House of Bogdan-Mușat

The House of Bogdan, commonly referred to as the House of Mușat, was the ruling family which established the Principality of Moldova with Bogdan I (c. 1363–1367), giving the country its first line of Princes, one closely related with the Basarab rulers of Wallachia by several marriages through time.

The Mușatins are named after Margareta Mușata who married Costea, a son of Bogdan I.

For a long time it has been thought that Mușata was a daughter of Bogdan I and Costea was a member of House of Basarab who bore the name Muşat, all speculations unsupported by any documents.

The word mușat, which gives the dynasty its name, means handsome in Old Romanian dialects.

Recent studies,[1][2] based on the careful consideration of existing documents and a recently discovered chronicle of Moldavia in Poland, managed to establish the most likely link between Bogdan I and his successors from the so-called house of Mușat, as well as the succession line and ruling periods of each prince from the 14th century.

Manuscript folio with the coat of arms of the House of Bogdan (lower-left corner) and the aurochs from Moldavia's coat of arms