[gothic-l] Re: OT - Romanian Historical ?

[czobor at CANTACUZINO.RO]

Dear Nikolai,

I am not a historian, but I am from Romania and I will try to answer 
some of your questions.
Thus, who "owned" this region in the past.
In ancient times, the territory of today's Romania was known under the 
name of Dacia and was settled mainly by the Dacians (named also 
Getae), an Indo-European people speaking a language related to 
Thracian (but there were also other tribes: the Iranic Agathyrsae in 
parts of today's Transylvania, and in the periphery of the territory 
also some Celtic, Germanic and Iranic tribes).
In the first century b.C. the whole territory of Dacia was unified 
under the rule of king Burebista. After his death, his kingdom 
splited, but was unified again in the next century by the king 
Decebalus. After several military conflicts with the Romans, his 
kingdom was finally conquered by the emperor Traianus after the war of 
AD 105-106, and Dacia became a Roman province. There were stationed 
two Roman legions and the province was sistematically settled by Roman 
colonists and romanised.
Due to the pressure of the migrating peoples (mainly Goths), Dacia was 
abandoned by the Romans in AD 271 (Aurelianus was emperor) and 
ocuppied by the Visigoths.
Between AD 376 and 454, Dacia was ruled by the Huns, together with 
their East-Germanic allies (Ostrogoths, Gepids, Heruls, Scirians, 
etc.), than, after the defeat of the Huns by their Germanic allies, 
Dacia came under the rule of the Gepids, until their defeat by the 
Avars and Longobards in AD 567.
After this date, the territory of Dacia was no more, for some 
centuries, under the rule of a definite political formation. It was 
under a loose control of the Avars, and in this time begun also the 
settlement of Slavs in Dacia. The southern part, along the Danube, was 
under the control of the Byzantine empire, and then under that of the 
Bulgarian state.
In the 10th century the central-western part of Dacia (known later as 
Transylvania) was occupied by the Magyars (Hungarians), that occupied 
in the same time also Pannonia. In the next century, Transylvania was 
gradually included in the Hungarian kingdom. In the same time, the 
southern part of Dacia (between the Carpathian mountains and the 
Danube, named later Valahia) was occupied by the Turkic people of the 
Pecenegs, while the eastern part (named later Moldova) was occupied by 
another Turkic people, the Cumans. In the 12-13th century, also these 
southern and eastern parts of Dacia were under the control of the 
Hungarians, until the great Mongol invasion of AD 1241, after this 
date the rule of the Hungarian kingdom being limited to Transylvania. 
In the 14th century, the feudal principalties of Valahia and Moldova 
were established. In the next century they became tributary to the 
Ottoman empire, this situation lasting until the 19th century.
Transylvania was incorporated in Hungary until the defeat of the 
Hungarians by the Ottomans in AD 1526. After this date, most of 
Hungary was occuppied by the Ottomans, its northern part came under 
the rule of the Habsburgs, and Transylvania became an autonomous 
principalty tributary to the Ottomans (that is, in the same situation 
like Valahia and Moldova). 
This situation of Transylvania lasted until AD 1699, when (together 
with the rest of the territory of the old Hungarian kingdom) was 
incorporated in the Habsburgic empire. In AD 1867, when the Habsburgic 
(Austrian) emmpire became the Austro-Hungarian empire, Transylvania 
was incorporated in the Hungarian part of this empire.
The principalties of Valahia and Moldova were unified in AD 1859, and 
the resulting state was officially named, since 1864, Romania. It was 
still tributary to the Ottoman empire, until the war of 1877-1878, 
when Romania gained its independence.
After the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian empire in the First World War 
(1914-1918), Transylvania was occupied by the Romanian army, and at 
december 1, 1918 (now the national holiday of Romania), the Romanian 
majoritary population of Transylvania voted for the unification of 
this province with Romania. The incorporation of Transylvania in 
Romania was confirmed by the peace treaty of Trianon in AD 1920.
This is breafly who owned politically the territory of Romania along 
the time.
Regarding the majoritary population, there are two main theories.
1. The "continuity theory" is the official theory in Romania.
It claims that after the abandon of Dacia by the Romans in AD 271, 
only the Roman army and administration retreated south of Danube, 
while the greater part of the population (Roman colonists and 
Rommanised Dacians, known also as Daco-Romans) remaind in place, their 
descendats being the Romanians (known in the Middle Ages also as 
Vlahs, Valahians, etc.) who always represented the majority of the 
population of todays Romania, including Transylvania, regardless who 
ruled politically the territory.
2. The "immigrationist theory", preferred by the Hungarian historians, 
considers that in AD 271 the whole Daco-Roman population retreated 
south of Danube, and the territory of Dacia was successively populated 
by migrating peoples, until they were replaced by other migrating 
peoples. When the Hungarians arrived at the end of 9th century, the 
territory of Dacia was, according to this theory, almost inhabitated, 
with only a thiny and scattered population of Pecenegs, Slavs, 
Bulgarians. Regarding the Romanians (Valahians, Vlahs), this people 
was formed south of Danube, and beginning with the 10-11th centuries 
(after the settlement of the Hungarians in Transylvania) they begun to 
immigrate north of Danube, arriving in south Transylvania probably in 
12th century. There were also other waves of Romanian immigration in 
Transylvania, so that their percent in Transylvania's population 
gradually increased so that until the beginnig of the 20th century the 
Romanians became majoritary in Transylvania, supporting the claim of 
Romania for this province.
This are the two main theories, each with its arguments, strong parts 
and weak parts.

Regarding Vlad Dracul (the father of Dracula), I don't know exactly 
where he was born, but it's little probability that he was born in 
Sigisoara/Segesvar in Transylvania (at that time, part of Hungaria), 
since he was a member of the ruling family of Valahia and became 
himself at a certain moment the prince of Valahia.
It seems that Gabriel Bihari, your correspondent, makes a confusion 
between Dracul and Dracula, father and son, both being princes of 
Valahia (named Havaselve or Havasalfold in Hungarian, and Tara 
Romaneasca in Romanian) in the 15th century.
Vlad Dracul was the father of Vlad Dracula, the later being known also 
as Vlad Tepes ("the Impaler"). The former got the nickname "Dracul" 
because he was rewarded by the German emperor and Hungarian king 
Sigismund of Luxemburg with the Order of the Dragon, for his merits in 
the battles against the Ottomans. (Dragon was interpreted by the 
Romanians as "Drac", with definite article :"Dracul").
The son of Vlad Dracul, whose first name was also Vlad, got the 
nickname Draculea or Dracula, that is a diminutive of "Dracul", the 
nickname of his father.
I don't know exactly about the number of castles, keeps, etc. owned by 
Vlad Dracul or his son Dracula, but it is plausible that they had 
13-14 castles etc., including some in Transylvania, because it is 
known that the princes of Valahia and Moldova who were faithful to the 
Hungarian kings were rewarded with domains, including castles, in 
Transylvania.

Best regards,

Francisc

P.S. What means the "ïðîùàíèå" in your signature?






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