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Carpatina
Romania in the Middle Ages ~ brief history
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The existence of statehood entities of the Romanian population called Kniezates and Voievodates is mentioned in the chronicles from the beginning of the 10th century.
A specific trait of the Romanian's history from the Middle Ages is that they lived in three Principalities that were neighbors, but autonomous- Transylvania, Moldavia and Wallachia.
This phenomenon-, which is by no means unique in Mediaeval Europe-, is extremely complex. The underlying causes pertain to the essence of the feudal society, but there are also specific factors. The powerful neighboring empires have opposed the unification of the Romania state entities and even occupied for shorter or longer periods f times the Romanian territories.
From west the Romanians have to face the policy of conquest conducted by the Hungarian kingdom. In 895, the Hungarian tribes, who came from the Volga lands, settled in Pannonia. After they were stopped in their progress towards the west by the emperor Otto I in 995, the Hungarians turned their eyes to the east where they encountered the Romanians.
Despite the resistance of the Romanian Kniezates and Voievodates, the Hungarians succeeded in the 10-13th centuries to occupy Transylvania and make it part of the Hungarian kingdom until the beginning of the 16th century as an autonomous Voievodate.
In order to consolidate their power in Transylvania, where the Romanias continued to be over the centuries the great majority ethnic element, as well as to defend the southern and eastern borders of the Voievodate, the Hungarian crown resorted to the colonization of Szecklers and Germans (Saxons) in the 12-13th centuries in the frontier areas.In the 14th century, with the decline of the imperial powers (the Poles, the Hungarians and the Tartars), south and east of the Carpathian Mountains range of the autonomous feudal states were formed:
Wallachia, under Basarab I around 1310
Moldavia, under Bogdan I around 1359.
The Polish and Hungarian kingdoms attempted in the 14-15th centuries to annex or subordinate the two principalities, but they did not succeed.In the second half of the 14th century a new threat against the Romanian lands emerged: the Ottoman Empire. After first setting foot on European soil in 1354, the Ottoman Turks began their rapid expansion on the continent.
Alone or in alliance with the neighboring Christian countries, the voievodes of Wallachia Mircea the Old (1386- 1418) and Vlad the Impeller (Dracula of the Mediaeval legends, 1456-1462), with Stephen the Great on Holly (1457-1504), the voievodes of Moldavia and Iancu of Hunedoara, the voievodes of Transylvania (1441- 1456) fought heavy defense battles against the Ottoman Turks, delaying their expansion to Central Europe.
The hole Balkan Peninsula became a Turkish- ruled territory, Constantinople was captured by Mohamed II (1453), Suleiman the Magnificent captured the city of Belgrade (1521) and the Hungarian kingdom disappeared following the battle of the Mohacs (1526).
Therefore, Wallachia and Moldavia were surrounded and they had to recognize for over three centuries the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire.
After Buda was captured and Hungary became a pashalik, Transylvania became a self-ruling principality (1541) and it, too, recognized the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, as the other two Romanian lands.
Unlike al the other people of the Europe, Romanians were the only ones who maintained their state entity during the Middle Ages, along with all their own political, military and administrative structures. The tribute paid to sultan was the guarantee for the preservation of domestic autonomy, but also for the protection against more powerful enemies.
Wallachia and Moldavia, owing to their autonomy status, continued after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to foster their Byzantine cultural traditions, taking at the same time upon themselves to protect the Eastern Orthodox religion; on their territory, scholars from all over the Balkan Peninsula, chased away by the intolerant Islam, where able to continue their work without any obstacles; they prepared the cultural revival of their nation.The end of the 16th century was dominated by the personality of Michael the Brave. He became voievodes of Wallachia in 1593, joined the Christian league- an anti-Ottoman coalition initiated by the Papacy and the Holy roman Empire and he succeeded, following heavy battle to actually regain the independence of his country.
In 1599-1600 he united for the first time in history all the territories inhabited by Romanians, proclaimed him self " Prince of Wallachia, Transylvania and the whole of Moldavia".
The domestic situation was very complex, the neighboring great powers (The Ottoman Empire, Poland, the Habsburg Empire) were hostile and joined forces to overthrow him; so this union was short-lived as Michael the Brave was assassinated in 1601.In the 17th century, in various forms and with evanescent success, other princes attempted to restart the ambitious political program of Michel the Brave, by trying to form a united anti-Ottoman front, made-up of the three principalities and to restore the unity of ancient Dacia.
The end of 17th century and beginning of the 18th century brought about changes in the politics of Central and Eastern Europe.
The Ottoman Empire failed to capture Vienna in 1683 and following that, the Habsburg Empire began its expansion to the southeast of Europe.
The Austrian- Turkish peace treaty of Karlowitz (1699) sanctioned the annexation of Transylvania to Hapsburg Austria
Poland was divided and Russia, by successive conquests, reached under Peter the Great (1696-1725) the Dniester River, thus becoming Moldavia's eastern neighbor.
The ambitious dream of czars to dominate the Bosphorus strait and Constantinople placed the Romanian principalities in the way of Russian expansion.
The Ottoman Empire, in an attempt to defend its old position, introduced in Moldavia (1711) and Wallachia (1716) the " Phanariot Regime", (until 1821), under which the Sublime Porte appointed in the two principalities Greek voievodes recruited from the Phanar district of Istanbul and considered faithful to the Turks. That was a time when the Ottoman political control and economic exploitation increased and corruption spread; but some social reforms were also introduced such as the abolition of serfdom as well as administrative and modernizing reforms, modeled on the European ones in the age of the Enlightment.
The domestic autonomy, although limited, was basically preserved and the two principalities continued to be distinct entities from the Ottoman Empire; this situation was recognized in several international treaties (for instance that of Kuchuk- Kainargi, 1774). Lying at the borders of three great empires and wanted by all three of them, Wallachia and Moldavia became for over 150 years not only territories of contention but also a battlefield on which the armies of the empires fought each other.
Many years were fought by Austria and Russia against the Ottoman Empire ( 1710- 1711, 1716- 1718, 1735- 1739, 1768- 1774, 1787- 1792, 1806- 1812, 1828- 1829, 1853- 1856): those battles took place on Romanian soil, always accompanied by foreign military occupation, which was often maintained long after the war proper was over, so the Romanian lands endured not only through devastation and irrecoverable losses but also through population displacements and painful territory amputation.
So Austria temporarily annexed Oltenia (1718- 1793) and Northern Moldavia that they called Bukovina (1775- 1918). Following the Russian- Turkish war of 1806- 1812, Russia annexed the eastern part of Moldavia, the land between Prut and Dniester rivers, later called Bassarabia (1812- 1918).
