Nicolae Callimachi-Catargiu (February 24, 1830 – November 9, 1882) was a conservative

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

n politician who served as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between cou ...

in two terms from November 28, 1869 to February 1, 1870 and December 18, 1870 until March 11, 1871, and as a Romanian envoy to

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and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Biography

Family

His father was the

Logothete Logothete ( el, λογοθέτης, ''logothétēs'', pl. λογοθέται, ''logothétai''; Med. la, logotheta, pl. ''logothetae''; bg, логотет; it, logoteta; ro, logofăt; sr, логотет, ''logotet'') was an administrative title ...

Ștefan

Catargiu The House of Catargiu () is the name of an old and influential Moldavian noble family of the Tupilați region, whose members played important political role in the history of Wallachia, Moldavia and Romania. Notable members * Alexandru Ștefa ...

(1789-1866), a member of the Three-headed

Kaymakam Kaymakam, also known by many other romanizations, was a title used by various officials of the Ottoman Empire, including acting grand viziers, governors of provincial sanjaks, and administrators of district kazas. The title has been retained an ...

from the

Principality of Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Central ...

(1857 - October 20, 1858), and his mother was Ruxandra Calimachi (1808-1892), who insisted that he bear the name of the great family from which she came. He had three brothers, Alexandru Catargiu, and from his mother's second marriage to Prince Alecu Rosetti-Roznovanu (1798-1853)): * Prince Alecu Rosett-Roznovanu * Princess Adela Rosetti-Roznovanu (1835-1894); married firstly to Prince Alexandru

Ghika The Ghica family ( ro, Ghica; sq, Gjika; el, Γκίκας, ''Gikas'') was a noble family active in Wallachia, Moldavia and in the Kingdom of Romania, between the 17th and 19th centuries. The Ghica family produced many voivodes of Wallachia and M ...

(1831-1903); married secondly Gheorghe

(d. 1907) * Prince Gheorghe Rosetti-Rosnovanu (1834-1904); married Alexandrine Câmpineanu and had issue

Education

He studied at the

University of Iași The Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (Romanian: ''Universitatea „Alexandru Ioan Cuza"''; acronym: UAIC) is a public university located in Iași, Romania. Founded by an 1860 decree of Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza, under whom the former Academia Mih ...

and, from 1857, in

. He was elected an MP in the Constituent Assembly in 1866, in which, along with other personalities such as

Constantin Grădișteanu Constantin Grădișteanu (17 September 1833–10 April 1890) was a Wallachian-born Romanian politician. Descended from an old ''boyar'' family, his father was Șerban Grădișteanu. He studied at Paris, earning a degree in literature from th ...

, Nicolae Gr. Racoviță, Aristid Pascal opposed to the draft of the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

issued by the government, which concerned individual rights and freedoms. From 1876 he became a member of the

Junimea ''Junimea'' was a Romanian literary society founded in Iași in 1863, through the initiative of several foreign-educated personalities led by Titu Maiorescu, Petre P. Carp, Vasile Pogor, Theodor Rosetti and Iacob Negruzzi. The foremost personali ...

society and entered politics, being twice appointed as a Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Dimitrie Ghica cabinet (November 28, 1869-27 January 1870) and in the Third Ion Ghica cabinet (December 18, 1870-11 March 1871).

Diplomat

In 1875 he was sent as an agent of Romania to Paris (1875–1876; 1877–1880) and held this position until 1880, when he was appointed the Plenipotentiary Minister in

, presenting his credentials on July 31, 1880) He ended his mission in London in 1881 (presenting his recall letters on August 10, 1881). The reason for the end of the mission was the irritation of the British government due to the disclosure of some secrets of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs by M. Callimaki Catargi, materialized by the unauthorized publication of fragments of diplomatic correspondence between Romania and other powers, which harmed Austria's interests revealing the objectives and policy pursued by Brătianu regarding the Danube issue. The publication of diplomatic telegrams by Nicolae Calimachi-Catargiu was followed by an interpellation both in the Romanian Senate and in the Chamber of Deputies, requesting his sending to court according to art. 305 of the Penal Code. The proposal was put to the vote.Gazzeta Ufficiale del Regno D’Italia, Num. 302, Roma, Anno 1881 mercoledi 28 dicembre In the same year he was sent back on a mission to Paris. During this time, he wrote the bilingual work ''"Appendice au livre vert roumain sur la question du Danube" ''/ ''"Appendix to the Romanian Green Paper on the Danube Question"'' (31 pages), which he published in 1881 in Paris, impr. de Chaix, under the signature of N. Callimaki-Catargi.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Calimachi-Catargiu, Nicolae 1830 births 1882 deaths Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Romania) Romanian Ministers of Foreign Affairs Ambassadors of Romania to France Ambassadors of Romania to the United Kingdom Diplomats from Iași Alexandru Ioan Cuza University alumni