Born: 29 December 1843, Germany
Died: 2 March 1916
Country most active: Romania
Also known as: Carmen Sylva
The following is excerpted from Famous Women: An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women. Written by Joseph Adelman, published 1926 by Ellis M Lonow Company.
Elizabeth, Queen of Rumania [sic], known as “Carmen Sylva”, a poet and novelist. She fostered the higher education of women in Rumania [sic], and established societies for various charitable objects. In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877 – 1878 she devoted herself to the care of the wounded, and founded the Order of Elizabeth to reward distinguished service at such work.
A lively poetic imagination led her to the path of literature, especially to folk-lore and ballads. In addition to numerous original works she put into literary form many of the legends current among Rumanian peasantry, and her poetry is full of homely beauty in its expression of nature and life. She wrote with facility in Rumanian, German, French and English, and her works include novels, plays, poems, short stories, essays, aphorisms, etc.
In 1888 she received the Botta prize from the French Academy and in 1914 she was elected honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of the United Kingdom.
The following is excerpted from 400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
Pen name of Queen Elisabeth of Roumania. She was a German princess of the House of Wied. On November 15, 1869, she was married to Carol I, then ruling prince of Roumania, later the first king of the country. She became endeared to the Roumanian people through her devotion, during the Independence War of 1877, to the Roumanian cause when she took care of the wounded and rendered great service towards helping the Roumanian Army.
As a writer she showed great love and admiration for the heroical past of her adopted country, which she used as a subject in her literary works. She encouraged the Roumanian writers and artists by giving all the assistance within her power. She directed attention to the beauty of the Roumanian national costume and established many societies for its preservation and encouraged its use in Roumania.