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Romania Origins of Walachia and Moldavia
In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
Transylvanian
émigrés founded two principalities,
Walachia (see glossary) and
Moldavia (see Glossary).
Legend says that in 1290
Negru-Voda, a
leading Romanian nobleman (
voivode, see Glossary),
left
Fagaras in southern Transylvania with a group of nobles
and founded
"tara Româneasca" on the lands between the southern
Carpathians and
the Danube. (The name "tara Româneasca" means "Romanian
land,"
here, actually "Walachia"; the word "Walachia" is derived
from the
Slavic word vlach, which is related to the Germanic
walh, meaning "foreigner.") A second legend holds
that a
Romanian voivode named Dragos crossed the
Carpathians and
settled with other Romanians on the plain between the
mountains and
the Black Sea. They were joined in 1349 by a Transylvanian
voivode named Bogdan, who revolted against his
feudal
overlord and settled on the Moldova River, from which
Moldavia
derives its name. Bogdan declared Moldavia's independence
from
Hungary a decade later. The remaining Romanian nobles in
Transylvania eventually adopted the Hungarian language and
culture;
Transylvania's Romanian serfs continued to speak Romanian
and clung
to Orthodoxy but were powerless to resist Hungarian
domination.
Walachia and Moldavia steadily gained strength in the
fourteenth century, a peaceful and prosperous time
throughout
southeastern Europe. Prince Basarab I of Walachia (ca.
1330-52),
despite defeating King Charles Robert in 1330, had to
acknowledge
Hungary's sovereignty. The Eastern Orthodox patriarch in
Constantinople, however, established an ecclesiastical
seat in
Walachia and appointed a metropolitan. The church's
recognition
confirmed Walachia's status as a principality, and
Walachia freed
itself from Hungarian sovereignty in 1380.
The princes of both Walachia and Moldavia held almost
absolute
power; only the prince had the power to grant land and
confer noble
rank. Assemblies of nobles, or boyars, and higher clergy
elected
princes for life, and the absence of a succession law
created a
fertile environment for intrigue. From the fourteenth
century to
the seventeenth century, the principalities' histories are
replete
with overthrows of princes by rival factions often
supported by
foreigners. The boyars were exempt from taxation except
for levies
on the main sources of agricultural wealth. Although the
peasants
had to pay a portion of their output in kind to the local
nobles,
they were never, despite their inferior position, deprived
of the
right to own property or resettle.
Walachia and Moldavia remained isolated and primitive
for many
years after their founding. Education, for example, was
nonexistent, and religion was poorly organized. Except for
a rare
market center, there were no significant towns and little
circulation of money. In time, however, commerce developed
between
the lands of the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region.
Merchants
from Genoa and Venice founded trading centers along the
coast of
the Black Sea where Tatars, Germans, Greeks, Jews, Poles,
Ragusans,
and Armenians exchanged goods. Walachians and Moldavians,
however,
remained mainly agricultural people.
In Transylvania economic life rebounded quickly after
the
Mongol invasion. New farming methods boosted crop yields.
Craftsmen
formed guilds as artisanry flourished; gold, silver, and
salt
mining expanded; and money-based transactions replaced
barter.
Though townspeople were exempt from feudal obligations,
feudalism
expanded and the nobles stiffened the serfs' obligations.
The serfs
resented the higher payments; some fled the country, while
others
became outlaws. In 1437 Romanian and Hungarian peasants
rebelled
against their feudal masters. The uprising gathered
momentum before
the Magyar, German, and Szekler nobles in Transylvania
united
forces and, with great effort, successfully quelled the
revolt.
Afterwards, the nobles formed the Union of Three Nations,
jointly
pledging to defend their privileges against any power
except that
of Hungary's king. The document declared the Magyars,
Germans, and
Szeklers the only recognized nationalities in
Transylvania;
henceforth, all other nationalities there, including the
Romanians,
were merely "tolerated." The nobles gradually imposed
even tougher
terms on their serfs. In 1437, for example, each serf had
to work
for his lord one day per year at harvest time without
compensation;
by 1514 serfs had to work for their lord one day per week
using
their own animals and tools.
Data as of July 1989
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