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Wallachia

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This article is about the region in what is now Southern Romania. There are other regions called Wallachia, such as the Moravian Wallachia and the Thessaly Wallachia; See: Vlachs#Wallachia.

Wallachia (also spelt Walachia, known as The Romanian Country in Romanian: Ţara Românească) formed a Romanian principality in eastern Europe from the late Middle Ages until the mid-19th century. The name Wallachia, usually not used by Romanians themselves is derived from the Valachs - german word and theVlachs - slavic name, the way foreigners called the Romanians once. (see also: Etymology of Vlach)

Name

See also: History of the term Vlach

The name Wallachia is derived from Valachs a german word for Romanians who was taken by the Slavs and used as Vlach. For long periods before the 14th century, Wallachia was referred to as 'Vlashko' by Bulgarian sources (and 'Vlashka' by Serbian sources). The traditional Hungarian name for Wallachia is Havasalföld, or literally 'Snowy Lowlands'. The name Ungrovlahia, "Hungarian Wallachia", denotes the neighbourhood position towards the Hungarian Kingdom, meaning Wallachia near Hungarian Kingdom. In Turkish, Eflak, a word derived from "Vlach" is used.

Map of Romania with Wallachia in yellow.

In Romanian, it was referred to as Ţara Românească (Ţara Rumânească some times), literally "The Romanian Country". Vlahia or Valahia are also used by Romanian historians.

Geography

Wallachia was situated north of the Danube and south of the Carpathian Mountains.

Its neighbors were Bulgaria, after that the Ottoman Empire to the south, Transylvania to the north-west and Moldavia to the north-east.

The capital city changed over time, from Curtea de Argeş to Târgovişte and finally Bucharest.

History

Pre-history: Period of Roman rule

In the second Dacian war (105 AD) the west of Oltenia became part of the Roman province of Dacia with the rest of Wallachia included in the Moesia Inferior province. The Roman fortification Limes (patrol road with wooden lookout towers and forts at intervals) were initially along the Olt (119 AD) and later in the 2nd century moved slightly east, from the Danube up to Rucar in the Carpathians mountains. The Roman line fell back to the Olt in 245 AD, and in 271 AD the Romans pulled out of the region.

Post Roman period of migrations

Wallachia, c. 1390

Much of the area of modern Romania had post Roman populations with elements of Goths, Dacians, and Sarmatian peoples know as the Mures-Cerneahov culture followed by waves of migratory tribes. In 328 the Romans built a bridge between Sucidava (Celei) and Oescus (Gigen) which indicates that there was a significant trade with the peoples north of the Danube.

The Goths attacked the Roman Empire south of the Danube in 332 AD, settling north of the Danube then later to the south. The period of Goth rule ended when the Huns arrived in the area of modern Hungary and under Attila they attacked and destroyed some 170 settlements on both sides of the Danube.

Byzantine influence is evident during the 5th to 6th century, such as the site at Ipoteşti-Cândeşti, but from the second half of the 6th century and in the 7th century Slavic peoples settled and populated much of the Balkans.

Wallachia was under the control of the First Bulgarian State from its formation in 681 until approximately the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian basin at the end of the 10th century. With the decline and subsequent fall of the First Bulgarian Empire to Byzantium (in the second half of the 10th century up to 1018), Wallachia came under the control of the Pechenegs (a Turkic people) who extended their rule west through the 10th and 11th century, until defeated around 1091, when the Cumans of southern Russia took control of the lands of Moldavia and Wallachia.

Beginning with the 10th century, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Hungarian sources, and later Western ones, mention the existence of small states populated possibly also by Romanians under leaders known as knyazes (Slavonic: prince, ruler) and voievods (Slavonic: military leader) - at first in Transylvania, then in the 12th-13th centuries in the territories east and south of the Carpathian Mountains. A specific characteristic of Romanian history from the Middle Ages to modern times is that Romanians lived in three adjacent principalities - Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania, separated by the Carpathian mountains.

In 1241 known as the Mongol Khanate of the Golden Horde destroyed the Cuman rule and attacked Poland, Bohemia, Hungary, and Bulgaria. The Mongols had control of Moldavia, most of Wallachia remaining outside their authority, while Transylvania was subjected to many attacks. The removal of pressure exerted from Hungary and Bulgaria no doubt helped the assertion of the Romanian feudal states.

Formation of the Vlach feudal state known as Wallachia

One of the first items of documentary evidence of Romanian voivodes is of Litovoi in 1272 who ruled over land each side of the Carpathians, including Făgăraş in Transylvania, and refused to pay tribute to the Hungarian King Ladislaus IV. His successor was his brother Bărbat (1285-1288). The continuing weakening of the Hungarian state by further Mongol invasions (1285) and internal disputes opened the way for the process of unification of the Romanian political formations independent of the Hungarian kings.

The formation of the Romanian state happened when Basarab I (1310-1352), son of Tihomir, united the Romanian voivodes either side of the Olt, creating a feudal state based at Câmpulung. He extended his lands to comprise those to be known as Wallachia together with the Banat of Severin, Făgăraş, southern Moldavia, the Danube Delta, and the lands between the Prut and Dniester which were to be later known as Basarabia . After Basarab's death his son Nicolae Alexandru ruled Wallachia (1352-1361), followed by his son Vladislav I (1364–1377).

For the next half century the Hungarian kings repeatedly tried to regain control of the Romanian lands and force suzerainty of the voivodes.

  • 1324 Basarab I consented to Hungarian suzerainty in return of his acknowledgment as the effective ruler of the Banat of Severin.
  • 1330 King Charles Robert of Hungary conquered Banat of Severin and moved through Oltenia as far as the Cetatea Argeşului, but was defeated probably at Lovistea on the way back through the Carpathians. This victory by Basarab I gave independence to Wallachia.
  • 1355 Nicolae Alexandru and King of Hungary reached agreement in return for Severin.
  • 1368 Louis I, King of Hungary, had a campaign against Wallachia, but failed and had to retreat.
  • 1369 Vladislav I subdued Vidin and accepted Hungarian suzerainty in return for Severin, Almaş, and Făgăraş.
  • 1373 Louis I took Severin again. The Romanians took it back in 1376-1377.

Battles with the Turks

In the second half of the 14th century, a new threat appeared - the Ottoman Empire. After having first gained a foothold in Europe in 1354, the Ottoman Turks defeated the weakened Bulgarian states of Tarnovo, Vidin and the principality of Dobrogea, and in 1396 reached the south bank of the Danube. The whole Balkan Peninsula south of the Danube would soon become integral Turkish territory, a process which was concluded with the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmed II in 1453.

For approximately 150 years, Wallachia withstood numerous Turkish attacks. Alone or allied with the neighboring Christian countries, successful voivodes like Mircea the Elder (1386-1418) and Vlad Tepes (1456-1462) fought many defensive battles against the Ottomans, preventing them from expanding into Central Europe.

  • In 1369 first raid by Ottomans north of Danube.
  • 1386-1418 Reign of Mircea the Elder (Mircea cel Bâtrân), son of Radu I. He defeated the Turks in several battles, driving away the Turks from Dobrogea and extending its rule to the mouths of Danube around 1400 to include Dobrogea and Silistra.
  • 1393 Turks took back Dobrogea and Silistra, only to loose them again in 1404 to Wallachia.
  • 1415 Mircea the Elder agreed to pay tribute to the Ottomans in return for ceasing their plundering of Wallachia, but refused to pay in 1415 supporting a rival to the Sultan. The Turks tookke Dobrogea, Giurgiu and Turnu forcing Mircea to pay tribute.
  • 1418-1420 Mihai I, son of Mircea, defeated Turks at Severin fortress.
  • 1420 The Turks invaded Wallachia and killed the king, but in 1422 Dan II defeats the Turks.
  • 1456 Vlad Tepes penetrated Wallachia, killed King Vladislav II and takes the throne, and the 1458 Turkish invasion into Wallachia defeated by Vlad Tepes and in 1462 Vlad frees Giurgiu from the Turks.
  • 1462 Campaign by the Turks against Wallachia to replace Vlad with his brother Radu cel Frumos. Vlad was initially successful then retreated to Transylvania where he was later imprisoned by the Hungarians.
  • 1476 Campaign by Stefan of Moldavia and Stefan Bathory reinstated Vlad Tepes on the throne of Wallachia in place of Laiota Basarab. Laiota returns with Turkish help and kills Vlad Tepes.
  • 1477 Stefan cel Mare succeeds in removing Laiota and replaced him with Basarab cel Tinar.
  • 1509 Wallachian nobility who supported the Turks chased out Mihnea cel Rau and he was replaced by Vladut, only to be killed 3 years later by the powerful nobility.
  • 1522-1529 Radu de la Afumati scored several victories against the Turks and prevented Wallachia being turned into a Turkish pashalik, only to be killed by some of the nobility.

Turkish Domination

The conflicts of the boyars and powerful families of Wallachia with their kings and the relentless pressure of the Ottoman Empire finally led to the eventual surrender to the Turks. Wallachia had to accept the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire for more than three centuries, though there were a few attempts to regain independence: in particular Michael the Brave who in 1600 managed to unite for a short period of time the three principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania.

  • Radu Paisie’s (1535-1545) rule was threatened by boyers and the Craiovescu family. These were repelled with help of the Turks, but the Turkish domination of Wallachia gradually took hold. They controlled the election of the voivode and demanded payment in money and goods. Mircea Ciobanul (1545-1554 and 1558-1559) ordered many troublesome boyers to be killed, or expelled. Petru cel Tanar (1559-1589) defeated armies of the fugitive boyers with help of the Turks and during the 1590's Turks settled in Wallachia.
  • In 1593 Mihai Viteazul reorganized Wallachia to regain its independence and tried to create a union with the other Romanian lands of Moldavia and Transylvania, but in 1595 The Turks took control of most of Wallachia again, only to be forced out again by the Wallachian army advancing on Sofia.
  • 1599 Andrei Bathory of Transylvania asked Mihai Viteazul to leave Wallachia, but Mihai defeated Andrei's army with Andrei being killed by Szekeler peasants. Mihai Viteazul took the title of voivode of Transylvania, and in the following year he also took the title of voivode of Moldavia. After Mihai and General Basta (of Vienna) defeated Sigismund Bathory, Basta ordered the murder of Mihai.
  • 1611 The Turks installed Radu Mihnea as voivode with an increasing number of Greek officials. Some of the Greeks, such as the Cantacuzino, later took an important role in the country.
  • 1632 The boyars forced the voivode to make changes in their favour, such as the removal of Greek officials, exemption from taxes, prevention of orders to kill boyars, but the voivode was replaced by Matei Basarab. During the 1650s many boyars were killed in uprisings, more being killed in 1658 when Mihai Radu took voivode and set about defeating the Turks and he killed some 30 boyars that opposed this struggle.
  • 1663 Grigore Ghica (1660-1664) had Cantacuzino murdered which unleashed a struggle for power between the Baleanu and Cantacuzino boyars. The reign of Constantine Brancoveanu (1688-1714) was a period of stability and recognition by the Ottoman Porte. However, the Cantacuzino family succeeds in having him banished, taken to Constantinople and beheaded in 1714.

After 1716, the Ottomans decided to cease choosing the voivod from among the Romanian boyars and established the Phanariote regime: the rulers were to be appointed from the influential Greeks of the Phanar neighborhood of Istanbul. The first non-native to be voivode was Micolae Mavrocordat.

1718 The Treaty of Passarowitz gave the Banat and Oltenia to the Habsburg Empire which lasted until the Russian-Austrian-Turkish war which returned Oltenia to Wallachia in 1739.

The Phanariotes rule ended only after the uprising of 1821 of Tudor Vladimirescu. In 1831 an act resembling a constitution ("Règlement Organique") was adopted. In 1859, Wallachia voted to unite with Moldavia to form the state of Romania, under the rule of Alexandru Ioan Cuza/Alexander John Cuza.

Important rulers

See also the complete List of Wallachian rulers.

Coat of Arms of Romania

Wallachia is represented by an eagle in the Coat of Arms of Romania.

Wallachia is used in many of the Castlevania series of video games as the starting spot for legendary vampire hunter Simon Belmont to begin his quest to vanquish Count Dracula, who constantly plagues the countryside.

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