V. A. Urechia

V. A. Urechia
Urechia in Sinaia, 1890
Born	Vasile Alexandrescu Popovici (1834-02-15)15 February 1834 Piatra Neamț, Moldavia
Died	21 November 1901(1901-11-21) (aged 67) Bucharest, Kingdom of Romania
Pen name	Vasile Alexandrescu Popovici-Ureche
Occupation	Historian critic journalist novelist short story writer dramatist schoolteacher academic politician civil servant
Nationality	Romanian
Period	c. 1850–1900
Genre	Historical fiction novella memoir comedy
Literary movement	Romanticism Literatorul  [ro]
Signature

V. A. Urechia (most common version of Vasile Alexandrescu Urechia, Romanian pronunciation: [vaˈsile aleksanˈdresku uˈreke̯a]; born Vasile Alexandrescu and also known as Urechiă, Urechea, Ureche, Popovici-Ureche or Vasile Urechea-Alexandrescu; 15 February 1834^[1] – 21 November 1901) was a Moldavian, later Romanian historian, Romantic author of historical fiction and plays, academic and politician. The author of Romanian history syntheses, a noted bibliographer, heraldist, ethnographer and folklorist, he founded and managed a private school, later holding teaching positions at the University of Iași and University of Bucharest. Urechia was also one of the founding members of the Romanian Academy and, as frequent traveler to Spain and fluent speaker of Spanish, a corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy. He was the father of satirist Alceu Urechia.

As an ideologue, Urechia developed "Romanianism", which offered a template for cultural and political cooperation among Romanians from several historical regions, and formed part of a Pan-Latinist campaign. An activist in favor of the Moldavia's union to Wallachia and a representative of the liberal wing, he was briefly Moldavian Minister of Religious Affairs, and later a prominent member of the National Liberal Party. For more than three decades, Urechia represented Covurlui County in the Romanian Kingdom's Chamber of Deputies and Senate. He was Education Minister under two successive National Liberal administrations, and, during the 1890s, he founded the Cultural League for the Unity of All Romanians, which focused on encouraging the aspirations of Romanians living in Austria-Hungary.

Urechia was involved in a decade-long controversy with Junimea, a conservative literary society which advocated professionalization. Among those involved on the Junimist side were literary critic Titu Maiorescu and poet Mihai Eminescu. Like other contributors to the liberal magazine Revista Contimporană, Urechia was a notorious target of Maiorescu's campaign against "inebriation with words", and ultimately sided with the anti-Junimist author Alexandru Macedonski, becoming a contributor to Literatorul  [ro] magazine. The polemics touched on his private life, after claims surfaced that he was secretly leading a polygynous lifestyle.