Radu Rosetti (Francized Rodolphe Rosetti;Angheluță et al., p. 125; Marghiloman, IV, p. 166. September 14, 1853 – February 12, 1926) was a Moldavian, later Romanian, politician, historian, and novelist, father of General Radu R. Rosetti, and a prominent member of the Rosetti family. From beginnings in traditionalist conservatism, he adopted progressive agrarian stances, and experimented with modernizing his estate in Căiuți. A Moldavian regionalist sitting on the left of the Conservative Party, he collaborated more or less formally with the National Liberal opposition during his tenure as prefect of Roman, Brăila, and Bacău. Also serving two terms in the Assembly of Deputies and briefly employed as general director of prisons, Rosetti adopted an anti-elitist and reformist discourse. This pitted him against Conservative chiefs such as Nicolae Filipescu and Titu Maiorescu, but he was protected by Lascăr Catargiu and, later, by Petre P. Carp.
Rosetti was financially ruined by his poor investments in the grain trade, and, from 1898, withdrew to secondary jobs in the Foreign Affairs Ministry. Although he lacked a formal training, he was a treasured polyglot, and achieved his notoriety as a scholar and social critic. His early studies focused on Moldavia's legal and social history, but later took up more politically charged themes. A mild antisemite and adversary of Jewish emancipation, Rosetti then turned to criticizing his own class and its manorialism, constructing an influential paradigm in progressive historiography. Welcomed into the ranks of left-wing Poporanism by 1906, he proposed a radical land reform and prophesied the peasants' revolt of 1907.
The early stages of World War I, with Romania maintaining neutrality, saw Rosetti campaigning for the Central Powers. He advised against any alliance with the Russian Empire, being fearful of Pan-Slavism and supportive of the Romanian claims in Bessarabia. He was disappointed when the country sided with Russia, and remained behind in Bucharest when it was occupied by the Central Powers; with Carp and other Conservatives, he organized a collaborationist bureaucracy, and served in it as Ephor of the Civilian Hospitals. Such choices contrasted those of his son, who became a war hero. Reunited with him in postwar Greater Romania, Rosetti still pursued his literary career, receiving accolades for his final works as a memoirist and raconteur. One of his "Moldavian tales" was adapted for the screen by his son-in-law, Victor Beldiman.
Biography
Youth and early affiliations The future historian was born in Iași, in the since-demolished palace built by Grigore Alexandru Ghica—Prince of Moldavia in 1854–1856, and Radu's maternal grandfather.Sorin Iftimi, "Vechi turnuri ale Iașilor", in Monumentul, Vol. IV, 2002, [n. p.] On his paternal side, he belonged to the boyar Rosetti family, which included Antonie Ruset, who was Moldavian Prince-regnant from 1675 to 1678. Contrary to family legend, he was not descended directly from Prince Antonie, but rather from Antonie's brother, Cupar Constantin.Sorin Iftimi, "Heraldică și arhitectură", in Monumentul, Vol. VII, 2006, p. 498. The scholar's great-grandfather was Lascarache Ruset and his grandfather was Logothete Răducanu Ruset (1762–1838).Alexandru Piru, "Rosetti Radu", in Aurel Sasu (ed.), Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române, Vol. II, p. 492. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. Ornea (1988), pp. 84–86. The latter's career had peaked during the Russian invasion of 1806, when, according to Ivan Liprandi, he showed himself to be "simple but honest [and] beloved by all".Georgeta Filitti, "Fișe de cadre la 1828", in Magazin Istoric, May 2001, p. 36. In 1809, he produced a legal defense against the settlement of Russians in Moldavia, and on this basis secured his own deed to Covasna.Stela Mărieș, "Proprietatea imobiliară a supușilor străini din Moldova în perioada preregulamentară", in Revista de Istorie, Issue 11/1975, pp. 1681–1682. During the Greek War of Independence, which was partly fought on Moldavian soil, he helped Gavril Istrati organize a guerilla movement against the Sacred Band.George Missail, "13 Septembre 1848. Concluzie", in Revista Literară, Vol. XIX, Issue 33, November 1898, p. 517. Upon the war's end, he also took over land owned by the proscribed Moruzi family, but sent them a share of the revenue; Alexandru Constantin Moruzi became his son-in-law.Mihail Kogălniceanu, "Cuvîntu în contra alegeriĭ și a eligibilitățiĭ D-luĭ Alecsandru C. Morud̦i", in Românulŭ, December 26, 1861, p. 1134.
Rosetti's father, the administrator Răducanu Ruset the Younger, studied philosophy at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München.Bogdan-Duică, pp. 805–807; Călinescu, p. 677; Ornea (1988), p. 85. His mother Aglae Ghica was Ruset's second wife. Famous for her physical beauty, she had trained as an artist in Vienna, and, upon her return, became an ardent Romanian nationalist.Beldiman, pp. 139–143; Ornea (1988), pp. 85–86. Her husband had initially been an especially "savage" exponent of Moldavian liberal radicalism.Silvestri, p. 1. Răducanu Jr began his political career in 1839, as Ispravnic of Iași County, then briefly served as head of the administration in the Upper Country (1843).Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu (ed.), Marea arhondologie a boierilor Moldovei (1835–1856), p. 175. Iași: Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, 2014. He became a close friend and sponsor of Costache Negri, with whom he organized an 1847 protest against Prince Mihail Sturdza;Paul Păltănea, "Din corespondența inedită a lui Costache Negri", in Carpica, Vol. XXII, 1991, p. 12. that year, he also adhered to a boyar project for the creation of a commercial bank.Nicolae Iorga, Mărturii istorice privitoare la viața și domnia lui Știrbeĭ-Vodă (Ca urmare la Corespondența lui Știrbeĭ-Vodă, I), pp. 361–363. Bucharest: Institutul de Arte Grafice și Editură Minerva, 1905. Although he evolved into a conservative, he always felt solidarity with his tenant farmers, and demanded the abolition of corvées.Ornea (1988), p. 87.
Răducanu and his brother Lascăr then took part in the abortive revolution of 1848, and were briefly deported to Danube Vilayet—alongside Alexandru Ioan Cuza and their brother-in-law Moruzi.Nicolae Iorga, Istoria românilor. Volumul 9: Unificatorii, pp. 124–128. Bucharest & Vălenii de Munte: Așezământul Grafic Datina Românească, 1938. Returning once Grigore Alexandru took the Moldavian throne, Răducanu served as Moldavian Vornic in 1852, when he oversaw the early stages of a project to publish a full corpus of the state archives.Marius Chelcu, "O arhivă regăsită: dosarele cenzurii de la Biblioteca Academiei", in Revista Bibliotecii Academiei Române, Vol. 2, Issue 1, January–June 2017, pp. 88–89. In 1855, he was Logothete, or head of Moldavia's Justice Department. As a government member, he acquiesced to the Russian re-annexation of southern Bessarabia, allowing the entire Bessarabian region to be confirmed as lost by Moldavia. This led nationalist Vasile Alecsandri to include him in a group of "venomous scoundrels", who had betrayed their country.Grigore Chiriță, "Pașoptiștii români plîngeau Basarabia — O scrisoare inedită a lui Vasile Alecsandri", in Cotidianul: Arhiva. Supliment de Istorie, June 26, 1992, p. 6. During reduced-Moldavia's merger with neighboring Wallachia into the United Principalities, Lascăr endorsed the progressive National Party,Bogdan-Duică, p. 812. while Răducanu became one of the leaders of a conservative faction in Moldavia's assembly, caucusing with former separatists.Simion-Alexandru Gavriș, "Conservatorismul moldovenesc în interludiul 'federalist' (1859–1862): Lascăr Catargiu", in Archiva Moldaviæ, Vol. X, 2018, pp. 94–95, 100–104.
The family owned the large estate of Căiuți, nearby the spas of Slănic-Moldova, which was the childhood home of Radu and his siblings (a brother and several sisters, including Ana and Margot Rosetti).Rosetti, pp. 9–14, 30–31. A restless and adventurous child, Radu pushed his father Răducanu into building a cage to contain him.Sevastos, p. 217. Later in his youth, he turned to more sedentary pursuits. A native speaker of Romanian, he learned Greek from his paternal grandmother; he later achieved fluency in French (his favorite language of expression), German, Italian and Spanish, and had a working knowledge of Latin and, from 1888, Old Church Slavonic.Rosetti, pp. 16, 45. See also Ornea (1988), pp. 87–88, 95–96; Sevastos, p. 215. He also studied English, which he viewed as an "alloy" of French and German, by repeatedly reading the same untranslated novel: "On my tenth reading, I had learned English."Sevastos, p. 215. He studied at Iași, Geneva, Toulouse (where he finished high school) and Paris, his only diploma being a Baccalauréat degree.Boia (2010), p. 292; Ornea (1988), pp. 87–88, 89–90.
During his time in Switzerland, Rosetti indirectly witnessed the fall of France, with the surrender of the Armée de l'Est; he then became passionate about conservative and Legitimist politics, smuggling weapons into Navarre during the Third Carlist War.Rosetti, pp. 14–16. Upon returning home, he moderated his reactionary stance. As Radu Jr noted, his father became a "progressive conservative" who admired "State Socialism".Rosetti, pp. 15, 24, 56. Against traditionalists and elitists such as those from the Junimea school, Radu Sr reportedly believed that boyar privilege was a bane, and insisted that aristocrats too should work for a living.Rosetti, pp. 14–15, 172–173. While he endorsed the United Principalities (and, from 1881, the Kingdom of Romania), he maintained a conservative dislike for the Wallachians, viewing Moldavians as structurally superior.Boia (2010), pp. 67–68; Rosetti, p. 15. Radu inherited Căiuți upon Răducanu's death in June 1872, and used its forest for hunting, which he generally did on horseback.Rosetti, p. 14. He played host to important figures in Romanian public life, including Dimitrie Ghica-Comănești, Dimitrie A. Grecianu, Dimitrie Rosetti Tescanu, Anghel Saligny, and Alexandru B. Știrbei—thus, he cultivated both members of the National Liberal Party (PNL) and of the opposition Conservative Party.Rosetti, pp. 22–25. Sacrificing his dreams of becoming an engineer in order to supervise his inheritance, Rosetti entertained hopes of modernizing Căiuți during the transition from manorialism to full capitalism. Unable to adapt his lifestyle, he eventually succumbed to market pressures.Ornea (1988), pp. 87–89; Rosetti, pp. 11–14, 21–22, 29–30.
Prefect and writer In June 1876, at Saint Spyridon Orthodox church in Iași, Rosetti married Henrieta Bogdan, the ultra-conservative granddaughter of poet Nicolae Dimache.Rosetti, pp. 18, 20–21, 24–25. Her father, the Moldavian artillery officer Lascăr Bogdan, had died years before, and she was chaperoned by a relative, Grigore Sturdza; her sister, Elena, was married to the Uhlan officer Mișa Sturdza.Rosetti, pp. 10, 18–20, 27–28, 41, 68–71. Well loved by his tenant farmers and passionate about advancing their causes, Rosetti served terms as a mayor of Căiuți.Rosetti, p. 18. It was there that Henrieta gave birth to their children: Radu (in 1877), Henri (1879), Eugène (1881) and Magdalena (1882).Rosetti, p. 21. In 1888, however, Rosetti and his entire family moved out of the manor, taking up residence in Târgu Ocna. Their new home was a townhouse once owned by Negri.Rosetti, p. 32. This move followed a long dispute over land between Rosetti and his sisters, with Radu taking over ownership of Răducăneni, and conceding his manor to Ana; both estates were running debts and were eventually resold, leaving Rosetti inconsolable to his death.Rosetti, pp. 13, 20, 29–32. See also Ornea (1988), pp. 87–89. He continued to pursue his agriculturalist dream, investing his settlement money (against Henrieta's advice) to take up tenant farming in Urdești, on land owned by George Diamandy.Rosetti, pp. 44–45.