Costache Negri | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | (1812-05-14)May 14, 1812 |
| Died | September 28, 1876(1876-09-28) (aged 64) |
| Resting place | Târgu Ocna,Bacău County, Romania |
| Occupation | writer, politician, revolutionary |
| Language | Romanian |
| Genre | poems, fables, prose |
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Costache Negri (May 14, 1812 – September 28, 1876) was aMoldavian, laterRomanian writer, politician, and revolutionary.
Born inIași, he was the son ofvistiernic (treasurer) Petrache Negre. The scion of aboyar family, he was educated at home, and then at the French boarding schools of Mouton in Iași and Repey inOdesa. In 1832 he was sent to pursue his studies inAustria,Germany,France, andItaly. During his stay in Paris he befriendedVasile Alecsandri,Ion Ghica, andNicolae Bălcescu. Upon returning home, he established in 1841 a literary cenacle at his estate inMânjina, which became a center of political activism of unionists fromMoldavia andWallachia. The outbreak of theFrench Revolution of 1848 found Negri in Paris, where he volunteered for action in the revolutionary guards. He then participated in theBlaj National Assembly [ro] of May 1848.[1]
After the revolution in Iași, being forbidden to enter Moldavia, he left forBrașov, where he took part in the development of a new revolutionary program. On 24 May [O.S. 12 May] 1848, he signed in Brașov, together with other Moldavian revolutionaries, the pamphlet "Our principles for the reformation of the homeland", in which they demanded the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in an independent state and land reform. Arriving then inCernăuti,Bukovina, he was elected head of the Moldavian Revolutionary Committee, established on June 9, 1848 by the exiled Moldavian revolutionaries, includingAlexandru Ioan Cuza. After refusing, a year later, Bălcescu's proposal to be the head of Romanian emigration abroad, Negri was appointed in 1851pârcălab (burgrave) forCovurlui County, and in 1854 head of the Department of Public Works, a capacity in which he pleaded, inVienna andConstantinople, the cause of theRomanian Principalities and their right to autonomy. He joined the Union Committee from Iași in 1856, then the Electoral Committee of the Union in February 1857), and was elected deputy forGalați on September 22, 1857, then vice president of the ad hoc Assembly of Moldavia on October 4, 1857. In 1859, Cuza became the firstdomnitor (Ruler) of the Romanian Principalities through his double election asprince of Moldavia on 5 January 1859 andprince of Wallachia on 24 January 1859, which resulted inthe unification of both states. Negri remained a collaborator and a close adviser of Cuza, especially in foreign policy issues; sent again to Constantinople as a diplomat, he contributed to the recognition by the great powers of the double election of Cuza, and therefore of the Union.[1]
Encouraged by Alecsandri, Negri starting writing — poems, fables, and prose. He debuted in 1844 withVeneția, a text published inPropășirea [ro]. He also wrote forRomânia Literară andSteaua Dunării; some of his poems appeared posthumously inRevista Nouă.[1]
He died inTârgu Ocna, at age 64. Hisburial site [ro] is in the churchyard of the oldRăducanu Monastery [ro] in Târgu Ocna. Mânjina, the village where his estate was located, was renamed in the 1920sCostache Negri. In 1943, his manor was declared a historical monument and was converted into amemorial house [ro].[2] Streets inBucharest,Cluj-Napoca, Iași, andPitești bear his name; high schools in Galați and Târgu Ocna are also named after him.
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