Foundation of Moldavia
Encyclopedia
The foundation of Moldavia
is linked by medieval chronicles to Dragoş
, a Romanian
nobleman
from Maramureş
(then in the Kingdom of Hungary
, now in Romania
and Ukraine
). But Dragoş took possession of the province, in the 1350s, in the name of King Louis I of Hungary (1342–1382). Therefore, as an autonomous state – the second independent Romanian principality after Wallachia
– Moldavia
was established some years later by Bogdan I the Founder
, another Romanian nobleman from Maramureş, who proclaimed himself independent of the kingdom.
But the existence of incipient states in the territory of the future Moldavia – that is in the region between the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, the lower branch of the Siret River
, the Black Sea
, and the river Dniester
– is well documented by medieval sources even before the foundation of the principality. The process of political unification, however, was slower here than in Wallachia, because Moldavia was more exposed to the attacks and plunders of nomad peoples, such as the Pechenegs, the Cumans
, and the Mongols
.
After 1242, the territories between the Carpathians and the Dniester were under direct Mongol control. The formation of Moldavia took place within the external context created by the offensive of Poland
and Hungary
against the Golden Horde
(the westernmost part of the Mongol Empire
) from the 1340s. First a defensive border province was established in northern Moldavia by King Louis I which was ruled by Dragoş. Later, the local boyar
s rose up against Dragoş’s descendants, and the latter’s opponent, Bogdan I the Founder seized the throne. Afterward, none of the military campaigns undertaken by King Louis I could force Bogdan’s allegiance, and thus the independent Moldavia was created.
The initial centre of Moldavia was located in the Moldova River
basin. The territories to the south of the central region fell under the jurisdiction of the voivodes or princes of Moldavia towards the end of the 14th century. The first silver and bronze coins were minted in the principality in 1377. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
acknowledged the Metropolitan See of Moldavia, after years of negotiations, in 1401.
political domination upon numerous populations, a period of stability and peace was established within a vast territory between the rivers Volga
and Dnieper
. The local population of the Carpathian-Danubian area also fully profited from the pax Chazarica for almost two centuries. The local population in 10th to 12th-century Moldavia is known from excavations of sites attributed to the so-called Dridu and Răducăneni cultures. In Moldavia, to the west of the river Prut
, field surveys identified 129 archaeological site
s from the 9th and 10th centuries, and the number of sites (296) is substantially higher for the 10th and 11th centuries.
But in the steppes north of the Caspian Sea
, the Khazar Khaganate had to confront the Pechenegs, a tribal confederation of Turkic
origin, in the late 9th century. During the second half of the 10th century, the Pechenegs settled “through violence” between the Khazars’ territories and those of Byzantium
. The Byzantine Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus
in his work De Administrando Imperio
(‘On Governing the Empire’) specifies that around 950 the land controlled by the Pechenegs or Patzinakia stretched from the bank opposite Distra (now Silistra
, Bulgaria) of the Danube
to Sarkel
(now in Russia
) on the Don River
. One of Patzinakia’s eight “provinces”, Charaboi was located between the rivers Southern Bug
and Dniester
, and another “province”, Chabouxingyla stretched across the upper courses of the rivers Siret, Prut, and Dniester.
The oldest written record referring to the Vlachs
(early Romanians) living in the territory of the future Moldavia seems to be the inscription, dated to the 11th century, on a memorial rune stone from Sjonhem on the Gotland
island (Sweden
). It mentions the murder of the Varangian
Rodfos by “the Blakumen during his voyage abroad”. Since the usual route of the Varangians
from the Baltic
coasts to Constantinople
passed along the Moldavian littoral of the Black Sea, these Vlachs must have lived east of the Carpathians.
The oldest source to attest the presence of the Romanians east of the Carpathians is an episode in the Eymundar saga, preserved in the codex Flateyjarbók
. The episode narrates that Burizleif, that is Grand Prince Sviatopolk I of Kiev
(1015–1019), during his war preparations against his brother, retreated to Tyrkland where he planned to launch an attack on the Kievan Rus’ with an army made up of Tyrkir and Blökumenn, that is of Pechenegs and Vlachs respectively. According to the Russian chronicles, Grand Prince Sviatopolk I took refuge with the Pechenegs in the winter of 1018–1019.
In 1036 the Pechenegs were defeated by Grand Prince Yaroslav I of Kiev (1019–1054), and thenceforward, they were hindered not only by their clashes with the Turkic tribe of the Oghuz
, but also by their own intertribal disagreements. The massive migration of the Pechenegs to the Balkan Peninsula started in 1046 when two Pecheneg groups crossed the Danube into the Byzantine Empire
. Although some Pecheneg groups decided to stay in the steppes, they were obliged to enter other Turkic tribal unions, or to offer their services to the Rus’ princes.
Shortly after 1060, the Oghuz moved into the steppe north of the Danube and in 1064 they burst into the Byzantine Empire. Defeated by provincial troops and by the Pechenegs in Byzantine service, one part of the Oghuz submitted to the empire, but others returned to the region north of the Danube and sought refuge in the domains of the Rus’s princes.
Next another Turkic tribe, the Cumans approached the Danube Delta
. According to a variant of the oldest Turkic chronicle, Oghuzname, inserted into the Turkish Genealogy by Abu’l-Ghazi Behadur Khan
(1603–1663), the Cumans fought against the countries of the Rus’, the Romanians (Ulak), the Hungarians, and the Bashkirs
. The Cumans had by 1070 controlled the entire steppe corridor north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, a region hence known as Dašt-i Qipčak (‘the steppe of the Cumans’) in the Muslim
sources.
But in the mid-12th century, the region was troubled not only by Cuman horsemen, but also by plots of pretenders to the thrones of the Principality of Halych and the Byzantine Empire.
In 1159, a candidate to the throne of Halych, Ivan Rostislavich the Berladnik is reported to have looted two boats belonging to fishermen from Halych on the Danube which suggests that the influence of the Principality of Halych may have extended as far as southern Moldavia. A line from the poem The Lay of Igor’s Campaign
also refers to Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl of Halych
(1153–1187) saying that “Your law reigns up to the river Danube”. However, the fact that Ivan Rostislavich, during his disputes with the princes of Halych, twice fled to the lands by the Danube shows that the same region could not have been under the rule of those same princes from whom he was fleeing.
In 1164 Andronicus Comnenus
, the cousin and political rival of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos
(1143–1180) escaped from prison and fled to Halych. However, when he reached the borders of Halych, he was captured by Romanians (Vlachs) who thus probably were located somewhere in present-day Moldavia. The fact that the Romanians acted in the emperor’s interest suggests that the Byzantine Empire had a strong political influence beyond its Danube frontier.
In 1211, the Teutonic Knights
were settled by King Andrew II of Hungary
(1205–1235) to defend the kingdom against the Cumans. The knights decided to expand “beyond the snowy mountains” (ultra montes nivium) and managed to impose their military control over territories outside the Carpathians. In a charter of 1222 confirming the knights’ privileges, King Andrew II described their new acquisitions as reaching the “borders of the Brodniks” (ad terminos prodnicorum) to the east. At that time the Brodniks, whose ethnicity is still unclear and a matter of debate, lived in southern Moldavia. In 1225 King Andrew II removed the Teutonic Knights from the territory by the force, because they had started to ignore the royal authority and recognized only that of the Holy See
.
On May 31, 1223, the Cuman chieftains suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Mongols in the Battle of the Kalka River
(now in Ukraine). Afterwards several Cuman groups expected support from the Kingdom of Hungary in case of a new confrontation with the Mongols. According to the chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines
, in 1227 the son of the Cuman khan, at the head of a small delegation, presented himself to Robert, the archbishop of Esztergom
(Hungary), and requested baptism for him and his followers. As a consequence of the large-scale acts of conversion and of the consolidation of Hungary’s positions in the outer Carpathian region, the archbishop created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania with jurisdiction over the entire territory stretching eastwards to the river Siret. According to a letter of Pope Gregory IX
(1227–1241), dated November 14, 1234, the Romanians (Walati) living in the territory of the bishopric ignored the bishop’s prerogatives. The pope also relates that the Romanians had their own ‘pseudo-bishops’ and even attracted some Hungarians and Germans
to their Orthodox rite
.
The Mongol campaign to conquer the southern half of Eastern Europe started in 1236. The invasion caused a real exodus of the Cumans who tried to find refuge in various places, for example in the Crimea
, in the Balkan Peninsula and in the Kingdom of Hungary. But the massacre of the Cumans and their exodus did not lead to total evacuation of Dašt-i Qipčak, and some Cuman groups were subdued by the Mongols, the new rulers of the Eurasian steppes.
The main target of the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242 was the Kingdom of Hungary. But en route a Mongol group led by a certain Bochetor crossed Moldavia and occupied the whole “country of the Cuman bishop”. Then his armies proceeded by the way of the Quara Ulagh (‘Black Vlachs’) who lived outside of the Carpathians.
The invasion of the Mongols in Eastern Europe checked for several decades the political offensive of the Kingdom of Hungary beyond the Carpathians. Moreover, the territories east of the mountains fell under Mongol overlordship, but until 1260, during the first twenty years of the formative period of the Golden Horde, their status was obscure.
, the founder of the Golden Horde. The name of the duke is strikingly similar to the ethnic name for the Romanians in Hungarian (oláh), but his name may also be a distorted transcription of the Russian
name Oleg
. The Franciscan
William of Rubruck
reports that in 1253 he met messengers of the Romanians (Blaci, Blati) and other peoples who carried their gifts to Batu Khan.
According to Thomas Tuscus’ chronicle, the Romanians (Blaci) were at war with the Ruthenians
in 1276–1277, and thus prevented the latter’s arrival in support of their ally, King Ottakar II of Bohemia (1253–1278). This information suggests that the Blaci formed a political entity somewhere in northern Moldavia and they had a military force strong enough to worry the Kingdom of Halych. Brief mention of Romanians of the sub-Carpathian areas is also made in two papal
acts issued in 1279 and 1288 in connection with the papal attempts to reactivate Catholic missionary activities in Eastern Europe
. The pope knew that bishops “suitable to that Romanian nation” were needed for the success of the Catholic action in Moldavia.
The Polish
chronicler, Jan Długosz narrates that contingents of Vlachs (Walachi) took part in the expedition organized in 1326 by King Władysław I of Poland (1306–1333) against Brandenburg
.
The richness of the stores of weapons and harness pieces, from the 13th–14th centuries, found at Vatra Moldoviţei
, Coşna
and Cozăneşti suggests the existence of well-organized military bodies in the region. The correspondence of the popes from the 1330s also contain references to the “powerful men of those parts” (potentes illorum partium). However, before the middle of the 14th century there had been no fortified settlements to the east of the Carpathian Mountains
, probably as a consequence of the Golden Horde’s power.
, Mordvins), who had been integrated into the Mongol Empire’s political and military system, were settled there. In these territories, the circulation of Mongol and Byzantine coins was predominant during the first half of the 14th century.
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On the other hand, during the same period, there was a large circulation of Hungarian and Central European coins in the northwestern parts of the territory between the Carpathians and the Dniester, because the road linking the city of Lemberg (now Lviv, Ukraine) to the Black Sea crossed this region, and it was also connected to the cities of Transylvania
. These economic relations with Transylvania and Halych allowed some Saxon
colonists to settle here. Their presence significantly contributed to the development of mining, craft, and trade in the territory. For example, a Saxon inhabitant of Baia
, Alexandro Moldaowicz was mentioned in 1334 in a document signed at Lemberg. Although urban development was still incipient, but Baia, Siret
and Suceava
became developing economic centers. Place names and hydronym
s of Hungarian
origin, such as Bacău
, Cuejd
, prove that communities of Hungarians also moved to settle in the territory; the origin of the Csángó people can probably be traced back to them.
Between 1340 and 1355 a series of Polish and Hungarian campaigns relieved Mongol pressure on the frontier zone and this military offensive pushed the Mongols back onto the steppes. The first stage of these military achievements took place between 1340 and 1349 when King Casimir III of Poland
(1333–1370) annexed Halych to his kingdom.
King Louis I of Hungary also started a wide scale policy of expansion in 1343, but the first confrontations with the Mongols and their allies were unfavorable to the royal troops. Afterward, the king appointed Andrew Lackfi, the voivode of Transylvania to carry out an expedition in the country of the Mongols at the head of an army of Székely
and other peoples. In 1345 Andrew Lackfi and his troops launched an expedition across the Carpathians and defeated the Mongols. In lack of documentary evidence, it is disputed whether the Romanians of Maramureş took part in Lackfi's campaign, but it seems plausible to reckon with their participation. In 1346, Székely warriors crossed the mountains again and they also returned with large booty.
After these victories, the Hungarian sphere of influence stretched eastward as far as the Dniester. Pope Clement VI
(1342–1352) considered it an appropriate moment to restore the Catholic Church hierarchy east of the Carpathians, and therefore ordered the restoration of the former bishopric of Cumania, with its seat in Milcov, on January 29, 1347.
The spread of Hungarian influence in the future Moldavia also contributed to an increasing Romanian presence in the territory, because the Romanian elements that would organize Moldavia migrated there from the Kingdom of Hungary, from the region of Maramureş.
The foundation of Moldavia, often referred to as descălecat (‘dismounting’) in the Romanian historiography, is explained by a legend
narrated in various old Moldavian chronicles. The most detailed account can be found in the Moldo-Russian chronicle, written in the 16th century.
According to the legend, one day Dragoş, one of the “Romans” to whom a certain “King Vladislav of Hungary” had granted landed property in Maramureş, left for a hunting. While Dragoş was following a bison
or an aurochs
, he crossed the Carpathians and reached as far as the Moldova River where he killed the beast. As he liked the pleasant places and the open fields he found there, he decided to choose them as his new homeland. Therefore, he went back to Maramureş only to return with all his people.
Legends of following magic wild beasts in hunts which lead the hunter to unknown places and various adventures are widespread. However, a hunt which result in the mythical foundation of a nation is a typical Central Asian myth, for example Dragoş’s hunting for the bison is similar to the legends of the Proto-Bulgarians or the Hungarian myth of Hunor and Magor
involving the hunting for a white stag.
The descălecat by Dragoş is dated either to 1352 or to 1359 by the chronicles. Afterwards, a defensive border province, led by Dragoş began to develop which gradually included the Romanian polities that had come out of the influence of the Kingdom of Halych and the Golden Horde. For example, such a polity was ruled by a certain Voivode Peter who defeated the armies of King Casimir III of Poland in 1359.
But Moldavia was still a border district of the Kingdom of Hungary, and Dragoş and his successors were appointed by King Louis I to rule that province. The king always spoke of Moldavia as his property; for example in a diploma of 1365, he mentioned the country four times as “our Moldavian land” (terra nostra Molduana).
Having failed in his attempt to get rid of the Hungarian hegemony, Bogdan left Maramureş with his supporters and crossed the mountains into Moldavia, where he started a rebellion against the king in 1359 or 1365. He was also welcomed by the local people who had been discontent with the Hungarian domination. He expelled the descendants of Dragoş, declared himself independent and did not accept Hungarian vassalage any more.
Although King Louis I sent a task force to punish Bogdan, but the Romanian voivode came off victorious. Therefore, Bogdan can rightly be regarded the first ruler of the independent principality of Moldavia. This is also corroborated by the fact that the Turkish name for Moldavia was Kara Boğdan (‘Black Bogdan’) which refers to him.
The geographical names Moldova, Moldava and Moldavia, which took their origin from the river Moldva, spread strongly both in the Latin and Slavic documents from 1360 onward. In Byzantine documents, the new country was called Maurovlakhia (Μαυροβλαχία), that is ‘Black Vlachia’, in 1386 and Rusovlakhia (Ρωσοβλαχία), that is ‘Vlachia near Russia’, in 1391; and finally it was called Moldovlakhia (Μολδοβλαχία), that is ‘Moldavian Vlachia’, in 1401.
In the 1360s, Moldavia still comprised a minuscule area between the rivers Prut and Siret.
At that time, a late Mongol state still continued to survive in the southern regions of Moldavia. This polity had been isolated from the central nucleus of the Golden Horde as a result of the great Lithuanian
victory over the Mongols at Sinivody
in 1362. In 1368, King Louis I exempted “the traders of Demetrius, prince of the Tatars” from paying customs duties in the Kingdom of Hungary, in exchange for a similar treatment for traders of Braşov
“in the country of Lord Demetrius”. This remnant of the Mongol power disappeared during the next decade and was included in the “Wallachian country” constituted in the southern regions of Moldavia.
Bogdan’s successor, Laţcu
(c. 1367–1375) maintained good relations with Poland and also established direct connection with the Holy See. As a result of these activities, and in exchange for his acceptance of the Catholic faith, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Siret was set up under the direct subordination of the pope. By bestowing the title “duke” on Laţcu, the pope also consolidated the international status of Moldavia.
Moldavia’s evolution towards an independent state was stopped, for a short time, by the establishment of Hungarian domination over Halych in the 1370s, which brought Moldavia again under Hungarian suzerainty. For example, Wladislaw of Oppeln, who had been appointed by King Louis as governor of Halych, gave shelter to a “Romanian voivode”, Giurgu who had sought refuge because of the “unexpected treason of his people”. According to a Russo-Lithuanian chronicle, the Romanians elected a Lithuanian
prince, Iuriy Koriatovich as voivode, but later (before March 1375) poisoned him.
After the death of King Louis I in 1382, Moldavia reoriented itself towards Poland. Thus Peter I Muşat (1375–1395) interrupted the relations with Hungary in 1387 and formally inaugurated vassalage relations with Poland. Around this time the “Wallachian country” was still under the rule of a certain Voivode Costea
(Constantin): in 1386 two Genoese
envoys were accredited to the Moldavian princes Constantino et Petro.
Peter I Muşat became the defender of the Orthodox rite. Seeking to stabilize the ecclesiastical situation, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Halych consecrated two bishops for Moldavia, Joseph Muşat and Meletius. The first was a relative of the voivode, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople objected his consecration. Therefore the Metropolitan See of Moldavia was officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1401–1402, after a long canonical debate.
During the rule of Peter I Muşat Moldavia extended its territory to the Danube and the Black Sea. At the end of his rule or at the beginning of the rule of his follower, Roman I Muşat (c. 1391–1394), Moldavia achieved territorial unity by including the southern “Wallachian country”. Consequently, in a letter of grant, dated March 30, 1392, Roman I Muşat could call himself “by the grace of God the Almighty, great ruler of Moldavia’s lands from the mountains to the sea”.
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...
is linked by medieval chronicles to Dragoş
Dragos
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...
, a Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....
nobleman
Nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary
The origin of the nobility in the Kingdom of Hungary can be traced to the Magyar conquest of Pannonia in the 9th century, and it developed over the course of the Middle Ages...
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...
(then in the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, now 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 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...
). But Dragoş took possession of the province, in the 1350s, in the name of King Louis I of Hungary (1342–1382). Therefore, as an autonomous state – the second independent Romanian principality after Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
– 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...
was established some years later by Bogdan I the Founder
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....
, another Romanian nobleman from Maramureş, who proclaimed himself independent of the kingdom.
But the existence of incipient states in the territory of the future Moldavia – that is in the region between the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, the lower branch of the Siret River
Siret River
The Siret or Sireth is a river that rises from the Carpathians in the Northern Bukovina region of Ukraine, and flows southward into Romania for 470 km before it joins the Danube...
, the 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...
, and the river Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
– is well documented by medieval sources even before the foundation of the principality. The process of political unification, however, was slower here than in Wallachia, because Moldavia was more exposed to the attacks and plunders of nomad peoples, such as the Pechenegs, the Cumans
Cumans
The Cumans were Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman-Kipchak confederation. After Mongol invasion , they decided to seek asylum in Hungary, and subsequently to Bulgaria...
, and the Mongols
Mongols
Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...
.
After 1242, the territories between the Carpathians and the Dniester were under direct Mongol control. The formation of Moldavia took place within the external context created by the offensive of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
against 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...
(the westernmost part of the Mongol Empire
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
) from the 1340s. First a defensive border province was established in northern Moldavia by King Louis I which was ruled by Dragoş. Later, the local boyar
Boyar
A boyar, or bolyar , was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Moscovian, Kievan Rus'ian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian aristocracies, second only to the ruling princes , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
s rose up against Dragoş’s descendants, and the latter’s opponent, Bogdan I the Founder seized the throne. Afterward, none of the military campaigns undertaken by King Louis I could force Bogdan’s allegiance, and thus the independent Moldavia was created.
The initial centre of Moldavia was located in the Moldova River
Moldova River
The Moldova River is a river in Romania, in the historical region of Moldavia. The river rises from the Obcina Feredeu Mountains of Bukovina in Suceava County and joins the Siret River near the city of Roman in Neamţ County....
basin. The territories to the south of the central region fell under the jurisdiction of the voivodes or princes of Moldavia towards the end of the 14th century. The first silver and bronze coins were minted in the principality in 1377. The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...
acknowledged the Metropolitan See of Moldavia, after years of negotiations, in 1401.
Last centuries of the Early Middle Ages
In the second half of the 8th century, by the imposition of the KhazarKhazars
The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...
political domination upon numerous populations, a period of stability and peace was established within a vast territory between the rivers Volga
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
and Dnieper
Dnieper River
The Dnieper River is one of the major rivers of Europe that flows from Russia, through Belarus and Ukraine, to the Black Sea.The total length is and has a drainage basin of .The river is noted for its dams and hydroelectric stations...
. The local population of the Carpathian-Danubian area also fully profited from the pax Chazarica for almost two centuries. The local population in 10th to 12th-century Moldavia is known from excavations of sites attributed to the so-called Dridu and Răducăneni cultures. In Moldavia, to the west of the river Prut
Prut
The Prut is a long river in Eastern Europe. In part of its course it forms the border between Romania and Moldova.-Overview:...
, field surveys identified 129 archaeological site
Archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place in which evidence of past activity is preserved , and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and represents a part of the archaeological record.Beyond this, the definition and geographical extent of a 'site' can vary widely,...
s from the 9th and 10th centuries, and the number of sites (296) is substantially higher for the 10th and 11th centuries.
But in the steppes north of the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
, the Khazar Khaganate had to confront the Pechenegs, a tribal confederation of Turkic
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...
origin, in the late 9th century. During the second half of the 10th century, the Pechenegs settled “through violence” between the Khazars’ territories and those of Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
. The Byzantine Emperor, Constantine Porphyrogenitus
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
in his work De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
(‘On Governing the Empire’) specifies that around 950 the land controlled by the Pechenegs or Patzinakia stretched from the bank opposite Distra (now Silistra
Silistra
Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania. Silistra is the administrative centre of Silistra Province and one of the important cities of the historical region of Southern Dobrudzha...
, Bulgaria) of the Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....
to Sarkel
Sarkel
Sarkel was a large limestone-and-brick fortress built by the Khazars with Byzantine assistance in the 830s. It was named white-house because of the white limestone bricks they have used to build Sarkel...
(now in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
) on the Don River
Don River (Russia)
The Don River is one of the major rivers of Russia. It rises in the town of Novomoskovsk 60 kilometres southeast from Tula, southeast of Moscow, and flows for a distance of about 1,950 kilometres to the Sea of Azov....
. One of Patzinakia’s eight “provinces”, Charaboi was located between the rivers Southern Bug
Southern Bug
The Southern Bug, also called Southern Buh), is a river located in Ukraine. The source of the river is in the west of Ukraine, in the Volyn-Podillia Upland, about 145 km from the Polish border, and flows southeasterly into the Bug Estuary through the southern steppes...
and Dniester
Dniester
The Dniester is a river in Eastern Europe. It runs through Ukraine and Moldova and separates most of Moldova's territory from the breakaway de facto state of Transnistria.-Names:...
, and another “province”, Chabouxingyla stretched across the upper courses of the rivers Siret, Prut, and Dniester.
The oldest written record referring to the Vlachs
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
(early Romanians) living in the territory of the future Moldavia seems to be the inscription, dated to the 11th century, on a memorial rune stone from Sjonhem on the Gotland
Gotland
Gotland is a county, province, municipality and diocese of Sweden; it is Sweden's largest island and the largest island in the Baltic Sea. At 3,140 square kilometers in area, the region makes up less than one percent of Sweden's total land area...
island (Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
). It mentions the murder of the Varangian
Varangians
The Varangians or Varyags , sometimes referred to as Variagians, were people from the Baltic region, most often associated with Vikings, who from the 9th to 11th centuries ventured eastwards and southwards along the rivers of Eastern Europe, through what is now Russia, Belarus and Ukraine.According...
Rodfos by “the Blakumen during his voyage abroad”. Since the usual route of the Varangians
Trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks
The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire. The route allowed traders along the route to establish a direct prosperous trade with Byzantium, and prompted some of them to settle in the territories of...
from the Baltic
Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and...
coasts to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
passed along the Moldavian littoral of the Black Sea, these Vlachs must have lived east of the Carpathians.
The oldest source to attest the presence of the Romanians east of the Carpathians is an episode in the Eymundar saga, preserved in the codex Flateyjarbók
Flateyjarbók
The Flatey Book, is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name Codex Flateyensis.- Description :...
. The episode narrates that Burizleif, that is Grand Prince Sviatopolk I of Kiev
Sviatopolk I of Kiev
Sviatopolk I Vladimirovich was the Kniaz' of Turov and Velikii Kniaz of Kiev whose paternity and guilt in the murder of brothers are disputed.-Early life:Sviatopolk's mother was a Greek nun captured by Sviatoslav I in Bulgaria and married to his lawful heir...
(1015–1019), during his war preparations against his brother, retreated to Tyrkland where he planned to launch an attack on the Kievan Rus’ with an army made up of Tyrkir and Blökumenn, that is of Pechenegs and Vlachs respectively. According to the Russian chronicles, Grand Prince Sviatopolk I took refuge with the Pechenegs in the winter of 1018–1019.
In 1036 the Pechenegs were defeated by Grand Prince Yaroslav I of Kiev (1019–1054), and thenceforward, they were hindered not only by their clashes with the Turkic tribe of the Oghuz
Oghuz Turks
The Turkomen also known as Oghuz Turks were a historical Turkic tribal confederation in Central Asia during the early medieval Turkic expansion....
, but also by their own intertribal disagreements. The massive migration of the Pechenegs to the Balkan Peninsula started in 1046 when two Pecheneg groups crossed the Danube into the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
. Although some Pecheneg groups decided to stay in the steppes, they were obliged to enter other Turkic tribal unions, or to offer their services to the Rus’ princes.
Shortly after 1060, the Oghuz moved into the steppe north of the Danube and in 1064 they burst into the Byzantine Empire. Defeated by provincial troops and by the Pechenegs in Byzantine service, one part of the Oghuz submitted to the empire, but others returned to the region north of the Danube and sought refuge in the domains of the Rus’s princes.
Danube Delta
The Danube Delta is the second largest river delta in Europe, after the Volga Delta, and is the best preserved on the continent. The greater part of the Danube Delta lies in Romania , while its northern part, on the left bank of the Chilia arm, is situated in Ukraine . The approximate surface is...
. According to a variant of the oldest Turkic chronicle, Oghuzname, inserted into the Turkish Genealogy by Abu’l-Ghazi Behadur Khan
Abulghazi Bahadur
Abulghazi Bahadur was khan of the Khanate of Khiva from 1643-1663. Having spent ten years in Persia before becoming khan, he was very well educated. Under his rule Khiva experienced a golden age. He had successfully repelled the Kalmyk raiders...
(1603–1663), the Cumans fought against the countries of the Rus’, the Romanians (Ulak), the Hungarians, and the Bashkirs
Bashkirs
The Bashkirs are a Turkic people indigenous to Bashkortostan extending on both parts of the Ural mountains, on the place where Europe meets Asia. Groups of Bashkirs also live in the republic of Tatarstan, Perm Krai, Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Samara and Saratov Oblasts of...
. The Cumans had by 1070 controlled the entire steppe corridor north of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, a region hence known as Dašt-i Qipčak (‘the steppe of the Cumans’) in the Muslim
Muslim
A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...
sources.
But in the mid-12th century, the region was troubled not only by Cuman horsemen, but also by plots of pretenders to the thrones of the Principality of Halych and the Byzantine Empire.
In 1159, a candidate to the throne of Halych, Ivan Rostislavich the Berladnik is reported to have looted two boats belonging to fishermen from Halych on the Danube which suggests that the influence of the Principality of Halych may have extended as far as southern Moldavia. A line from the poem The Lay of Igor’s Campaign
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
The Tale of Igor's Campaign is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language.The title is occasionally translated as The Song of Igor's Campaign, The Lay of Igor's Campaign, and The Lay of...
also refers to Prince Yaroslav Osmomysl of Halych
Yaroslav Osmomysl
Yaroslav Osmomysl was the most famous Prince of Halych from the first dynasty of its rulers, which descended from Yaroslav I's eldest son. His sobriquet, meaning "Eight-Minded" in Old East Slavic, was granted to him in recognition of his wisdom...
(1153–1187) saying that “Your law reigns up to the river Danube”. However, the fact that Ivan Rostislavich, during his disputes with the princes of Halych, twice fled to the lands by the Danube shows that the same region could not have been under the rule of those same princes from whom he was fleeing.
In 1164 Andronicus Comnenus
Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1183 to 1185). He was the son of Isaac Komnenos and grandson of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.-Early years:...
, the cousin and political rival of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos
Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....
(1143–1180) escaped from prison and fled to Halych. However, when he reached the borders of Halych, he was captured by Romanians (Vlachs) who thus probably were located somewhere in present-day Moldavia. The fact that the Romanians acted in the emperor’s interest suggests that the Byzantine Empire had a strong political influence beyond its Danube frontier.
In 1211, the Teutonic Knights
Teutonic Knights
The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem , commonly the Teutonic Order , is a German medieval military order, in modern times a purely religious Catholic order...
were settled by King Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II the Jerosolimitan was King of Hungary and Croatia . He was the younger son of King Béla III of Hungary, who invested him with the government of the Principality of Halych...
(1205–1235) to defend the kingdom against the Cumans. The knights decided to expand “beyond the snowy mountains” (ultra montes nivium) and managed to impose their military control over territories outside the Carpathians. In a charter of 1222 confirming the knights’ privileges, King Andrew II described their new acquisitions as reaching the “borders of the Brodniks” (ad terminos prodnicorum) to the east. At that time the Brodniks, whose ethnicity is still unclear and a matter of debate, lived in southern Moldavia. In 1225 King Andrew II removed the Teutonic Knights from the territory by the force, because they had started to ignore the royal authority and recognized only that of the Holy See
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
.
On May 31, 1223, the Cuman chieftains suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Mongols in the Battle of the Kalka River
Battle of the Kalka River
The Battle of the Kalka River took place on May 31, 1223, between the Mongol Empire and Kiev, Galich, and several other Rus' principalities and the Cumans, under the command of Mstislav the Bold and Mstislav III of Kiev...
(now in Ukraine). Afterwards several Cuman groups expected support from the Kingdom of Hungary in case of a new confrontation with the Mongols. According to the chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines
Alberic of Trois-Fontaines
Alberic of Trois-Fontaines was a medieval Cistercian chronicler who wrote in Latin. He was a monk of Trois-Fontaines Abbey . In 1232 he began his Chronica Albrici Monachi Trium Fontium, which describes world events from the Creation to the year 1241...
, in 1227 the son of the Cuman khan, at the head of a small delegation, presented himself to Robert, the archbishop of Esztergom
Archdiocese of Esztergom
The archbishopric of Esztergom was a historical diocese created in 1000 under Stephen I of Hungary largely on the territory of Upper Hungary. After the Treaty of Trianon, its territory was reduced to its present-day extent and it became the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest on 31 May 1993...
(Hungary), and requested baptism for him and his followers. As a consequence of the large-scale acts of conversion and of the consolidation of Hungary’s positions in the outer Carpathian region, the archbishop created the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cumania with jurisdiction over the entire territory stretching eastwards to the river Siret. According to a letter of Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX
Pope Gregory IX, born Ugolino di Conti, was pope from March 19, 1227 to August 22, 1241.The successor of Pope Honorius III , he fully inherited the traditions of Pope Gregory VII and of his uncle Pope Innocent III , and zealously continued their policy of Papal supremacy.-Early life:Ugolino was...
(1227–1241), dated November 14, 1234, the Romanians (Walati) living in the territory of the bishopric ignored the bishop’s prerogatives. The pope also relates that the Romanians had their own ‘pseudo-bishops’ and even attracted some Hungarians and Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....
to their Orthodox rite
Greek Orthodox Church
The Greek Orthodox Church is the body of several churches within the larger communion of Eastern Orthodox Christianity sharing a common cultural tradition whose liturgy is also traditionally conducted in Koine Greek, the original language of the New Testament...
.
The Mongol campaign to conquer the southern half of Eastern Europe started in 1236. The invasion caused a real exodus of the Cumans who tried to find refuge in various places, for example in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
, in the Balkan Peninsula and in the Kingdom of Hungary. But the massacre of the Cumans and their exodus did not lead to total evacuation of Dašt-i Qipčak, and some Cuman groups were subdued by the Mongols, the new rulers of the Eurasian steppes.
The main target of the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242 was the Kingdom of Hungary. But en route a Mongol group led by a certain Bochetor crossed Moldavia and occupied the whole “country of the Cuman bishop”. Then his armies proceeded by the way of the Quara Ulagh (‘Black Vlachs’) who lived outside of the Carpathians.
The invasion of the Mongols in Eastern Europe checked for several decades the political offensive of the Kingdom of Hungary beyond the Carpathians. Moreover, the territories east of the mountains fell under Mongol overlordship, but until 1260, during the first twenty years of the formative period of the Golden Horde, their status was obscure.
Incipient states in Moldavia in medieval documents
The first possible reference to a Romanian incipient state after the Mongol invasion was recorded by John of Plano Carpini who, on his way back from the Great Khan of the Mongols in 1247, met a duke named Olaha, who was on his way to the court of Batu KhanBatu Khan
Batu Khan was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Ulus of Jochi , the sub-khanate of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan. His ulus was the chief state of the Golden Horde , which ruled Rus and the Caucasus for around 250 years, after also destroying the armies...
, the founder of the Golden Horde. The name of the duke is strikingly similar to the ethnic name for the Romanians in Hungarian (oláh), but his name may also be a distorted transcription of the Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
name Oleg
Oleg
Oleg , Oleh , or Aleh is a Slavic given name. It derives from the Old Norse Helgi , meaning "holy", "sacred", or "blessed"...
. The Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck
William of Rubruck was a Flemish Franciscan missionary and explorer. His account is one of the masterpieces of medieval geographical literature comparable to that of Marco Polo....
reports that in 1253 he met messengers of the Romanians (Blaci, Blati) and other peoples who carried their gifts to Batu Khan.
According to Thomas Tuscus’ chronicle, the Romanians (Blaci) were at war with the Ruthenians
Ruthenians
The name Ruthenian |Rus']]) is a culturally loaded term and has different meanings according to the context in which it is used. Initially, it was the ethnonym used for the East Slavic peoples who lived in Rus'. Later it was used predominantly for Ukrainians...
in 1276–1277, and thus prevented the latter’s arrival in support of their ally, King Ottakar II of Bohemia (1253–1278). This information suggests that the Blaci formed a political entity somewhere in northern Moldavia and they had a military force strong enough to worry the Kingdom of Halych. Brief mention of Romanians of the sub-Carpathian areas is also made in two papal
Pope
The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...
acts issued in 1279 and 1288 in connection with the papal attempts to reactivate Catholic missionary activities in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. The pope knew that bishops “suitable to that Romanian nation” were needed for the success of the Catholic action in Moldavia.
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...
chronicler, Jan Długosz narrates that contingents of Vlachs (Walachi) took part in the expedition organized in 1326 by King Władysław I of Poland (1306–1333) against Brandenburg
Margraviate of Brandenburg
The Margraviate of Brandenburg was a major principality of the Holy Roman Empire from 1157 to 1806. Also known as the March of Brandenburg , it played a pivotal role in the history of Germany and Central Europe....
.
The richness of the stores of weapons and harness pieces, from the 13th–14th centuries, found at Vatra Moldoviţei
Vatra Moldovitei
Vatra Moldoviței is a commune located in Suceava County, Romania. It is composed of three villages: Ciumârna, Paltinu and Vatra Moldoviței. The latter village is the site of Moldoviţa Monastery....
, Coşna
Cosna
Coşna is a commune located in Suceava County, Romania. It is composed of five villages: Coşna, Podu Coşnei, Româneşti, Teşna and Valea Bancului. These were part of Dorna Candrenilor Commune until 2003, when they were split off....
and Cozăneşti suggests the existence of well-organized military bodies in the region. The correspondence of the popes from the 1330s also contain references to the “powerful men of those parts” (potentes illorum partium). However, before the middle of the 14th century there had been no fortified settlements to the east of the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
, probably as a consequence of the Golden Horde’s power.
Towards the establishment of a defensive border province
After the Mongol invasion of 1241–1242, the population of the steppe regions between the rivers Prut and Dniester was still heterogeneous, because various peoples (such as Cumans, AlansAlans
The Alans, or the Alani, occasionally termed Alauni or Halani, were a group of Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoralists of the 1st millennium AD who spoke an Eastern Iranian language which derived from Scytho-Sarmatian and which in turn evolved into modern Ossetian.-Name:The various forms of Alan —...
, Mordvins), who had been integrated into the Mongol Empire’s political and military system, were settled there. In these territories, the circulation of Mongol and Byzantine coins was predominant during the first half of the 14th century.
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...
. These economic relations with Transylvania and Halych allowed some Saxon
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...
colonists to settle here. Their presence significantly contributed to the development of mining, craft, and trade in the territory. For example, a Saxon inhabitant of Baia
Baia
Baia is a commune in the Suceava County, Romania with a population of 6,793 . It is composed of two villages, Baia and Bogata. Located on the Moldova River, it was one of the earliest urban settlements in Moldavia, originally inhabited by Germans...
, Alexandro Moldaowicz was mentioned in 1334 in a document signed at Lemberg. Although urban development was still incipient, but Baia, Siret
Siret
Siret is a town in Romania, Suceava County, one of the oldest towns in, and a former capital of, the former principality of Moldavia. It is located 2 km from the border with Ukraine, being one of the main border passing points in the North of the country, having both a road border post and a...
and Suceava
Suceava
Suceava is the Suceava County seat in Bukovina, Moldavia region, in north-eastern Romania. The city was the capital of the Principality of Moldavia from 1388 to 1565.-History:...
became developing economic centers. Place names and hydronym
Hydronym
A hydronym is a proper name of a body of water. Hydronymy is the study of hydronyms and of how bodies of water receive their names and how they are transmitted through history...
s of Hungarian
Hungarian language
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
origin, such as Bacău
Bacau
Bacău is the main city in Bacău County, Romania. It covers a land surface of 43 km², and, as of January 1, 2009, has an estimated population of 177,087. The city is situated in the historical region of Moldavia, at the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains, and on the Bistriţa River...
, Cuejd
Cuejdiu River
The Cuejdiu River or Cuejd River is a tributary of the Bistriţa River in Romania.-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti* Institutul de Meteorologie şi Hidrologie - Rîurile României - Bucureşti 1971...
, prove that communities of Hungarians also moved to settle in the territory; the origin of the Csángó people can probably be traced back to them.
Between 1340 and 1355 a series of Polish and Hungarian campaigns relieved Mongol pressure on the frontier zone and this military offensive pushed the Mongols back onto the steppes. The first stage of these military achievements took place between 1340 and 1349 when 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) annexed Halych to his kingdom.
King Louis I of Hungary also started a wide scale policy of expansion in 1343, but the first confrontations with the Mongols and their allies were unfavorable to the royal troops. Afterward, the king appointed Andrew Lackfi, the voivode of Transylvania to carry out an expedition in the country of the Mongols at the head of an army of Székely
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...
and other peoples. In 1345 Andrew Lackfi and his troops launched an expedition across the Carpathians and defeated the Mongols. In lack of documentary evidence, it is disputed whether the Romanians of Maramureş took part in Lackfi's campaign, but it seems plausible to reckon with their participation. In 1346, Székely warriors crossed the mountains again and they also returned with large booty.
After these victories, the Hungarian sphere of influence stretched eastward as far as the Dniester. Pope Clement VI
Pope Clement VI
Pope Clement VI , bornPierre Roger, the fourth of the Avignon Popes, was pope from May 1342 until his death in December of 1352...
(1342–1352) considered it an appropriate moment to restore the Catholic Church hierarchy east of the Carpathians, and therefore ordered the restoration of the former bishopric of Cumania, with its seat in Milcov, on January 29, 1347.
The spread of Hungarian influence in the future Moldavia also contributed to an increasing Romanian presence in the territory, because the Romanian elements that would organize Moldavia migrated there from the Kingdom of Hungary, from the region of Maramureş.
'Dismounting' by Dragoş
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
narrated in various old Moldavian chronicles. The most detailed account can be found in the Moldo-Russian chronicle, written in the 16th century.
According to the legend, one day Dragoş, one of the “Romans” to whom a certain “King Vladislav of Hungary” had granted landed property in Maramureş, left for a hunting. While Dragoş was following a bison
Bison
Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
or 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....
, he crossed the Carpathians and reached as far as the Moldova River where he killed the beast. As he liked the pleasant places and the open fields he found there, he decided to choose them as his new homeland. Therefore, he went back to Maramureş only to return with all his people.
Legends of following magic wild beasts in hunts which lead the hunter to unknown places and various adventures are widespread. However, a hunt which result in the mythical foundation of a nation is a typical Central Asian myth, for example Dragoş’s hunting for the bison is similar to the legends of the Proto-Bulgarians or the Hungarian myth of Hunor and Magor
Hunor and Magor
Hunor and Magor were, according to a famous Hungarian legend, the ancestors of the Huns and the Magyars. The myth was promoted by the medieval historian Simon Kézai in his Gesta Ungarorum . Kézai's aim in providing a common ancestry for the Huns and the Magyars was to suggest historical continuum...
involving the hunting for a white stag.
The descălecat by Dragoş is dated either to 1352 or to 1359 by the chronicles. Afterwards, a defensive border province, led by Dragoş began to develop which gradually included the Romanian polities that had come out of the influence of the Kingdom of Halych and the Golden Horde. For example, such a polity was ruled by a certain Voivode Peter who defeated the armies of King Casimir III of Poland in 1359.
But Moldavia was still a border district of the Kingdom of Hungary, and Dragoş and his successors were appointed by King Louis I to rule that province. The king always spoke of Moldavia as his property; for example in a diploma of 1365, he mentioned the country four times as “our Moldavian land” (terra nostra Molduana).
Bogdan I the Founder
The fate of the border district of Moldavia was decided in Maramureş where a certain Voivode Bogdan rose against the Hungarian king already in the 1340s. King Louis I labelled him “notoriously unfaithful” in 1349 after Bogdan had confiscated the domains of another Romanian noble family in Maramureş.Having failed in his attempt to get rid of the Hungarian hegemony, Bogdan left Maramureş with his supporters and crossed the mountains into Moldavia, where he started a rebellion against the king in 1359 or 1365. He was also welcomed by the local people who had been discontent with the Hungarian domination. He expelled the descendants of Dragoş, declared himself independent and did not accept Hungarian vassalage any more.
Although King Louis I sent a task force to punish Bogdan, but the Romanian voivode came off victorious. Therefore, Bogdan can rightly be regarded the first ruler of the independent principality of Moldavia. This is also corroborated by the fact that the Turkish name for Moldavia was Kara Boğdan (‘Black Bogdan’) which refers to him.
The geographical names Moldova, Moldava and Moldavia, which took their origin from the river Moldva, spread strongly both in the Latin and Slavic documents from 1360 onward. In Byzantine documents, the new country was called Maurovlakhia (Μαυροβλαχία), that is ‘Black Vlachia’, in 1386 and Rusovlakhia (Ρωσοβλαχία), that is ‘Vlachia near Russia’, in 1391; and finally it was called Moldovlakhia (Μολδοβλαχία), that is ‘Moldavian Vlachia’, in 1401.
After the foundation of the independent principality
At that time, a late Mongol state still continued to survive in the southern regions of Moldavia. This polity had been isolated from the central nucleus of the Golden Horde as a result of the great Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
victory over the Mongols at Sinivody
Battle of Blue Waters
The Battle of Blue Waters was a medieval battle fought at some time between 24 September and 25 December 1362 near the Syni Vody of the Southern Bug between the armies of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Golden Horde....
in 1362. In 1368, King Louis I exempted “the traders of Demetrius, prince of the Tatars” from paying customs duties in the Kingdom of Hungary, in exchange for a similar treatment for traders of Braşov
Brasov
Brașov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brașov County.According to the last Romanian census, from 2002, there were 284,596 people living within the city of Brașov, making it the 8th most populated city in Romania....
“in the country of Lord Demetrius”. This remnant of the Mongol power disappeared during the next decade and was included in the “Wallachian country” constituted in the southern regions of Moldavia.
Bogdan’s successor, Laţcu
Latcu of Moldavia
Laţcu was the Voivode of Moldavia between circa 1365 and 1373. He was the son of Bogdan I. His name is a diminutive form of Vladislav , often used in that period in Hungary due the deep rooted cult to Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary....
(c. 1367–1375) maintained good relations with Poland and also established direct connection with the Holy See. As a result of these activities, and in exchange for his acceptance of the Catholic faith, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Siret was set up under the direct subordination of the pope. By bestowing the title “duke” on Laţcu, the pope also consolidated the international status of Moldavia.
Moldavia’s evolution towards an independent state was stopped, for a short time, by the establishment of Hungarian domination over Halych in the 1370s, which brought Moldavia again under Hungarian suzerainty. For example, Wladislaw of Oppeln, who had been appointed by King Louis as governor of Halych, gave shelter to a “Romanian voivode”, Giurgu who had sought refuge because of the “unexpected treason of his people”. According to a Russo-Lithuanian chronicle, the Romanians elected a Lithuanian
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...
prince, Iuriy Koriatovich as voivode, but later (before March 1375) poisoned him.
After the death of King Louis I in 1382, Moldavia reoriented itself towards Poland. Thus Peter I Muşat (1375–1395) interrupted the relations with Hungary in 1387 and formally inaugurated vassalage relations with Poland. Around this time the “Wallachian country” was still under the rule of a certain Voivode Costea
Costea of Moldavia
Costea was a Voivode of Moldavia mentioned in a document from 1407 in line of rulers between Laţcu and Petru. Initially it has been thought that he ruled between 1373 and 1374, as the first ruler of Moldavia from the Muşat family. Also he was believed by some to have been born in Wallachia, being...
(Constantin): in 1386 two Genoese
Republic of Genoa
The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....
envoys were accredited to the Moldavian princes Constantino et Petro.
Peter I Muşat became the defender of the Orthodox rite. Seeking to stabilize the ecclesiastical situation, the Orthodox Metropolitan of Halych consecrated two bishops for Moldavia, Joseph Muşat and Meletius. The first was a relative of the voivode, but the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople objected his consecration. Therefore the Metropolitan See of Moldavia was officially recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch in 1401–1402, after a long canonical debate.
During the rule of Peter I Muşat Moldavia extended its territory to the Danube and the Black Sea. At the end of his rule or at the beginning of the rule of his follower, Roman I Muşat (c. 1391–1394), Moldavia achieved territorial unity by including the southern “Wallachian country”. Consequently, in a letter of grant, dated March 30, 1392, Roman I Muşat could call himself “by the grace of God the Almighty, great ruler of Moldavia’s lands from the mountains to the sea”.
Further reading
- Castellan, Georges (1989). A History of the Romanians. East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-154-2
- Durandin, Catherine (1995). Historie des Roumains (The History of the Romanians). Librairie Artheme Fayard. ISBN 978-2-213-59425-5.
- Treptow, Kurt W.; Bolovan, Ioan (1996). A History of Romania. East European Monographs. ISBN 0-88033-345-6.