Gheorghe Bengescu ( Francized ''Georges Bengesco''; August 30, 1848–August 23, 1922) was a

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

n diplomat and man of letters. Born in Craiova to Grigore Bengescu as the scion of a '' boyar'' family, he studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, earning a doctorate in political and administrative sciences,Marie of Romania, ''Însemnări zilnice'', p. 432. Bucharest: Editura Historia, 2006. before returning to Romania.Octav George Lecca, ''Familiile boerești române'', p. 70. Bucharest: Editura Minerva, 1899. There, he served as prosecutor and judge for the Ilfov County tribunal and also worked as a French teacher. Entering the diplomatic service in 1872, he was secretary at the legations in Vienna and London, arriving in the latter city in 1882. He rose to first secretary in 1885 and legation adviser in 1889. He was also first secretary in Paris, then legation adviser. From 1891 to 1898, he was minister plenipotentiary at Brussels, also accredited to The Hague, until he resigned. While abroad, Bengescu published a series of works on literature, producing sixteen books in as many years, including a four-volume bibliography of Voltaire that received a prize from the Académie française. His bibliography of Oriental culture was much appreciated by contemporaries, while his studies in Romanian covered Vasile Alecsandri (1886-1888), Queen Elisabeth of Romania (1906) and the literary activity of Golescu family members. Bengescu belonged to the administration of the ''Société d'Histoire littéraire de la France'', becoming vice president. He represented Romania in the ''Société d'histoire diplomatique''. Elected a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy in 1883, he rose to titular status in 1921.Membrii Academiei Române din 1866 până în prezent
at the Romanian Academy site He died in Paris.Avram Cezar, ''Dicționar istoric al localităților din județul Dolj: Craiova'', .p. Craiova: Editura Alma, 2005.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bengescu, Gheorghe 1848 births 1922 deaths People from Craiova Romanian nobility 19th-century Romanian judges Romanian prosecutors Romanian schoolteachers Romanian literary historians Romanian bibliographers Titular members of the Romanian Academy Ambassadors of Romania to Belgium