Dragos
Encyclopedia
Dragonș, also Dragoş Vodă or Dragoş of Bedeu, was a Romanian
voivode in Maramureş
who has traditionally been considered as the first ruler or prince of Moldavia
. Dragos is a common male first name, as well as last name in Romania
and Moldova
.
According to legend, Dragoş crossed into Moldavia from Maramureş
while hunting an aurochs
and imposed his rule there, colonizing the territory with Romanians from Maramureş. Altogether he ruled this outpost in the name of King Louis I of Hungary for two years, from 1352 to 1353.
; he was granted territories in Maramureş by the king. In a diploma of the last days of 1336, the boundaries of the lands in Bedeu (Bedevlja, Ukraine
) of the brothers Drag and Dragoş were established at the order of King Charles I of Hungary
(1308–1342). The document calls them “servants of the king”.
If Dragoş of Bedeu is identical to Dragoş of Giuleşti, as Tudor Sălăgean thinks, he was the son of Giula of Giuleşti (Victor Spinei suggests that Dragoş of Giuleşti cannot be confounded with Dragoş of Bedeu). In 1349, the Maramureş domains of Dragoş of Giuleşti and his family were confiscated by Bogdan
(who would later establish the independent Principality of Moldavia).
In the chronicle of the Ragusan Luccari, completed in 1601, Dragoş is designated “barone di Ust, cittá in Transilvania” (“Baron of Hust
, a town in Transylvania
”). However, the problem of the relation between Dragoş and Hust cannot be elucidated as there is no possibility of checking the truth of Luccari’s assertions.
. This is in keeping with the ritual nature of the chasing of the aurochs.
The territory of the future Moldavia had been under the control of the Golden Horde
since the Tatar invasion of 1241. But by the middle of the 14th century the Golden Horde's power was declining, and the Polish
-Hungarian offensive against it was at its strongest. The Hungarian military campaigns in the territories east of the Carpathians started in 1343; in 1345-46 important successes were recorded as the Tatars were pushed back towards the eastern Black Sea
. At the same time, King Casimir III of Poland
(1333–1370) attempted to win territories there, but the Polish army was driven back by Voivode Peter, leader of one of the state formations of this region.
The Anonymous Chronicle of Moldavia relates briefly Dragoş’s ‘dismounting’:
The Moldo-Polish Chronicle, written in Polish
in the third quarter of the 16th century on the basis of internal annals
, gives a more ample description (placing the event, however, in 1352):
The tradition which attributes to Dragoş the quality of single organizer of the foundation of the state is not in keeping with contemporary sources. It may convincingly be asserted that the armed initiative was undertaken by King Louis I and Dragoş was a tool of his policy. However, the fact that he was put at the head of the defensive border province in Moldavia shows that his participation and that of his followers in the military operations east of the Carpathians was important.
The place at which Dragoş “dismounted” and the center where he established his capital preoccupied many researchers. István Vásáry suggests that the centre of Dragoş’s Moldavian voivodeship must have been on the Moldova river and in Bukovina
. Tradition links him especially to Bukovina, where numerous place names and legends evoke his name and his deeds.
In 1360, King Louis I granted Dragoş of Giuleşti and his sons 6 villages along the valley of the river Mara
. According to the diploma issued on March 20, 1360, Dragoş of Giuleşti had restored “the country of Moldavia” thus “bringing back the revolted Romanians to steadfast loyalty”. As Dragoş of Giuleşti did not remain in Moldavia but returned in Maramureş after the submission of the Moldavian Romanians, Victor Spinei thinks that he is not identical to the founder of Moldavia.
Dragoş was buried at Volovăţ
.
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
voivode in Maramureş
Maramures
Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...
who has traditionally been considered as the first ruler or prince of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...
. Dragos is a common male first name, as well as last name in Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
and Moldova
Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova is a landlocked state in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the West and Ukraine to the North, East and South. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1991, as part...
.
According to legend, Dragoş crossed into Moldavia from Maramureş
Maramures
Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...
while hunting an aurochs
Aurochs
The aurochs , the ancestor of domestic cattle, were a type of large wild cattle which inhabited Europe, Asia and North Africa, but is now extinct; it survived in Europe until 1627....
and imposed his rule there, colonizing the territory with Romanians from Maramureş. Altogether he ruled this outpost in the name of King Louis I of Hungary for two years, from 1352 to 1353.
Voivode in Maramureş
In the Moldo-Russian Chronicle, written in the 16th century, Dragoş is considered one of the ‘Romans’ who had gone to Hungary to help a certain ‘King Vladislav of Hungary’ against the TatarsGolden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
; he was granted territories in Maramureş by the king. In a diploma of the last days of 1336, the boundaries of the lands in Bedeu (Bedevlja, Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
) of the brothers Drag and Dragoş were established at the order of King Charles I of Hungary
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I , also known as Charles Robert , was the first King of Hungary and Croatia of the House of Anjou. He was also descended from the old Hungarian Árpád dynasty. His claim to the throne of Hungary was contested by several pretenders...
(1308–1342). The document calls them “servants of the king”.
If Dragoş of Bedeu is identical to Dragoş of Giuleşti, as Tudor Sălăgean thinks, he was the son of Giula of Giuleşti (Victor Spinei suggests that Dragoş of Giuleşti cannot be confounded with Dragoş of Bedeu). In 1349, the Maramureş domains of Dragoş of Giuleşti and his family were confiscated by Bogdan
Bogdan I of Moldavia
Bogdan I the Founder was the third or fourth voivode of Moldavia . He and his successors established the independence of Moldavia, freeing the territory east of the Carpathian Mountains of Hungarian and Tatar domination....
(who would later establish the independent Principality of Moldavia).
In the chronicle of the Ragusan Luccari, completed in 1601, Dragoş is designated “barone di Ust, cittá in Transilvania” (“Baron of Hust
Khust
Khust is a city located on the Khustets River in the Zakarpattia oblast in western Ukraine. It is near the confluence of the Tisza and Rika Rivers...
, a town in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
”). However, the problem of the relation between Dragoş and Hust cannot be elucidated as there is no possibility of checking the truth of Luccari’s assertions.
Dragoş’s ‘dismounting’
The arrival of Dragoş in Moldavia is often referred to in Romanian historiography as the descălecat (dismounting). It is considered by the Romano-Slavic chronicles to be the birth of the Moldavian PrincipalityFoundation of Moldavia
The foundation of Moldavia is linked by medieval chronicles to Dragoş, a Romanian nobleman from Maramureş . But Dragoş took possession of the province, in the 1350s, in the name of King Louis I of Hungary...
. This is in keeping with the ritual nature of the chasing of the aurochs.
The territory of the future Moldavia had been under the control of the Golden Horde
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...
since the Tatar invasion of 1241. But by the middle of the 14th century the Golden Horde's power was declining, and the Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
-Hungarian offensive against it was at its strongest. The Hungarian military campaigns in the territories east of the Carpathians started in 1343; in 1345-46 important successes were recorded as the Tatars were pushed back towards the eastern Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
. At the same time, King Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III of Poland
Casimir III the Great , last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty , was the son of King Władysław I the Elbow-high and Hedwig of Kalisz.-Biography:...
(1333–1370) attempted to win territories there, but the Polish army was driven back by Voivode Peter, leader of one of the state formations of this region.
The Anonymous Chronicle of Moldavia relates briefly Dragoş’s ‘dismounting’:
The Moldo-Polish Chronicle, written in Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
in the third quarter of the 16th century on the basis of internal annals
Annals
Annals are a concise form of historical representation which record events chronologically, year by year. The Oxford English Dictionary defines annals as "a narrative of events written year by year"...
, gives a more ample description (placing the event, however, in 1352):
The tradition which attributes to Dragoş the quality of single organizer of the foundation of the state is not in keeping with contemporary sources. It may convincingly be asserted that the armed initiative was undertaken by King Louis I and Dragoş was a tool of his policy. However, the fact that he was put at the head of the defensive border province in Moldavia shows that his participation and that of his followers in the military operations east of the Carpathians was important.
The place at which Dragoş “dismounted” and the center where he established his capital preoccupied many researchers. István Vásáry suggests that the centre of Dragoş’s Moldavian voivodeship must have been on the Moldova river and in Bukovina
Bukovina
Bukovina is a historical region on the northern slopes of the northeastern Carpathian Mountains and the adjoining plains.-Name:The name Bukovina came into official use in 1775 with the region's annexation from the Principality of Moldavia to the possessions of the Habsburg Monarchy, which became...
. Tradition links him especially to Bukovina, where numerous place names and legends evoke his name and his deeds.
In 1360, King Louis I granted Dragoş of Giuleşti and his sons 6 villages along the valley of the river Mara
Mara River (Iza)
The Mara River is a tributary of the Iza River in Romania. The upper reach of the river, upstream of the village of Mara is also known as Valea Brazilor River-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti...
. According to the diploma issued on March 20, 1360, Dragoş of Giuleşti had restored “the country of Moldavia” thus “bringing back the revolted Romanians to steadfast loyalty”. As Dragoş of Giuleşti did not remain in Moldavia but returned in Maramureş after the submission of the Moldavian Romanians, Victor Spinei thinks that he is not identical to the founder of Moldavia.
Dragoş was buried at Volovăţ
Volovat
Volovăţ is a commune located in Suceava County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Volovăţ, and also included Burla village until 2004, when it was split off to form a separate commune....
.
Sources
- Brezianu, Andrei – Spânu, Vlad: Historical Dictionary of Moldova (entry ‘Dragoş Vodă (?-ca. 1353)’);
- Georgescu, Vlad (Author) – Calinescu, Matei (Editor) – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra (Translator): The Romanians – A History; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus; ISBN 0-8142-0511-9
- Klepper, Nicolae: Romania: An Illustrated History; Hippocrene Books, 2005, New York; ISBN 0-7818-0935-5
- Sălăgean, Tudor: Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th-10th Centuries); in: Ioan-Aurel Pop – Ioan Bolovan (Editors): History of Romania: Compendium; Romanian Cultural Institute (Center for Transylvanian Studies), 2006, Cluj-Napoca; ISBN 978-973-7784-12-4
- Spinei, Victor: Moldavia in the 11th-14th Centuries; Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Româna, 1986, Bucharest
- Treptow, Kurt W. – Popa, Marcel: Historical Dictionary of Romania (entry ‘Dragoş (Mid-14th century)’); The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham (Maryland, USA) & Folkestone (UK); ISBN 0-8108-3179-1
- Vásáry, István: Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; ISBN 0-521-83756-1