Английская Википедия:Basarab I of Wallachia
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Basarab I (Шаблон:IPA-ro), also known as Basarab the Founder (Шаблон:Lang-ro; c. 1270 – 1351/1352), was a voivode and later the first independent ruler of Wallachia who lived in the first half of the 14th century. Many details of his life are uncertain. Although his name is of Turkic origin, 14th-century sources unanimously state that he was a Vlach (Romanian). According to two popular theories, Basarab either came into power between 1304 and 1324 by dethroning or peacefully succeeding the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru, or in 1310 by succeeding his father, Thocomerius.
A royal charter issued on 26 July 1324 is the first document to reference Basarab. According to the charter, he was subject to Charles I of Hungary as the voivode of Wallachia. Basarab became "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary" in 1325. He seized the Banate of Severin and raided the southern regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Basarab supported Michael Shishman of Bulgaria's attack against the Kingdom of Serbia, but their united armies were defeated in the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330. Soon after, Charles I of Hungary invaded Wallachia, but the Wallachians ambushed and almost annihilated the royal troops in the Battle of Posada, which occurred between 9 and 12 November 1330.
The Battle of Posada ended Hungarian suzerainty in Wallachia, and the first independent Romanian principality was consequently founded. Basarab's descendants ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries. The region of Bessarabia, situated between the rivers Dniester and Prut, was named for the Basarab dynasty.
Origins
Basarab was the son of Thocomerius, according to a charter written by Charles I of Hungary in 1332.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Thocomerius' social position cannot be determined.Шаблон:Sfn A scholarly hypothesis states that he was descended from Seneslau, a mid-13th-century Vlach (Romanian) lord.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Historian Vlad Georgescu writes that Thocomerius was the probable successor to Bărbat, the late 13th-century ruler of Oltenia.Шаблон:Sfn Historian Tudor Sălăgean says that Thocomerius was "a local potentate."Шаблон:Sfn
Basarab's name is of Turkic origin.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Its first part is the present participle for the verb bas- ("press, rule, govern"); the second part matches the Turkic honorific title aba or oba ("father, elder kinsman"), which can be recognized in Cuman names, such as Terteroba, Arslanapa and Ursoba.Шаблон:Sfn Basarab's name implies that he was of Cuman or Pecheneg ancestry, but this hypothesis has not been proven.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn At least four royal charters from the 14th century refer to Basarab as a Vlach.Шаблон:Sfn Charles I of Hungary referred to him as "Basarab, our disloyal Vlach" in 1332.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Pope John XXII addressed Basarab as a "devout Catholic prince" in a letter written on 1 February 1327.Шаблон:Sfn On the same day, the pope sent similar letters to Charles I of Hungary and his high officials, including Thomas Szécsényi, the voivode of Transylvania, and Mikcs Ákos, the ban of Slavonia, asking them to support the Dominicans' actions against the "heretics".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to scholar Neagu Djuvara, this correspondence with the Holy See proves that Basarab was a Catholic, which also testifies to Basarab's Cuman origin, because the Cumans had been baptized according to Catholic rite.Шаблон:Sfn Historians Matei Cazacu and Dan Mureșan reject Djuvara's theory, saying that all other sources prove that Basarab was an Eastern Orthodox.Шаблон:Sfn For instance, the Illuminated Chronicle, completed in the late 1350s, referred to Basarab as a "perfidious schismatic."[1]Шаблон:Sfn
Reign
Charles I's voivode
Шаблон:See also The details of Basarab's accession are obscure.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Early Romanian chronicles attribute the establishment of Wallachia to the legendary Radu Negru.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to 17th-century Wallachian chronicles, Radu Negru, after departing from Făgăraș, arrived in Wallachia in either 1290 or 1292, accompanied by "many peoples".Шаблон:Sfn One of those chronicles, Istoria Țării Românești, states that "Basarab" was the surname of an Oltenian boyar family, who accepted Radu Negru's suzerainty following his "dismounting".Шаблон:Sfn Historian Neagu Djuvara tentatively associates Basarab (or, alternatively, Basarab's father) with Radu Negru;Шаблон:Sfn Laurențiu Rădvan writes that Basarab either dethroned or peacefully succeeded Radu Negru between 1304 and 1324.Шаблон:Sfn Other historians, such as Vlad Georgescu, state that Basarab succeeded his father, Thocomerius, around 1310.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Basarab was first mentioned in a royal charter issued by Charles I of Hungary on 26 July 1324,Шаблон:Sfn in which he was described as "our voivode of Wallachia".Шаблон:Sfn This shows that Charles I regarded Basarab as a loyal vassal at that time.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Historian István Vásáry states that Basarab only accepted Charles' suzerainty after the king restored royal authority in the Banate of Severin, a Hungarian border province, in 1321.Шаблон:Sfn In exchange for his loyalty, Basarab's possession of Severin Fort was confirmed, according to historians Tudor Sălăgean and Attila Bárány.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Towards independence
A royal charter dated 18 June 1325 records that a person named Stephen, who was the son of a Cuman ispán in Hungary, stated that the king was weaker than Basarab and "did not even reach up to [his] ankle".Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The same charter describes Basarab as "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary", showing that Basarab had betrayed the crown.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn A royal charter from 1329 listed Basarab, along with the Bulgarians, Serbs and Tatars, as an enemy who "[made] hostile inroads" around Mehadia.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Basarab seems to have entirely controlled the Banate of Severin between 1324 and 1330, since royal charters did not mention a Ban of Severin during this period.Шаблон:Sfn In a letter written in 1327, Pope John XXII alluded to "territories of the Kingdom of Hungary which were subjected" to Basarab.Шаблон:Sfn
Michael III Shishman, Tsar of Bulgaria, attacked Serbia in 1330.Шаблон:Sfn He was accompanied by "the ruler of the Yas", along with Vlach and "black Tatar" auxiliary troops.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to Serbian sources and a letter written by Stephen Dušan, who became King of Serbia in 1331, Basarab personally led his army to Serbia to assist Shishman.Шаблон:Sfn The Serbs routed the united army of Michael Shishman and his allies at the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Shishman was killed while fleeing from the battlefield.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn
Taking advantage of the weakened state of Basarab's allies, Charles I of Hungary decided to restore his suzerainty in Wallachia.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to a royal charter issued two years after the events, Charles wanted to recapture "marginal lands" that Basarab "illegally" held in Wallachia.Шаблон:Sfn He invaded Oltenia, captured Severin Fort and appointed Denis Szécsi Ban of Severin in September 1330.Шаблон:Sfn According to the Illuminated Chronicle, Basarab offered 7,000 "marks of silver"[2] as compensation, along with a yearly tribute to the king.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He also promised to send one of his sons to the royal court in Visegrád.Шаблон:Sfn
However, Charles I refused Basarab's offer, saying that "[h]e is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will drag him by his beard from his lair".[2]Шаблон:Sfn Charles continued his campaign, but he and his soldiers suffered from hunger while marching to Curtea de Argeș through a sparsely populated region.Шаблон:Sfn Charles was compelled to sign an armistice with Basarab, and the royal army started retreating from Wallachia.Шаблон:Sfn On 9 November, however, the Wallachians ambushed the king and his soldiers at a narrow pass in the Southern Carpathians.Шаблон:Sfn Standing on the cliffs above the valley, the Wallachians shot arrows and threw rocks upon the army.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The battle lasted until 12 November.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn The royal army was decimated,Шаблон:Sfn and King Charles narrowly escaped.Шаблон:Sfn Historian Sălăgean writes that Basarab repelled Charles' invasion without assistance from his allies.Шаблон:Sfn A charter written in 1351 by Louis I, Charles' son and successor, states that pagan "neighbors and a troop formed of other subjects unfaithful" to Charles supported Basarab during the war, suggesting that Tatar auxiliaries fought for Basarab.Шаблон:Sfn However, the credibility of the report, written decades after the events, is uncertain.Шаблон:Sfn
Independent ruler
Archaeological research shows that after his capital of Curtea de Argeș was destroyed during Charles I's campaign, Basarab moved his seat to Câmpulung.Шаблон:Sfn Basarab's victory in the Battle of Posada enabled the introduction of an active foreign policy.Шаблон:Sfn He supported the efforts of his son-in-law, Ivan Alexander, to seize the Bulgarian crown, which he did in February 1331.Шаблон:Sfn With Basarab's support, Ivan Alexander successfully campaigned against the Byzantine Empire in 1331 and 1332.Шаблон:Sfn According to Sălăgean, Basarab allegedly took possession of Severin Fort in the early 1330s.Шаблон:Sfn
The reconstruction of Curtea de Argeș started after 1340, with the erection of new fortifications and a new palace.Шаблон:Sfn The construction of the Princely Church of Saint Nicholas in Curtea de Argeș also commenced during Basarab's rule, but it was completed after his death.Шаблон:Sfn Basarab seems to have made his son, Nicholas Alexander, his co-ruler around 1344.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Louis I of Hungary, who had succeeded Charles I in 1342, marched to southeastern Transylvania in the summer of 1344.Шаблон:Sfn To prevent a campaign against Wallachia, Nicholas Alexander visited Louis I and swore loyalty to him, according to the nearly contemporaneous John of Küküllő's chronicle.Шаблон:Sfn Wallachian troops supported Andrew Lackfi's attack against the Mongols in 1345, according to a Wallachian chronicle, but historian Victor Spinei rejects this report.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn According to a charter of his grandson, Vladislav I Vlaicu, Basarab died in the year 6860 of the Byzantine calendar, which is AD 1351 or 1352.Шаблон:Sfn
Family
A diptych from Câmpulung contains a reference to "Io Basarab voivode and his wife, Marghita".Шаблон:Sfn Although the diptych (which was revised and renewed in 1710) may contain a scribal error, historians tend to accept that Basarab's wife was named Marghita (from Margarete).Шаблон:Sfn According to Wallachian folklore, Marghita was the Catholic wife of the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru.Шаблон:Sfn She was told to have erected a Catholic church in Câmpulung, and committed suicide after the church was destroyed on her husband's order.Шаблон:Sfn
In his letter concerning the Battle of Velbazhd, Stephen Dušan mentioned that Basarab was "the father-in-law of Tsar Alexander of Bulgaria", showing that Basarab's daughter, Theodora,Шаблон:Sfn was Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria's wife.Шаблон:Sfn Historian Vásáry states that Basarab married her to Ivan Alexander around 1323 to strengthen his alliance with Bulgaria.Шаблон:Sfn She gave birth to children, but Ivan Alexander abandoned her and married a converted Jew, Sarah-Theodora, in the 1350s.Шаблон:Sfn Basarab's son and successor, Nicholas Alexander, discontinued Basarab's alliance with Bulgaria.Шаблон:Sfn
Legacy
Basarab's victory at the Battle of Posada was a turning point in the history of Wallachia.Шаблон:Sfn Sălăgean writes that the victory "sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown" and altered its international status.Шаблон:Sfn Georgescu describes Wallachia as the "first independent Romanian principality."Шаблон:Sfn Although the kings of Hungary continued to demand loyalty from the voivodes of Wallachia, Basarab and his successors yielded to them only temporarily in the 14th century.Шаблон:Sfn
The descendants of Basarab ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn Examples of his descendants include Mircea the Old and Vlad Dracula.Шаблон:Sfn Neagoe Basarab, a member of the Craiovești boyar family, forged a genealogy to prove that he was a descendant of Basarab, and adopted "Basarab" as his family name after his accession in 1512.Шаблон:Sfn
From the middle of the 14th century, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Serbian chronicles used the name "Basarab" when referring to Wallachia.Шаблон:Sfn From the next century onward, the southern region of the land between the Dniester and Prut rivers was named Basarabia.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn After the Russian Empire annexed Basarabia in 1812, the region was renamed to Bessarabia.Шаблон:Sfn The region is now part of the Republic of Moldova.Шаблон:Sfn
See also
References
Sources
Primary sources
- The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum (Edited by Dezső Dercsényi) (1970). Corvina, Taplinger Publishing. Шаблон:ISBN.
Secondary sources
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Further reading
External links
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