Titu Liviu Maiorescu (Romanian: [ˈtitu majoˈresku]; 15 February 1840 – 18 June 1917) was a Romanian literary critic, politician and 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 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 scholar and bishop of Caransebeș, Ioan Popazu. The family Popazu came from Vălenii de Munte. His father, Ioan Maiorescu, was the son of a Transylvanian peasant from Bucerdea Grânoasă and his surname was actually Trifu, but he adopted Maiorescu in order to emphasize his kinship with Petru Maior.
A theologian by trade (having studied in Blaj, Budapest, and Vienna), Ioan Maiorescu proved to be a free thinker. He taught in Cernăuți, Craiova, Iași, and Bucharest, and remained a prominent figure of the era for his devotion to the Romanian modern educational system. Ioan Maiorescu became an inspector for the schools of Oltenia. Later he worked as a teacher at the National College of Carol I, the Central School of Craiova.
During the Revolution of 1848, Ioan Maiorescu strengthened ties between Wallachian and Transylvanian revolutionaries while serving as an agent of the Interim Government near the German Dieta in Frankfurt. Meanwhile, his family, consisting of his wife, Maria, born Popasu, and his two children, Emilia and Titu, traveled to Bucharest, Brașov, Sibiu and Blaj.
The family stayed in Brașov for a while, and there the future critic attended the fifth grade at the Romanian gymnasium. Settling in Vienna, Ioan Maiorescu wrote articles in a number of Austrian newspapers concerning Romania and Romanians. Returning to Romania after the Union, he became president of the Obșteasca Epitropie (The Public Trusteeship). Thereafter, he worked as director of the Central Commission of the United Principalities. This was followed by a position as a teacher at the Saint Sava National College, and as director of Public Instruction Eforie. He then became a teacher at the Superior School of Letters in Bucharest.
Between 1846 and 1848, Titu Maiorescu attended the primary school in Craiova. During the days of the revolution his father Ioan was sent on a mission to Frankfurt am Main. Meanwhile, his mother, Maria Maiorescu, traveled with the children to Bucharest, Brașov, and then Sibiu. This must have been a very disconcerting time for the young Titu. In December 1848, under the care of Avram Iancu, the family arrived after more dislocation in Blaj and finally in Braşov. Titu Maiorescu was then at last able to continue his primary school education. From 1848 until 1850, he attended Protodeacon Iosif Barac's School.
Between 1850 and 1851, after finishing primary school, Titu Maiorescu was enrolled at the Romanian Gymnasium in Schei-Braşov, a gymnasium grammar school founded in 1850 by his uncle Ioan Popazu. He studied there up until the fifth grade. At the gymnasium in Brașov, he met Anton Pann, who left him with an indelible impression.
In September 1851, the Maiorescu family settled in Vienna, where Titu's father was working within the Ministry of Justice. Later in October, Titu Maiorescu attended the first grade at the Academic Gymnasium. This was an addendum of the Theresianum Academy for foreigners. A month later, the school authorities recognized his results from the gymnasium in Brașov and so he was able to pass comfortably on to the next grade.
While attending the academy in Vienna, Maiorescu began to write his Însemnărilor zilnice (Daily Journal) which he kept until July 1917. These 42 notebooks currently belong today to the collection of manuscripts in the Romanian Academic Library. Titu continued to write his journal until the end of his life. His notes provide insight into his personality. His success from 1858, when he graduated first in his class at the Theresianum Academy, was an indication of all his efforts and strong will.
Maiorescu was very eager to obtain his university degree. After only one year of studies in Berlin, he obtained his PhD at Giessen, magna cum laude, and then after a year, he received his licence at the Philology and Philosophy University of Sorbona. One year later, after he had studied at the University of Paris, he took his licence in law. However, his eagerness did not affect his demureness in his studies; the foundations of Maiorescu's extremely solid culture were established during this period.
On 3 January 1857, he sent an essay signed with the name Aureliu to the Transylvania Gazette in order to publish some of his translations from Jean Paul's works. In the following number he also intended to publish the translation of a short story written by Jean Paul and entitled New Year's Eve Night. Although the translation was not published at that time, the letter that Aurel A. Mureşianu edited later in the Gazette of books, no 1, in 1934 is considered as the first publishing attempt of T. Maiorescu. It was republished under the same title. In 1858, to support his academic activity, he worked as a teacher of psychology in private boarding schools and as a French teacher in the house of a legal counselor named Georg Kremnitz.
As a preparatory teacher in the French language for the Kremnitz household, Titu Maiorescu taught all of the family's four children, including Klara (his future wife). There was also Helene, Wilhelm (future Dr. W. Kremnitz, Mite Kremnitz's husband, born Marie von Bardeleben) and Hermann. Titu Maiorescu got his PhD in philosophy at Giessen, magna cum laude. Giessen University amiably recognized his last two years at Theresianum which could count as a part of his PhD studies. When he returned to Romania, he published the article "The Measure of Height through a Barometer" in the review Isis or Nature.
In December 1860, he received his license in Philology and Philosophy at Sorbonne due to the acknowledgment of his doctorate from Giessen. The following year Maiorescu published his philosophical essay entitled Philosophical Considerations for Everybody's Understanding (German: Einiges Philosophische in gemeinfasslicher Form) in Berlin, obviously under the influence of Herbart's and Feuerbach's ideas. On 17 December, after they considered the value of the essay, and after "a verbal defense in front of the academic committee, brilliantly held for original opinions", the Sorbonne committee granted him the title of "licencé ès lettres" (Philology Licensed). Maiorescu then prepared his doctoral thesis, entitled The Relation. Essay on a new foundation of philosophy (French: La relation. Essai d'un nouveau fondement de la philosophie), until the end of the year 1861, when he left France.
Career as a university teacher
In the summer of 1862, he was assigned as a substitute lawyer at the Law Courts to then become an attorney. His financial income enabled him to marry his pupil, Clara Kremnitz. In November/December he became a teacher at the University of Iași and principal of the Central Gymnasium in the same town.
In 1863 Maiorescu was assigned to teach a university course of history. His subject-area had the elaborate title of: About the History of the Roman Republic from the Introduction of Plebeian Tribunes until the Death of Julius Caesar Especially Regarding the Economical and Political Progress”. From February until September, he was the Dean of the Philosophy Faculty of the University of Iași. On 18 September 1863, he was elected as rector of the University of Iaşi for a period of four years. This must have eased his financial considerations enabling him and his wife to live comfortably.