Nicolae Cartojan (December 4, 1883–December 20, 1944) was a

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

n literary historian. Born in Uzunu, Giurgiu County, his parents were Anghel Cartojan and Maria (''née'' Petrescu). He graduated from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Saint Sava National College The Saint Sava National College (Romanian: ''Colegiul Național Sfântul Sava''), Bucharest, named after Sabbas the Sanctified, is the oldest and one of the most prestigious high schools in Romania. It was founded in 1694, under the name of t ...

in 1902. He then enrolled in the literature and philosophy faculty of the

University of Bucharest The University of Bucharest ( ro, Universitatea din București), commonly known after its abbreviation UB in Romania, is a public university founded in its current form on by a decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza to convert the former Princel ...

, where

Ioan Bianu Ioan Bianu (1856 or 1857 – February 13, 1935) was an Imperial Austrian-born Romanian philologist and bibliographer. The son of a peasant family from Transylvania, he completed high school in Blaj, where he became a disciple of Timotei Cipariu a ...

was one of his professors, and graduated in 1906. Early on, he developed an interest in early Romanian literature and in researching the manuscripts of the

Romanian Academy Library The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

, where he worked from 1906 to 1912. At the same time, he was a teaching assistant. From 1912 to 1914, Cartojan attended speciality courses at Friedrich Wilhelm University in Berlin. Upon returning to Bucharest, he was appointed principal of the Ioan Maiorescu Gymnasium. He married Sevastia Condeescu on April 14, 1916. After Romania entered

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

occupied Bucharest in December 1916, the gymnasium was turned into a detention camp for Romanian and Russian prisoners of war. Cartojan continued teaching for a while at the

Matei Basarab Matei Basarab (; 1588, Brâncoveni, Olt – 9 April 1654, Bucharest) was a Wallachian Voivode (Prince) between 1632 and 1654. Reign Much of Matei's reign was spent fighting off incursions from Moldavia, which he successfully accomplished in 1637 ...

and

Gheorghe Lazăr Gheorghe Lazăr (5 June 1779 – 17 September 1823), born and died in Avrig, Sibiu County, was a Transylvanian, later Romanian scholar, the founder of the first Romanian language school in Bucharest, 1817. Biography A Habsburg Empire subject, ...

high schools; after being imprisoned for a short time by the occupying forces, he managed to reopen the gymnasium in Giurgiu. After the war, he obtained in 1920 a doctorate from the University of Bucharest with a thesis about the Alexander romance in Romanian literature (''Alexandria în literatura românească. Noi contribuții''). The thesis referees were Bianu and

Ovid Densusianu Ovid Densusianu (; also known under his pen name Ervin; 29 December 1873, Făgăraș – 9 June 1938, Bucharest) was a Romanian poet, philologist, linguist, folklorist, literary historian and critic, chief of a poetry school, university professor ...

, while the chair of the thesis defense committee was

Dimitrie Onciul Dimitrie Onciul (26 October / 7 November 1856 – 20 March 1923) was a Romanian historian. He was a member of the Romanian Academy and its president from 1920 until his death in 1923. Biography Onciul was born in Straja, at the time in the D ...

. Cartojan published his thesis in two issues of the Yearbook of the Ioan Maiorescu Gymnasium of Giurgiu, and then more formally with

Cartea Românească Cartea Românească ("The Romanian Book") is a publishing house in Bucharest, Romania, founded in 1919. Disestablished by the Communist Romania, communist regime in 1948, it was restored under later communism, in 1970, when it functioned as the off ...

in 1922. Named an instructor in Bianu's department in 1921, he rose to associate professor in 1923 and, in 1930, was made full professor in the department of the history of early Romanian literature. In 1941, he was elected a titular member of the

Romanian Academy The Romanian Academy ( ro, Academia Română ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life. According to its byl ...

. After a series of preparatory studies, Cartojan published ''Cărțile populare în literatura românească'' (vol. I, 1929; vol. II, 1938). This work featured a minute analysis of texts that had almost entirely escaped critical research. Its erudition, sound philological method and meticulousness allowed him to synthesize a vast set of materials dealing with folk books. Its general approach remains valid, and it brought the author an international reputation. He joined the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until c. 1980) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes ...

in 1929, worked with Paul Van Tieghem on ''Répertoire chronologique des littératures modernes'' and was granted an honorary doctorate by the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

in 1942. The first three of a planned four volumes of ''Istoria literaturii române vechi'', a history of early Romanian literature, appeared between 1940 and 1945. He was the founder of modern research into the field.Aurel Sasu (ed.), ''Dicționarul biografic al literaturii române'', vol. I, p. 280. Pitești: Editura Paralela 45, 2004. A high school in Giurgiu was named after him in 1990.History
at the Nicolae Cartojan Theoretical High School site

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartojan, Nicolae 1883 births 1944 deaths People from Giurgiu County Saint Sava National College alumni University of Bucharest alumni Academic staff of the University of Bucharest Titular members of the Romanian Academy Romanian literary historians Heads of schools in Romania