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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 Ţara Românească, "the Romanian Land" in Romanian) is a historical region in Southern Romania, corresponding to a principality formed in the late Middle Ages and in existence until the mid-19th century.

Contents

Name

The name Wallachia, usually not used by Romanians themselves (but present in some contexts as Valahia or Vlahia), is derived from the Valachs - a German language also present as the Slavic Vlachs - used by foreigners in reference to Romanians (see also: History of the term 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"), mostly used in an Orthodox Church context to refer to the Metropolitan seat, denotes the neighbourhood position in regard to the Hungarian Kingdom, meaning "Wallachia near Hungarian Kingdom". In Ottoman Turkish and Turkish, Eflak, a word derived from "Vlach" is used.

Map of Romania with Wallachia in yellow.
Map of Romania with Wallachia in yellow.

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 Câmpulung to Curtea de Argeş,then 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
Enlarge
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 Mureş-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 crossed the territory of Wallachia and settled in it, on their way to Byzantium, occupying the southern bank of the Danube.

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).

Although nominally vassals to the king of Hungary, the princes of Wallachia refused to give up their trans-Carpathian feuds, such as Făgăraş, Amlaş and Severin or to quietly surrender to the Anjou dynasty expansion plans in the Balkans, a situation that led to tensions and frequent clashes, notably during the reigns of Charles Robert of Hungary and Louis I of Hungary.

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.

After the reign of Mircea the Elder, Wallachia became a battleground in the Ottoman-Hungarian fight for control in Central-Eastern Europe, progressively losing its sovereignty, especially due to the violent rivalry between upper nobility families.

Turkish Domination

By the middle 16th century the Ottoman Empire was the only dominant force in the region and Wallachia had to accept its full suzerainty for more than three centuries, though there were a few attempts to regain independence, most importantly during the reign Michael the Brave who in 1600 managed to unite for a short period of time the three principalities of Wallachia, Moldavia and Transylvania. Also in the late 16th century Greek influence began to take roots in Wallachia, initially being met with hostility by the local nobility.

As the Ottoman supremacy was increasingly challenged by Austria and Russia in the early 18th century the Wallachian elite tried to reorient itself towards these powers, so that in 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, considered more trustable).The Phanariote regime was characterized by a severe loss of autonomy and over taxation, but brought about several important improvements,such as the abolition of serfdom,clear judicial norms and some modernization of the agriculture. As the same regime was applied to Moldavia ,another very important consequence was that the institutions and mentalities of both principalities became rather similar ,paving the way for the next century’s unification.

From Wallachia to Romania

After the overthrow of the Phanariote regime in 1821 by Tudor Vladimirescu's uprising, and especially after the Treaty of Adrianople in 1829, which ended the Ottoman monopoly on Wallachian trade, the principality experienced substantial economic and urban growth, in the same time its existence being seriously menaced by the ambitions of Russia and Austria.In 1831 an act resembling a constitution ("Regulamentul Organic") was adopted.

In June 1848 a revolutionary movement overthrew the monarchy and embarked on radical reforms in order to modernize the state, but was dissolved by a Turkish attack in September the same year. On January 24th 1859 the Parliament of Wallachia voted to recognize Alexander John Cuza, already the ruler of Moldavia, as prince of Wallachia, the first step to creating modern Romania.

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.

Influence in Popular Culture

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.

External links

 Romanian historical regions

Dobrogea | Moldavia (Bessarabia - Budjak - Bukovina - Hertza) | Transylvania (Banat - Crişana - Maramureş) | Wallachia (Muntenia - Oltenia)

 

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