Bp. Akadémiai Kiadó. 1991....
newspaper described Iorga's school as an instrument for radicalizing Romanian Transylvanians. Iorga also alienated the main Romanian organizations in Transylvania: the Romanian National Party
Romanian National Party
The Romanian National Party , initially known as the Romanian National Party in Transylvania and Banat , was a political party which was initially designed to offer ethnic representation to Romanians in the Kingdom of Hungary, the Transleithanian half of Austria-Hungary, and especially to those in...
(PNR) dreaded his proposal to boycott the Diet of Hungary
Diet of Hungary
The Diet of Hungary was a legislative institution in the medieval kingdom of Hungary from the 15th century, and in its successor states, Royal Hungary and the Habsburg kingdom of Hungary throughout the Early Modern period...
, particularly since PNR leaders were contemplating a loyalist "Greater Austria" devolution project
United States of Greater Austria
The United States of Greater Austria was an idea created by a group of scholars surrounding the Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand that never came to pass...
.
The consequences hit Iorga in May 1909, when he was stopped from visiting Bukovina, officially branded a persona non grata
Persona non grata
Persona non grata , literally meaning "an unwelcome person", is a legal term used in diplomacy that indicates a proscription against a person entering the country...
, and expelled from Austrian soil (in June, it was made illegal for Bukovinan schoolteachers to attend Iorga's lectures). A month later, Iorga greeted in Bucharest the English scholar R.W. Seton-Watson
Robert William Seton-Watson
Robert William Seton-Watson , commonly referred to as R.W. Seton-Watson, and also known by the pseudonym Scotus Viator, was a British political activist and historian who played an active role in encouraging the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the emergence of Czechoslovakia and...
. This noted critic of Austria-Hungary became Iorga's admiring friend, and helped popularize his ideas in the Anglosphere
Anglosphere
Anglosphere is a neologism which refers to those nations with English as the most common language. The term can be used more specifically to refer to those nations which share certain characteristics within their cultures based on a linguistic heritage, through being former British colonies...
.
In 1910, the year when he toured the Old Kingdom
Romanian Old Kingdom
The Romanian Old Kingdom is a colloquial term referring to the territory covered by the first independent Romanian nation state, which was composed of the Danubian Principalities—Wallachia and Moldavia...
's conference circuit, Nicolae Iorga again rallied with Cuza to establish the explicitly antisemitic Democratic Nationalist Party. Partly building on the antisemitic component of the 1907 revolts, its doctrines depicted the Jewish-Romanian community
History of the Jews in Romania
The history of Jews in Romania concerns the Jews of Romania and of Romanian origins, from their first mention on what is nowadays Romanian territory....
and Jews in general as a danger for Romania's development. During its early decades, it used as its symbol the right-facing swastika
Swastika
The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
(卐), promoted by Cuza as the symbol of worldwide antisemitism and, later, of the "Aryans
Aryan race
The Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
". Also known as PND, this was Romania's first political group to represent the petty bourgeoisie, using its votes to challenge the tri-decennial two-party system
Two-party system
A two-party system is a system where two major political parties dominate voting in nearly all elections at every level of government and, as a result, all or nearly all elected offices are members of one of the two major parties...
.
Also in 1910, Iorga published some thirty new works, covering gender history
Gender history
Gender history is a sub-field of History and Gender studies, which looks at the past from the perspective of gender. It is in many ways, an outgrowth of women's history.-Impact:...
(Viaţa femeilor în trecutul românesc, "The Early Life of Romanian Women"), Romanian military history
Military history of Romania
The military history of Romania deals with conflicts spreading over a period of about 2500 years across the territory of modern Romania, the Balkan Peninsula and Eastern Europe and the role of the Romanian military in conflicts and peacekeeping worldwide....
(Istoria armatei româneşti, "The History of the Romanian Military") and Stephen the Great's Orthodox profile (Ştefan cel Mare şi mănăstirea Neamţului, "Stephen the Great and Neamţ Monastery
Neamt Monastery
The Neamţ Monastery is a Romanian Orthodox religious settlement, one of the oldest and most important of its kind in Romania. It was built in 14th century, and it is an example of medieval Moldavian architecture...
"). His academic activity also resulted in a lengthy conflict with art historian Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş was a Romanian art historian, ethnographer, museologist and cultural journalist, also known as local champion of art conservation, Romanian Police leader and pioneer radio broadcaster...
, his godfather and former friend, sparked when Iorga, defending his own academic postings, objected to making Art History a separate subject at University.
Reinstated into the Academy and made a full member, he gave his May 1911 reception speech with a philosophy of history
Philosophy of history
The term philosophy of history refers to the theoretical aspect of history, in two senses. It is customary to distinguish critical philosophy of history from speculative philosophy of history...
subject (Două concepţii istorice, "Two Historical Outlooks") and was introduced on the occasion by Xenopol. In August of that year, he was again in Transylvania, at Blaj
Blaj
Blaj is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 20,758 inhabitants.The landmark of the city is the fact that it was the principal religious and cultural center of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church in Transylvania....
, where he paid homage to the Romanian-run ASTRA Cultural Society. He made his first contribution to Romanian drama with the play centered on, and named after, Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), one of around twenty new titles for that year—alongside his collected aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s (Cugetări, "Musings") and a memoir of his life in culture (Oameni cari au fost, "People Who Are Gone"). In 1912, he published, among other works, Trei drame ("Three Dramatic Plays"), grouping Mihai Viteazul, Învierea lui Ştefan cel Mare ("Stephen the Great's Resurrection") and Un domn pribeag ("An Outcast Prince"). Additionally, Iorga produced the first of several studies dealing with Balkan
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
geopolitics
Geopolitics
Geopolitics, from Greek Γη and Πολιτική in broad terms, is a theory that describes the relation between politics and territory whether on local or international scale....
in the charged context leading up to the Balkan Wars
Balkan Wars
The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...
(România, vecinii săi şi chestia Orientală, "Romania, Her Neighbors and the Eastern Question
Eastern Question
The "Eastern Question", in European history, encompasses the diplomatic and political problems posed by the decay of the Ottoman Empire. The expression does not apply to any one particular problem, but instead includes a variety of issues raised during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries, including...
"). He also made a noted contribution to ethnography
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
, with Portul popular românesc ("Romanian Folk Dress
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...
").
Iorga and the Balkan crisis
In 1913, Iorga was in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
for an International Congress of History, presenting a proposal for a new approach to medievalism
Medievalism
Medievalism is the system of belief and practice characteristic of the Middle Ages, or devotion to elements of that period, which has been expressed in areas such as architecture, literature, music, art, philosophy, scholarship, and various vehicles of popular culture.Since the 18th century, a...
and a paper discussing the sociocultural effects of the fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
on Moldavia and Wallachia. He was later in the Kingdom of Serbia
Kingdom of Serbia
The Kingdom of Serbia was created when Prince Milan Obrenović, ruler of the Principality of Serbia, was crowned King in 1882. The Principality of Serbia was ruled by the Karađorđevic dynasty from 1817 onwards . The Principality, suzerain to the Porte, had expelled all Ottoman troops by 1867, de...
, invited by the Belgrade Academy
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the most prominent academic institution in Serbia today...
and presenting dissertations on Romania–Serbia relations
Romania–Serbia relations
Romanian-Serbian relations are foreign relations between Romania and Serbia. Both countries established diplomatic relations on April 19, 1841....
and the Ottoman decline
Decline of the Ottoman Empire
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire is the period that followed after the Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire in which the empire experienced several economic and political setbacks. Directly affecting the Empire at this time was Russian imperialism...
. Iorga was even called under arms in the Second Balkan War
Second Balkan War
The Second Balkan War was a conflict which broke out when Bulgaria, dissatisfied with its share of the spoils of the First Balkan War, attacked its former allies, Serbia and Greece, on 29 June 1913. Bulgaria had a prewar agreement about the division of region of Macedonia...
, during which Romania fought alongside Serbia and against the Kingdom of Bulgaria
Kingdom of Bulgaria
The Kingdom of Bulgaria was established as an independent state when the Principality of Bulgaria, an Ottoman vassal, officially proclaimed itself independent on October 5, 1908 . This move also formalised the annexation of the Ottoman province of Eastern Rumelia, which had been under the control...
. The subsequent taking of Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising the administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra...
, supported by Maiorescu and the Conservatives, was seen by Iorga as callous and imperialistic
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
.
Iorga's interest in the Balkan crisis was illustrated by two of the forty books he put out that year: Istoria statelor balcanice ("The History of Balkan States") and Notele unui istoric cu privire la evenimentele din Balcani ("A Historian's Notes on the Balkan Events"). Noted among the others is the study focusing on the early 18th century reign of Wallachian Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu
Constantin Brâncoveanu was Prince of Wallachia between 1688 and 1714.-Ascension:A descendant of the Craioveşti boyar family and related to Matei Basarab, Brâncoveanu was born at the estate of Brâncoveni and raised in the house of his uncle, stolnic Constantin Cantacuzino...
(Viaţa şi domnia lui Constantin vodă Brâncoveanu, "The Life and Rule of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu"). That same year, Iorga issued the first series of his Drum Drept monthly, later merged with the Sămănătorist magazine Ramuri. Iorga managed to publish roughly as many new titles in 1914, the year when he received a Romanian Bene Merenti distinction, and inaugurated the international Institute of South-East European Studies or ISSEE (founded through his efforts), with a lecture on Albanian history
History of Albania
The history of Albania emerges from the prehistoric stage from the 4th century BC, with early records of Illyria in Greco-Roman historiography. The modern territory of Albania has no counterpart in antiquity, comprising parts of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia , Macedonia , and Moesia Superior...
.
Again invited to Italy, he spoke at the Ateneo Veneto
Ateneo Veneto
The Ateneo Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti is an institution for the promulgation of science, literature, art and culture in all forms, in the exclusive interest of promoting social solidarity, located in Venice, northern Italy...
on the relations between the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
and the Balkans, and again about Settecento culture. His attention was focused on the Albanians
Albanians
Albanians are a nation and ethnic group native to Albania and neighbouring countries. They speak the Albanian language. More than half of all Albanians live in Albania and Kosovo...
and Arbëreshë—Iorga soon discovered the oldest record of written Albanian
Albanian language
Albanian is an Indo-European language spoken by approximately 7.6 million people, primarily in Albania and Kosovo but also in other areas of the Balkans in which there is an Albanian population, including western Macedonia, southern Montenegro, southern Serbia and northwestern Greece...
, the 1462 Formula e pagëzimit
Formula e pagëzimit
The Formula e pagëzimit is the first written document in Albanian retrieved. The sentence in Albanian is Un'te paghesont' pr'emenit t'Atit e t'Birit e t'Spirit Senit. and was contained in a pastoral letter written in Latin by Pal Engjëlli...
. In 1916, he founded the Bucharest-based academic journal Revista Istorică ("The Historical Review"), a Romanian equivalent for Historische Zeitschrift
Historische Zeitschrift
Historische Zeitschrift, founded in 1859 by Heinrich von Sybel is considered to be the first and for a time the foremost historical journal. The creation of this journal inspired Gabriel Monod to found the French Revue historique in 1876. In 1886 the English Historical Review was founded and in...
and The English Historical Review
The English Historical Review
The English Historical Review is an academic journal founded in 1886 and published by the Oxford University Press. It publishes articles on British, European, and World history since the classical era....
.
Ententist profile
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. In 1915, while Romania was still keeping neutral, he sided with the dominant nationalist, Francophile
Francophile
Is a person with a positive predisposition or interest toward the government, culture, history, or people of France. This could include France itself and its history, the French language, French cuisine, literature, etc...
and pro-Entente
Allies of World War I
The Entente Powers were the countries at war with the Central Powers during World War I. The members of the Triple Entente were the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire; Italy entered the war on their side in 1915...
camp, urging for Romania to wage war on the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
as a means of obtaining Transylvania, Bukovina and other regions held by Austria-Hungary; to this goal, he became an active member of the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians, and personally organized the large pro-Entente rallies in Bucharest. A prudent anti-Austrian, Iorga adopted the interventionist
Interventionism (politics)
Interventionism is a term for a policy of non-defensive activity undertaken by a nation-state, or other geo-political jurisdiction of a lesser or greater nature, to manipulate an economy or society...
agenda with noted delay. His hesitantation was ridiculed by hawkish Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
as pro-Transylvanian but anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
, costing Iorga his office in the Cultural League. The historian later confessed that, like Premier Ion I. C. Brătianu
Ion I. C. Bratianu
Ion I. C. Brătianu was a Romanian politician, leader of the National Liberal Party , the Prime Minister of Romania for five terms, and Foreign Minister on several occasions; he was the eldest son of statesman and PNL leader Ion Brătianu, the brother of Vintilă and Dinu Brătianu, and the father of...
and the National Liberal cabinet, he had been waiting for a better moment to strike. In the end, his "Ententist" efforts were closely supported by public figures such as Alexandru I. Lapedatu and Ion Petrovici
Ion Petrovici
Ion Petrovici , Romanian philosopher, essayist, memorialist, writer, orator, and politician, professor at University of Iaşi, member of the Romanian Academy, former Ministry of National Education, a leading figure in Romanian culture, was one of those scholars, men of art, culture, and science,...
, as well as by Take Ionescu
Take Ionescu
Take or Tache Ionescu was a Romanian centrist politician, journalist, lawyer and diplomat, who also enjoyed reputation as a short story author. Starting his political career as a radical member of the National Liberal Party , he joined the Conservative Party in 1891, and became noted as a social...
's National Action advocacy group. Iorga was also introduced to the private circle of Romania's young King
King of Romania
King of the Romanians , rather than King of Romania , was the official title of the ruler of the Kingdom of Romania from 1881 until 1947, when Romania was proclaimed a republic....
, Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I of Romania
Ferdinand was the King of Romania from 10 October 1914 until his death.-Early life:Born in Sigmaringen in southwestern Germany, the Roman Catholic Prince Ferdinand Viktor Albert Meinrad of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, later simply of Hohenzollern, was a son of Leopold, Prince of...
, whom he found well-intentioned but weak-willed. Iorga is sometimes credited as a tutor to Crown Prince Carol
Carol II of Romania
Carol II reigned as King of Romania from 8 June 1930 until 6 September 1940. Eldest son of Ferdinand, King of Romania, and his wife, Queen Marie, a daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, the second eldest son of Queen Victoria...
(future King Carol II), who reportedly attended the Vălenii school.
In his October 1915 polemic with Vasile Sion, a Germanophile
Germanophile
A Germanophile is a person who is fond of German culture, German people, and Germany in general, exhibiting as it were German nationalism in spite of not being an ethnic German or a German citizen. Its opposite is Germanophobia...
physician, Iorga at once justified suspicion of the German Romanians
Germans of Romania
The Germans of Romania or Rumäniendeutsche were 760,000 strong in 1930. They are not a single group; thus, to understand their language, culture, and history, one must view them as independent groups:...
and praised those Romanians who were deserting the Austrian Army
Austro-Hungarian Army
The Austro-Hungarian Army was the ground force of the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy from 1867 to 1918. It was composed of three parts: the joint army , the Austrian Landwehr , and the Hungarian Honvédség .In the wake of fighting between the...
. The Ententists' focus on Transylvania pitted them against the Poporanists, who delpored the Romanians of Bessarabia
Bessarabia
Bessarabia is a historical term for the geographic region in Eastern Europe bounded by the Dniester River on the east and the Prut River on the west....
. That region, the Poporanist lobby argued, was being actively oppressed by 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...
with the acquiescence of other Entente powers. Poporanist theorist Garabet Ibrăileanu
Garabet Ibraileanu
Garabet Ibrăileanu was a Romanian-Armenian literary critic and theorist, writer, translator, sociologist, Iaşi University professor , and, together with Paul Bujor and Constantin Stere, for long main editor of the Viaţa Românească literary magazine between 1906 and 1930...
, editor of Viaţa Românească
Viata Româneasca
Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...
review, later accused Iorga of not ever speaking in support of the Bessarabians.
Political themes were again reflected in Nicolae Iorga's 1915 report to the Academy (Dreptul la viaţă al statelor mici, "The Small States' Right to Exist") and in various of the 37 books he published that year: Istoria românilor din Ardeal şi Ungaria ("The History of the Romanians in Transylvania and Hungary"), Politica austriacă faţă de Serbia ("The Austrian Policy on Serbia") etc. Also in 1915, Iorga completed his economic history
Economic history
Economic history is the study of economies or economic phenomena in the past. Analysis in economic history is undertaken using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and by applying economic theory to historical situations and institutions...
treatise, Istoria comerţului la români ("The History of Commerce among the Romanians"), as well as a volume on literary history and Romanian philosophy
Romanian philosophy
Romanian philosophy is a name covering either a) the philosophy done in Romania or by Romanians, or b) an ethnic philosophy, which expresses at a high level the fundamental features of the Romanian spirituality, or which elevates to a philosophical level the Weltanschauung of the Romanian people,...
, Faze sufleteşti şi cărţi reprezentative la români ("Spiritual Phases and Relevant Books of the Romanians"). Before spring 1916, he was commuting between Bucharest and Iaşi, substituting the ailing Xenopol at Iaşi University. He also gave a final touch to the collection Studii şi documente ("Studies and Documents"), comprising his commentary on 30,000 individual documents and spread over 31 tomes.
Iaşi refuge
In late summer 1916, as Brătianu's government sealed an alliance with the Entente, Iorga expressed his joy in a piece named Ceasul ("The Hour"): "the hour we have been expecting for over two centuries, for which we have been living our entire national life, for which we have been working and writing, fighting and thinking, has at long last arrived." Nevertheless, the Romanian campaign ended in massive defeat, forcing the Romanian Army and the entire administration to evacuate the southern areas, Bucharest included, in front of a German-led occupation. Iorga's home in Vălenii de Munte was among the property items left behind and seized by the occupiers, and, according to Iorga's own claim, was vandalized by the Deutsches HeerGerman Army (German Empire)
The German Army was the name given the combined land forces of the German Empire, also known as the National Army , Imperial Army or Imperial German Army. The term "Deutsches Heer" is also used for the modern German Army, the land component of the German Bundeswehr...
.
Still a member of Parliament, Iorga joined the authorities in the provisional capital of Iaşi, but opposed the plans of relocating government out of besieged Moldavia and into the Russian Republic
Russian Provisional Government
The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...
. The argument was made in one of his parliamentary speeches, printed as a pamphlet and circulated among the military: "May the dogs of this world feast on us sooner than to find our happiness, tranquility and prosperity granted by the hostile foreigner." He did however allow some of his notebooks to be stored in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, along with the Romanian Treasure
Romanian Treasure
The Romanian Treasure is a collection of valuable objects the Romanian government sent to Russia for safekeeping during World War I. It was only partially returned .-Historical background:...
, and sheltered his own family in Odessa
Odessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
.
Iorga, who reissued Neamul Românesc in Iaşi, resumed his activity at Iaşi University and began working on the war propaganda daily România, while contributing to R.W. Seton-Watson's international sheet The New Europe. His contribution for that year included a number of brochures dedicated to maintaining morale among soldiers and civilians: Războiul actual şi urmările lui în viaţa morală a omenirii ("The Current War and Its Effects on the Moral Life of Mankind"), Rolul iniţiativei private în viaţa publică ("The Role of Private Initiative in Public Life"), Sfaturi şi învăţături pentru ostaşii României ("Advices and Teachings for Romania's Soldiers") etc. He also translated from English and printed My Country, a patriotic essay by Ferdinand's wife Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...
.
The heightened sense of crisis prompted Iorga to issue appeals against defeatism
Defeatism
Defeatism is acceptance of defeat without struggle. In everyday use, defeatism has negative connotation and is often linked to treason and pessimism, or even a hopeless situation such as a Catch-22...
and reissue Neamul Românesc from Iaşi, explaining: "I realized at once what moral use could come out of this for the thousands of discouraged and disillusioned people and against the traitors who were creeping up all over the place." The goal was again reflected in his complementary lectures (where he discussed the "national principle") and a new set of works; these featured musings on the Allied commitment (Relations des Roumains avec les Alliès, "The Romanians' Relations with the Allies"; Histoire des relations entre la France et les roumains, "The History of Relations between France and the Romanians"), the national character (Sufletul românesc, "The Romanian Soul") or columns against the loss of morale (Armistiţiul, "The Armistice"). His ideal of moral regeneration through the war effort came with an endorsement of land reform projects
Land reform in Romania
Four major land reforms have taken place in Romania: in 1864, 1921, 1945 and 1991. The first sought to undo the feudal structure that had persisted after the unification of the Danubian Principalities in 1859; the second, more drastic reform, tried to resolve lingering peasant discontent and create...
. Brătianu did not object to the idea, being however concerned that landowners would rebel. Iorga purportedly gave him a sarcastic reply: "just like you've been shooting the peasants to benefit the landowners, you'll then be shooting the landowners to benefit the peasants."
In May 1918, Romania yielded to German demands and negotiated the Bucharest Treaty, an effective armistice. The conditions were judged humiliating by Iorga ("Our ancestors would have preferred death"); he refused to regain his University of Bucharest chair. The German authorities in Bucharest reacted by blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
ing the historian.
Greater Romania and Senate leadership
Iorga only returned to Bucharest as Romania resumed its contacts with the Allies and the Deutsches Heer left the country. The political uncertainty ended by late autumn, when the Allied victory on the Western FrontWestern Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
sealed Germany's defeat. Celebrating the Compiègne Armistice
Armistice with Germany (Compiègne)
The armistice between the Allies and Germany was an agreement that ended the fighting in the First World War. It was signed in a railway carriage in Compiègne Forest on 11 November 1918 and marked a victory for the Allies and a complete defeat for Germany, although not technically a surrender...
, Iorga wrote: "There can be no greater day for the entire world". Iorga however found that Bucharest had become "a filthy hell under lead skies." His celebrated return also included the premiere of Învierea lui Ştefan cel Mare at the National Theater
National Theatre Bucharest
The National Theatre Bucharest is one of the national theatres of Romania, located in the capital city of Bucharest.-Founding:It was founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din Bucureşti in 1852, its first director being Costache Caragiale...
, which continued to host productions of his dramatic texts on a regular basis, until ca. 1936.
He was reelected to the lower chamber in the November 1918 suffrage, becoming President of the body and, due to the rapid political developments, the first person to hold this office in the history of Greater Romania
Greater Romania
The Greater Romania generally refers to the territory of Romania in the years between the First World War and the Second World War, the largest geographical extent of Romania up to that time and its largest peacetime extent ever ; more precisely, it refers to the territory of the Kingdom of...
. The year also brought his participation alongside Allied envoys in the 360th anniversary of Michael the Brave's birth. On December 1, later celebrated as Great Union Day, Iorga was participant in a seminal event of the union with Transylvania
Union of Transylvania with Romania
Union of Transylvania with Romania was declared on by the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia.The national holiday of Romania, the Great Union Day occurring on December 1, commemorates this event...
, as one of several thousand Romanians who gathered in Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia
Alba Iulia is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania with a population of 66,747, located on the Mureş River. Since the High Middle Ages, the city has been the seat of Transylvania's Roman Catholic diocese. Between 1541 and 1690 it was the capital of the Principality of Transylvania...
to demand union on the basis of self-determination
Self-determination
Self-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
. Despite these successes, Iorga was reportedly snubbed by King Ferdinand, and only left to rely on Brătianu for support. Although he was not invited to attend the Paris Peace Conference
Paris Peace Conference, 1919
The Paris Peace Conference was the meeting of the Allied victors following the end of World War I to set the peace terms for the defeated Central Powers following the armistices of 1918. It took place in Paris in 1919 and involved diplomats from more than 32 countries and nationalities...
, he supported Queen Marie in her role of informal negotiatior for Romania, and cemented his friendship with her.
Shortly after the creation of Greater Romania, Iorga was focusing his public activity on exposing collaborators
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
of the wartime occupiers. The subject was central to a 1919 speech he held in front of the Academy, where he obtained the public condemnation of actively Germanophile academicians, having earlier veto
Veto
A veto, Latin for "I forbid", is the power of an officer of the state to unilaterally stop an official action, especially enactment of a piece of legislation...
ed the membership of Poporanist Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
. He failed at enlisting support for the purge of Germanophile professors from University, but the attempt rekindled the feud between him and Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş
Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş was a Romanian art historian, ethnographer, museologist and cultural journalist, also known as local champion of art conservation, Romanian Police leader and pioneer radio broadcaster...
, who had served in the German-appointed administration. The two scholars later took their battle to court and, until Iorga's death, presented mutually exclusive takes on recent political history. Although very much opposed to the imprisoned Germanophile poet Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, Iorga intervened on his behalf with Ferdinand.
Following 1919 elections, Iorga became a member of the Senate
Senate of Romania
The Senate of Romania is the upper house in the bicameral Parliament of Romania. It has 137 seats , to which members are elected by direct popular vote, using Mixed member proportional representation in 42 electoral districts , to serve four-year terms.-Former location:After the Romanian...
, representing the Democratic Nationalists. Although he resented the universal male suffrage and viewed the adoption of electoral symbols as promoting political illiteracy, his PND came to use a logo representing two hands grasping (later replaced with a black-flag-and-sickle). The elections seemed to do away with the old political system: Iorga's party was third, trailing behind two newcomers, the Transylvanian PNR and the Poporanist Peasants' Party
Peasants' Party (Romania)
The Peasants' Party was a political party in post-World War I Romania that espoused a left-wing ideology partly connected with Agrarianism and Populism, and aimed to represent the interests of the Romanian peasantry. Through many of its leaders, the party was connected with Romanian populism , a...
(PŢ), with whom it formed a parliamentary bloc supporting an Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod was a Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom; he later served three terms as a Prime Minister of Greater Romania.-Transylvanian politics:He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the...
cabinet. This union of former rivals also showed Iorga's growing suspicion of Brătianu, whom he feared intended to absorb the PND into the National Liberal Party, and accused of creating a political machine
Political machine
A political machine is a political organization in which an authoritative boss or small group commands the support of a corps of supporters and businesses , who receive rewards for their efforts...
. He and his disciples were circulating the term politicianism ("politicking"), expressing their disappointment for the new political context.
Also in 1919, Iorga was elected chairman of the Cultural League, where he gave a speech on "the Romanians' rights to their national territory", was appointed head of the Historical Monuments' Commission, and met the French academic mission to Romania (Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot
Henri Mathias Berthelot was a French general during World War I. He served as chief of staff under Joseph Joffre, the French commander-in-chief.-Biography:...
, Charles Diehl
Charles Diehl
Charles Diehl was a French historian who was a native of Strasbourg. He was a leading authority on Byzantine art and history....
, Emmanuel de Martonne and Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré
Raymond Poincaré was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France on five separate occasions and as President of France from 1913 to 1920. Poincaré was a conservative leader primarily committed to political and social stability...
, whom he greeted with a speech about the Romanians and the Romance peoples). Together with French war hero Septime Gorceix, he also compiled Anthologie de la littérature roumaine ("An Anthology of Romanian Literature"). That year, the French state granted Iorga its Legion of Honor.
A founding president of the Association of Romanian Public Libraries, Iorga was also tightening his links with young Transylvanian intellectuals: he took part in reorganizing the Cluj
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
Franz Joseph University
Babes-Bolyai University
The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca is an university in Romania. With almost 50,000 students, the university offers 105 specialisations, of which there are 105 in Romanian, 67 in Hungarian, 17 in German, and 5 in English...
into a Romanian-speaking institution, meeting scholars Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.He studied history in Bucharest, with Nicolae Iorga as one of his professors. He continued his studies in Germany. His Ph.D. thesis, written in 1909, was titled The nationality of merchants in the Roman Empire...
and Vasile Bogrea (who welcomed him as "our protective genius"), and published a praise of the young traditionalist poet Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
. He was in correspondence with intellectuals of all backgrounds, and, reportedly, the Romanian who was addressed the most letters in postal history. Touring the larger conference circuit, he also wrote some 30 new books, among them: Histoire des roumains de la Peninsule des Balcans ("The History of Romanians from the Balkan Peninsula": Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
, Istro-Romanians
Istro-Romanians
Istro-Romanians / Istrorumeni are an ethnic group living in northeastern Istria, currently spanning over a small area of Croatia and a...
and Megleno-Romanians
Megleno-Romanians
The Megleno-Romanians or Meglen Vlachs or Moglenite Vlachs, are a small Eastern Romance people, currently inhabiting seven villages in the Moglena region spanning the Pella and Kilkis prefectures of Central Macedonia, Greece, and one village, Huma, across the border in the Republic of...
), Istoria poporului francez ("The History of the French People
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
"), Pentru sufletele celor ce muncesc ("For The Souls of Working Men"), and Istoria lui Mihai Viteazul ("The History of Michael the Brave"). Iorga was awarded the title of doctor honoris causa by the University of Strasbourg
University of Strasbourg
The University of Strasbourg in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, is the largest university in France, with about 43,000 students and over 4,000 researchers....
, while his lectures on Albania, collected by poet Lasgush Poradeci
Lasgush Poradeci
Llazar Sotir Gusho, , is a 20th century Albanian poet and writer known by the pseudonym Lasgush Poradeci.-Biography:...
, became Brève histoire de l'Albanie ("Concise History of Albania"). In Bucharest, Iorga received as a gift from his admirers a new Bucharest home on Bonaparte Highway (Iancu de Hunedoara Boulevard).
Early 1920s politics
Iorga's parliamentary bloc crumbled in late March 1920, when Ferdinand dissolved Parliament. During the spring 1920 suffrage, Iorga was invited by journalist Sever Dan to run for a deputy seat in Transylvania, but eventually participated in and won the election of his earlier constituency, Covurlui County. At that stage, Iorga was resenting the PNR for holding onto its regional government of Transylvania, and criticizing the PŢ for its claim to represent all Romanian peasants. In March 1921, Iorga again turned on Stere. The latter had since been forgiven for his wartime stance, decorated for negotiating the Bessarabian unionUnion of Bessarabia with Romania
On , the Sfatul Ţării, or National Council, of Bessarabia proclaimed union with the Kingdom of Romania.-Governorate of Bessarabia:The 1812 Treaty of Bucharest between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empires provided for Russian annexation of the eastern half of the territory of the Principality...
, and elected on PŢ lists in Soroca County
Soroca County
Soroca was a county of Moldova. The seat was Soroca....
. Iorga's speech, "Stere's Betrayal", turned attention back to Stere's Germanophilia (with quotes that were supposedly taken out of context) and demanded his invalidation—the subsequent debate was tense and emotional, but a new vote in Chamber confirmed Stere as Soroca deputy.
The overall election victory belonged to the radical, eclectic and anti-PNR People's Party, led by war hero Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu
Alexandru Averescu was a Romanian marshal and populist politician. A Romanian Armed Forces Commander during World War I, he served as Prime Minister of three separate cabinets . He first rose to prominence during the peasant's revolt of 1907, which he helped repress in violence...
. Iorga, whose PND had formed the Federation of National Democracy with the PŢ and other parties, was perplexed by Averescu's sui generis
Sui generis
Sui generis is a Latin expression, literally meaning of its own kind/genus or unique in its characteristics. The expression is often used in analytic philosophy to indicate an idea, an entity, or a reality which cannot be included in a wider concept....
appeal and personality cult, writing: "Everything [in that party] was about Averescu." His partner Cuza and a portion of the PND were however supportive of this force, which threatened the stability of their vote. Progressively after that moment, Iorga also began toning down his antisemitism, a process of the end of which Cuza left the Democratic Nationalists to establish the more militant National-Christian Defense League
National-Christian Defense League
The National-Christian Defense League was a virulently anti-Semitic political party of Romania formed by A. C. Cuza.-Origins:The group had its roots in the National Christian Union, formed in 1922 by Cuza and the famed physiologist Nicolae Paulescu. This group, which used the swastika as its...
(1923). Iorga's suggestions that new arrivals from Transylvania and Bessarabia were becoming a clique also resulted in collisions with former friend Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
, who had joined up with Averescu's party.
His publishing activity continued at a steady pace during that year, when he first presided over the Romanian School of Fontenay-aux-Roses
Fontenay-aux-Roses
Fontenay-aux-Roses is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris.École Normale Supérieure was a girls school located in the area....
; he issued the two volumes of Histoire des roumains et de leur civilisation ("The History of the Romanians and Their Civilization") and the three tomes of Istoria românilor prin călătorii ("The History of the Romanians in Travels"), alongside Ideea Daciei româneşti ("The Idea of a Romanian Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
"), Istoria Evului Mediu ("The History of the Middle Ages") and some other scholarly works. His biographical studies were mainly focused on his nationalist predecessor Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
. Iorga also resumed his writing for the stage, with two new drama plays: one centered on the Moldavian ruler Constantin Cantemir
Constantin Cantemir
Constantin Cantemir was a Moldavian Voivode between June 25, 1685 and March 27, 1693.-Life:Cantemir became a voivode at the age of 71, after being favored by the Ottoman Empire in his conflict with Dumitraşcu Cantacuzino...
(Cantemir bătrânul, "Cantemir the Elder"), the other dedicated to, and named after, Brâncoveanu. Centering his activity as a public speaker in Transylvanian cities, Iorga was also involved in projects to organize folk theaters throughout the country, through which he intended to spread a unified cultural message. The year also brought his presence at the funeral of A. D. Xenopol.
In 1921 and 1922, the Romanian scholar began lecturing abroad, most notably at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
, while setting up a Romanian School in the French capital and the Accademia di Romania of Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
. In 1921, when his 50th birthday was celebrated at a national level, Iorga published a large number of volumes, including a bibliographic study on the Wallachian uprising of 1821
Wallachian uprising of 1821
The Wallachian uprising of 1821 was an uprising in Wallachia against Ottoman rule which took place during 1821.-Background:...
and its leader Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu
Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...
, an essay on political history
Political history
Political history is the narrative and analysis of political events, ideas, movements, and leaders. It is distinct from, but related to, other fields of history such as Diplomatic history, social history, economic history, and military history, as well as constitutional history and public...
(Dezvoltarea aşezămintelor politice, "The Development of Political Institutions"), Secretul culturii franceze ("The Secret of French Culture"), Războiul nostru în note zilnice ("Our War as Depicted in Daily Records") and the French-language Les Latins de l'Orient ("The Oriental Latins
Latins
"Latins" refers to different groups of people and the meaning of the word changes for where and when it is used.The original Latins were an Italian tribe inhabiting central and south-central Italy. Through conquest by their most populous city-state, Rome, the original Latins culturally "Romanized"...
"). His interest in Vladimirescu and his historical role was also apparent in an eponymous play, published with a volume of Iorga's selected lyric poetry
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
.
In politics, Iorga began objecting to the National Liberals' hold on power, denouncing the 1922 election as a fraud
Electoral fraud
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election. Acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result, whether by increasing the vote share of the favored candidate, depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both...
. He resumed his close cooperation with the PNR, briefly joining the party ranks in an attempt to counter this monopoly. In 1923, he donated his Bonaparte Highway residence and its collection to the Ministry of Education, to be used by a cultural foundation and benefit university students. Receiving another honoris causa doctorate, from the University of Lyon
University of Lyon
The University of Lyon , located in Lyon and Saint Etienne, France, is a center for higher education and research comprising 16 institutions of higher education...
, Iorga went through an episode of reconciliation with Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, who addressed him public praise. The two worked together on Cuget Românesc newspaper, but were again at odds when Iorga began criticizing modernist literature
Modernist literature
Modernist literature is sub-genre of Modernism, a predominantly European movement beginning in the early 20th century that was characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional aesthetic forms...
and "the world's spiritual crisis".
Among his published works for that year were Formes byzantines et réalités balcaniques ("Byzantine Forms and Balkan Realities"), Istoria presei româneşti ("The History of the Romanian Press"), L'Art populaire en Roumanie ("Folk Art in Romania"), Istoria artei medievale ("The History of Medieval Art
Medieval art
The medieval art of the Western world covers a vast scope of time and place, over 1000 years of art history in Europe, and at times the Middle East and North Africa...
") and Neamul românesc din Ardeal ("The Romanian Nation in Transylvania"). Iorga had by then finished several new theatrical plays: Moartea lui Dante ("The Death of Dante"), Molière se răzbună ("Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
Gets His Revenge"), Omul care ni trebuie ("The Man We Need") and Sărmală, amicul poporului ("Sărmală, Friend of the People").
International initiatives and American journey
A major moment in Iorga's European career took place in 1924, when he convened in Bucharest the first-ever International Congress of Byzantine Studies, attended by some of the leading experts in the field. He also began lecturing at Ramiro Ortiz's Italian Institute in Bucharest. Also then, Iorga was appointed Aggregate Professor by the University of Paris, received the honor of having foreign scholars lecturing at the Vălenii de Munte school, and published a number of scientific works and essays, such as: Brève histoire des croissades ("A Short History of the Crusades"), Cărţi reprezentative din viaţa omenirii ("Books Significant for Mankind's Existence"), România pitorească ("Picturesque Romania") and a volume of addresses to the Romanian AmericanRomanian American
A Romanian American is a citizen of the United States who has significant Romanian heritage. For the 2000 US Census, 367,310 Americans indicated Romanian as their first ancestry, while 462,526 persons declared to have Romanian ancestry...
community. In 1925, when he was elected a member of the Kraków Academy of Learning
Polish Academy of Learning
The Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences or Polish Academy of Learning , headquartered in Kraków, is one of two institutions in contemporary Poland having the nature of an academy of sciences....
in Poland
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
, Iorga gave conferences in various European countries, including Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
(where he spoke at a League of Nations
League of Nations
The League of Nations was an intergovernmental organization founded as a result of the Paris Peace Conference that ended the First World War. It was the first permanent international organization whose principal mission was to maintain world peace...
assembly on the state of Romania's minorities
Minorities of Romania
Officially, 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities . The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Roma people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bucovina...
). His bibliography for 1925 includes some 50 titles. Iorga also increased his personal fortune, constructing villas in two resort towns: in Sinaia
Sinaia
Sinaia is a town and a mountain resort in Prahova County, Romania. The town was named after Sinaia Monastery, around which it was built; the monastery in turn is named after the Biblical Mount Sinai...
(designer: Toma T. Socolescu
Toma T. Socolescu
Toma T. Socolescu, was a major Romanian architect. Romanian architecture pillar from the early 20th century until World War II, he will be particularly active in his region : the Prahova County, and especially the City of Ploiești...
) and, later, Mangalia
Mangalia
Mangalia , is a city and a port on the coast of the Black Sea in the south-east of Constanţa County, Romania.The municipality of Mangalia also administers several summer time seaside resorts: Cap Aurora, Jupiter, Neptun, Olimp, Saturn, Venus.-History:...
. More controversial still was his decision to use excess funds from the International Congress to improve his Vălenii printing press.
Iorga was again abroad in 1926 and 1927, lecturing on various subjects at reunions in France, Italy, Switzerland, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
, many of his works being by then translated into French, English, German and Italian. His work for 1926 centered on the first of four volumes in his series Essai de synthèse de l'histoire de l'humanité ("Essay on the Synthesis of World History"), followed in 1927 by Istoria industriei la români ("The History of Industry among the Romanians"), Originea şi sensul democraţiei ("The Origin and Sense of Democracy"), a study of Romanian contributions to the 1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War (Războiul de independenţă, "The War of Independence") etc. At home, the PND's merge into the PNR, accepted by Iorga, was stoped once the historian asked to become the resulting union's chief. Acting PNR leader Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
successfully resisted this move, and the two parties split over the issue.
For a while in 1927, Iorga was also local leader of the Pan-European movement, created internationally by Graf Coudenhove-Kalergi. A honoris causa doctor of Genoa University
University of Genoa
The University of Genoa is one of the largest universities in Italy.Located in Liguria on the Italian Riviera, the university was founded in 1471. It currently has about 40,000 students, 1,800 teaching and research staff and about 1,580 administrative staff.- Campus :The University of Genoa is...
, he opened his course at the University of Paris with lectures on France's Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
ine policy (1927) and, during 1928, was again invited to lecture in Spain, Sweden and Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
. His published works for that time grouped the political essay Evoluţia ideii de libertate ("The Evolution of Liberty as an Idea"), new historical studies and printed versions of his conferences: Istoria învăţământului ("The History of Education"), Patru conferinţe despre istoria Angliei ("Four Conferences on the History of England
History of England
The history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...
"), Ţara latină cea mai îndepărtată din Europa: Portugalia ("The Remotest Latin Country in Europe: Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
"). In addition to his Bucharest Faculty of History chair, Iorga also took over the History of Literature course hosted by the same institution (1928).
Appointed the university's Rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
in 1929, he followed up with new sets of conferences in France, Italy or Spain, and published some 40 new books on topics such as Romanian folklore
Folklore of Romania
A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre...
and Scandinavian history
History of Scandinavia
The history of Scandinavia is the history of the region of northern Europe known in English as Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.- Pre-historic age :...
. For a while, he also held the University's concise literature course, replacing Professor Ion Bianu. Iorga's circle was joined by researcher Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C . Giurescu was a Romanian historian, member of Romanian Academy and professor at the University of Bucharest.Born in Focşani, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, he completed his primary and secondary studies in Bucharest...
, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, who had been Iorga's rival a generation before.
Iorga embarked on a longer journey during 1930: again lecturing in Paris during January, he left for Genoa and, from there, traveled to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, visiting some 20 cities, being greeted by the Romanian-American community and meeting with President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Clark Hoover was the 31st President of the United States . Hoover was originally a professional mining engineer and author. As the United States Secretary of Commerce in the 1920s under Presidents Warren Harding and Calvin Coolidge, he promoted partnerships between government and business...
. He was also an honored guest of Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University is a private research university located in Cleveland, Ohio, USA...
, where he delivered a lecture in English. Returning to attend the London International Congress of History, Iorga was also made a honoris causa doctor by the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
(with a reception speech likening him to both Livy
Livy
Titus Livius — known as Livy in English — was a Roman historian who wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people. Ab Urbe Condita Libri, "Chapters from the Foundation of the City," covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome well before the traditional foundation in 753 BC...
and Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
). That year, he also set up the Casa Romena institute in Venice. His new works included America şi românii din America ("Romania and the Romanians of America") and Privelişti elveţiene ("Swiss Landscapes"), alongside the plays Sfântul Francisc ("Saint Francis
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
") and Fiul cel pierdut ("The Lost Son"). In 1931-1932, he was made a honoris causa doctor by four other universities (the University of Paris, La Sapienza
University of Rome La Sapienza
The Sapienza University of Rome, officially Sapienza – Università di Roma, formerly known as Università degli studi di Roma "La Sapienza", is a coeducational, autonomous state university in Rome, Italy...
, Stefan Batory
Vilnius University
Vilnius University is the oldest university in the Baltic states and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It is also the largest university in Lithuania....
, Comenius
Comenius University in Bratislava
Comenius University in Bratislava is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is named after Jan Amos Comenius, a 17th century Czech teacher and philosopher.In 2006, Comenius...
), was admitted into both Accademia dei Lincei
Accademia dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei, , is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy....
and the Accademia degli Arcadi
Academy of Arcadia
The Academy of Arcadia or Academy of Arcadians was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690.-History:...
, and published over 40 new titles per year.
Prime Minister
Iorga became Romanian PremierPrime Minister of Romania
The Prime Minister of Romania is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers , when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called The Council of Ministers...
in April 1931, upon the request of Carol II, who had returned from exile to replace his own son, Michael I
Michael I of Romania
Michael was the last King of Romania. He reigned from 20 July 1927 to 8 June 1930, and again from 6 September 1940 until 30 December 1947 when he was forced, by the Communist Party of Romania , to abdicate to the Soviet armies of occupation...
. The authoritarian
Authoritarianism
Authoritarianism is a form of social organization characterized by submission to authority. It is usually opposed to individualism and democracy...
monarch had cemented this relationship by visiting the Vălenii de Munte establishment in July 1930. A contemporary historian, Hugh Seton-Watson
Hugh Seton-Watson
George Hugh Nicholas Seton-Watson , was a British historian and political scientist specializing in Russia.-Early life:...
(son of R.W. Seton-Watson), documented Carol's confiscation of agrarian politics for his own benefit, noting: "Professor Iorga's immense vanity delivered him into the king's hands." Iorga's imprudent ambition is mentioned by cultural historian Z. Ornea, who also counts Iorga among those who had already opposed Carol's invalidation. In short while, Iorga's support for the controversial monarch resulted in his inevitable break with the PNR and PŢ. Their agrarian union, the National Peasants' Party
National Peasants' Party
The National Peasants' Party was a Romanian political party, formed in 1926 through the fusion of the Romanian National Party from Transylvania and the Peasants' Party . It was in power between 1928 and 1933, with brief interruptions...
(PNŢ), took distance from Carol's policies, whereas Iorga prioritized his "Carlist" monarchism
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
. The moment aggravated the running personal rivalry between the PND founder and Iuliu Maniu, but Iorga had on his side Maniu's own brother, lawyer Cassiu Maniu, who rejected the PNR's regionalistic
Regionalism (politics)
Regionalism is a term used in international relations. Regionalism also constitutes one of the three constituents of the international commercial system...
stance.
Once confirmed on the throne, Carol experimented with technocracy, borrowing professionals from various political groups, and closely linking Iorga with Internal Affairs Minister Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu
Constantin Argetoianu was a Romanian politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, Memorii. Pentru cei de mâine. Amintiri din vremea celor de ieri Constantin Argetoianu...
. Iorga survived the election of June, in which he led a National Union coalition, with support from his rivals, the National Liberals. During his short term, he traveled throughout the country, visiting around 40 cities and towns, and was notably on a state visit to France, being received by Prime Minister
Prime Minister of France
The Prime Minister of France in the Fifth Republic is the head of government and of the Council of Ministers of France. The head of state is the President of the French Republic...
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand
Aristide Briand was a French statesman who served eleven terms as Prime Minister of France during the French Third Republic and received the 1926 Nobel Peace Prize.- Early life :...
and by Briand's ally André Tardieu
André Tardieu
André Pierre Gabriel Amédée Tardieu was three times Prime Minister of France and a dominant figure of French political life in 1929-1932.-Biography:...
. In recognition of his merits as an Albanologist
Albanology
Albanology is the science that studies Albanian language and culture.The father of Albanology is often considered to be the Austrian Norbert Jokl, while the Croat Milan Šufflay and the Hungarian Franz Nopcsa von Felső-Szilvás are also among its famous founders.Among modern important Albanologists...
, the Albanian Kingdom
Albanian Kingdom
The Albanian Kingdom was the constitutional monarchal rule in Albania between 1928 and 1939. During this period Albania was a de facto protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy Albania was declared a monarchy by the Constituent Assembly, and Zog I was crowned king...
granted Iorga property in Sarandë
Sarandë
Sarandë or Saranda is the capital of the District of Sarandë, Albania, and is one of the most important tourist attractions of the Albanian Riviera. It is situated on an open sea gulf of the Ionian Sea in the Mediterranean 2 nautical miles from the Greek island of Corfu. The city of Saranda has a...
town, on which the scholar created a Romanian Archeological Institute.
The backdrop to Iorga's mandate was Carol's conflict with the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
, an increasingly popular fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
organization. In March 1932, Iorga signed a decree outlawing the movement, the beginning of his clash with the Guard's founder Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu
Corneliu Zelea Codreanu was a Romanian politician of the far right, the founder and charismatic leader of the Iron Guard or The Legion of the Archangel Michael , an ultra-nationalist and violently antisemitic organization active throughout most of the interwar period...
. At the same time, his new education law
Education in Romania
According to the Law on Education adopted in 1995, the Romanian Educational System is regulated by the Ministry of Education and Research . Each level has its own form of organization and is subject to different legislation. Kindergarten is optional between 3 and 6 years old...
enhancing university autonomy, for which Iorga had been campaigning since the 1920s, was openly challenged as unrealistic by fellow scholar Florian Ştefănescu-Goangă, who noted that it only encouraged political agitators to place themselves outside the state. Also holding the office of Education Minister, he allowed auditing students to attend university lectures without holding a Romanian Baccalaureate
Romanian Baccalaureate
The Bacalaureat is an exam held in Romania when one graduates high school .Unlike the French Baccalaureate, the Romanian one has a single degree...
degree. Reserving praise for the home-grown youth movement Micii Dorobanţi, he was also an official backer of Romanian Scouting. In addition, Iorga's time in office brought the creation of another popular summer school, in the tourist resort of Balcic
Balchik
Balchik is a Black Sea coastal town and seaside resort in the Southern Dobruja area of northeastern Bulgaria. It is located in Dobrich Oblast and is 42 km northeast of Varna...
, Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja
Southern Dobruja is an area of north-eastern Bulgaria comprising the administrative districts named for its two principal cities of Dobrich and Silistra...
.
The major issue facing Iorga was the economic crisis, part of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, and he was largely unsuccessful in tackling it. To the detriment of financial markets, the cabinet tried to implement debt relief
Debt relief
Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. From antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, in particular agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves...
for bankrupt land cultivators, and signed an agreement with Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, another exporter of agricultural produce, to try and limit deflation. The mishandling of economic affairs made the historian a target of derision and indignation among the general public. The reduction of deficit with pay cuts for all state employees ("sacrificial curves") or selective layoff
Layoff
Layoff , also called redundancy in the UK, is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or a group of employees for business reasons, such as when certain positions are no longer necessary or when a business slow-down occurs...
s was particularly dramatic, leading to widespread disillusionment among the middle class, which only increased grassroots support for the Iron Guard. Other controversial aspects were his alleged favoritism and nepotism
Nepotism
Nepotism is favoritism granted to relatives regardless of merit. The word nepotism is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis , from which modern Romanian nepot and Italian nipote, "nephew" or "grandchild" are also descended....
: perceived as the central figure of an academic clique, Iorga helped Gheorghe Bogdan-Duică's family and Pârvan, promoted young historian Andrei Oţetea, and made his son in law Colonel Chirescu (m. Florica Iorga in 1918) a Prefect of Storojineţ County
Storojinet County
Storojineţ was a county of Romania, in Bukovina, with the capital city at Storojineţ.-Neighbours:Neighbours of the county were Stanislawow Voivodship of Poland to the west, counties of Cernăuţi to the north-east and Rădăuţi to the south...
. His premiership also evidenced the growing tensions between the PND in Bucharest and its former allies in Transylvania: Iorga arrived to power after rumors of a PNŢ "Transylvanian conspiracy", and his cabinet included no Romanian Transylvanian politicians. It was however open to members of the Saxon community
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
, and Iorga himself created a new government position for ethnic minority
Minorities of Romania
Officially, 10.5% of Romania's population is represented by minorities . The principal minorities in Romania are Hungarians and Roma people, with a declining German population and smaller numbers of Poles in Bucovina...
affairs.
Nicolae Iorga presented his cabinet's resignation in May 1932, returning to academic life. This came after an understanding between Carol II and a rightist PNŢ faction, who took over with Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod
Alexandru Vaida-Voevod or Vaida-Voievod was a Romanian politician who was a supporter and promoter of the union of Transylvania with the Romanian Old Kingdom; he later served three terms as a Prime Minister of Greater Romania.-Transylvanian politics:He was born to a Greek-Catholic family in the...
as Premier. The PND, running in elections under a square-in-square logo (回), was rapidly becoming a minor force in Romanian politics. It survived through alliances with the National Liberals or with Averescu, while Argetoianu left it to establish an equally small agrarian group. Iorga concentrated on redacting memoirs, published as Supt trei regi ("Under Three Kings"), whereby he intended to counter political hostility. He also created the Museum of Sacred Art, housed by the Creţulescu Palace
Cretulescu Palace
Creţulescu Palace is a historic building near the Cişmigiu Gardens on the Ştirbei Vodă street nr. 39 in Bucharest, Romania...
.
Mid 1930s conflicts
The political conflicts were by then reflected in Iorga's academic life: Iorga was becoming strongly opposed to a new generation of professional historians, which included Giurescu the younger, P. P. Panaitescu and Gheorghe Brătianu. At the core, it was a scientific dispute: all three historians, grouped around the new Revista Istorică Română, found Iorga's studies to be speculative, politicized or needlessly didacticDidacticism
Didacticism is an artistic philosophy that emphasizes instructional and informative qualities in literature and other types of art. The term has its origin in the Ancient Greek word διδακτικός , "related to education/teaching." Originally, signifying learning in a fascinating and intriguing...
in their conclusions. The political discrepancy was highlighted by the more radical support these academics were directing toward King Carol II. In later years, Iorga also feuded with his Transylvanian disciple Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
, trying in vain to block Blaga's reception to the Academy over differences in philosophy and literary preference. On Blaga's side, the quarrel involved philologist and civil servant Bazil Munteanu; his correspondence with Blaga features hostile remarks about Iorga's "vulgarity" and cultural politics.
On his way to a pan-European congress, Iorga stirred further controversy by attending, in Rome, the tenth anniversary of the 1923 March
March on Rome
The March on Rome was a march by which Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's National Fascist Party came to power in the Kingdom of Italy...
, celebrating Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
. He resumed his participation in conference cycles during 1933, revisiting France, as well as taking back his position at the University of Bucharest; he published another 37 books and, in August 1933, attended the History Congress in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. His new project was a cultural version of the Polish–Romanian Alliance, working together with poet-diplomat Aron Cotruş to increase awareness of his country, and publishing his own work in the Polish press.
Early in 1934, Iorga issued a condemnation of the Iron Guard, following the assassination of National Liberal Premier Ion G. Duca
Ion G. Duca
Ion Gheorghe Duca was prime minister of Romania from November 14 to December 30, 1933, when he was assassinated for his efforts to suppress the fascist Iron Guard movement.-Life and political career:...
by an Legionary death squad
Iron Guard death squads
During the 1930s, three notable death squads emerged from Romania's Iron Guard: the Nicadori, the Decemviri, and the Răzbunători. Motivated by a combination of fascist political ideology and religious-nationalist mysticism, they carried out several high-level political assassinations in the...
. However, during the subsequent police round-ups of Guardist activists, Iorga intervened for the release of fascist philosopher Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in the years leading up to World War II.-Life:...
, and still invited Guardist poet Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist....
to lecture at Vălenii. At the same time, he was again focusing his attention on the condemnation of modernists and the poetry of Arghezi, first with the overview Istoria literaturii româneşti contemporane ("History of Contemporary Romanian Literature"), then with his press polemics. Also in 1934, Iorga also published a book which coined his image of Romania's early modern culture
Early Modern Romania
Early Modern Romania is the portion of Romanian history that falls in the early modern period, roughly from the end of the 15th century to the end of the 18th century...
—Byzance après Byzance ("Byzantium after Byzantium"), alongside the three-volume Histoire de la vie byzantine ("A History of Byzantine Life"). He followed up with a volume of memoirs Orizonturile mele. O viaţă de om aşa cum a fost ("My Horizons. The Life of a Man as It Was"), while inaugurating his contribution to Romania's official cultural magazine, Revista Fundaţiilor Regale.
Iorga again toured Europe in 1935, and, upon his return to Romania, gave a new set of conferences under the auspices of the Cultural League, inviting scholar Franz Babinger
Franz Babinger
Franz Babinger was a pioneering historian of the Ottoman Empire, best known for his authoritative biography of the great Ottoman emperor Mehmed II known as the Conqueror, originally published as Mehmed der Eroberer und seine Zeit...
to lecture at the ISSEE. Again in Iaşi, the historian participated in a special celebration of 18th century Moldavian Prince and Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
thinker Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir
Dimitrie Cantemir was twice Prince of Moldavia . He was also a prolific man of letters – philosopher, historian, composer, musicologist, linguist, ethnographer, and geographer....
, whose remains had been retrieved from the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to be reburied in the Romanian city. Among the books Iorga published in 1935 are a new version of Istoria lui Mihai Viteazul, alongside Originalitatea lui Dimitrie Cantemir ("Dimitrie Cantemir's Originality"), Comemorarea unirii Ardealului ("The Commemoration of Transylvania's Union") and two volumes of his Memorii ("Memoirs"). His additional essays covered the careers of 17th century intellectuals (Anthim the Iberian
Anthim the Iberian
Anthim the Iberian was one of the greatest ecclesiastic figures of Wallachia , a noted Eastern Orthodox theologian and philosopher, founder of the first printing press in Romania, and Metropolitan of...
, Axinte Uricariul, Constantin Cantacuzino). Also in 1935, Iorga and his daughter Liliana co-authored a Bucharest guide book
Guide book
A guide book is a book for tourists or travelers that provides details about a geographic location, tourist destination, or itinerary. It is the written equivalent of a tour guide...
.
Early in 1936, Nicolae Iorga was again lecturing at the University of Paris, and gave an additional conference at the Société des études historiques, before hosting the Bucharest session of the International Committee of Historians. He was also in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, with a lecture on Byzantine social history
Social history
Social history, often called the new social history, is a branch of History that includes history of ordinary people and their strategies of coping with life. In its "golden age" it was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in history departments...
: L'Homme byzantin ("Byzantine Man"). Upon his return, wishing to renew his campaign against the modernists, Iorga founded Cuget Clar, the neo-Sămănătorist magazine.
By that moment in time, he was publicly voicing his concern that Transylvania was a target of expansion for Regency-period Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946)
The Kingdom of Hungary also known as the Regency, existed from 1920 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...
, while cautioning the public against Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and its revanchism
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
. Similarly, he was concerned about the Soviet threat and the fate of Romanians in the Soviet Union, working closely with the Transnistria
Transnistria
Transnistria is a breakaway territory located mostly on a strip of land between the Dniester River and the eastern Moldovan border to Ukraine...
n anti-communist
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
refugee Nichita Smochină
Nichita Smochină
Nichita P. Smochină was a Transnistrian-born activist, scholar and political figure, especially noted for campaigning on behalf of ethnic Romanians in the Soviet Union. He was first active in the Russian Empire, serving with distinction in World War I, then in the Ukrainian People's Republic,...
. Such worries were notably expressed by Iorga in a series of Bucharest Radio
Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company
The Romanian Radio Broadcasting Company , informally referred to as Radio Romania , is the public radio broadcaster in Romania. It operates four national radio channels, and, under the Radio România Regional umbrella, eleven regional radio stations. The four national radio channels are: Radio...
broadcasts, Sfaturi pe întuneric ("Advice at Dark", soon after published in brochure format). He completed several new volumes, among which were Dovezi despre conştiinţa originii românilor ("Evidence on the Conscious Origin of the Romanians"), the polemical essay Lupta mea contra prostiei ("My Fight against Stupidity"), and the first two volumes of the long planned Istoria românilor.
1937 retirement and Codreanu trials
Nicolae Iorga was officially honored in 1937, when Carol II inauguarated a Bucharest Museum of World History, placed under the ISSEE director's presidency. However, the publicized death threats he received from the Iron Guard eventually prompted Iorga to retire from his University position. He withdrew to Vălenii de Munte, but was still active on the academic scene, lecturing on "the development of the human spirit" at the World History Institute, and being received as a corresponding member into ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
's Academy of History. He also mentored German biographer Eugen Wolbe, who collected data on the Romanian kings. This contribution was doubled by a steady participation in the country's political life. Iorga attended the Cultural League congress in Iaşi, where he openly demanded for the Iron Guard to be outlawed on the grounds that it served Nazi interests, and discussed the threat of war in his speeches at Vălenii de Munte and his Radio conferences. With his Neamul Românesc disciple N. Georgescu-Cocoş, he was also continuing his fight against modernism, inspiring a special Romanian Academy report on the modernists' "pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
".
The early months of 1938 saw Nicolae Iorga joining the national unity government
National unity government
A national unity government, government of national unity, or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency.- Canada :During World War I the Conservative government of Sir...
of Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea
Miron Cristea, was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian cleric and politician....
, formed by Carol II's right-wing power base. A Crown Councillor, he then threw his reluctant support behind the National Renaissance Front
National Renaissance Front
The National Renaissance Front was a fascist Romanian political party created by King Carol II in 1938 as the single monopoly party of government following his decision to ban all other political parties and suspend the 1923 Constitution, and the passing of the 1938 Constitution of Romania...
, created by Carol II as the driving force of a pro-fascist but anti-Guard single-party state
Single-party state
A single-party state, one-party system or single-party system is a type of party system government in which a single political party forms the government and no other parties are permitted to run candidates for election...
(see 1938 Constitution of Romania
1938 Constitution of Romania
The 1938 Constitution of Romania was the fundamental law that established the authoritarian monarchic regime of King Carol II. It was drafted by a university professor, Istrate Micescu, based on suggestions given by the king, and made public on February 20, 1938. Four days later, voters were...
). Iorga was upset by the imposition of uniforms on all public officials, calling it "tyrannical", and privately ridiculed the new constitutional regime's architects, but he eventually complied to the changes. In April, Iorga was also at the center of a scandal which resulted in Codreanu's arrest and eventual extrajudicial killing. By then, the historian had attacked the Guard's policy of setting up small commercial enterprises and charity ventures. This prompted Codreanu to address him an open letter
Open letter
An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally....
, which accused Iorga of being dishonest. Premier Armand Călinescu
Armand Calinescu
Armand Călinescu was a Romanian economist and politician, who served as Prime Minister between March 1939 and the time of his death.-Early life:...
, who had already ordered a clampdown on Guardist activities, seized Iorga's demand for satisfaction as an opportunity, ordering Carol's rival to be tried for libel—the preamble to an extended trial on grounds of conspiracy
Conspiracy (crime)
In the criminal law, a conspiracy is an agreement between two or more persons to break the law at some time in the future, and, in some cases, with at least one overt act in furtherance of that agreement...
. An unexpected consequence of this move was the protest resignation of General Ion Antonescu
Ion Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
from the office of Defense Minister.
Iorga himself refused to attend the trial; in letters he addressed to the judges, he asked the count of libel to be withdrawn, and advised that Codreanu should follow the insanity defense on the other accusations. Iorga's attention then moved to other activities: he was Romanian Commissioner for the 1938 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
, and supportive of the effort to establish a Romanian school of genealogists.
In 1939, as the Guard's campaign of retribution had degenerated into terrorism
Terrorism
Terrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition...
, Iorga used the Senate tribune to address the issue and demand measures to curb the violence. He was absent for part of the year, again lecturing in Paris. Steadily publishing new volumes of Istoria românilor, he also completed work on several other books: in 1938, Întru apărarea graniţei de Apus ("For the Defense of the Western Frontier"), Cugetare şi faptă germană ("German Thought and Action"), Hotare şi spaţii naţionale ("National Borders and Spaces"); in 1939 Istoria Bucureştilor ("History of Bucharest
History of Bucharest
The history of Bucharest covers the time from the early settlements on the locality's territory until its modern existence as a city, capital of Wallachia, and present-day capital of Romania.-Ancient times:...
"), Discursuri parlamentare ("Parliamentary Addresses"), Istoria universală văzută prin literatură ("World History as Seen through Literature"), Naţionalişti şi frontiere ("Nationalists and Frontiers"), Stări sufleteşti şi războaie ("Spiritual States and Wars"), Toate poeziile lui N. Iorga ("N. Iorga's Complete Poetry") and two new volumes of Memorii. Also in 1938, Iorga inaugurated the open-air theater of Vălenii de Munte with one of his own dramatic texts, Răzbunarea pământului ("The Earth's Revenge"). The total number of titles he presented for publishing in 1939 is 45, including a play about Christina of Sweden
Christina of Sweden
Christina , later adopted the name Christina Alexandra, was Queen regnant of Swedes, Goths and Vandals, Grand Princess of Finland, and Duchess of Ingria, Estonia, Livonia and Karelia, from 1633 to 1654. She was the only surviving legitimate child of King Gustav II Adolph and his wife Maria Eleonora...
(Regele Cristina, "King C[h]ristina") and an anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
cycle of poems. Some of his Anglophile essays were printed by Mihail Fărcăşanu
Mihail Farcasanu
Mihail Fărcăşanu was a Romanian journalist, diplomat and writer. He was president of the National Liberal Youth from 1940 to 1946. Pursued by the authorities due to his anticommunist actions, he managed to flee the country in 1946, and was later sentenced to death...
in Rumanian Quarterly, which sought to preserve Anglo–Romanian cooperation.
Iorga was again Romanian Commissioner of the Venice Biennale in 1940. The accelerated political developments led him to focus on his activities as a militant and journalist. His output for 1940 included a large number of conferences and articles dedicated to the preservation of Greater Romania's borders and the anti-Guardist cause: Semnul lui Cain ("The Mark of Cain"), Ignoranţa stăpâna lumii ("Ignorance, Mistress of the World"), Drumeţ în calea lupilor ("A Wayfarer Facing Wolves") etc. Iorga was troubled by the outbreak of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and saddened by the fall of France, events which formed the basis of his essay Amintiri din locurile tragediilor actuale ("Recollections from the Current Scenes of a Tragedy"). He was also working on a version of Prometheus Bound
Prometheus Bound
Prometheus Bound is an Ancient Greek tragedy. In Antiquity, this drama was attributed to Aeschylus, but is now considered by some scholars to be the work of another hand, perhaps one as late as ca. 415 BC. Despite these doubts of authorship, the play's designation as Aeschylean has remained...
, a tragedy which probably reflected his concern about Romania, her allies, and the uncertain political future.
Iorga's murder
The year 1940 saw the collapse of Carol II's regime. The unexpected cession of Bessarabia to the Soviets shocked Romanian society and greatly angered Iorga. At the two sessions of the Crown Council held on June 27, he was one of six (out of 21) members to reject the Soviet ultimatum demanding Bessarabia's handover, instead calling vehemently for armed resistance. Later, the Nazi-mediated Second Vienna AwardSecond Vienna Award
The Second Vienna Award was the second of two Vienna Awards arbitrated by the Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Rendered on August 30, 1940, it re-assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.-Prelude and historical background :After the World War I, the multi-ethnic...
made Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...
a part of Hungary. This loss sparked a political and moral crisis, eventually leading to the establishment of a National Legionary State
National Legionary State
The National Legionary State was the Romanian government from September 6, 1940 to January 23, 1941. It was a single-party regime dictatorship dominated by the overtly fascist Iron Guard in uneasy conjunction with the head of government and Conducător Ion Antonescu, the leader of the Romanian...
with Ion Antonescu as Conducător
Conducator
Conducător was the title used officially in two instances by Romanian politicians, and earlier by Carol II.-History:...
and the Iron Guard as a governing political force. In the wake of this reshuffling, Iorga decided to close down his Neamul Românesc, explaining: "When a defeat is registered, the flag is not surrendered, but its fabric is wrapped around the heart. The heart of our struggle was the national cultural idea." Perceived as Codreanu's murderer, he received renewed threats from the Iron Guard, including hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...
, attacks in the movement's press (Buna Vestire and Porunca Vremii) and tirades from the Guardist section in Vălenii. He further antagonized the new government by stating his attachment to the abdicated royal.
Nicolae Iorga was forced out of Bucharest (where he owned a new home in Dorobanţi
Dorobanti
Dorobanţi is a neighborhood in Sector 1, Bucharest. The neighborhood is dominated by red brick buildings and glass buildings. Main intersections/squares are Perla, Dorobanţi Square, Lahovari, Charles de Gaulle and Quito Square. Main streets are Calea Dorobanţilor, Iancu de Hunedoara Avenue, Lascăr...
quarter) and Vălenii de Munte by the massive earthquake of November
1940 Vrancea earthquake
The 1940 Vrancea earthquake also called as 1940 Bucharest earthquake occurred on Sunday, November 10, 1940 in Romania at 03:39 AM local time....
. He then moved to Sinaia, where he gave the finishing touches to his book Istoriologia umană ("Human Historiology
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
"). He was kidnapped by a Guardist squad, the best-known member of which was agricultural engineer Traian Boeru, on the afternoon of November 27, and killed in the vicinity of Strejnic
Târgsoru Vechi
Târgşoru Vechi is a commune in Prahova County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Stănceşti, Strejnicu, Târgşoru Vechi and Zahanaua.-References:...
(some distance from the city of Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
). He was shot at some nine times in all, with 7.65 mm and 6.35 mm handguns. Iorga's killing is often mentioned in tandem with that of agrarian politician Virgil Madgearu
Virgil Madgearu
Virgil Traian N. Madgearu was a Romanian economist, sociologist, and left-wing politician, prominent member and main theorist of the Peasants' Party and of its successor, the National Peasants' Party...
, kidnapped and murdered by the Guardists on the same night, and with the Jilava Massacre
Jilava Massacre
The Jilava Massacre took place during the night beginning on November 26, 1940, at Jilava penitentiary, near Bucharest, Romania. 64 political detainees were killed by the Iron Guard , with further high-profile assassinations in the immediate aftermath...
(during which Carol II's administrative apparatus was decimated). These acts of retribution, placed in connection with the discovery and reburial of Codreanu's remains, were carried out independently by the Guard, and enhanced tensions between it and Antonescu.
Iorga's death caused much consternation among the general public, and was received with particular concern by the academic community. Forty-seven universities worldwide flew their flags at half-staff
Half-staff
Half-staff is the American term for to describe a flag flying a flag below the summit of the flagpole . The rest of the English-speaking world uses the term half-mast. Technically the flag should be flown one breadth lower to allow for the invisible flag of death...
. A funeral speech was delivered by the exiled French historian Henri Focillon
Henri Focillon
Henri Focillon was a French art historian.Director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon. Professor of Art History at the University of Lyon, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, at the Sorbonne, at the Collège de France and then in the United States, where he went into exile and taught at Yale...
, from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, calling Iorga "one of those legendary personalities planted, for eternity, in the soil of a country and the history of human intelligence." At home, the Iron Guard banned all public mourning
Mourning
Mourning is, in the simplest sense, synonymous with grief over the death of someone. The word is also used to describe a cultural complex of behaviours in which the bereaved participate or are expected to participate...
, excepting an 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...
in Universul
Universul
Universul was a mass-circulation newspaper in Romania. It existed from 1884 to 1953, and was run by Stelian Popescu from 1914 to 1943 ....
daily and a ceremony hosted by the Romanian Academy. The final oration was delivered by philosopher Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
Constantin Radulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as centre-left nationalist politician with a noted anti-fascist discourse...
, who noted, in terms akin to those used by Focillon, that the murdered scientist had stood for "our nation's intellectual prowess", "the full cleverness and originality of the Romanian genius".
Iorga's remains were buried at Bellu
Bellu
Bellu is the most famous cemetery in Bucharest, Romania.It is located on a plot of land donated to the local administration by Baron Barbu Bellu...
, in Bucharest, on the same day as Madgearu's funeral—the attendants, who included some of the surviving interwar politicians and foreign diplomats, defied the Guard's ban with their presence. Iorga's last texts, recovered by his young disciple G. Brătescu, were kept by literary critic Şerban Cioculescu
Şerban Cioculescu
Şerban Cioculescu was a Romanian literary critic, literary historian and columnist, who held teaching positions in Romanian literature at the University of Iaşi and the University of Bucharest, as well as membership of the Romanian Academy and chairmanship of its Library...
in published at a later date. Gheorghe Brătianu later took over Iorga's position at the South-East Europe Institute and the Institute of World History (known as Nicolae Iorga Institute from 1941).
Conservatism and nationalism
Nicolae Iorga's views on society and politics stood at the meeting point of traditional conservatism, ethnic nationalismEthnic nationalism
Ethnic nationalism is a form of nationalism wherein the "nation" is defined in terms of ethnicity. Whatever specific ethnicity is involved, ethnic nationalism always includes some element of descent from previous generations and the implied claim of ethnic essentialism, i.e...
and national conservatism
National conservatism
National conservatism is a political term used primarily in Europe to describe a variant of conservatism which concentrates more on national interests than standard conservatism as well as upholding cultural and ethnic identity, while not being outspokenly nationalist or supporting a far-right...
. This fusion is identified by political scientist Ioan Stanomir as a mutation of Junimea
Junimea
Junimea was a Romanian literary society founded in Iaşi in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi...
s ideology, running contrary to Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu
Titu Liviu Maiorescu was a Romanian literary critic and politician, founder of the Junimea Society. As a literary critic, he was instrumental in the development of Romanian culture in the second half of the 19th century....
's liberal conservatism
Liberal conservatism
Liberal conservatism also known as progressive conservatism is a variant of political conservatism which incorporates liberal elements. As "conservatism" and "liberalism" have had different meanings over time and across countries, the term "liberal conservatism" has been used in quite different...
, but resonating with the ideology of Romania's national poet, Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu
Mihai Eminescu was a Romantic poet, novelist and journalist, often regarded as the most famous and influential Romanian poet. Eminescu was an active member of the Junimea literary society and he worked as an editor for the newspaper Timpul , the official newspaper of the Conservative Party...
. A maverick Junimist, Eminescu added to the conservative vision of his contemporaries an intense nationalism with reactionary
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
, racist
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobic
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
tinges, for which he received posthumous attention in Iorga's lifetime. Identified by researcher Ioana Both as a source for the "Eminescu myth", Iorga saw in him the poet of "healthy race" ideas and the "integral expression of the Romanian soul", rather than a melancholy artist. This ideological source shaped the attitudes of many Sămănătorists
Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...
, eroding Junimeas influence and redefining Romanian conservatism for the space of one generation. A definition provided by political scientist John Hutchinson
John Hutchinson (Academic)
John Hutchinson is Reader in Nationalism in the Department of Government at the London School of Economics. Born in Warrenpoint, Co Down, he graduated with a MA in Modern History from Edinburgh University in 1970 and his PhD in Sociology in 1985 from the London School of Economics, where he was...
lists Iorga among those who embraced "cultural nationalism
Cultural nationalism
Cultural nationalism is a form of nationalism in which the nation is defined by a shared culture. It is an intermediate position between ethnic nationalism on one hand and liberal nationalism on the other....
", which rejected modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
, as opposed to "political nationalism", which sought to modernize the nation-state.
Borrowing Maiorescu's theory about how Westernization
Westernization
Westernization or Westernisation , also occidentalization or occidentalisation , is a process whereby societies come under or adopt Western culture in such matters as industry, technology, law, politics, economics, lifestyle, diet, language, alphabet,...
had come to Romania as "forms without concept" (meaning that some modern customs had been forced on top of local traditions), Iorga likewise aimed it against the liberal establishment
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...
, but gave it a more radical expression. A significant point of continuity between Junimism and Iorga was the notion of two "positive" social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
es, both opposed to the bourgeoisie
Bourgeoisie
In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
: the lower class, represented by the peasantry, and the aristocratic class 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. Like Maiorescu, Iorga attacked the centralizing
Centralized government
A centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
1866 Constitution
1866 Constitution of Romania
The 1866 Constitution of Romania was the fundamental law that capped a period of nation-building in the Danubian Principalities, which had united in 1859. Drafted in a short time and using as its model the 1831 Constitution of Belgium, then considered Europe's most liberal, it was substantially...
, to which he opposed a statehood based on "organic" growth, with self-aware local communities as a source of legitimacy. Also resonating with the Junimist club was Iorga's vision of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
—according to French author René Girault, the Romanian was an "excellent connaisseur" of this particular era. The revolutionary experience was, in Iorga's view, traumatic, while its liberal or Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
inheritors were apostates
Apostasy
Apostasy , 'a defection or revolt', from ἀπό, apo, 'away, apart', στάσις, stasis, 'stand, 'standing') is the formal disaffiliation from or abandonment or renunciation of a religion by a person. One who commits apostasy is known as an apostate. These terms have a pejorative implication in everyday...
disturbing the traditional equilibrium. His response to the Jacobin model was an Anglophile and Tocquevillian
Alexis de Tocqueville
Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution . In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in...
position, favoring the British constitutional system
Constitution of the United Kingdom
The constitution of the United Kingdom is the set of laws and principles under which the United Kingdom is governed.Unlike many other nations, the UK has no single core constitutional document. In this sense, it is said not to have a written constitution but an uncodified one...
and praising the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
as the positive example of nation-building
Nation-building
For nation-building in the sense of enhancing the capacity of state institutions, building state-society relations, and also external interventions see State-building....
.
Like Junimism, Iorga's conservatism did not generally rely on religion. A secularist
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
among the traditionalists, he did not attach a special meaning to Christian ethics
Christian ethics
The first recorded meeting on the topic of Christian ethics, after Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, Great Commandment, and Great Commission , was the Council of Jerusalem , which is seen by most Christians as agreement that the New Covenant either abrogated or set aside at least some of the Old...
, and, praising the creative force of man, saw asceticism
Asceticism
Asceticism describes a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals...
as a negative phenomenon. However, he strongly identified the Romanian Orthodox Church
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...
and its hesychasm
Hesychasm
Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches, such as the Byzantine Rite, practised by the Hesychast Hesychasm is an eremitic tradition of prayer in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and some of the Eastern Catholic Churches,...
with the Romanian psyche, marginalizing the Latin Rite Church
Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic
The Romanian Church United with Rome, Greek-Catholic is an Eastern Catholic Church which is in full union with the Roman Catholic Church. It is ranked as a Major Archiepiscopal Church and uses the Byzantine liturgical rite in the Romanian language....
and the Transylvanian School
Transylvanian School
The Transylvanian School was a cultural movement which was founded after part of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Habsburg-ruled Transylvania accepted the leadership of the Pope and became the Greek-Catholic Church . The links with Rome brought to the Romanian Tranylvanians the ideas of the Age of...
. In rejecting pure individualism
Individualism
Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses "the moral worth of the individual". Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires and so value independence and self-reliance while opposing most external interference upon one's own...
, Iorga also reacted against the modern reverence toward Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy
Athenian democracy developed in the Greek city-state of Athens, comprising the central city-state of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica, around 508 BC. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, and even though most followed an Athenian model,...
or the Protestant Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
, giving more positive appraisals to other community models: Sparta
Sparta
Sparta or Lacedaemon, was a prominent city-state in ancient Greece, situated on the banks of the River Eurotas in Laconia, in south-eastern Peloponnese. It emerged as a political entity around the 10th century BC, when the invading Dorians subjugated the local, non-Dorian population. From c...
, Macedonia, the Italian city-states
Italian city-states
The Italian city-states were a political phenomenon of small independent states mostly in the central and northern Italian peninsula between the 10th and 15th centuries....
. As argued by political scientist Mihaela Czobor-Lupp, his was an "alternative" to the rationalist
Rationalism
In epistemology and in its modern sense, rationalism is "any view appealing to reason as a source of knowledge or justification" . In more technical terms, it is a method or a theory "in which the criterion of the truth is not sensory but intellectual and deductive"...
perspective, and a counterweight to Max Weber
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
's study on The Protestant Ethic
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904 and 1905, and was translated into English for the first time by Talcott Parsons in 1930...
. His theories identified the people as a "natural entity [with] its own organic life", and sometimes justified the right of conquest
Right of conquest
The right of conquest is the right of a conqueror to territory taken by force of arms. It was traditionally a principle of international law which has in modern times gradually given way until its proscription after the Second World War when the crime of war of aggression was first codified in the...
when new civilizations toppled decadent ones
Societal collapse
Societal collapse broadly includes both quite abrupt societal failures typified by collapses , as well as more extended gradual declines of superpowers...
—the conflict, he argued, was between Heracles
Heracles
Heracles ,born Alcaeus or Alcides , was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, foster son of Amphitryon and great-grandson of Perseus...
and Trimalchio
Trimalchio
Trimalchio is a character in the Roman novel The Satyricon by Petronius. He plays a part only in the section titled Cena Trimalchionis . Trimalchio is a freedman who through hard work and perseverance has attained power and wealth...
. In his private and public life, Iorga's conservatism also came with sexist
Sexism
Sexism, also known as gender discrimination or sex discrimination, is the application of the belief or attitude that there are characteristics implicit to one's gender that indirectly affect one's abilities in unrelated areas...
remarks: like Maiorescu, Iorga believed that women were only truly gifted for nurturing and assisting male protagonists in public affairs.
Despite the various similarities, Iorga and the Junimist loyalists became political enemies. Early on, Maiorescu would respond to his letters with disdain, while novelist Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici
Ioan Slavici was a Transylvanian-born Romanian writer and journalist. He made his debut in Convorbiri literare , with the comedy Fata de birău...
called his irredentist projects "nonsense". Writing in 1920, Convorbiri Critice editor Mihail Dragomirescu accused those Junimists who followed Iorga's "chauvinist
Chauvinism
Chauvinism, in its original and primary meaning, is an exaggerated, bellicose patriotism and a belief in national superiority and glory. It is an eponym of a possibly fictional French soldier Nicolas Chauvin who was credited with many superhuman feats in the Napoleonic wars.By extension it has come...
nationalism" of having forgotten that Maiorescu's art for art's sake
Art for art's sake
"Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan, from the early 19th century, l'art pour l'art, and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral or utilitarian function...
principles "substituted the political criterion of patriotism
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
for the criterion of truth." The conflict between Iorga and Dragomirescu was also personal, and, as reported by Iorga's disciple Alexandru Lapedatu, even caused the two to physically assault each other.
Iorga's brand of national conservatism was more successful than its more conventional predecessor: while the Conservative Party disappeared from the public eye after 1918, Iorga's more nationalistic interpretation was still considered relevant in the 1930s. One of the last Conservative leaders, Nicolae Filipescu, even pondered forging an alliance with the historian, in an attempt to save the group for dissolution. According to Ioan Stanomir, Iorga and fellow historian Ioan C. Filitti were together responsible for "the most memorable pages" in Romanian conservative theory for "the 1928–1938 decade". In Stanomir's assessment, this last period of Iorga's activity also implied a move toward the main sources of traditional conservatism, bringing Iorga closer to the line of thought represented by Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
or Mihail Kogălniceanu
Mihail Kogalniceanu
Mihail Kogălniceanu was a Moldavian-born Romanian liberal statesman, lawyer, historian and publicist; he became Prime Minister of Romania October 11, 1863, after the 1859 union of the Danubian Principalities under Domnitor Alexander John Cuza, and later served as Foreign Minister under Carol I. He...
, and away from that of Eminescu.
The final years brought Iorga's stark condemnation of all etatism, from the absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
to modern state capitalism
State capitalism
The term State capitalism has various meanings, but is usually described as commercial economic activity undertaken by the state with management of the productive forces in a capitalist manner, even if the state is nominally socialist. State capitalism is usually characterized by the dominance or...
, accompanied by a dystopia
Dystopia
A dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n perspective on industrialization as the end of the individual. Like Eminescu, Iorga was essentially a conservative anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism
Anti-capitalism describes a wide variety of movements, ideas, and attitudes which oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists, in the strict sense of the word, are those who wish to completely replace capitalism with another system....
and economic corporatist
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
, who confessed his admiration for pre-modern guild
Guild
A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...
s. In Stanomir's account, these ideals, alongside the dreams of a "ghostly" organic identity, anti-ideological monarchism
Monarchism
Monarchism is the advocacy of the establishment, preservation, or restoration of a monarchy as a form of government in a nation. A monarchist is an individual who supports this form of government out of principle, independent from the person, the Monarch.In this system, the Monarch may be the...
and national regeneration, brought Iorga into Carol II's camp. Another factor was the rise of Nazi Germany, which, Iorga thought, could only be met by national unity under a powerful ruler. The realignment came with contradictory statements on Iorga's part, such as when, in 1939, he publicly described Carol's Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
-Noble jurisdictions:Prince Karl Eitel of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and descendants of his nephew Ferdinand ruled over the Kingdom of Romania, as Karl Eitel did not have children...
house as having usurped the throne of Domnitor
Domnitor
Domnitor was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866....
Alexander John I
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:...
, statements which enraged monarchist writer Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction
Gala Galaction was a Romanian Orthodox clergyman and theologian, writer, journalist, left-wing activist, as well as a political figure of the People's Republic of Romania...
.
Iorga found himself in Kogălniceanu's conservative statement, "civilization stops when revolutions begin", being especially critical of communist revolution
Communist revolution
A communist revolution is a proletarian revolution inspired by the ideas of Marxism that aims to replace capitalism with communism, typically with socialism as an intermediate stage...
. He described the Soviet experiment
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
as a "caricature" of the Jacobin age and communist leader Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
as a dangerous usurper. Iorga found the small Romanian Communist Party
Romanian Communist Party
The Romanian Communist Party was a communist political party in Romania. Successor to the Bolshevik wing of the Socialist Party of Romania, it gave ideological endorsement to communist revolution and the disestablishment of Greater Romania. The PCR was a minor and illegal grouping for much of the...
an amusement and, even though he expressed alarm for its terrorist tendencies and its "foreign" nature, disliked the state's use of brutal methods against its members.
Antisemitism
A major and controversial component of Iorga's political vision, present throughout most of his career, was his antisemitism. Cultural historian William O. Oldson notes that Iorga's "amazing list of accomplishments" in other fields helped give antisemitism "an irresistible panache" in Romania, particularly since Iorga shared in the belief that all good nationalists were antisemites. His ideas on the "Jewish QuestionJewish Question
The Jewish question encompasses the issues and resolutions surrounding the historically unequal civil, legal and national statuses between minority Ashkenazi Jews and non-Jews, particularly in Europe. The first issues discussed and debated by societies, politicians and writers in western and...
" were frequently supported by violent language, which left traces on his journalist activity (even though, Oldson notes, he did not resort to racial slurs). In 1901, when he helped prevent Jewish linguist Lazăr Şăineanu
Lazăr Şăineanu
Lazăr Şăineanu was a Romanian-born philologist, linguist, folklorist and cultural historian. A specialist in Oriental and Romance studies, as well as a Hebraist and a Germanist, he was primarily known for his contribution to Yiddish and Romanian philology, his work in evolutionary linguistics, and...
from obtaining an academic position, Iorga wrote that Jews had a "passion for high praise and multiple earnings"; three years later, in Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...
, he argued that Iaşi was "polluted" by a "business-minded", "pagan and hostile" community. Similar accusations were stated, in his travel accounts, where he even justified pogrom
Pogrom
A pogrom is a form of violent riot, a mob attack directed against a minority group, and characterized by killings and destruction of their homes and properties, businesses, and religious centres...
s against Bukovinan and Bessarabian Jews
Bessarabian Jews
-Early history:Jews are mentioned from very early in the Principality of Moldavia, but they did not represent a significant number. Their main activity in Moldavia was commerce, but they could not compete with Greeks and Armenians, who had the knowledge of the Levantine commerce and relationships...
.
The PND, coming from the same ideological family as Poland's Roman Dmowski
Roman Dmowski
Roman Stanisław Dmowski was a Polish politician, statesman, and chief ideologue and co-founder of the National Democracy political movement, which was one of the strongest political camps of interwar Poland.Though a controversial personality throughout his life, Dmowski was instrumental in...
and the National Democracy movement, proclaimed that local Jews were suffocating the Romanian middle class
Middle class
The middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
and needed to be expelled, using slogans such as Evreii la Palestina ("The Jews to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
"). The program was criticized from early on by Constantin Rădulescu-Motru
Constantin Radulescu-Motru
Constantin Rădulescu-Motru was a Romanian philosopher, psychologist, sociologist, logician, academic, dramatist, as well as centre-left nationalist politician with a noted anti-fascist discourse...
, Iorga's fellow nationalist and post-Junimist, who noted that the economic rationale behind it was unsound. According to Oldson, the claim that Jews were economic "vampires" was entirely unsubstantiated, even hypocritical: "[Iorga was] a 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...
n and fully aware of the complex causes of that province's poverty".
Iorga's personal conservative outlook, passed into the party doctrines, also implied a claim that the Jews were agents of rebellion against political and cultural authority. He had nevertheless opted for religious-cultural over racial antisemitism, believing that, at the core of civilization, there was a conflict between Christian values
Christian values
The term Christian values historically refers to the values found in the teachings of Jesus.The biblical teachings of Jesus include:* love of God: "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" ,...
and Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
. He also suggested that Romanian antisemitism was conjectural and defensive, segregationist
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
rather than destructive, and repeatedly argued that xenophobia was not in the national character—ideas paraphrased by Oldson as a "humane antisemitism". Oldson also refers to a paradox in the attitude of Iorga (and Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu
Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu was a Romanian writer and philologist, who pioneered many branches of Romanian philology and history. Hasdeu is considered to have been able to understand 26 languages .-Life:...
before him): "A self-consciously proclaimed esteem for a minuscule [Jewish] elite, then, went hand in hand with the utmost contempt and condescension for the bulk of Romanian Jewry."
Reviewing the impact of such ideas, literary critic William Totok referred to Neamul Românesc as "the most important platform of antisemitic agitation prior to World War I." Habitually, the magazine attacked the Jewish-owned papers Adevărul
Adevarul
Adevărul is a Romanian daily newspaper, based in Bucharest. Founded in 1871 and reestablished in 1888, it was the main left-wing press venue to be published during the Romanian Kingdom's existence, adopting an independent pro-democratic position, advocating land reform and universal suffrage...
and Dimineaţa, while claiming to document the "Judaization
Judaization
Judaization is a process of cultural assimilation in which a person or a demographic group acquires Jewish cultural and religious beliefs and values....
" of Romania's intellectual environments. It also specifically targeted Romanians who were friendly with Jews, one such case being that of writer Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
(attacked for his contacts with Şăineanu, dramatist Ronetti Roman and other Jews). Caragiale replied with noted irony, calling Iorga "tall but crooked".
Nicolae Iorga and A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza
A. C. Cuza was a Romanian far right politician and theorist.-Early life:Born in Iaşi, after attending secondary school in his native city and in Dresden, Cuza studied law at the University of Paris, the Universität unter den Linden, and the Université Libre de Bruxelles...
's modern revival of antisemitism, together with the core themes of Sămănătorul propaganda, were paradoxical sources of inspiration for the Iron Guard
Iron Guard
The Iron Guard is the name most commonly given to a far-right movement and political party in Romania in the period from 1927 into the early part of World War II. The Iron Guard was ultra-nationalist, fascist, anti-communist, and promoted the Orthodox Christian faith...
in its early years. However, with the interwar period
Interwar period
Interwar period can refer to any period between two wars. The Interbellum is understood to be the period between the end of the Great War or First World War and the beginning of the Second World War in Europe....
came a relaxation of Iorga's own antisemitic discourse. He recorded being touched by his warm reception among the Romanian American
Romanian American
A Romanian American is a citizen of the United States who has significant Romanian heritage. For the 2000 US Census, 367,310 Americans indicated Romanian as their first ancestry, while 462,526 persons declared to have Romanian ancestry...
Jewish community in 1930, and, after 1934, published his work with the Adevărul group. As Cuza himself began censuring this more tolerant discourse, Iorga even voiced his admiration for the Jewish mecena Aristide Blank. As noted by researcher George Voicu, the anti-"Judaization" discourse of the far right was by then turning against Iorga. However, the aging Iorga made occasional returns to antisemitic themes: in 1937-1938, he alleged that Jews were pressuring Romanians into leaving the country, and described the necessity of "delousing" Romania by colonizing Romanian Jews elsewhere.
Geopolitics
Iorga's changing sentiment flowed between the extremes of Francophilia and FrancophobiaFrancophobia
Francophobia or Gallophobia are terms that refer to a dislike or hatred toward France, the People of France, the Government of France, or the Francophonie...
. The Romanian scholar explained in detail his dislike for the Third Republic
French Third Republic
The French Third Republic was the republican government of France from 1870, when the Second French Empire collapsed due to the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, to 1940, when France was overrun by Nazi Germany during World War II, resulting in the German and Italian occupations of France...
's social and political landscape. He recalled that, in the 1890s, he had been shocked by the irreverence and cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
of French student society. In a 1906 speech, Iorga also noted that Francophone
Francophone
The adjective francophone means French-speaking, typically as primary language, whether referring to individuals, groups, or places. Often, the word is used as a noun to describe a natively French-speaking person....
elites and urban diglossia
Diglossia
In linguistics, diglossia refers to a situation in which two dialects or languages are used by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety , a second, highly codified variety is used in certain situations such as literature, formal...
were slowly destroying the country's social fiber, by creating a language gap between classes. Also, Neamul Românesc showed a preference for Action Française
Action Française
The Action Française , founded in 1898, is a French Monarchist counter-revolutionary movement and periodical founded by Maurice Pujo and Henri Vaugeois and whose principal ideologist was Charles Maurras...
and the French reactionary right in their conflict with the Third Republic. Shortly after the beginning of World War I, during the Battle of the Frontiers
Battle of the Frontiers
The Battle of the Frontiers was a series of battles fought along the eastern frontier of France and in southern Belgium shortly after the outbreak of World War I. The battles represented a collision between the military strategies of the French Plan XVII and the German Schlieffen Plan...
, Iorga publicized his renewed love for France, claiming that she was the only belligerent engaged in a purely defensive war
Defensive war
A defensive war is one of the causes that justify war by the criteria of the Just War tradition. It means a war where at least one nation is mainly trying to defend itself from another, as opposed to a war where both sides are trying to invade and conquer each other.-Examples:* The Darius'...
; in the name of Pan-Latinism, he later chided Spain for keeping neutral
Spain in World War I
Spain remained neutral throughout World War I between 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918, but despite domestic economic difficulties, it was considered "one of the most important neutral countries in Europe by 1915". Spain had enjoyed neutrality during the political difficulties of pre-war Europe, and...
.
Iorga's coverage of European culture and continental affairs also opened bridges with other cultural areas, particularly so during the interwar. By that time, historian Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
notes, he was seeing Europe as a community of nations, and, "in his own way", was rejecting isolationism or "primitive" xenophobia. According to academic Francesco Guida, Iorga's political and scholarly activities displayed a "great openness towards the outside world", even as, in 1930s France, public opinion was turning against him. Instead, Iorga affirmed himself as a promoter of English culture, making noted efforts at promoting awareness of its defining traits among the Romanian public. At the time, although flirting with Pan-European nationalism
Pan-European nationalism
The idea that Europe should be united politically has been present in European culture since the Middle Ages, and inspired several proposals for some form of confederation. With the growth of nationalism in the 19th century, several pan-national ideas of Europe developed, some of them based on...
, he stood in contrast with the Transylvanian-born Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu
Iuliu Maniu was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian politician. A leader of the National Party of Transylvania and Banat before and after World War I, he served as Prime Minister of Romania for three terms during 1928–1933, and, with Ion Mihalache, co-founded the National Peasants'...
for displaying no sympathy toward Danubian Confederation projects, believing them to conceal Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
's revanchism
Revanchism
Revanchism is a term used since the 1870s to describe a political manifestation of the will to reverse territorial losses incurred by a country, often following a war or social movement. Revanchism draws its strength from patriotic and retributionist thought and is often motivated by economic or...
.
Disenchanted with German culture after the shock of World War I, Iorga also had strong views on Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
in general, taking in view their contempt for the Versailles system
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
, but also their repressive politics. He summarized this in Sfaturi pe întuneric: "Beware my people for great dangers are stalking you... Borders are attacked, gutted, destroyed, gulped up. [...] There reemerges, in its cruelest form, the old theory that small states have no right to independence, that they fall within living spaces
Lebensraum
was one of the major political ideas of Adolf Hitler, and an important component of Nazi ideology. It served as the motivation for the expansionist policies of Nazi Germany, aiming to provide extra space for the growth of the German population, for a Greater Germany...
[...]. I cannot forget the past and I cannot reach an agreement with Hitler's dictatorship, being a man who cherishes freedom of thought". He later called Germany's Bohemia Protectorate
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was the majority ethnic-Czech protectorate which Nazi Germany established in the central parts of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia in what is today the Czech Republic...
a "Behemoth
Behemoth
Behemoth is a mythological beast mentioned in the Book of Job, 40:15-24. Metaphorically, the name has come to be used for any extremely large or powerful entity.-Plural as singular:...
", referring to its annexation as a "prehistoric" act. His anti-war
Anti-war
An anti-war movement is a social movement, usually in opposition to a particular nation's decision to start or carry on an armed conflict, unconditional of a maybe-existing just cause. The term can also refer to pacifism, which is the opposition to all use of military force during conflicts. Many...
texts of 1939 replied to claims that a new armed conflict would usher in national "vitality", and, during the September Campaign, expressed solidarity with Poland—Iorga's Polonophila was even noted by the Nazis, causing more frictions between Berlin and Bucharest. The conservative Iorga was however inclined to sympathize with other forms of totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever feasible...
or corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
, and, since the 1920s, viewed Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism
Italian Fascism also known as Fascism with a capital "F" refers to the original fascist ideology in Italy. This ideology is associated with the National Fascist Party which under Benito Mussolini ruled the Kingdom of Italy from 1922 until 1943, the Republican Fascist Party which ruled the Italian...
with some respect. Italian agents of influence hesitated between Iorga and the Iron Guard, but the Fascist International sought to include Iorga among its Romanian patrons; Iorga himself expressed regret that the Italian regime was primarily an ally of revanchist Hungary, but applauded the 1935 invasion of Ethiopia
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, and, to the alarm of France, repeatedly argued that an Italian alliance was more secure than the Little Entente
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and Yugoslavia with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revision and the prevention of a Habsburg restoration...
.
Nicolae Iorga's bitterness about Romanian geopolitical disadvantages was encoded in his oft-quoted remark about the country only having two peaceful borders: one with Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
, the other with the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. Despite these views, he endorsed the idea of minority rights
Minority rights
The term Minority Rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups...
in Greater Romania, attempting to find common ground with the Hungarian-Romanian community
Hungarians in Romania
The Hungarian minority of Romania is the largest ethnic minority in Romania, consisting of 1,431,807 people and making up 6.6% of the total population, according to the 2002 census....
. In addition to promoting inclusive action in government, Iorga declared himself against turning Hungarians and Transylvanian Saxons
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
into "pharisaic" Romanians by coercing them to adopt the Romanian tradition. In 1936, he even spoke in favor of Armenian Hungarian
Armenians in Hungary
Armenians in Hungary are ethnic Armenians living in the modern republic of Hungary. An estimated are up to 30,000 live in the nation today, making up roughly 0.01% of the population. Approximately two thirds of Hungary's Armenians population is found in Budapest and the surrounding Pest county...
archeologist Márton Roska, prosecuted in Romania for challenging official theses about Transylvania, arguing that Transylvania "cannot be defended with prison sentences". Iorga was also noted for fostering the academic career of Eufrosina Dvoichenko-Markov
Eufrosina Dvoichenko-Markov
Eufrosina Dvoichenko-Markov was an American citizen and spy for the New York KGB Rezidentura from 1943 to 1945. Her son Sgt. Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov of the United States Army, also worked for Soviet intelligence. Eufrosina provided Soviet intelligence with information on Romanians,...
, one of the few Russian-Romanian researchers of the interwar period. He was however skeptical about the Ukrainian identity
History of Ukrainian nationality
The history of Ukrainian nationality can be traced back the Kiev-based kingdom of Kievan Rus' of the 9th to 12th centuries. It was the predecessor state to what would eventually become the Eastern Slavic nations of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine...
and rejected the idea of an independent Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
on Romania's border, debating the issues with ethnographer Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Arbore
Zamfir Constantin Arbore was a Bukovinan-born Romanian political activist originally active in the Russian Empire, also known for his work as an amateur historian, geographer and ethnographer. Arbore debuted in left-wing politics from early in life, gained an intimate knowledge of the Russian...
.
Various of Iorga's tracts speak in favor of a common background uniting the diverse nations of the Balkans
Balkans
The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...
. Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n historian Maria Todorova
Maria Todorova
Maria N. Todorova is a Bulgarian historian and philosopher who is best known for her application of Edward Said's notion of "Orientalism" to the Balkans. She is the daughter of former Bulgarian President Nikolai Todorov.-Career:...
suggests that, unlike many of his predecessors, Iorga was not alarmed Romania being perceived as a Balkan country, and did not attach a negative connotation to this affiliation (even though, she notes, Iorga explicitly placed the northern limit of the Balkans on 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....
, just south of Wallachia). In the 1930s, the Romanian scholar spoke with respect about all the Balkan peoples, but claimed that Balkan statehood was "Oriental" and underdeveloped.
Iorga's reputation for genius
Iorga the European scholar has drawn comparisons with figures such as VoltaireVoltaire
François-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire , was a French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, free trade and separation of church and state...
, 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...
, Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke
Leopold von Ranke was a German historian, considered one of the founders of modern source-based history. Ranke set the standards for much of later historical writing, introducing such ideas as reliance on primary sources , an emphasis on narrative history and especially international politics .-...
and Claudio Sánchez-Albornoz. Having achieved fluency in some 12 foreign languages, he was an exceptionally prolific author: according to his biographer Barbu Theodorescu, the total of his published contributions, both volumes and brochures, was 1,359. His work in documenting Romania's historical past could reach an unprecedented intensity, one such exceptional moment being a 1903 study trip to Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu
Târgu Jiu is the capital of Gorj County, Oltenia, Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight villages are administered by the city: Bârseşti, Drăgoeni, Iezureni, Polata, Preajba Mare, Româneşti, Slobozia and Ursaţi.-History:The city takes its name...
, a three-day interval during which he copied and summarized 320 individual documents, covering the entire period between 1501 and 1833. His mentor and rival Xenopol was among the first voices to discuss his genius, his 1911 Academy speech in honor of Nicolae Iorga making special note of his "absolutely extraordinary memory" and his creative energy, and concluding: "one asks himself in wonder how a brain was able to conceive of so many things and a hand was able to record them". In 1940, Rădulescu-Motru likewise argued that Iorga had been "a creator [...] of unparalleled fecundity", while Enciclopedia Cugetarea deemed him the greatest-ever mind in Romania. According to literary historian George Călinescu
George Calinescu
George Călinescu was a Romanian literary critic, historian, novelist, academician and journalist, and a writer of classicist and humanist tendencies...
, Iorga's "huge" and "monstrously" comprehensive research, leaving no other historian "the joy of adding something", was matched by the everyday persona, a "hero of the ages".
The level of Iorga's productivity and the quality of his historical writing were also highlighted by more modern researchers. Literary historian Ovid Crohmălniceanu opined that Iorga's scientific work was one of the "illustrious accomplishments" of the interwar years, on par with Constantin Brâncuşi
Constantin Brancusi
Constantin Brâncuşi was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris...
's sculptures and George Enescu
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
's music. Romanian historian of culture Alexandru Zub
Alexandru Zub
Alexandru Zub is a Romanian historian, biographer, essayist, political activist and academic. A former Professor at the University of Iaşi, noted for his contribution to the study of cultural history and Romanian history, he is currently head of the A. D. Xenopol Institute of History and Archeology...
finds that Iorga's is "surely the richest opus coming from the 20th century", while Maria Todorova calls Iorga "Romania's greatest historian", adding "at least in terms of the size of his opus and his influence both at home and abroad". According to philosopher Liviu Bordaş, Iorga's main topic of interest, the relation between Romania and the Eastern world
Eastern world
__FORCETOC__The term Eastern world refers very broadly to the various cultures or social structures and philosophical systems of Eastern Asia or geographically the Eastern Culture...
, was exhaustively covered: "nothing escaped this sacred monster's attention: Iorga had read everything."
Method and biases
The definition of history followed by Iorga was specified in his 1894 Despre concepţia actuală a istoriei şi geneza ei: "History is the systematic exposition, free from all unrelated purpose, of facts irrespective of their nature, methodically acquired, through which human activity manifested itself, irrespective of place and time." With Ioan Bogdan and Dimitrie Onciul, young Iorga was considered an exponent of the "new" or "criticalCritical historiography
Critical historiography approaches the history of art, literature or architecture from a critical theory perspective. Critical historiography is used by various scholars in recent decades to emphasize the ambiguous relationship between the past and the writing of history.A type of critical...
" school, with which Junimism tackled Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
in the name of objectivity. However, even at that stage, Iorga's ideas accommodated a belief that history needed to be written with a "poetic talent" that would make one "relieve" the past.
By 1902, he had changed his approach in historiography
Historiography
Historiography refers either to the study of the history and methodology of history as a discipline, or to a body of historical work on a specialized topic...
to include and illustrate his belief in emotional attachment as a positive value of cultural nationalism. He would speak of historians as "elders of [their] nation", and dismissed academic specialization
Academic specialization
In academia, specialization may be a course of study or major at an academic institution or may refer to the field that a specialist practices in....
as a "blindfold". Reflecting back on the transition, Iorga himself stated: "The love for the past, for great figures of energy and sincerity, [...] the exact contrary of tendencies I had found existed among my contemporaries, had gripped me and, added to my political preoccupations, such awakenings served me, when it came to criticizing things present, more than any argument that is abstract, logical in nature." The point of his research, Iorga explained in 1922, was to show "the nation itself as a living being". According to literary historian Victor Iova: "[Iorga's] overall activity [...] did not just seek the communication of knowledge, but also expressly sought to define the social finality of his time, its ethical sense and his own patriotic
Patriotism
Patriotism is a devotion to one's country, excluding differences caused by the dependencies of the term's meaning upon context, geography and philosophy...
ideal." The 1911 speech Două concepţii istorice nevertheless provided a more nuanced outline, cautioning against a potential cult of heroes and suggesting that national histories were inextricably linked to each other: "The life of a people is at all times mingled with the lives of others, existing in relation with these and at all times feeding into the others' lives."
According to George Călinescu, Nicolae Iorga was overdependent on his memory, which could result in "utterly fictitious" critical apparatus
Critical apparatus
The critical apparatus is the critical and primary source material that accompanies an edition of a text. A critical apparatus is often a by-product of textual criticism....
es for his scientific works. Călinescu suggests that Iorga was an "anachronistic" type in his context: "approved only by failures", aged before his time, modeling himself on ancient chroniclers and out of place in modern historiography. In the 1930s, Iorga's status in regulating the official historical narrative was challenged by Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C . Giurescu was a Romanian historian, member of Romanian Academy and professor at the University of Bucharest.Born in Focşani, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, he completed his primary and secondary studies in Bucharest...
, P. P. Panaitescu and Gheorghe Brătianu, who wanted to return academic discourse back to the basic Junimist caveats, and were seen by Iorga as "denialists". For all the controversy, Lucian Boia suggests, neither of the Revista Istorică Română publishers was completely beyond Iorga's subjectivity, pathos or political bias, even though Panaitescu was for long "closer" to the Junimist model. A particular challenge to Iorga's historical narrative also came from rival Hungarian historiography: in 1929, Benedek Jancsó called Iorga's science a branch of "Romanian imperialist
Imperialism
Imperialism, as defined by Dictionary of Human Geography, is "the creation and/or maintenance of an unequal economic, cultural, and territorial relationships, usually between states and often in the form of an empire, based on domination and subordination." The imperialism of the last 500 years,...
nationalism", his argument rejected as "false logic" by the Romanian. Iorga had a friendly attitude toward other Hungarian scholars, including Árpád Bitay and Imre Kádár, who were his guests at Vălenii.
Several other historians have expressed criticism of Iorga's bias and agenda. R.W. Seton-Watson
Robert William Seton-Watson
Robert William Seton-Watson , commonly referred to as R.W. Seton-Watson, and also known by the pseudonym Scotus Viator, was a British political activist and historian who played an active role in encouraging the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the emergence of Czechoslovakia and...
regarded him as "prolific" and "bahnbrechend", but mentioned his "slovenly style." In 1945, Hugh Seton-Watson
Hugh Seton-Watson
George Hugh Nicholas Seton-Watson , was a British historian and political scientist specializing in Russia.-Early life:...
spoke of the "great Roumanian Professor" having contributed "erudite chronology, written in a highly romantic and bombastic spirit." In his own Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time, Iorga's German colleague Franz Babinger
Franz Babinger
Franz Babinger was a pioneering historian of the Ottoman Empire, best known for his authoritative biography of the great Ottoman emperor Mehmed II known as the Conqueror, originally published as Mehmed der Eroberer und seine Zeit...
also noted that Iorga could get "carried away by national pride". Medievalist Kenneth Setton
Kenneth Setton
Kenneth Meyer Setton was an American historian and an expert on the history of medieval Europe.- Early life, education and awards :...
also described Iorga as "the great Rumanian historian [...] who was sometimes intoxicated by the grandeur of his own historical concepts, but whose work is always illuminating." While Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese sociologist Kosaku Yoshino sees Iorga as a main contributor to didactic and dramatized cultural nationalism in Europe, University of Trento
University of Trento
The University of Trento is an Italian university located in the cities of Trento and Rovereto. It has been able to achieve considerable results in didactics, research and international relations, as shown by Censis University Guide and by the Italian Ministry of...
academic Paul Blokker suggests that, although "politicized, essentialist
Essentialism
In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
and sometimes anachronistic", Iorga's writings can be critically recovered. Ioana Both notes: "A creator with titan-like forces, Iorga is more a visionary of history than a historian". Bordaş criticizes Iorga's habit of recording "everything" into his studies, and without arranging the facts described into an "epistemological relationship".
Despite Iorga's ambition of fusing research and pedagogy
Pedagogy
Pedagogy is the study of being a teacher or the process of teaching. The term generally refers to strategies of instruction, or a style of instruction....
, his students, both rivals and friends, often noted that he was inferior to other colleagues when it came to teaching, in particular in directing advanced classes—his popularity, it was claimed, dropped with time, after the aging Iorga became aggressive toward some of his students. In 1923, even an old friend like Sextil Puşcariu could accuse Iorga of behaving like a "dictator". In compensation, the historian fulfilled this function with his activity in the media and in the field of popular history
Popular history
Popular history is a broad and somewhat ill-defined genre of historiography that takes a popular approach, aims at a wide readership, and usually emphasizes narrative, personality and vivid detail over scholarly analysis...
, at which he was, according to historian Lucian Nastasă, masterful but vulgarizing.
Iorga and Romanian ethnogenesis
Iorga's ideas on the origin of the Romanians, and his explanation for the more mysterious parts of that lengthy ethnogenesisEthnogenesis
Ethnogenesis is the process by which a group of human beings comes to be understood or to understand themselves as ethnically distinct from the wider social landscape from which their grouping emerges...
process, were shaped by his both his scientific and ideological preoccupations. Some of Iorga's studies focused specifically on the original events in the process: ancient Dacia
Dacia
In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...
's conquest by the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
(Trajan's Dacian Wars), and the subsequent foundation of Roman Dacia
Roman Dacia
The Roman province of Dacia on the Balkans included the modern Romanian regions of Transylvania, Banat and Oltenia, and temporarily Muntenia and southern Moldova, but not the nearby regions of Moesia...
. His account is decidedly in support of Romania's Roman (Latin)
Latins
"Latins" refers to different groups of people and the meaning of the word changes for where and when it is used.The original Latins were an Italian tribe inhabiting central and south-central Italy. Through conquest by their most populous city-state, Rome, the original Latins culturally "Romanized"...
roots, and even suggests that Romanization
Romanization (cultural)
Romanization or latinization indicate different historical processes, such as acculturation, integration and assimilation of newly incorporated and peripheral populations by the Roman Republic and the later Roman Empire...
preceded the actual conquest. However, he viewed the autochthonous element in this acculturation
Acculturation
Acculturation explains the process of cultural and psychological change that results following meeting between cultures. The effects of acculturation can be seen at multiple levels in both interacting cultures. At the group level, acculturation often results in changes to culture, customs, and...
, the Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
(collocated by him with the Getae
Getae
The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...
), as historically significant, and he even considered them the source for Romania's later links with the Balkan "Thracian
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
" space. Through the Thracians and the Illyrians
Illyrians
The Illyrians were a group of tribes who inhabited part of the western Balkans in antiquity and the south-eastern coasts of the Italian peninsula...
, Iorga believed to have found a common root for all Balkan peoples, and an ethnic layer which he believed was still observable after later conquests. He was nevertheless explicit in distancing himself from the speculative texts of Dacianist Nicolae Densuşianu
Nicolae Densusianu
Nicolae Densuşianu was a Transylvanian-born Romanian ethnologist and collector of Romanian folklore. His main work, for which he is chiefly remembered, was the posthumously printed Dacia Preistorică , with a preface contributed by C. I...
, where Dacia was described as the source of all European civilization.
Iorga had a complex personal perspective on the little-documented Dark Age history
Romania in the Early Middle Ages
The Early Middle Ages in Romania spans the period from the withdrawal of the Roman administration from the province of Dacia in the 271–275 AD, thenceforward modern Romania's territories were to be crisscrossed by migrating populations for almost 1,000 years...
, between the Roman departure (271 AD) and the 14th century emergence of two 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...
: 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...
and 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...
. Despite the separate histories and conflicting allegiances these regions had during the High Middle Ages
Romania in the Middle Ages
The Middle Ages in Romania began with the withdrawal of the Mongols, the last of the migrating populations to invade the territory of modern Romania, after their attack of 1241–1242...
, he tended to group the two Principalities and medieval Transylvania
History of Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of the Romania. In ancient times it was part of the Dacian Kingdom and Roman Dacia. Since the 10th century, Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary...
together, into a vague non-stately entity he named "the Romanian Land". Iorga cautioned about the emergence of states from a stateless society
Stateless society
A stateless society is a society that is not governed by a state. In stateless societies, there is little concentration of authority; most positions of authority that do exist are very limited in power and are generally not permanently held positions; and social bodies that resolve disputes through...
such as the proto-Romanian one: "The state is a late, very elevated, very delicate form that, under certain conditions, may be reached by a people. [...] There was therefore no state, but a Romanian mass living in the midst of forests, in those villages harbored by protective forests, where it is just as true that a certain way of life could emerge, sometimes on a rather elevated level."
Echoing his political conservatism, Iorga's theory proposed that the Romanized Dacians, or all their Vlach-Romanian successors, had created peasant republics to defend themselves against the invading nomads. It spoke of the rapid ruralization of Latin urban dwellers—suggested to him by etymologies
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...
such as the derivation of pământ ("soil") from pavimentum, and the creation of "genealogical villages" around common ancestors (moşi) or the ancient communal sharing of village lands, in the manner imagined by writer Nicolae Bălcescu
Nicolae Balcescu
Nicolae Bălcescu was a Romanian Wallachian soldier, historian, journalist, and leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution.-Early life:...
. Iorga also supposed that, during the 12th century, there was an additional symbiosis between settled Vlachs and their conquerors, the nomadic Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
.
Iorga's peasant polities, sometimes described by him as Romanii populare ("people's Romanias", "people's Roman-like polities"), were seen by him as the sources of a supposed uncodified constitution in both Moldavia and Wallachia. That constitutional system, he argued, created solidarity: the countries' hospodar
Hospodar
Hospodar or gospodar is a term of Slavonic origin, meaning "lord" or "master".The rulers of Wallachia and Moldavia were styled hospodars in Slavic writings from the 15th century to 1866. Hospodar was used in addition to the title voivod...
rulers were themselves peasants, elected to high military office by their peers, and protecting the entire community. Unlike Ioan Bogdan and others, Iorga strongly rejected any notion that the South Slavs
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
had been an additional contributor to ethnogenesis, and argued that Slavic idioms
South Slavic languages
The South Slavic languages comprise one of three branches of the Slavic languages. There are approximately 30 million speakers, mainly in the Balkans. These are separated geographically from speakers of the other two Slavic branches by a belt of German, Hungarian and Romanian speakers...
were a sustained but nonessential influence in historical Romanian
History of the Romanian language
-Dacia and Romanization:The Romanian territory was inhabited in ancient times by the Dacians, an Indo-European people. They were defeated by the Roman Empire in 106 and part of Dacia became a Roman province...
. Until 1919, he was cautious about counting the Romanians and Aromanians
Aromanians
Aromanians are a Latin people native throughout the southern Balkans, especially in northern Greece, Albania, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and as an emigrant community in Serbia and Romania . An older term is Macedo-Romanians...
as one large ethnic group, but later came to share the inclusivist views of his Romanian colleagues. Iorga also stood out among his generation for flatly rejecting any notion that the 12th-century Second Bulgarian Empire
Second Bulgarian Empire
The Second Bulgarian Empire was a medieval Bulgarian state which existed between 1185 and 1396 . A successor of the First Bulgarian Empire, it reached the peak of its power under Kaloyan and Ivan Asen II before gradually being conquered by the Ottomans in the late 14th-early 15th century...
was a "Vlach-Bulgarian" or "Romanian-Bulgarian" project, noting that the Vlach achievements there benefited "another nation" (Iorga's italics).
The stately foundation of Moldavia
Foundation of Moldavia
The foundation of Moldavia is linked by medieval chronicles to Dragoş, a Romanian nobleman from Maramureş . But Dragoş took possession of the province, in the 1350s, in the name of King Louis I of Hungary...
and of Wallachia
Foundation of Wallachia
The foundation of Wallachia , that is the establishment of the first independent Romanian principality, was achieved at the beginning of the 14th century, through the unification of smaller political units that had existed between the Carpathian Mountains, and the Rivers Danube, Siret and...
, Iorga thought, were linked to the emergence of major trade route
Trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a single trade route contains long distance arteries which may further be connected to several smaller networks of commercial...
s in the 14th century, and not to the political initiative of military elites. Likewise, Iorga looked into the genesis 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....
dom, describing the selective progression of free peasants into a local aristocracy. He described the later violent clash between hospodars and boyars as one between national interest
National interest
The national interest, often referred to by the French expression raison d'État , is a country's goals and ambitions whether economic, military, or cultural. The concept is an important one in international relations where pursuit of the national interest is the foundation of the realist...
and disruptive centrifugal tendencies, suggesting that prosperous boyardom had undermined the balance of the peasant state. His theory about the peasant nature of Romanian statehood was hotly debated in his lifetime, particularly after a 1920 discovery showed that Radu I of Wallachia
Radu I of Wallachia
Radu I was a ruler of the principality of Wallachia, ....
had been buried in the full regalia of medieval lords. Another one of his influential (but disputed) claims attributed the appearance of pre-modern slavery
Slavery in Romania
Slavery existed on the territory of present-day Romania from before the founding of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 13th–14th century, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma ethnicity...
, mainly affecting the Romani (Gypsy) minority
Roma minority in Romania
The Roma constitute one of the major minorities in Romania. According to the 2002 census, they number 535,140 people or 2.5% of the total population, being the second-largest ethnic minority in Romania after Hungarians...
, exclusively on alien customs borrowed from the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
. Iorga's verdicts as a medievalist also produced a long-standing controversy about the real location of the 1330 Battle of Posada
Battle of Posada
The Battle of Posada was fought between Basarab I of Wallachia and Charles I Robert of Hungary.The small Wallachian army led by Basarab, formed of cavalry, foot archers, as well as local peasants, managed to ambush and defeat the 30,000-strong Hungarian army, in a mountainous region near the...
—so-named by him after an obscure reference in the Chronicon Pictum
Chronicon Pictum
The Chronicon Pictum Pictum, Chronica Picta or Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum) is a medieval illustrated chronicle from the Kingdom of Hungary from the fourteenth century...
—whereby the Wallachian Princes secured their throne.
A major point of contention between Panaitescu and Iorga referred to Michael the Brave's historical achievements: sacrilegious in the eyes of Iorga, Panaitescu placed in doubt Michael's claim to princely descent, and described him as mainly the political agent of boyar interests. Contradicting the Romantic nationalist tradition, Iorga also agreed with younger historians that, for most of their history, Romanians in Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania were more justifiably attached to their polities than to national awakening
National awakening of Romania
During the period of Austro-Hungarian rule in Transylvania and Ottoman suzerainty over Wallachia and Moldavia, most Romanians were treated as second-class citizens in their country...
ideals. Panaitescu was however more categorical than Iorga in affirming that Michael the Brave's expeditions were motivated by political opportunism rather than by a pan-Romanian national awareness.
Byzantine and Ottoman studies
Two of Iorga's major fields of expertise were Byzantine studiesByzantine studies
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, costumes, religion, art, such as literature and music, science, economy, and politics of the Byzantine Empire. The discipline's founder in Germany is considered to be the philologist Hieronymus...
and Turkology
Turkology
Turkology is a complex of humanities sciences studying languages, history, literature, folklore, culture, and ethnology of people speaking Turkic languages and Turkic peoples in chronological and comparative context...
. A significant portion of his contributions in the field detailed the impact of Byzantine influences on the Danubian Principalities and the Balkans at large. He described the "Byzantine man" as embodying the blend of several cultural universes: Greco-Roman
Greco-Roman world
The Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman culture, or the term Greco-Roman , when used as an adjective, as understood by modern scholars and writers, refers to those geographical regions and countries that culturally were directly, protractedly and intimately influenced by the language, culture,...
, Levant
Levant
The Levant or ) is the geographic region and culture zone of the "eastern Mediterranean littoral between Anatolia and Egypt" . The Levant includes most of modern Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian territories, and sometimes parts of Turkey and Iraq, and corresponds roughly to the...
ine and Eastern Christian
Eastern Christianity
Eastern Christianity comprises the Christian traditions and churches that developed in the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Asia Minor, the Middle East, Northeastern Africa, India and parts of the Far East over several centuries of religious antiquity. The term is generally used in Western Christianity to...
. In this context, Iorga was also exploring Romania's own identity issues as a confluence of Byzantine Eastern Orthodoxy and a Western Roman
Western Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
linguistic imprint.
Iorga's writings insisted on the importance of Byzantine Greek
Byzantine Greeks
Byzantine Greeks or Byzantines is a conventional term used by modern historians to refer to the medieval Greek or Hellenised citizens of the Byzantine Empire, centered mainly in Constantinople, the southern Balkans, the Greek islands, Asia Minor , Cyprus and the large urban centres of the Near East...
and Levantine influences in the two countries after the fall of Constantinople
Fall of Constantinople
The Fall of Constantinople was the capture of the capital of the Byzantine Empire, which occurred after a siege by the Ottoman Empire, under the command of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI...
: his notion of "Byzantium after Byzantium" postulated that the cultural forms produced by the Byzantine Empire had been preserved by the Principalities under Ottoman suzerainty
Suzerainty
Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...
(roughly, between the 16th and 18th centuries). Additionally, the Romanian scholar described the Ottoman Empire itself as the inheritor of Byzantine government, legal culture
Byzantine law
Byzantine Law was essentially a continuation of Roman Law with Christian influence, however, this is not to doubt its later influence on the western practice of jurisprudence...
and civilization, up to the Age of Revolution
Age of Revolution
The Age of Revolution is a term used to denote the period from approximately 1775 to 1848 in which a number of significant revolutionary movements occurred on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean in Europe and the Americas. The period is noted for the change in government from absolutist monarchies to...
. However, the Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches postulated that the Ottoman decline
Decline of the Ottoman Empire
The Decline of the Ottoman Empire is the period that followed after the Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire in which the empire experienced several economic and political setbacks. Directly affecting the Empire at this time was Russian imperialism...
was irreversible, citing uncompromising Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
as one of the causes, and playing down the cohesive action of Ottomanism
Ottomanism
Ottomanism was a concept which developed prior to the First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could solve the social issues that the empire was facing. Ottomanism was highly affected by thinkers such as Montesquieu and Rousseau and the French Revolution. It...
.
The post-Byzantine thesis was taken by various commentators as further proof that the Romanian historian, unlike many of his contemporaries, accepted a level of multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
or acculturation in defining modern Romanian identity. Semiotician
Semiotics
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes , indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication...
Monica Spiridon writes: "Iorga highly valued the idea of cultural confluence and hybridity." Similarly, Maria Todorova
Maria Todorova
Maria N. Todorova is a Bulgarian historian and philosopher who is best known for her application of Edward Said's notion of "Orientalism" to the Balkans. She is the daughter of former Bulgarian President Nikolai Todorov.-Career:...
notes that, although it minimized the Ottoman contribution and displayed "emotional or evaluative overtones", such a perspective ran against the divisive interpretations of the Balkans, offering a working paradigm for a global history of the region: "Although Iorga's theory may be today [ca. 2009] no more than an exotic episode in the development of Balkan historiography, his formulation Byzance après Byzance is alive not only because it was a fortunate phrase but because it reflects more than its creator would intimate. It is a good descriptive term, particularly for representing the commonalities of the Orthodox peoples in the Ottoman Empire [...], but also in emphasizing the continuity of two imperial traditions". With his research, Iorga also rehabilitated the Phanariotes
Phanariotes
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...
, Greek or Hellenized
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
aristocrats who controlled Wallachia and Moldavia in Ottoman times, and whom Romanian historiography before him presented as wreckers of the country.
Beginnings
Iorga's tolerance for the national bias in historiography and his own political profile were complemented in the field of literature and the arts by his strong belief in didacticism. Art's mission was, in his view, to educate and empower the Romanian peasant. The rejection of art for art's sakeArt for art's sake
"Art for art's sake" is the usual English rendering of a French slogan, from the early 19th century, l'art pour l'art, and expresses a philosophy that the intrinsic value of art, and the only "true" art, is divorced from any didactic, moral or utilitarian function...
, whose indifference in front of nationality issues enraged the historian, was notably illustrated by his 1902 letter to the like-minded Luceafărul editors, which stated: "You gentlemen should not allow aesthetic preoccupations to play the decisive part, and you are not granted such circumstances as to dedicate yourselves to pure art. [...] Do not imitate [...], do not allow yourselves to be tempted by things you have read elsewhere. Write about things from your country and about the Romanian soul therein." His ambition was to contribute an alternative to Junimist literary history, and, according to comparatist
Comparative literature
Comparative literature is an academic field dealing with the literature of two or more different linguistic, cultural or national groups...
John Neubauer, for the first time integrate "the various Romanian texts and writers into a grand narrative of an organic and spontaneous growth of native creativity, based on local tradition and folklore
Folklore of Romania
A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre...
." Iorga described painter Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu
Nicolae Grigorescu was one of the founders of modern Romanian painting.-Biography:He was born in Pitaru, Dâmboviţa County, Wallachia. In 1843 the family moved to Bucharest. At a young age , he became an apprentice at the workshop of the painter Anton Chladek and created icons for the church of...
as the purveyor of national pride, and was enthusiastic about Stoica D., the war artist
War artist
A war artist depicts some aspect of war through art; this might be a pictorial record or it might commemorate how "war shapes lives." War artists have explored a visual and sensory dimension of war which is often absent in written histories or other accounts of warfare.- Definition and context:A...
. He recommended artists to study handicraft
Handicraft
Handicraft, more precisely expressed as artisanic handicraft, sometimes also called artisanry, is a type of work where useful and decorative devices are made completely by hand or by using only simple tools. It is a traditional main sector of craft. Usually the term is applied to traditional means...
s, even though, an adversary of the pastiche
Pastiche
A pastiche is a literary or other artistic genre or technique that is a "hodge-podge" or imitation. The word is also a linguistic term used to describe an early stage in the development of a pidgin language.-Hodge-podge:...
, he strongly objected to Brâncovenesc revival style taken up by his generation. His own monographs on Romanian art
Art of Romania
Art of Romania encompasses the artists and artistic movements in Romania.-Romanian contemporary and modern artists:* Almaşan Virgil* Adela Andea* George Apostu* Corneliu Baba* Calin Baban* Sabin Bălaşa* Horia Bernea* Traian Brădean...
and folklore, admired in their time by art historian Gheorghe Oprescu, were later rated by ethologist Romulus Vulcănescu a sample of microhistory
Microhistory
Microhistory is the intensive historical investigation of a well defined smaller unit of research...
, rather than a groundbreaking new research.
Initially, with Opinions sincères, Iorga offered a historian's manifesto against the whole cultural establishment, likened by historian Ovidiu Pecican
Ovidiu Pecican
Ovidiu Coriolan Pecican is a Romanian historian, essayist, novelist, short-story writer, literary critic, poet, playwright, and journalist...
with Allan Bloom
Allan Bloom
Allan David Bloom was an American philosopher, classicist, and academic. He studied under David Grene, Leo Strauss, Richard McKeon and Alexandre Kojève. He subsequently taught at Cornell University, the University of Toronto, Yale University, École Normale Supérieure of Paris, and the University...
's 1980s critique of American culture. Before 1914, Iorga focused his critical attention on Romanian Symbolists
Symbolist movement in Romania
The Symbolist movement in Romania, active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, marked the development of Romanian culture in both literature and visual arts...
, whom he denounced for their erotic style
Erotic literature
Erotic literature comprises fictional and factual stories and accounts of human sexual relationships which have the power to or are intended to arouse the reader sexually. Such erotica takes the form of novels, short stories, poetry, true-life memoirs, and sex manuals...
(called "lupanarium
Lupanar (Pompeii)
The Lupanar of Pompeii is the most famous brothel in the ruined Roman city of Pompeii. It is of particular interest for the erotic paintings on its walls. "Lupanar" is one of the most common words in Latin for "brothel" and means "den of she-wolves," lupa being misogynistic slang for "prostitute,...
literature" by Iorga) and aestheticism
Aestheticism
Aestheticism was a 19th century European art movement that emphasized aesthetic values more than socio-political themes for literature, fine art, the decorative arts, and interior design...
—in one instance, he even scolded Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul
Sămănătorul or Semănătorul was a literary and political magazine published in Romania between 1901 and 1910. Founded by poets Alexandru Vlahuţă and George Coşbuc, it is primarily remembered as a tribune for early 20th century traditionalism, neoromanticism and ethnic nationalism...
contributor Dimitrie Anghel
Dimitrie Anghel
Dimitrie Anghel was a Romanian poet.His first poem was published in Contemporanul...
for his floral-themed Symbolist poems. His own theses were ridiculed early in the 20th century by Symbolists such as Emil Isac
Emil Isac
Emil Isac was an Austro-Hungarian-born Romanian poet, dramatist, short story writer and critic. Noted as one of the pioneers of Symbolism and modernist literature in his native region of Transylvania, he was in tandem one of the leading young voices of the Symbolist movement in the neighboring...
, Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu
Ovid Densusianu was a Romanian poet, philologist, linguist and folklorist. He is known for introducing new trends of European modernism into Romanian literature.He was a professor at the University of Bucharest, and a member of the Romanian Academy....
or Ion Minulescu
Ion Minulescu
Ion Minulescu was a Romanian avant-garde poet, novelist, short story writer, journalist, literary critic, and playwright. Often publishing his works under the pseudonyms I. M. Nirvan and Koh-i-Noor , he journeyed to Paris, where he was heavily influenced by the growing Symbolist movement and...
, and toned down by Sămănătorul poet Ştefan Octavian Iosif
Stefan Octavian Iosif
Ştefan Octavian Iosif was a Romanian poet and translator of Aromanian origin.-Life:Born in Braşov, Transylvania , he studied in his native town and in Sibiu before completing his education in Paris. While in France, he met Dimitrie Anghel, who would became a long-time friend...
.
After his own Marxist beginnings, Iorga was also a critic of Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea
Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea was a Romanian Marxist theorist, politician, sociologist, literary critic, and journalist....
's socialist and Poporanist
Poporanism
The word “poporanism” is derived from “popor”, meaning “people” in the Romanian language. The ideology of Romanian Populism and poporanism are interchangeable. Founded by Constantin Stere in the early 1890s, populism is distinguished by its opposition to socialism, promotion of voting rights for...
school, and treated its literature with noted disdain. In reply, Russian Marxist journalist Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky , born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army....
accused him of wishing to bury all left-wing contributions to culture, and local socialist Henric Sanielevici wrote that Iorga's literary doctrine did not live up to its moral goals. Iorga wrote with noted warmth about Contemporanul
Contemporanul
Contemporanul is a Romanian literary magazine published in Iaşi, Romania from 1881 to 1891 being sponsored by the socialist circle of the city....
and its cultural agenda, but concluded that Poporanists represented merely "the left-wing current of the National Liberal Party".
Campaigns against modernism
Iorga's direct influence as a critic had largely faded by the 1920s, owing in part to his decision of concentrating his energy elsewhere. Nevertheless, he was still often involved at the forefront of cultural campaigns against the various manifestations of modernismModernism
Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...
, initiating polemics with all the circles representing Romania's new literary and artistic trends: the moderate Sburătorul
Sburatorul
Sburătorul was a Romanian modernist literary magazine and literary society, established in Bucharest in April 1919. Led by Eugen Lovinescu, the circle was instrumental in developing new trends and styles in Romanian literature, ranging from a new wave of Romanian Symbolism to an urban-themed...
review of literary theorist Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu
Eugen Lovinescu was a Romanian modernist literary historian, literary critic, academic, and novelist, who in 1919 established the Sburătorul literary club. He was the father of Monica Lovinescu, and the uncle of Horia Lovinescu, Vasile Lovinescu, and Anton Holban...
; the eclectic Contimporanul
Contimporanul
Contimporanul was a Romanian avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 and 1932...
magazine; the Expressionist
Expressionism
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany at the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas...
cell affiliated with the traditionalist magazine Gândirea
Gândirea
Gândirea , known during its early years as Gândirea Literară - Artistică - Socială , was a Romanian literary, political and art magazine.- Overview :Founded by Cezar Petrescu and D. I...
; and ultimately the various local branches of Dada
Dada
Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
or Surrealism
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
. In some of his essays, Iorga identified Expressionism with the danger of Germanization, a phenomenon he described as "intolerable" (although, as art historian Dan Grigorescu notes, these texts meant that Iorga was, unwittingly, among the first Romanian critics to comment on Expressionism). In an analogy present in a 1922 article for Gazeta Transilvaniei, Iorga suggested that the same "German" threat was agitating the avant-garde voices of Latin Europe
Latin Europe
Latin Europe is a loose term for the region of Europe with an especially strong Latin cultural heritage inherited from the Roman Empire.-Application:...
, Futurists
Futurism
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century.Futurism or futurist may refer to:* Afrofuturism, an African-American and African diaspora subculture* Cubo-Futurism* Ego-Futurism...
and Dadaist "energumens" alike. During the 1930s, as the cultural and political climate changed, Iorga's main accusation against Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi
Tudor Arghezi was a Romanian writer, best known for his contribution to poetry and children's literature. Born Ion N. Theodorescu in Bucharest , he explained that his pen name was related to Argesis, the Latin name for the Argeş River.-Early life:Along with Mihai Eminescu, Mateiu Caragiale, and...
, Lucian Blaga
Lucian Blaga
-Biography:Lucian Blaga was a commanding personality of the Romanian culture of the interbellum period. He was a philosopher and writer higly acclaimed for his originality, a university professor and a diplomat. He was born on May 9, 1895 in Lancrăm, near Alba Iulia, Romania, his father being an...
, Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
, Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu
Liviu Rebreanu was a Romanian novelist, playwright, short story writer, and journalist.- Life :Born in Târlișua , Transylvania, then part of Austria-Hungary, he was the second of thirteen children born to Vasile Rebreanu, a schoolteacher, and Ludovica Diuganu, descendants of peasants...
, George Mihail Zamfirescu and other Romanian modernists was their supposed practice of literary "pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
".
The ensuing polemics were often bitter, and Iorga's vehemence was met with ridicule by his modernist adversaries. Sburătorul literary chronicler Felix Aderca
Felix Aderca
Felix Aderca or F. Aderca Aderca, also known as Zelicu Froim Adercu or Froim Aderca; March 13, 1891 – December 12, 1962) was a Romanian novelist, playwright, poet, journalist and critic, noted as a representative of rebellious modernism in the context of Romanian literature...
saw in Iorga the driver of "the boorish carts of Sămănătorism", and Blaga called him "the collective name for a multitude of monsters." Iorga's stance on "pornography" only attracted provocation from the younger avant-garde writers. While he was Premier, the Dada youth printing the licentious art magazine Alge sent him a copy for review; prosecuted on Iorga's orders, they all later became left-wing authors and artists: Aurel Baranga, Gherasim Luca
Gherasim Luca
Gherasim Luca was a Surrealist theorist and Romanian poet. He is frequently cited in the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.- Biography :...
, Paul Păun
Paul Păun
Paul Păun or Paúl Yvenez was a Romanian Surrealist artist and writer, as well as a trained physician.-Biography:...
, Jules Perahim.
A lengthy polemic consumed Iorga's relationship with Lovinescu, having at its core the irreconcilable differences between their visions of cultural history. Initially a Iorga aficionado and an admirer of his attack on foreign influences, the Sburătorul leader left sarcastic comments on Iorga's rejection of Symbolism, and, according to Crohmălniceanu, "entire pages of ironies targeting Iorga's advice to writers that they should focus of the sufferings of their 'brother' in the village". Lovinescu also ridiculed Iorga's traditionalist mentoring, calling him a "pontiff of indecency and insult", an enemy of "democratic freedom", and the patron of forgettable "literature about hajduk
Hajduk
Hajduk is a term most commonly referring to outlaws, highwaymen or freedom fighters in the Balkans, Central- and Eastern Europe....
s".
Other authors back Lovinescu's verdict about the historian's lack of critical intuition and prowess. According to Călinescu, Iorga was visibly embarrassed by even 19th century Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, out of his territory with virtually everything after "Villani
Filippo Villani
Filippo Villani was a chronicler of Florence. Son of the chronicler Matteo Villani, he extended the original Nuova Cronica of his uncle Giovanni Villani down to 1382.-Career:...
and Commynes
Philippe de Commines
Philippe de Commines was a writer and diplomat in the courts of Burgundy and France. He has been called "the first truly modern writer" and "the first critical and philosophical historian since classical times"...
", and endorsing the "obscure manqués" in modern Romanian letters. Alexandru George only supports in part this verdict, noting that Iorga's literary histories degenerated from "masterpiece" to "gravest mistake". An entire category of minor, largely forgotten, writers was endorsed by Iorga, among them Vasile Pop, Ecaterina Pitiş, Constantin T. Stoika and Sandu Teleajen.
Iorga's views were in part responsible for a split taking place at Gândirea, occurring when his traditionalist disciple, Nichifor Crainic
Nichifor Crainic
Nichifor Crainic was a Romanian writer, editor, philosopher, poet and theologian famed for his traditionalist and antisemitic activities...
, became the group's new leader and marginalized the Expressionists. Crainic, who was also a poet with Sămănătorist tastes, was held in esteem by Iorga, whose publications described him and his disciples as the better half of Gândirea. Iorga was also the subject of a Gândirea special issue, being recognized as a forerunner (a title he shared with Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga
Octavian Goga was a Romanian politician, poet, playwright, journalist, and translator.-Life:Born in Răşinari, nearby Sibiu, he was an active member in the Romanian nationalistic movement in Transylvania and of its leading group, the Romanian National Party in Austria-Hungary. Before World War I,...
and Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan
Vasile Pârvan was a Romanian historian and archaeologist.He studied history in Bucharest, with Nicolae Iorga as one of his professors. He continued his studies in Germany. His Ph.D. thesis, written in 1909, was titled The nationality of merchants in the Roman Empire...
). There was however a major incompatibility between the two traditionalist tendencies: to Iorga's secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
, Crainic opposed a quasi-theocratic
Theocracy
Theocracy is a form of organization in which the official policy is to be governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided, or simply pursuant to the doctrine of a particular religious sect or religion....
vision, based on the Romanian Orthodox Church
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...
as a guarantee of Romanian identity. Crainic saw his own theory as an afterthought of Sămănătorism, arguing that his Gândirism had erected an "azure tarpaulin", symbolizing the Church, over Iorga's nationalism.
In particular, his ideas on the Byzantine connections and organic development of Romanian civilization were welcomed by both the Gândirists and some representatives of more conventional modernism. One such figure, affiliated with Contimporanul, was essayist Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane
Benjamin Fondane or Benjamin Fundoianu was a Romanian and French poet, critic and existentialist philosopher, also noted for his work in film and theater. Known from his Romanian youth as a Symbolist poet and columnist, he alternated Neoromantic and Expressionist themes with echoes from Tudor...
. His views on the bridging of tradition with modernism quoted profusely from Iorga's arguments against cultural imitation, but parted with Iorga's various other beliefs. According to Călinescu, the "philosopher-myths" (Iorga and Pârvan) also shaped the anti-Junimist outlook of the 1930s Trăirists, who returned to ethnic nationalism and looked favorably on the Dacian layer of Romanian identity. Iorga's formative influence on Trăirists such as Eliade and Emil Cioran
Emil Cioran
-Early life:Emil M. Cioran was born in Răşinari, Sibiu County, which was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. His father, Emilian Cioran, was a Romanian Orthodox priest, while his mother, Elvira Cioran , was originally from Veneţia de Jos, a commune near Făgăraş.After studying humanities at the...
was also highlighted by some other researchers. In 1930s Bessarabia, Iorga's ideology helped influence poet Nicolai Costenco
Nicolai Costenco
Nicolai Costenco was a writer from Moldova. He was managing editor of Viaţa Basarabiei and was deported to Siberia în 1941.-Biography:...
, who created Viaţa Basarabiei
Viaţa Basarabiei
Viaţa Basarabiei is a Romanian-language periodical from Chişinău, Moldova. Originally a literary and political magazine, published at a time when Bessarabia region was part of Romania, it was founded in 1932 by political activist Pan Halippa and writer Nicolai Costenco...
as a local answer to Cuget Clar.
Narrative style, drama, verse and fiction
According to some of his contemporaries, Nicolae Iorga was an outstandingly talented public speaker. One voice in support of this view is that of Ion PetroviciIon Petrovici
Ion Petrovici , Romanian philosopher, essayist, memorialist, writer, orator, and politician, professor at University of Iaşi, member of the Romanian Academy, former Ministry of National Education, a leading figure in Romanian culture, was one of those scholars, men of art, culture, and science,...
, a Junimist academic, who recounted that hearing Iorga lecture had made him overcome a prejudice which rated Maiorescu above all Romanian orators. In 1931, critic Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu
Tudor Vianu was a Romanian literary critic, art critic, poet, philosopher, academic, and translator. Known for his left-wing and anti-fascist convictions, he had a major role on the reception and development of Modernism in Romanian literature and art...
found that Iorga's "great oratorical skill" and "volcanic nature" complimented a passion for the major historical phenomena. A decade later, George Călinescu described in detail the historian's public speaking routine: the "zmeu
Zmeu
The Zmeu is a fantastic creature of Romanian folklore and Romanian mythology. Sometimes compared to other fantastic creatures, such as the balaur or the vârcolac, the zmeu is nevertheless distinct, because it usually has clear anthropomorphic traits: it is humanoid and has legs, arms, the ability...
"-like introductory outbursts, the episodes of "idle grace", the apparent worries, the occasional anger and the intimate, calm, addresses to his bewildered audience.
The oratorical technique flowed into Iorga's contribution to belles-lettres
Belles-lettres
Belles-lettres or belles lettres is a term that is used to describe a category of writing. A writer of belles-lettres is a belletrist. However, the boundaries of that category vary in different usages....
. The antiquated polished style, Călinescu notes, even surfaced in his works of research, which revived the picturesque tone of medieval chronicles. Tudor Vianu believed it "amazing" that, even in 1894, Iorga had made "so rich a synthesis of the scholarly, literary and oratorical formulas". Critic Ion Simuţ suggests that Iorga is at his best in travel writing
Travel writing
Travel writing is a genre that has, as its focus, accounts of real or imaginary places. The genre encompasses a number of styles that may range from the documentary to the evocative, from literary to journalistic, and from the humorous to the serious....
, combining historical fresco and picturesque detail. The travel writer in young Iorga blended with the essayist and, occasionally, the philosopher, although, as Vianu suggests, the Cugetări aphorism
Aphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s were literary exercises rather than "philosophical system." In fact, Iorga's various reflections attack the core tenets of philosophy, and describe the philosopher prototype as detached from reality, intolerant of others, and speculative.
Noted among Iorga's poems are his ode
Ode
Ode is a type of lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three major parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist...
s to Poland, written shortly after the 1939 German invasion. Essayist Nicolae Mareş has described them as "without parallel in any other literature", citing Iorga's lyrics about the slumber of Polish kings at Wawel Cathedral
Wawel Cathedral
The Wawel Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral Basilica of Sts. Stanisław and Vaclav, is a church located on Wawel Hill in Kraków–Poland's national sanctuary. It has a 1,000-year history and was the traditional coronation site of Polish monarchs. It is the Cathedral of the Archdiocese of Kraków...
. Overall, however, Iorga as poet has enlisted negative characterizations, being described by Simuţ as "uninteresting and obsolete".
The historian was a highly productive dramatist, inspired by the works of Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Goldoni
Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni was an Italian playwright and librettist from the Republic of Venice. His works include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty...
, William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
and the Romanian Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea
Barbu Stefanescu Delavrancea
Barbu Ştefănescu Delavrancea was a Romanian writer and poet, considered one of Romania's greatest figures in the National awakening of Romania.-External links:*...
. According to critic Ion Negoiţescu
Ion Negoitescu
Ion Negoiţescu was a Romanian literary historian, critic, poet, novelist and memoirist, one of the leading members of the Sibiu Literary Circle. A rebellious and eccentric figure, Negoiţescu began his career while still an adolescent, and made himself known as a literary ideologue of the 1940s...
, he was at home in the genre, which complimented his vision of "history as theater". Other authors are more reserved about Iorga's value for this field: noting that Negoiţescu's verdict is an isolated opinion, Simuţ considers the plays' rhetorical monologues "hardly bearable". Literary historian Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu
Nicolae Manolescu is a Romanian literary critic. As an editor of România Literară literary magazine, he has reached a record in reviewing books for almost 30 years...
found some of the texts in question illegible, but argued: "It is inconceivable that Iorga's theater is entirely obsolete". Of the twenty-some plays, including many verse works, most are in the historical drama genre. Manolescu, who argues that "the best" of them have a medieval setting, writes that Constantin Brâncoveanu, Un domn pribeag and Cantemir bătrânul are "without any interest". Iorga's other work for the stage also includes the "five-act fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
" Frumoasa fără trup ("Bodyless Beauty"), which repeats a motif found in Romanian folklore
Folklore of Romania
A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural character of the Romanian communities resulted in an exceptionally vital and creative traditional culture. Folk creations were the main literary genre...
, and a play about Jesus Christ (where Jesus is not shown, but heard).
Among Iorga's other contributions are translations from foreign writers: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas was a Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian School along with Georgios Drosinis, Nikos Kampas, Ioanis Polemis.-Biography:Born in Patras, he...
, Goldoni etc. A special target for his interest was English literature
English literature
English literature is the literature written in the English language, including literature composed in English by writers not necessarily from England; for example, Robert Burns was Scottish, James Joyce was Irish, Joseph Conrad was Polish, Dylan Thomas was Welsh, Edgar Allan Poe was American, J....
, whom he believed had a "fundamental bond" with Romanian lore, as traditions equally "steeped in mystery." In addition to translating from Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Edinburgh
Marie of Romania was Queen consort of Romania from 1914 to 1927, as the wife of Ferdinand I of Romania.-Early life:...
, Iorga authored versions of poems by William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
("Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Aedh wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
"Aedh Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven" is a poem by William Butler Yeats. It was published in 1899 in his third volume of poetry, The Wind Among the Reeds.-Commentary:...
", "When You Are Old").
Memoirs
In old age, Iorga had also established his reputation as a memoirist: Orizonturile mele was described by Victor Iova as "a masterpiece of Romanian literature". George Călinescu referred to this series as Iorga's "interesting" and "eminently subjective" literature; "dignified" and dominated by "explosions of sentiment", it echoes, according to Călinescu, the RenaissanceRenaissance literature
Renaissance Literature refers to the period in European literature that began in Italy during the 14th century and spread around Europe through the 17th century...
model of Ion Neculce
Ion Neculce
Ion Neculce was a Moldavian chronicler. His main work, Letopiseţul Ţărâi Moldovei [de la Dabija Vodă până la a doua domnie a lui Constantin Mavrocordat] was meant to extend Ion Neculce's narrative, covering events from 1661 to 1743.-Life:Ion Neculce...
. Many of the volumes were quickly written as Iorga's attempt to rehabilitate himself after a failed premiership; Orizonturile comprises messages on the power and justness of his cause: "And so I stand at age sixty-two, confident and strong, proud, upright in front of my conscience and the judgment of time." The works offer retrospective arguments against Iorga's adversaries and sketch portraits of people who crossed Iorga's path—attributes which, Iova suggests, fully exploit Iorga's talents as a "polemicist" and "portraitist"; according to Alexandru Zub, they also fall into place within the Romanian ego-history vogue, between Xenopol's and Pârvan's.
Both the diaries and the memoirs are noted for their caustic and succinct portraits of Iorga's main rivals: Maiorescu as inflexible and unemotional, Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza
Dimitrie Sturdza was a Romanian statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.-Biography:Born in Iaşi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihăileană, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time,...
as avaricious, Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu
Nae Ionescu was a Romanian philosopher, logician, mathematician, professor, and journalist. Near the end of his career, he became known for his antisemitism and devotion to far right politics, in the years leading up to World War II.-Life:...
as "an awful temper", Hungarian politician István Tisza
István Tisza
Count István Tisza de Borosjenő et Szeged was a Hungarian politician, prime minister, and member of Hungarian Academy of Sciences....
as a "Turanian" tyrant; Iorga contributed particularly emotional, and critically acclaimed, tributes for his political friends, from Vasile Bogrea to Yugoslavia's Nikola Pašić
Nikola Pašic
Nikola P. Pašić was a Serbian and Yugoslav politician and diplomat, the most important Serbian political figure for almost 40 years, leader of the People's Radical Party who, among other posts, was twice a mayor of Belgrade...
. Supt trei regi abunds in positive and negative portrayals, but, Călinescu notes, it fails to show Iorga as politically astute: "he gives the impression that he knows no more [of the events] than the man of the street."
At times, Iorga sheds a nostalgic light on his one-time opponents (similar, in Călinescu's view, to "inscriptions on their graves"). Notably in this context, Iorga reserved praise for some who had supported the Central Powers
Central Powers
The Central Powers were one of the two warring factions in World War I , composed of the German Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria...
(Carol I
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...
, Virgil Arion, George Coşbuc
George Cosbuc
George Coşbuc was a Romanian poet, translator, teacher, and journalist, best remembered for his verses describing, praising and eulogizing rural life, its many travails but also its occasions for joy....
, Dimitrie Onciul), but also stated that collaboration was unforgivable. His obituary piece of socialist activist I. C. Frimu
I. C. Frimu
Ion Costache Frimu was a Romanian socialist militant and politician, a leading member of the Romanian Social Democratic Party and labor activist...
, part of Oameni cari au fost, was so sympathetic that the authorities had to censor it.
Scholarly impact, portrayals and landmarks
Constantin C. Giurescu
Constantin C . Giurescu was a Romanian historian, member of Romanian Academy and professor at the University of Bucharest.Born in Focşani, son of historian Constantin Giurescu, he completed his primary and secondary studies in Bucharest...
, P. P. Panaitescu, Şerban Papacostea, Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl
Henri H. Stahl was a Romanian Marxist cultural anthropologist, ethnographer, sociologist, and social historian.-Biography:...
. As cultural historian, Iorga found a follower in N. Cartojan, while his thoughts on the characteristics of Romanianness inspired the social psychology
Social psychology (sociology)
Social psychology , known as sociological social psychology, and sometimes as psychological sociology, is an area of sociology that focuses on social actions and on interrelations of personality, values, and mind with social structure and culture...
of Dimitrie Drăghicescu
Dimitrie Draghicescu
Dimitrie Drăghicescu was a Romanian politician, sociologist, diplomat and writer.Dimitrie Drăghicescu was born on May 4, 1875 in the village of Zăvoieni, Vâlcea County, Romania. After finishing grammar school in his native village, he attended Carol I High School in Craiova and thereafter the Law...
. In the postmodern age
Postmodernity
Postmodernity is generally used to describe the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity...
, Iorga's pronouncements on the subject arguably contributed to the birth of Romanian imagological, post-colonial
Postcolonialism
Post-colonialism is a specifically post-modern intellectual discourse that consists of reactions to, and analysis of, the cultural legacy of colonialism...
and cross-cultural studies
Cross-cultural studies
Cross-cultural studies, sometimes called Holocultural Studies, is a specialization in anthropology and sister sciences that uses field data from many societies to examine the scope of human behavior and test hypotheses about human behavior and culture. Cross-cultural studies is the third form of...
. The idea of Romanii populare has endured as a popular working hypothesis
Working hypothesis
A working hypothesis is a hypothesis that is provisionally accepted as a basis for further research in the hope that a tenable theory will be produced, even if the hypothesis ultimately fails...
in Romanian archeology.
Aside from being himself a writer, Iorga's public image was also preserved in the literary work of both his colleagues and adversaries. One early example is a biting epigram
Epigram
An epigram is a brief, interesting, usually memorable and sometimes surprising statement. Derived from the epigramma "inscription" from ἐπιγράφειν epigraphein "to write on inscribe", this literary device has been employed for over two millennia....
by Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale
Ion Luca Caragiale was a Wallachian-born Romanian playwright, short story writer, poet, theater manager, political commentator and journalist...
, where Iorga is described as the dazed savant. In addition to the many autobiographies which discuss him, he is a hero in various works of fiction. As geographer Cristophor Arghir, he is the subject of a thinly disguised portrayal in the Bildungsroman
Bildungsroman
In literary criticism, bildungsroman or coming-of-age story is a literary genre which focuses on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood , and in which character change is thus extremely important...
În preajma revoluţei ("Around the Time of the Revolution"), written by his rival Constantin Stere
Constantin Stere
Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea was a Romanian writer, jurist, politician, ideologue of the Poporanist trend, and, in March 1906, co-founder Constantin G. Stere or Constantin Sterea (Romanian; , Konstantin Yegorovich Stere or Константин Георгиевич Стере, Konstantin Georgiyevich Stere;...
in the 1930s. Celebrated Romanian satirist and Viaţa Românească
Viata Româneasca
Viaţa Românească, originally Viaţa Romînească , is a monthly literary magazine published in Romania...
affiliate Păstorel Teodoreanu was engaged in a lengthy polemic with Iorga, enshrining Iorga in Romanian humor as a person with little literary skill and an oversized ego, and making him the subject of an entire collection of poems and articles, Strofe cu pelin de mai pentru Iorga Neculai ("Stanzas in May Wormwood for Iorga Neculai"). One of Teodoreanu's own epigrams in Contimporanul
Contimporanul
Contimporanul was a Romanian avant-garde literary and art magazine, published in Bucharest between June 1922 and 1932...
ridiculed Moartea lui Dante, showing the resurrected Dante Aligheri pleading with Iorga to be left in peace. Iorga was also identified as the subject of fictional portrayals in a modernist novel by N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea
N. D. Cocea was a Romanian journalist, novelist, critic and left-wing political activist, known as a major but controversial figure in the field of political satire...
and (against the author's disclaimer) in George Ciprian
George Ciprian
George Ciprian was a Romanian actor and playwright. His writings make him a precursor of the Theatre of the Absurd.-Biography:...
's play The Drake's Head.
Iorga became the subject of numerous visual portrayals. Some of the earliest were satires, such as an 1899 portrait of him as a Don Quixote and images of him as a ridiculously oversized character, in Ary Murnu's drawings for Furnica review. Later, Iorga's appearance inspired the works of some other visual artists, including painter Constantin Piliuţă and sculptor Ion Irimescu
Ion Irimescu
Acad. Prof. Dr. Honoris Causa Ion Irimescu was one of Romania's greatest sculptors and sketchers as well as a Member of the Romanian Academy. In 2001 he was awarded the Prize of Excellence for Romanian Culture...
, who was personally acquainted with the scholar. Irimescu's busts of Iorga are located in places of cultural importance: the ISSEE building in Bucharest and a public square in Chişinău
Chisinau
Chișinău is the capital and largest municipality of Moldova. It is also its main industrial and commercial centre and is located in the middle of the country, on the river Bîc...
, Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
(ex-Soviet Bessarabia). The city has another Iorga bust, the work of Mihail Ecobici, in the Aleea Clasicilor complex. Since 1990, Iorga's face is featured on a highly circulated Romanian leu
Romanian leu
The leu is the currency of Romania. It is subdivided into 100 bani . The name of the currency means "lion". On 1 July 2005, Romania underwent a currency reform, switching from the previous leu to a new leu . 1 RON is equal to 10,000 ROL...
bill: the 10,000 lei banknote, which became the 1 leu bill following a 2005 monetary reform
Monetary reform
Monetary reform describes any movement or theory that proposes a different system of supplying money and financing the economy from the current system.Monetary reformers may advocate any of the following, among other proposals:...
.
Several Romanian cities have "Nicolae Ioga" streets or boulevards: Bucharest (also home of the Iorga High School and the Iorga Park), Botoşani
Botosani
Botoșani is the capital city of Botoșani County, in northern Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu and Nicolae Iorga.- Origin of the name :...
, Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
, Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca
Cluj-Napoca , commonly known as Cluj, is the fourth most populous city in Romania and the seat of Cluj County in the northwestern part of the country. Geographically, it is roughly equidistant from Bucharest , Budapest and Belgrade...
, Constanţa
Constanta
Constanța is the oldest extant city in Romania, founded around 600 BC. The city is located in the Dobruja region of Romania, on the Black Sea coast. It is the capital of Constanța County and the largest city in the region....
, Craiova
Craiova
Craiova , Romania's 6th largest city and capital of Dolj County, is situated near the east bank of the river Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximately equal distances from the Southern Carpathians and the River Danube . Craiova is the chief...
, Iaşi
Iasi
Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...
, Oradea
Oradea
Oradea is the capital city of Bihor County, in the Crișana region of north-western Romania. The city has a population of 204,477, according to the 2009 estimates. The wider Oradea metropolitan area has a total population of 245,832.-Geography:...
, Ploieşti
Ploiesti
Ploiești is the county seat of Prahova County and lies in the historical region of Wallachia in Romania. The city is located north of Bucharest....
, Sibiu
Sibiu
Sibiu is a city in Transylvania, Romania with a population of 154,548. Located some 282 km north-west of Bucharest, the city straddles the Cibin River, a tributary of the river Olt...
, Timişoara
Timisoara
Timișoara is the capital city of Timiș County, in western Romania. One of the largest Romanian cities, with an estimated population of 311,586 inhabitants , and considered the informal capital city of the historical region of Banat, Timișoara is the main social, economic and cultural center in the...
, etc. In Moldova, his name was also assigned to similar locations in Chişinău and Bălţi
Balti
Balti can refer to:* Balti language, a language spoken in Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir* Balti people, Muslims of Ladakhi/Tibetan origin from Baltistan in Pakistan and Ladakh in Kashmir...
. The Botoşani family home, restored and partly rebuilt in 1965, is currently preserved as a Memorial House. The house in Vălenii is a memorial museum.
Political symbol
Iorga's murder, like other acts of violence ordered by the Iron Guard, alarmed Ion AntonescuIon Antonescu
Ion Victor Antonescu was a Romanian soldier, authoritarian politician and convicted war criminal. The Prime Minister and Conducător during most of World War II, he presided over two successive wartime dictatorships...
, who found that it contradicted his resolutions on public order—the first clash in a dispute which, early in 1941, erupted as the Legionary Rebellion and saw the Guard's ouster from power. Reportedly, Iorga's murder instantly repelled some known supporters of the Guard, such as Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr
Radu Gyr was a Romanian poet, essayist, playwright and journalist....
and Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade
Mircea Eliade was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day...
. Responding to condemnation of his actions from his place of exile in Francoist Spain, the Guard leader Horia Sima
Horia Sima
Horia Sima was a Romanian fascist politician. After 1938, he was the second and last leader of the fascist and antisemitic para-military movement known as the Iron Guard.-In Romania:...
claimed to have played no part in the killing. Sima stated that he did not regret the act, noting that Iorga the scholar had had a long enough career, and arguing, counterfactually, that the revenge was saluted by most Romanians.
Romania's 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...
, set up in the late 1940s, originally revised Iorga's role in the historical narrative: a record 214 works of his were banned by communist censors
Censorship in Communist Romania
Censorship in Communist Romania was widespread and virtually every published document, be it a newspaper article or a book, had to pass the censor's approval...
, and remained banned until 1965. From 1948, the Nicolae Iorga Institute of History was merged into a communist institution headed by Petre Constantinescu-Iaşi, while Papacostea was assigned as head of the reorganized ISSEE. Beginning in the 1960s, the national communist
National communism
The term National Communism describes the ethnic minority communist currents that arose in the former Russian Empire after Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power in October 1917....
authorities capitalized on Nicolae Iorga's image, suggesting that he was a forerunner of Nicolae Ceauşescu
Nicolae Ceausescu
Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian Communist politician. He was General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and as such was the country's second and last Communist leader...
's official ideology. Iorga was promoted to the national communist pantheon as an "anti-fascist" and "progressive
Progressivism
Progressivism is an umbrella term for a political ideology advocating or favoring social, political, and economic reform or changes. Progressivism is often viewed by some conservatives, constitutionalists, and libertarians to be in opposition to conservative or reactionary ideologies.The...
" intellectual, and references to his lifelong anti-communism
Anti-communism
Anti-communism is opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed in reaction to the rise of communism, especially after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia and the beginning of the Cold War in 1947.-Objections to communist theory:...
were omitted. The ban on his works was selectively lifted, and some of his main books were again in print between 1968 and 1989, along with volumes of his correspondence. In 1988, Iorga was the subject of Drumeţ în calea lupilor, a Romanian film
Cinema of Romania
The cinema of Romania is the art of motion-picture making within the nation of Romania or by Romanian filmmakers abroad.As upon much of the world's early cinema, the ravages of time have left their mark upon Romanian film prints. Tens of titles have been destroyed or lost for good...
directed by Constantin Vaeni. It depicted an imaginary encounter and clash between the historian (Valentin Teodosiu) and a character based on Horia Sima (Dragoş Pâslaru). However, the Bonaparte Highway villa, bequeathed by Iorga to the state, was demolished during the Ceauşima
Ceausima
Ceauşima is a vernacular word construction in Romanian, sarcastically linking former Communist leader Nicolae Ceauşescu to Hiroshima. This portmanteau term was sometimes coined in the 1980s to describe the huge urban areas of Bucharest that Ceauşescu ordered torn down, comparing the results with...
campaign of 1986.
Iorga's theories on the Dacians
Dacians
The Dacians were an Indo-European people, very close or part of the Thracians. Dacians were the ancient inhabitants of Dacia...
and the Thracians
Thracians
The ancient Thracians were a group of Indo-European tribes inhabiting areas including Thrace in Southeastern Europe. They spoke the Thracian language – a scarcely attested branch of the Indo-European language family...
were among the many elements synthesized into the nationalist current known as Protochronism
Protochronism
Protochronism is a Romanian term describing the tendency to ascribe, largely relying on questionable data and subjective interpretations, an idealised past to the country as a whole...
, which claimed that the sources of Romanian identity were to be found in pre-Roman history, and was offered support by Ceauşescu's regime. His work was selectively reinterpreted by Protochronists such as Dan Zamfirescu, Mihai Ungheanu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor
Corneliu Vadim Tudor
Corneliu Vadim Tudor is leader of the Greater Romania Party , writer, journalist and a Member of the European Parliament...
. Contrasting perspectives on Iorga's legacy were held by the various voices within the Romanian diaspora
Romanian diaspora
The Romanian diaspora is the ethnically Romanian population outside Romania and Moldova. The concept does not usually include the ethnic Romanians who live as natives in the states surrounding Romania, chiefly those Romanians who live in Ukraine and Serbia. The diaspora does include the people of...
. On the 40th anniversary of his death, the Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
-based Romanian section of the anti-communist Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...
(RFE) broadcast an homage piece with renewed condemnation of Iorga's killers. RFE received death threats from obscure Iron Guard diaspora members, probably agents of the Securitate
Securitate
The Securitate was the secret police agency of Communist Romania. Previously, the Romanian secret police was called Siguranţa Statului. Founded on August 30, 1948, with help from the Soviet NKVD, the Securitate was abolished in December 1989, shortly after President Nicolae Ceaușescu was...
secret police.
Iorga has enjoyed posthumous popularity in the decades since the Romanian Revolution of 1989
Romanian Revolution of 1989
The Romanian Revolution of 1989 was a series of riots and clashes in December 1989. These were part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred in several Warsaw Pact countries...
: present at the top of "most important Romanians" polls in the 1990s, he was voted in at No. 17 in the 100 greatest Romanians televised poll. As early as 1989, the Iorga Institute was reestablished under Papacostea's direction. Since 1990, the Vălenii summer school has functioned regularly, having Iorga exegete Valeriu Râpeanu as a regular guest. In later years, the critical interpretation of Iorga's work, first proposed by Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia
Lucian Boia is a Romanian historian, known especially for his works debunking Romanian nationalism and Communism.-Bibliography:* Eugen Brote: Litera, 1974...
around 1995, was continued by a new school of historians, who distinguished between the nationalist-didactic and informative contents.
Descendants
Nicolae Iorga had over ten children from his marriages, but many of them died in infancy. In addition to Florica Chirescu, his progeny includes daughters Magda, Liliana and Alina. Magda severed her links with her father, and started a family in Italy. The only one of his children to train in history, Liliana Iorga became known as a sculptor, and married historian Dionisie Pippidi in 1943. Alina became the wife of an ArgentineArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
jurist, Francisco P. Laplaza. One of Iorga's sons, Mircea, was married into the aristocratic Ştirbey family, and then to Mihaela Bohăţiel, a Transylvanian noblewoman who was reputedly a descendant of the Lemeni clan and of the medieval magnate Johannes Benkner. An engineer by trade, Mircea Iorga was headmaster of the Bucharest Electro-technical College in the late 1930s. Another son, Ştefan N. Iorga, was a writer active with the Cuget Clar movement, and later a physician. Iorga's niece Micaella Filitti, who worked as a civil servant in the 1930s, defected from Communist Romania and settled in France.
Iorga's descendants include historian Andrei Pippidi, son of Dionisie Pippidi, who is noted as a main editor of Iorga's writings. Pippidi also prefaced collections of Iorga's correspondence, and published a biographical synthesis on his grandfather. Andrei Pippidi is married to political scientist and journalist Alina Mungiu
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi
Alina Mungiu-Pippidi is a Romanian political scientist, academic, journalist and writer. A commentator on national politics, she is one of the most prominent civil society activists in post-1989 Romania, and, since 1990, an active contributor to 22...
, the sister of award-winning filmmaker Cristian Mungiu.
External links
- Translations from Iorga, in Plural Magazine (various issues): "Advice at Dark" (excerpt), "History of the Romanians - Before Decebalus", "Language as an Element of the Romanian Soul", "Museums: What They Are and What They Must Be. The Example of America", "Our Defense Abroad", "Reading The History of the Romanians", "The Cultural and Intellectual Life of Bucharest", "The Nationalist Doctrine" (excerpts), "The Place of the Romanian People in Universal History", "Towards Sulina", "What I Understand by a Capital" The Nicolae Iorga Institute Revista Istorică, Editura Academiei entry