Titu Maiorescu

Titu Maiorescu
Titu Maiorescu in 1882
23rd Prime Minister of Romania
In office 28 March 1912 – 31 December 1913
Monarch	Carol I
Preceded by	Petre P. Carp
Succeeded by	Ion I. C. Brătianu
Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 29 December 1910 – 4 January 1914
Preceded by	Alexandru Djuvara
Succeeded by	Emanuel Porumbaru
Personal details
Born	(1840-02-15)15 February 1840 Craiova, Romania
Died	18 June 1917(1917-06-18) (aged 77) Bucharest, Romania
Nationality	Romanian
Political party	Conservative Party

Titu Liviu Maiorescu (Romanian: [ˈtitu majoˈresku]; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) 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.

A member of the Conservative Party, he was Foreign Minister between 1910 and 1914 and 23rd Prime Minister of Romania from 1912 to 1913. He represented Romania at the Peace Conference in Bucharest that ended the Second Balkan War. In politics as in culture he favoured Germany over France. He opposed Romania's entry in World War I against Germany, but he nevertheless refused to collaborate with the German army after it had occupied Bucharest.

Titu Liviu Maiorescu was born in Craiova, on 15 February 1840. Maiorescu's mother, born Maria Popazu, was the sister of the bookman bishop of Caransebeș, Ioan Popazu. The family Popazu came from Vălenii de Munte and it had Aromanian origins. His father, Ioan Maiorescu, was the son of a Transylvanian peasant from Bucerdea Grânoasă and his name was actually Trifu, but he adopted the name Maiorescu in order to emphasize his kindship with Petru Maior. Being a theologian by trade (having studied in Blaj, Budapest, Vienna), Ioan Maiorescu proved to be a free thinker. He worked at a teacher in Cernăuți, Craiova, Iași, Bucharest and he remained a bright personality of that epoch of formation for the Romanian modern educational system. Ioan Maiorescu became an inspector for the schools of Oltenia, then he worked as a teacher at the Central School of Craiova. During the Revolution of 1848 he strengthened the link between the Walachian and Transylvanian revolutionaries and he activated as an agent of the Interim Govern, near the German Dieta from Frankfurt. Meanwhile, his family, consisting of his wife, Maria, born Popasu and his two children, Emilia and Titu, travelled to Bucharest, Brașov, Sibiu and Blaj, staying in Brașov for a long while and there, the future critic attended grade fifth at the Romanian gymnasium. Settling in Vienna, Ioan Maiorescu wrote articles in the Austrian newspapers concerning Romanian and Romanians. Returning to Romania after the Union, he became president of the Obșteasca Epitropie (The Public Trusteeship), then he worked as director of the Central Commission of the United Principalities, then he worked as a teacher at the Saint Sava National College, as director of Public Instruction Eforie and then as a teacher at the Superior School of Letters in Bucharest.