Nicolae Iorga (17 January 1871 – 27 November 1940) was a Romanian historian, politician, literary critic, memoirist, albanologist, 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, establishing 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 academic contributions, Nicolae Iorga was a prominent right-of-centre activist, whose political theory bridged conservatism, Romanian 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 , 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.
Later 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.
Biography
Child prodigy
Nicolae Iorga was born in Botoșani into a family of Greek origin. His father, Nicu Iorga, was a practicing lawyer; he ultimately descended from a Greek merchant who had settled in Botoșani in the 18th century five generations before Nicolae Iorga's birth. His mother, Zulnia Iorga (née Arghiropol), was a woman of Phanariote Greek descent. Iorga claimed direct descent from the noble Mavrocordatos and Argyros families.Rădulescu, p. 344 He credited the five-generation-boyar status received from his father's side (e.g. the Miclescu and Catargi families) and the "old boyar" roots of his mother (e.g. the Mavrocordatos family) with having turned him into a politician.Rădulescu, pp. 344, 351 His parallel claim of being related to noble families such as the Cantacuzinos and the Craiovești is questioned by other researchers.Nastasă (2003), p. 62 Iorga is generally believed to have been born on 17 January 1871, although his birth certificate provides a date of 6 June.Iova, p. xxvii. See also Nastasă (2003), p. 61
In 1876, aged thirty-seven or thirty-eight, Nicu Sr. was incapacitated and then died of an unknown illness, orphaning Nicolae and his younger brother George. Nicolae would later write that the loss of his father dominated the image he had of his childhood.Iova, pp. xxvii–xxviii. See also Nastasă (2003), pp. 61–62, 66, 74–75 In 1878, he was enlisted at the Marchian Folescu School, where he discovered a love for intellectual pursuits and took pride in excelling in most academic areas. At age nine, he was allowed by his teachers to lecture his schoolmates on Romanian history.Iova, pp. xxviii–xxix His history teacher, a refugee Pole, sparked his interest in research and his lifelong polonophilia. Nicolae Mareș, "Nicolae Iorga despre Polonia", in România Literară, Nr. 35/2009 Iorga also credited this 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".Iova, p. xxviii He credited the 19th-century polymath Mihail Kogălniceanu, whose works he first read as a child, with having shaped this literary preference.
Iorga enrolled in Botoșani's A. T. Laurian gymnasium in 1881, receiving top honors. In 1883, Iorga began tutoring some of his colleagues to supplement his family's main revenue (according to Iorga, a "miserable pension of pittance").Iova, pp. xxix–xxx 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 anecdotes and editorial pieces on European politics.Iova, p. xxix The year 1886 was described by Iorga as "the catastrophe of my school life in Botoșani": on temporary suspension for not having greeted a teacher, Iorga opted to leave the city and apply for the National High School of Iași, being received into the scholarship program and praised by his new principal, the philologist Vasile Burlă.Iova, pp. xxix–xxxi Iorga was already fluent in French, Italian, Latin and Greek; he later referred to Greek studies as "the most refined form of human reasoning".Iova, p. xxx
By age seventeen, Iorga was becoming more rebellious. He first grew interested in political activities for the first time but displayed convictions which he later strongly disavowed; a self-described Marxist, Iorga promoted the left-wing magazine Viața 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.Iova, p. xxxi Before readmission, he decided not to fall back on his family's financial support and instead returned to tutoring others. Iorga was suspended a third time for reading during a teacher's lesson but graduated in the top "first prize" category (with a 9.24 average) and subsequently took his Baccalaureate with honors.Iova, p. xxxi. See also Nastasă (2003), p. 61
University of Iași and Junimist episode In 1888, Nicolae Iorga passed his entry examination for the University of Iași Faculty of Letters, becoming eligible for a scholarship soon after.Iova, p. xxxi; Nastasă (2003), pp. 61–62 Upon the completion of his second term, he also received a special dispensation from the Kingdom 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.Iova, p. xxxi; Nastasă (2003), pp. 62–64; (2007), pp. 244, 399 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.Iova, p. xxxii 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.Iova, p. xxxii. See also Nastasă (2003), pp. 62–63, 174–175; (2007), pp. 238–239
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 Ștefan Vârgolici and cultural promoter Iacob Negruzzi published Iorga's essay on poet Veronica Micle in the Junimist tribune Convorbiri Literare.Iova, p. xxxii. See also Nastasă (2007), pp. 521, 528; Ornea (1998), p. 129 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.Iova, p. xxxii. See also Nastasă (2003), p. 65 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 .Iova, p. xxxii. See also Călinescu, p. 988 This period saw his debut as a socialist poet (in ) and critic (in both Lupta and Literatură și Știință).Constantin Kirițescu, "O viață, o lume, o epocă: Ani de ucenicie în mișcarea socialistă", in Magazin Istoric, September 1977, pp. 14, 17
Also in 1890, Iorga married Maria Tasu, whom he was to divorce in 1900.Iova, pp. xxxii, xxxvii; Nastasă (2003), pp. 61, 64–71, 74, 105, 175 He had previously been in love with an Ecaterina C. Botez, but, after some hesitation, decided to marry into the family of man Vasile Tasu, much better situated in the social circles.Nastasă (2003), pp. 64–66, 69–70, 74, 175 Xenopol, who was Iorga's matchmaker,Nastasă (2003), p. 175; (2007), pp. 239, 489 also tried to obtain for Iorga a teaching position at Iași University. The attempt was opposed by other professors, on grounds of Iorga's youth and politics.Nastasă (2007), p. 239. See also Vianu, Vol. I, p. 165 Instead, Iorga was briefly a high school professor of Latin in the southern city of Ploiești, 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 Vlahuță, historians Hasdeu and Grigore Tocilescu, and Marxist theorist Constantin Dobrogeanu-Gherea.
Studies abroad
Having received the scholarship early in the year, he made his first study trips to Italy (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".Iova, pp. xxxii–xxxiii While preparing for his second diploma, Iorga also pursued his interest in philology, learning English, German, and rudiments of other Germanic languages.Iova, p. xxxiii 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.