Romania in the Middle Ages

It subsequently came to an end with the reign of Domn Michael the Brave (1593–1601) who managed, for a short time between 1599 and 1600, to rule Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, the three principalities whose territories were to be united some three centuries later to form modern and contemporary Romania.

The heads of the Transylvanian counties or "counts" were subordinated to a special royal official called voivode, but the province was seldom treated as a single unit, since the Székely and Saxon seats were administered separately.

Their position became even worse after 1437 when the so-called "Union of Three Nations", an alliance of the Hungarian noblemen, the Székelys, and the Saxons, was formed in order to crush the Bobâlna peasant uprising.

Wallachia, the first independent medieval state between the Carpathians and the lower Danube was created when Basarab I (c. 1310–1352) terminated the suzerainty of the King of Hungary with his victory in the battle of Posada in 1330.

At the end of the 8th century the establishment of the Khazar Khaganate north of the Caucasus Mountains created an obstacle in the path of nomadic people moving westward.

[1][2] In the following period, the local population of the Carpathian–Danubian area profited from the peaceful political climate and a unitary material culture, called "Dridu", that developed in the region.

[12][13] Around that time, according to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII, the Hungarians controlled the region on the border of modern Romania and Hungary along the rivers Timiș, Mureș, Criș, Tisa and Toutis.

[42] When their abbey at Cârța was established in the early 13th century, Andrew II ordered that the strip of land running up to the mountains between the rivers Olt, Cârțișoara and Arpaș be transferred from the Romanians to the new monastery.

[51][52] After the withdrawal from the Kingdom of Hungary, the Mongol forces halted at Sarai (now Russia) on the Volga River where their leader, Batu Khan set up his own capital.

[62] For example, a new wave of colonization resulted in the establishment of the Saxon seats of Sighișoara and Mediaș; and the lord of Ilia received, in 1292, royal permission to settle Romanians in the lands he owned.

[75] During its initial stage, the Székelys, the Romanians and the Saxons successfully blocked the Mongols' access and later organized a series of ambushes provoking panic among the retreating invaders.

[80] For instance, the general assembly convoked in 1279 by Ladislaus IV for seven counties – among them Bihor, Crasna, Sătmar, and Zărand in the territory what is now Romania – ended with sentencing a despotic person to death.

[120][121][122][123] The first sovereign of Wallachia recorded in contemporary sources was Basarab I who obtained international recognition for the independence of the principality by his victory over Charles I of Hungary in the battle of Posada on November 12, 1330.

[110][128] In this period, animals, especially sheep, remained the main item of export, but from the Wallachian Plain great quantities of grain were transported to the Mediterranean area.

[136] Although the invading troops were defeated somewhere in a rovină ("ragged marshland") in Oltenia, the chaos created by the threat of attacks allowed a group of boyars to put Vlad I the Usurper (1395–1397) on the throne.

[161] In order to establish a zone of buffer states, Sigismund I of Hungary tried to draw the neighboring Orthodox rulers under his own suzerainty by granting them estates in his kingdom.

[168][169] Led by Anton Budai Nagy, the rebellious peasants, who called themselves "the commune of the rightful Hungarian and Romanian inhabitants of this part of Transylvania", established a fortified camp on the Bobâlna hill early in 1437.

[165] The leaders of the noblemen, the Saxons and the Székelys, however, set up a "brotherly union" in order to join forces and crushed the peasants' resistance by the end of January 1438.

[191] In 1514 thousands of peasants who had been summoned to Buda (now Budapest, in modern Hungary) to join the crusade proclaimed by Pope Leo X against the Ottomans turned the weapons against their masters.

[192] The rebels, led by the Székely George Dózsa, occupied several towns, such as Oradea and Șoimoș, but on July 15 John Szapolyai, the voivode defeated them at Timișoara.

[230][231] Although cottage industries, both in boyar and peasant households, were still the main source of clothing, food and construction, specialized production, such as weaving and pottery, started to develop by the middle of the 15th century.

[244] His successor, Peter IV Rareș (1527–1538, 1541–1546) intervened in the struggle for the crown of the Kingdom of Hungary: on the order of the sultan, in 1529 he invaded the Székely Land and defeated the army of Ferdinand I's partisans.

All others are common people, serfs of the Hungarians and without settlements of their own, scattered everywhere, throughout the entire country, rarely settled in open places, most of them retired in the woods, leading an unfortunate life alongside their flocks.From the Székelys, continuing warfare demanded increased military service, and the royal administration imposed special taxes on them.

[265] Although the leaders of the Székely community were exempted from taxation in 1554, but all the foot soldiers continued to be taxed, resulting in a double burden of military and monetary obligations for them.

[267][268] Their population, however, increased slowly, mainly as a consequence of the Saxons' traditional desire for segregation: even Hungarian craftsmen and merchants were prohibited from settling in their towns.

[278][279] Even Michael the Brave who in time would turn against the Ottomans ascended the throne with the support of some people who had influence with the Sublime Porte, among them Sir Edward Barton, the English ambassador to Istanbul.

[276][280][281] He soon embarked upon a program to strengthen the central authority by replacing the members of the sfatul domnesc, an advisory body consisting of boyars, with dregători, that is officials personally loyal to him.

[290] Following their coordinated uprising, Michael the Brave attacked Ottoman strongholds along the Danube and recovered Giurgiu and Brăila, while Aaron the Tyrant seized Ismail (now in Ukraine).

[292][293] According to the treaty signed by Michael the Brave on May 20, 1595 in Alba Iulia, Sigismund Báthory became the ruler of the three principalities and adopted the title of "prince of Transylvania, Moldavia and Transalpine Wallachia".

[302] He respected the traditional organization of Transylvania, and even crushed a revolt of the Romanian peasants, but forced the Diet to relieve the Orthodox priests of feudal obligations.