For the commune in Ialomiţa County

Ialomita County

Ialomița is a county of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Slobozia.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 296,572 and the population density was 67/km²....

, see Sudiţi, Ialomiţa

Suditi, Ialomita

Sudiţi is a commune located in Ialomiţa County, Romania. It is composed of two villages, Gura Văii and Sudiţi....

. For the villages in Buzău County

Buzau County

Buzău is a county of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Buzău.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 496,214 and the population density was 81/km².*Romanians – 97%*Roma – under 3% declared, and others....

, see Gherăseni

Gheraseni

Gherăseni is a commune in Buzău County, Romania, 17 km south-east of Buzău, the county capital. It is composed of three villages: Gherăseni, Cremenea and Sudiţi.-Location:Gherăseni is located on the Bărăgan plain...

 and Poşta Câlnău

Posta Câlnau

Poşta Câlnău is a commune in Buzău County, Romania. It is composed of six villages: Aliceni, Coconari, Poşta Câlnău, Potârnicheşti, Sudiţi and Zilişteanca....

.
The Sudiţi (plural of Sudit - Romanian language

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

, from Italian

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 suddito, meaning "subject" or "citizen

Citizenship

Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...

") were inhabitants of the Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...

 (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...

 and 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...

) who, for the latter stage of the 18th and a large part of the 19th century — during and after the Phanariote period of rule, were placed under the protection of foreign states (usually the Habsburg Monarchy

Habsburg Monarchy

The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...

, Imperial Russia, and France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

) as reward for particular services or in exchange for payment.

Rights acquired included immunity from prosecution in front of both local rulers (hospodars) and the Principalities' suzerain

Suzerainty

Suzerainty occurs where a region or people is a tributary to a more powerful entity which controls its foreign affairs while allowing the tributary vassal state some limited domestic autonomy. The dominant entity in the suzerainty relationship, or the more powerful entity itself, is called a...

 power, the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, as well as tax exemption

Tax exemption

Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...

s; the competing interests of nations involved allowed consuls to traffic sudiţi favours and titles.

History

The category was established by the 1774 Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca

Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca , Dobruja between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the...

, which led to the creation of foreign consulates

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 in Iaşi

Iasi

Iași is the second most populous city and a municipality in Romania. Located in the historical Moldavia region, Iași has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Romanian social, cultural, academic and artistic life...

 and Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

.

An expanding and powerful social category during the Russo-Turkish wars

History of the Russo-Turkish wars

The Russo-Turkish wars were a series of wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire during the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries...

 (which affected the Principalities' soil), many sudiţi were wholesale

Wholesale

Wholesaling, jobbing, or distributing is defined as the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers, to industrial, commercial, institutional, or other professional business users, or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services...

 businessmen who formed guild

Guild

A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade. The earliest types of guild were formed as confraternities of workers. They were organized in a manner something between a trade union, a cartel, and a secret society...

s (bresle or isnafuri) and successfully competed with Romanians

Romanians

The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 in several fields (after the Treaty of Adrianople

Treaty of Adrianople

The Peace Treaty of Adrianople concluded the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. It was signed on September 14, 1829 in Adrianople by Russia's Count Alexey Fyodorovich Orlov and by Turkey's Abdul Kadyr-bey...

 in 1829 allowed the two countries to engage in foreign trade), expanding during the period of Russian administration

Regulamentul Organic

Regulamentul Organic was a quasi-constitutional organic law enforced in 1834–1835 by the Imperial Russian authorities in Moldavia and Wallachia...

 (1828-1857).
Notable sudiţi included Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu

Tudor Vladimirescu was a Wallachian Romanian revolutionary hero, the leader of the Wallachian uprising of 1821 and of the Pandur militia. He is also known as Tudor din Vladimiri or — occasionally — as Domnul Tudor .-Background:Tudor was born in Vladimiri, Gorj County in a family of landed peasants...

 and Dimitrie Macedonski

Dimitrie Macedonski

Dimitrie Macedonski was a Wallachian Pandur captain and revolutionary leader. Taking part in the Wallachian uprising of 1821, he was appointed Tudor Vladimirescu's lieutenant by boyar allies of the revolutionaries, on January 15...

, leaders of the 1821 Wallachian uprising

Wallachian uprising of 1821

The Wallachian uprising of 1821 was an uprising in Wallachia against Ottoman rule which took place during 1821.-Background:...

, as well as Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews

Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...

 who had left various regions in Russia and the Austrian

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

-ruled Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.

The category disappeared after the 1878 Romanian War of Independence

Romanian War of Independence

The Romanian War of Independence is the name used in Romanian historiography to refer to the 1877-1878 Russo-Turkish war, following which Romania, fighting on the Russian side, gained independence from the Ottoman Empire...

.