Basarab I of Wallachia

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Basarab I the Founder
Christian

Basarab I (Romanian: [basaˈrab] ⓘ), also known as Basarab the Founder (Romanian: Basarab Întemeietorul; 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

Basarab dynasty
.

Origins

Basarab was the son of Thocomerius, according to a charter written by Charles I of Hungary in 1332.[1][2] Thocomerius' social position cannot be determined.[3] A scholarly hypothesis states that he was descended from Seneslau, a mid-13th-century Vlach (Romanian) lord.[4][5] Historian Vlad Georgescu writes that Thocomerius was the probable successor to Bărbat, the late 13th-century ruler of Oltenia.[6] Historian Tudor Sălăgean says that Thocomerius was "a local potentate."[3]

Basarab's name is of

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.[9] Basarab's name implies that he was of Cuman or Pecheneg ancestry, but this hypothesis has not been proven.[8][10][11] At least four royal charters from the 14th century refer to Basarab as a Vlach.[12] Charles I of Hungary referred to him as "Basarab, our disloyal Vlach" in 1332.[1][11]

Illuminated Chronicle, completed in the late 1350s, referred to Basarab as a "perfidious schismatic."[18][19]

Reign

Charles I's voivode

See also: Kingdom of Hungary (1301–1526) and Oligarch (Kingdom of Hungary)

The details of Basarab's accession are obscure.

dismounting".[25] Historian Neagu Djuvara tentatively associates Basarab (or, alternatively, Basarab's father) with Radu Negru;[26] Laurențiu Rădvan writes that Basarab either dethroned or peacefully succeeded Radu Negru between 1304 and 1324.[27] Other historians, such as Vlad Georgescu, state that Basarab succeeded his father, Thocomerius, around 1310.[6][28]

Basarab was first mentioned in a royal charter issued by Charles I of Hungary on 26 July 1324,[29] in which he was described as "our voivode of Wallachia".[20] This shows that Charles I regarded Basarab as a loyal vassal at that time.[29][20] 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.[30] In exchange for his loyalty, Basarab's possession of Severin Fort was confirmed, according to historians Tudor Sălăgean and Attila Bárány.[13][31]

Towards independence

Further information: Battle of Posada
The battle of Posada (Viennese copy of Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle)
King Charles I fleeing from the Battle of Posada

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".[11][32] The same charter describes Basarab as "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary", showing that Basarab had betrayed the crown.[11][10] A royal charter from 1329 listed Basarab, along with the Bulgarians, Serbs and Tatars, as an enemy who "[made] hostile inroads" around Mehadia.[20][33] 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.[14] In a letter written in 1327, Pope John XXII alluded to "territories of the Kingdom of Hungary which were subjected" to Basarab.[11]

King of Serbia in 1331, Basarab personally led his army to Serbia to assist Shishman.[37] The Serbs routed the united army of Michael Shishman and his allies at the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330.[6][38] Shishman was killed while fleeing from the battlefield.[13][39]

Taking advantage of the weakened state of Basarab's allies, Charles I of Hungary decided to restore his suzerainty in Wallachia.[6][13] According to a royal charter issued two years after the events, Charles wanted to recapture "marginal lands" that Basarab "illegally" held in Wallachia.[40] He invaded Oltenia, captured Severin Fort and appointed Denis Szécsi Ban of Severin in September 1330.[33] According to the Illuminated Chronicle, Basarab offered 7,000 "marks of silver"[41] as compensation, along with a yearly tribute to the king.[6][33] He also promised to send one of his sons to the royal court in Visegrád.[33]

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".[41][42] Charles continued his campaign, but he and his soldiers suffered from hunger while marching to Curtea de Argeș through a sparsely populated region.[33] Charles was compelled to sign an armistice with Basarab, and the royal army started retreating from Wallachia.[33] On 9 November, however, the Wallachians ambushed the king and his soldiers at a narrow pass in the Southern Carpathians.[43] Standing on the cliffs above the valley, the Wallachians shot arrows and threw rocks upon the army.[33][43] The battle lasted until 12 November.[33][43] The royal army was decimated,[33] and King Charles narrowly escaped.[33] Historian Sălăgean writes that Basarab repelled Charles' invasion without assistance from his allies.[43] 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.[44] However, the credibility of the report, written decades after the events, is uncertain.[44]

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.[45] Basarab's victory in the Battle of Posada enabled the introduction of an active foreign policy.[43] He supported the efforts of his son-in-law, Ivan Alexander, to seize the Bulgarian crown, which he did in February 1331.[43] With Basarab's support, Ivan Alexander successfully campaigned against the Byzantine Empire in 1331 and 1332.[43] According to Sălăgean, Basarab allegedly took possession of Severin Fort in the early 1330s.[43]

The Carpatho-Danubian-Pontic Space in 1330 AD, after the Battle of Posada.

The reconstruction of Curtea de Argeș started after 1340, with the erection of new fortifications and a new palace.

AD 1351 or 1352.[43]

Family

A

Io Basarab voivode and his wife, Marghita".[52] 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).[52] According to Wallachian folklore, Marghita was the Catholic wife of the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru.[53] She was told to have erected a Catholic church in Câmpulung, and committed suicide after the church was destroyed on her husband's order.[53]

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,

Jew, Sarah-Theodora, in the 1350s.[56] Basarab's son and successor, Nicholas Alexander, discontinued Basarab's alliance with Bulgaria.[43]

Legacy

See also: House of Basarab
Princely Church of Saint Nicholas in Curtea de Argeș

Basarab's victory at the Battle of Posada was a turning point in the history of Wallachia.[57] Sălăgean writes that the victory "sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown" and altered its international status.[43] Georgescu describes Wallachia as the "first independent Romanian principality."[6] 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.[57]

The descendants of Basarab ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries.

Vlad Dracula.[47] 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.[47]

From the middle of the 14th century, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Serbian chronicles used the name "Basarab" when referring to Wallachia.

Republic of Moldova.[59]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 27–28.
  2. ^ Vásáry 2005, pp. 151–153.
  3. ^ a b Sălăgean 2005, p. 193.
  4. ^ Coman 2012, p. 88.
  5. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 137.
  6. ^ a b c d e f Georgescu 1991, p. 17.
  7. ^ Djuvara 2014, p. 74.
  8. ^ a b Spinei 2009, p. 353.
  9. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 151.
  10. ^ a b Rădvan 2010, p. 129.
  11. ^ a b c d e Vásáry 2005, p. 153.
  12. ^ Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 27–29.
  13. ^ a b c d Sălăgean 2005, p. 194.
  14. ^ a b c d Vásáry 2005, p. 150.
  15. ^ Györffy 1964, p. 551.
  16. ^ Djuvara 2014, p. 75.
  17. ^ Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 31–32.
  18. ^ The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: (ch. 209.145), p. 147.
  19. ^ Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, p. 30.
  20. ^ a b c d Andreescu 1998, p. 86.
  21. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 130.
  22. ^ Rădvan 2010, pp. 130–131.
  23. ^ Djuvara 2014, p. 70.
  24. ^ Rădvan 2010, pp. 130, 147.
  25. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 131.
  26. ^ Djuvara 2014, p. 77.
  27. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 132.
  28. ^ Treptow & Popa 1996, pp. xlvii, 38.
  29. ^ a b Vásáry 2005, p. 149.
  30. ^ Vásáry 2005, pp. 146, 148–149.
  31. ^ Bárány 2012, p. 358.
  32. ^ Djuvara 2014, p. 76.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Vásáry 2005, p. 154.
  34. ^ Fine 1994, p. 271.
  35. ^ Spinei 1986, pp. 126–127.
  36. ^ Györffy 1964, p. 546.
  37. ^ Vásáry 2005, pp. 111–112.
  38. ^ Fine 1994, pp. 271–272.
  39. ^ Fine 1994, p. 272.
  40. ^ Bárány 2012, p. 87.
  41. ^ a b The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: (ch. 209.144), p. 147.
  42. ^ Bárány 2012, p. 359.
  43. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sălăgean 2005, p. 195.
  44. ^ a b Andreescu 1998, p. 88.
  45. ^ Rădvan 2010, pp. 162, 244.
  46. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 244.
  47. ^ a b c d Treptow & Popa 1996, p. 39.
  48. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 266.
  49. ^ a b Kristó 1988, p. 195.
  50. ^ Spinei 1986, p. 177.
  51. ^ Andreescu 1998, p. 89.
  52. ^ a b Hasan 2013, p. 137.
  53. ^ a b Hasan 2013, p. 136.
  54. ^ Hasan 2013, p. 140.
  55. ^ Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, p. 31.
  56. ^ Fine 1994, p. 366.
  57. ^ a b Vásáry 2005, p. 155.
  58. ^ Georgescu 1991, p. 35.
  59. ^ a b c d Vásáry 2005, p. 143.
  60. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 319.

Sources

Primary sources

  • The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum (Edited by Dezső Dercsényi) (1970). Corvina, Taplinger Publishing.
    ISBN 0-8008-4015-1
    .

Secondary sources

Further reading

  • Rásonyi, László (1935). "Contributions à l'histoire des premières cristallisations d'état des Roumains. L'origine des Basarabas [Contributions to the History of the First Crystallization of the Romanian State: The Basarabs' Origins]". Études sur l'Europe centre-orientale (in French). 3: 10–16.

External links

  • Media related to Basarab I at Wikimedia Commons
Basarab I of Wallachia
 Died: 1351 or 1352
Regnal titles
Preceded by
Voivode of Wallachia

before 1324 – 1351 or 1352 		Succeeded by
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