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observed, however, in the barest outlines, that, apart from the numerous invasions of the barbarians, one striking exception is to be observed, consisting in certain scanty remnants of Germanic languages (Western Gothic and Gepid), while Slav and Ural Altaic or North Mongolian blood was infused into the Daco-Roumanian population that remained in the plains (Bessarabia, Dobrudža, and Wallachia). The pure Daco-Roumanian nationality may have survived in a fragmentary state among the inaccessible wooded mountains of Northwest Moldavia and Transylvania, also in Dacia during the period of Aurelian; these elements may have left their highlands when the country was pacified or passed north of the Danube, and again have exerted a special influence upon the motley complexion of the nation now known as "Roumanian." Worthy of mention is the custom of the Carpathian shepherds to bring their sheep to winter in Wallachia or Moldavia; similarly the Wallachians of Thessaly sent their flocks during the summer into the mountains of Bulgaria ("the wandering Transylvania," to quote the title of Joh. Hantz, or "la transhumance" of Em. de Martonne). Notwithstanding this regular change of situation, Transylvania cannot be regarded as the true cradle of the Roumanian race in early or later times.

During the tenth and eleventh centuries it is noticeable that similar principalities or banats were formed in Dacia, of which those advancing too far from Transylvania into the low lands of the Theiss fell under Magyar supremacy. On the other hand, the duchies which spread to the east and south of the Carpathian Mountains were able to maintain their ground against the Petshenegs, Kumanians, and Mongols. About the middle of the fourteenth century the two kingdoms of Wallachia and Moldavia began their existence, starting from the Carpathians, and continuing for a long time in mutual independence with a history of their own.

B. WALLACHIA

(a) The House of Basarab (until 1654). At the outset of the thirteenth century Wallachia was in the hands of the Hungarian kings of the house of Árpád. Béla IV gave the country in 1247 to the Knights of St. John, with the exception of the half Kumanian "terra" of the "Olacus" Seneslav, who was at that time Voivod of "Great Wallachia" to the east of the river Olt (Aluta, Alt), and with the exception also of the "Keneziatus" (jurisdiction) of the Voivod LatovoĬ (Litovoy, erroneously known as Litean or Lythen), who was almost independent. When Ladislaus IV, the Kuman, ascended the throne of Hungary in 1272, while yet a minor, Litovo and his brother attempted to shake off the burdensome obligation of yearly tribute, but Litovoi was killed about 1275, and his brother Barbat was obliged to pay a high ransom. Shortly afterwards Basarab (Bassaraba), a son of Tyhomirs (Tugomirs, or to give him his Christian name, Ivankos, about 1290), and a grandson of the above-mentioned Seneslav, founded to the west of the Olt the principality of "Transalpina" (Hungarian Wallachia, or Wallachia Minor; in Moldavian, Mutenia), with Argeş as the

1 It should be observed that Moldavia, constitutionally a state of later date, in contrast to Wallachia or the "Roumanian territory" in general, is occasionally known as Wallachia "Minor," until it was overshadowed by the older neighbour state under Alexander the Good; under Stephan the Great it is sometimes known as Bogdani..

capital. In contrast to Moldavia, which was chiefly formed by foreign immigrants, this principality is a state which developed from its own resources. The power of Basarab was considerably diminished by the defeat of his ally, Michael Trnovo, at Velbužd (1330; p. 345). However, the attempt of the Hungarian Angevin, Charles Robert I, to re-enforce a half-forgotten homage, became a total failure amid the wilderness of the Carpathian Mountains; Basarab (died about 1340) remained master of the whole of "the Roumanian territory," which indeed became then, for the first time, the nucleus of a state in the proper sense of the word. However, this "Wallachia Minor," which began its history with much promise, was soon overshadowed by "Wallachia Major," and falls into the background.

The son of Basarab (Nicholas) Alexander concluded an independent agreement with Louis I the Great at Kronstadt (1342-1382), concerning the conditions on which he held his position as Voivod; however, in his own country his rule was largely disturbed by dissatisfied subjects. To his period belongs the foundation of a new principality in Moldavia (near Baia) by Bogdan (cf. p. 363); the affairs of the Balkan Peninsula in his proximity induced Alexander to leave this ambitious rival in peace. In 1359 the Byzantine metropolitan, Hyacinthus, came from Vičina at the mouth of the Danube to Hungarian Wallachia as Exarch. By his first wife, probably a Servian or Bosnian woman, Alexander Basarab had a son Vlad (Vladislav, Vlaico, Layko); afterwards, about 1350, he married a Roman Catholic, the Hungarian Clara, and died on November 16, 1364. Layko (died 1377 or 1382 to 1385) was able to maintain his position against King Louis; as early as 1369 he styled himself in his documents "Ladislaus by the Grace of God and the King of Hungary, Voivod of Wallachia, Ban of Syrmia and Duke of Fogaras" (Fogaras, in Transylvania, was afterwards granted as a fief to the Voivod of Wallachia by the kings of Hungary, as it was a secure refuge in the period of Turkish invasions, which began in 1367 and 1385). Under Layko, Argeş became a Roman bishopric in 1369, although the conversion desired by the Pope was not accepted on the side of the Voivod. In fact, his inclination to the Greek Church was plainly apparent in the marriage of the successor Radu(1) with Kallinikia, to whose influence is certainly due the occurrence of more extensive ecclesiastical gifts.

The sons of this couple were the hostile brothers, Dan (ruler in October, 1385 and 1393) and Mircea the Old or Great (Mirče, Mircha; 1386-1418). In 1390 Mircea made a convention with the Polish king Vladislav Jag(i)ello II, which was renewed in 1411. About 1391 he took Dobrudža and the town of Silistria from the Bulgarians. However, in 1389 he was defeated at Kossovo (p. 293 f.) with his allies, and became a semi-vassal of the Osmans in 1391 and 1394. With the object of protecting his country from the threatened advances of the Turks, Mircea came to Transylvania in 1395, and on March 7, at Kronstadt, concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with King Sigismund, in accordance with the terms of which he fought with the Christian army in the unfortunate battle of Nikopolis (September 28, 1896). On April 3, 1904, King Carol I, in his lecture," Nikopolis," to the Roumanian academy, has eloquently recounted that memorable alliance between the Germans and Roumanians. Mircea was, however, now forced to recognise once again the Turkish supremacy, to abandon entirely the right bank of the Danube to the Osmans, and to pay the Emir a yearly tribute of three thou

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EXPLANATION OF THE PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCES OF

WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA OVERLEAF

Right above: 1. Vlad Tepes (Tzepesh), prince of Wallachia (1455-1462; 1483–1496). (From a photograph lent by the Royal Academy of Roumania, taken from the original painting in Castle Ambras in Tyrol.)

Left above 2. Michael the Bold, prince of Wallachia (1593-1601). The glorious exploits of this Roumanian prince, especially his brave struggles against Sinan Pasha at Tirgoviște, Bucharest, and Giurgevo in Wallachia, roused great enthusiasm throughout the Christian world at the time of their performance.

(From G. J. Jonescu-Gion, Istoria Bucurescilor [History of the town of Bucharest]; Bucharest, 1899.)

Left below: 3. Mateiu (Matthias) Basarab, prince of Wallachia (1633–1654). (From a reproduction of the original painting by Abraham van Westerveldt in Hurmuzaki, Documente privitóre la Istoria Românilor [Documents bearing upon Roumanian history].)

Right below: 4. Vasile (Basilius) Lupu, prince of Moldavia (1634-1653).

(From the reproduction of a copper-plate engraving by the Venetian Marco Boschini, in the above-mentioned work of Hurmuzaki.)

sand red banes or three hundred silver Turkish dollars (the defiance shown by Mircea in withholding the tribute for three years was broken down in 1417). In return the Porte guaranteed, in 1411, the free administration of the country under a Voivod chosen by the inhabitants. This convention was to form the basis, even in the nineteenth century, of the relations of Wallachia with Turkey, and was renewed in 1460 between the Voivod Vlad IV and Mohammed II; such, at any rate, is the common account. N. Jorga, who certainly displays that national sensitiveness peculiar to almost every historian of South Europe, and leans to the side of Moldavia, regards the transaction from a wholly different point of view. In the struggles for the succession which broke out in 1403 upon the death of Bajazet I (cf. p. 131), Mircea supported Musa, and met with his reward when the latter was recognised as ruler of the Osman kingdom in February, 1411. Hence the convention of 1411 may be regarded as a friendly alliance. However, this friendly relationship between Wallachia and the Porte was not to continue permanently. In 1413 Musa fell fighting against his brother Mohammed. The latter crushed the pretensions of the false Mustafa, who was also deceived by Mircea; he also punished the Roumanians in 1417 by subjugating their country, a process which even Jorga cannot avoid calling "complete." He may certainly be right in regarding the agreement for tribute concluded between Bajazet and Mircea as a falsification, like that between Mohammed II and Radu the Fair (p. 358); concerning the amount of tribute we have no certain information before 1532.

In 1413 Mircea appointed his son Mihail co-regent, and himself died on January 31, 1418; the two princes are represented together in a tolerably well-preserved fresco in the Byzantine style in the monastery of Cozia. Mihail also died in 1420, and was succeeded by his hostile brother Dan, the protégé of the Osmans, who disappears from the scene in 1430. The Boyar Aldea, known as Alexander, who was supported by Moldavia and Turkey, struggled to secure the throne for four years (1432–1436), and was then driven out by Vlad, the legitimate son of Mircea, who had been brought up at the court of the emperor Sigismund.

During the reign of the haughty Voivod Vlad II, known as Drakul (devil), a period of the greatest distress and poverty passed over the country. In 1432 he was driven out of his capital, Tîrgoviște, while Turkish troops devastated the districts of Burzen and of the Székler; in 1436 he even fell into the hands of the Osmans, but was eventually able to maintain his position in isolation. In the year 1438 he guided the army of Murad to Transylvania, and styled himself Duke of Fogaras and Amlas. After the battle of Szent-Endre (1442) the leader of the Hungarian army, John Hunyadi, a Roumanian of Transylvania, marched into Wallachia and forced the Turkish vassal, Vlad Drakul, to submit; in 1443 Vlad accompanied him to Servia. This position of affairs was not, however, of long duration. The statement that he captured Hunyadi on his flight from the disastrous battle of Varna (Warna; November 10, 1444) is proved by no evidence, according to Jorga. However, the power of Hungary was so weakened that Vlad concluded a fresh peace with the Porte in 1446. This induced the Hungarian general to invade Wallachia at the end of 1446, and to confer the dignity of Voivod on Vladislav, who styled himself Dan IV. Vlad Drakul was defeated at Pegovist, taken prisoner, and executed at Tîrgşor together with his son Mircea. For a long period the struggle for the dignity of prince continued between the

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