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Basarab I the Founder
Basarab I. (fresco in Argeş)
Voivode of Wallachia from c. 1345 with Nicolae Alexandru
Reign	c. 1310–1352
Predecessor	Thocomerius (uncertain)
Successor	Nicolae Alexandru
Died	1352 Câmpulung
Burial	Argeş
Spouse	Lady Margareta
Issue	Theodora Nicolae Alexandru of Wallachia
Dynasty	Basarab
Father	Thocomerius

Basarab I or Basarab the Founder (Template:Lang-ro; Template:IPA-ro) was the first independent ruler – voivode or prince – of Wallachia. Basarab became a vassal of King Charles I of Hungary (1308–1342), but later the king called him ‘unfaithful’ on the pretext that Basarab had occupied crown territories.

In 1330 King Charles I launched an expedition into Wallachia to restore his authority over that area. On November 12, after three days of fighting, Basarab defeated the Hungarian forces at the battle of Posada. The battle marked the end of Hungarian rule and the appearance of the first independent Romanian principality.

Basarab founded the first Romanian ruling dynasty which was named after him.

From the mid-14th century onwards his name appears in Serbian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Polish sources as the name of Wallachia, and from the 15th century as a name for the territory between the lower reaches of the rivers Prut and Dniester. Bessarabia became the name of the whole land between the Prut and the Dniester (i.e., today’s Republic of Moldova) only after the Russian conquest of the area in 1812.

Origins

Basarab was the son of one Thocomerius, according to a 1332 charter of Charles I of Hungary, which is the only document mentioning Basarab's father. Basarab's name is of Turkic origin. Its first part is the present participle for the verb "press, rule, govern" (bas-). The second element of the name is identical with the Turkic honorific title aba or oba ("father, elder kinsman"), which can be recognized in Terteroba, Arslanapa, Ursoba and other Cuman names. Basarab's name implies that he was descended from a family of Turkic – Cuman or Pecheneg – origin, but this hypotesis has not been proven. On the other hand, at least four 14th-century royal charters mentioned that Basarab was Vlach. For instance, Charles I of Hungary referred to him as "Basarab, our disloyal Vlach" (Bazarab infidelis Olacus noster) in 1332.

The position of Basarab's father cannot be determined. The scholarly hypotesis that he was descended from Seneslau, a mid-13th-century Vlach lord, has not been substantiated. Historian Vlad Georgescu writes that Thocomerius "probably" succeeded Bărbat, the late 13th-century ruler of Oltenia. According to historian Tudor Sălăgean, Thocomerius was "a local potentate".

Pope John XXII sent letters with the same text to four lords, including Thomas Szécsényi, Voivode of Transylvania, Mikcs Ákos, Ban of Slavonia, and Basarab on 1 February 1327, asking them to support the Dominicans' actions against the "heretics". In the letter, the pope referred to Basarab as a "devout Catholic prince" (princeps devotus catholicus). For scholar Neagu Djuvara, the correspondence with the Holy See proves that Basarab was actually Catholic, which also testifies Basarab's Cuman origin, because the Cumans had received baptism according to the Catholic rite. Historians Matei Cazacu and Dan I. Mureşan reject Djuvara's theory, emphasizing that all other sources prove that Basarab was Orthodox. For instance, the Illuminated Chronicle, which was completed in the late 1350s, referred to Basarab as "perfidious schismatic" (de fide perfidi schismatici).

The linguist Sorin Paliga suggests that - despite many opposite hypotheses - his name may be one of the Thracian anthroponomical relics in Romanian, since the root bas-, bes- is well attested in Thracian (cf. Albanian besë ‘creed, faith’). He thinks that the name may be the continuation of the similar Thracian names (e.g., Bassaros, Bassos, Bassus) and may be connected to Bassarái (a garment of Bacchus priestesses).

Reign

Charles I's voivode (before 1325)

A charter of Charles I of Hungary, which was issued on 26 July 1324, contains the first reference to Basarab. In that charter, King Charles mentioned Basarab as "our voivode of Wallachia" (woyuodam nostrum Transalpinum), showing that the king regarded Basarab as his loyal vassal. However, the circumstances of Basarab's emergence to power remained obscure. The earliest Romanian chronicles did not mention Basarab and attributed the foundation of Wallachia to the legendary Radu Negru. Radu Negru came from Făgăraș to Wallachia in 1290 or 1292, accompanied by "many peoples: Romanians, Catholics, Saxons", according to 17th-century Wallachian chronicles. Djuvara tentatively identifies Radu Negru with Basarab (or rather with Basarab's father). According to the 17th-century Istoria Țării Românești, Basarab was the name of a family of Oltenian boyars, or noblemen, who accepted Radu Negru's suzerainty after his "dismounting".

Vlad Georgescu and other historians say that Basarab succeeded his father, Tochomerius, around 1310. Scholar Laurenţiu Rădvan writes that Basarab either dethroned or peacefully succeeded Radu Negru at an unspecified time between 1304 and 1324. Hungarian historian István Vásáry says that Basarab only accepted Charles I's suzerainty after the king restored his authority in the Banate of Severin, a border province of the Kingdom of Hungary in Oltenia, in 1321. Historians Tudor Sălăgean and Attila Bárány say that King Charles confirmed Basarab's possession of the Severin Fort. According to the contemporaneous John Kantakouzenos, "Ungrovlachs" and "Scythians" – Vlachs from Wallachia and Tatars, respectively – supported Michael Shishman of Bulgaria against the Byzantine Empire in 1323. Vásáry says that Basarab gave his daughter in marriage to Michael Shishman's nephew, Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, around that time to strengthen his alliance with Bulgaria.

Towards independence (1325-1330)

During a brawl between one Stephen, who was the son of a Cuman ispán, and a Hungarian nobleman, the young Cuman stated that Basarab's was more powerful than King Charles who "did not even reach up to Basarab's ankle", according to a royal charter dated to 18 June 1325. The same charter stated that Basarab was "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary" (sancte regis corone infidelem), showing that Basarab had abandoned his previous policy of loyalty to King Charles. In his letter of 1327, Pope John XXII alluded to the "territories of the Kingdom of Hungary which were subjected" to Basarab. A 1329 royal charter listed the Bulgarians, Basarab, the Serbs and the Tatars among the enemies who "kept making hostile inroads" in the region of Mehadia. For no royal charters referred to a Ban of Severin between 1324 and 1330, Vásáry says that Basarab must have controlled the entire banate during this period.

Michael Sishman, Tzar of Bulgaria, launched a military expedition against Serbia in 1330. Vlach, "black Tatar" and Iasi auxiliary troops accompanied him. According to Serbian sources, including a letter of Stephen Dušan, the future Emperor of Serbia, Basarab – who is named as Basarabe or Basarabu Ivan'ka – personally led his army to Serbia. However, the Serbs routed the united army of Michael Sishman and his allies in the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July. Michael Sishman was killed while fleeing from the battlefield.

Taking advantage of the weakened position of Basarab's allies, Charles I of Hungary decided to restore his suzerainty in Wallachia. King Charles wanted to recapture certain "marginal lands" which were "illegally held in Wallachia" by the "schismatic" Basarab, according to a royal charter issued two years after the events. Charles I of Hungary invaded Oltenia, captured the Severin Fort and made Dionysius Szécsi Ban of Severin in September 1330. Basarab offered to pay 7,000 "marks of silver" as compensation and to pay a yearly tribute to the king, according to the Illuminated Chronicle. He also promised that he would send one of his sons to Charles I's court.

Charles I haughtily refused Basarab's offer, saying that "e is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will drag him by his heard from his lair". Charles I continued his campaign, but he and his soldiers suffered hunger while marching through a sparsely populated region towards Curtea de Argeș, which forced the king to sign an armistice with Basarab. The royal army began to retreat from Wallachia, but the Wallachians ambushed King Charles and his soldiers at a narrow pass of the Southern Carpathians on 9 November. The Wallachians who were standing on the cliffs above the valley, shot arrows and hurled rocks upon the Hungarians and decimated them during the battle which lasted till 12 November. Even the king could narrowly escape from the battlefield. While fighting against Charles I, Basarab was assisted by "pagan neighbors and a troop formed of other subjects unfaithful" to the king, according to a 1351 charter of Charles I's son and successor, Louis I of Hungary, which suggests that Tatar auxiliaries also supported the Wallachians. The credibility of that report, which was recorded decades after the events, is suspect. Historian Sălăgean says that Basarab repelled Charles I's invasion without support from his allies.

Independent ruler (1330-1352)

Only a few month after his great victory, in February, 1331, Basarab contributed to the establishment of his son-in-law, Ivan Alexander on the throne of the tsars of Tarnovo. In 1331-32, Wallachian troops supported the Bulgarians in a victorious war against Byzantium. During the same period Basarab seems to have regained the fortress of Severin.

A new Hungarian offensive took place between 1343 and 1345, after King Charles’ death and the coronation of his son King Louis I. This time, Basarab lost the fortress of Severin and his son, Nicolae Alexandru, probably associated to the throne, accepted paying the homage of vassalage to the king of Hungary.

Family

His wife’s name was possibly Anna.

• Theodora of Wallachia, the wife of Tzar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria (? – 17 February 1371)
• Voivode Nicolae Alexandru of Wallachia (? – November 1364)

Legacy

Basarab's victory was a turning point in the history of Wallachia. The kings of Hungary did not cease to demand fidelity from the voivodes of Wallachia, but Basarab and his successors only temporarily yielded to those demands during the 14th century. Consequently, as Sălăgean writes, Basarab's victory "sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown" and essentially altered its international status. Georgescu describes Basarab's Wallachia as the "first independent Romanian principality".

See also

• Foundation of Wallachia
• House of Basarab
• Cuman people
• Cumania
• Cuman language

Notes

References

1. ^ Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 27–28.
2. Vásáry 2005, pp. 151–153.
3. Djuvara 2014, p. 74.
4. ^ Spinei 2009, p. 353.
5. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 151.
6. ^ Rădvan 2010, p. 129.
7. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 153.
8. Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 27–29.
9. ^ Sălăgean 2005, p. 193.
10. Coman 2012, p. 88.
11. Rădvan 2010, p. 137.
12. ^ Georgescu 1991, p. 17.
13. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 150.
14. ^ Sălăgean 2005, p. 194.
15. Djuvara 2014, p. 75.
16. Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, pp. 31–32.
17. The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: (ch. 209.145), p. 147.
18. Cazacu & Mureșan 2013, p. 30.
19. ^ Sorin Paliga (2006). "Etymological Lexicon of the Indigenous (Thracian) Elements in Romanian" (PDF). Recent Works. University of Bucharest. Retrieved 2009-12-28.
20. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 149.
21. ^ Andreescu 1998, p. 86.
22. Rădvan 2010, p. 130.
23. Rădvan 2010, pp. 130–131.
24. Djuvara 2014, p. 70.
25. Rădvan 2010, pp. 130, 147.
26. Djuvara 2014, p. 77.
27. Rădvan 2010, p. 131.
28. Treptow & Popa 1996, pp. xlvii, 38.
29. Rădvan 2010, p. 132.
30. Vásáry 2005, pp. 146, 148–149.
31. Bárány 2012, p. 358.
32. Spinei 1986, p. 126.
33. Djuvara 2014, p. 76.
34. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 154.
35. Fine 1994, p. 271.
36. Spinei 1986, pp. 126–127.
37. Vásáry 2005, pp. 111–112.
38. Fine 1994, pp. 271–272.
39. Fine 1994, p. 272.
40. Bárány 2012, p. 87.
41. ^ The Hungarian Illuminated Chronicle: (ch. 209.144), p. 147.
42. Bárány 2012, p. 359.
43. ^ Sălăgean 2005, p. 195.
44. ^ Andreescu 1998, p. 88.
45. ^ Sălăgean, Tudor. Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th-10th Centuries).
46. Charles Cawley (2009-02-12). "Bulgaria, Chapter 2: Tsars of the Second Bulgarian Empire, C. Tsars of Bulgaria (Family of Šišman)". Medieval Lands. Foundation of Medieval Genealogy. Retrieved 2009-11-29.
47. ^ Vásáry 2005, p. 155.

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

• Andreescu, Stefan (1998). "The making of the Romanian principalities". In Giurescu, Dinu C.; Fischer-Galați, Stephen (eds.). Romania: A Historic Perspective. East European Monographs. pp. 77–104. OCLC 237138831. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Bárány, Attila (2012). "The Expansion of the Kingdom of Hungary in the Middle Ages (1000–1490)". In Berend, Nóra (ed.). The Expansion of Central Europe in the Middle Ages. Ashgate Variorum. pp. 333–380. ISBN 978-1-4094-2245-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Cazacu, Matei; Mureșan, Dan Ioan (2013). Ioan Basarab, un domn român la începuturile Țării Românești (in Romanian). Cartier. ISBN 978-9975-79-807-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Coman, Marian (2012). "Land, lordship and the making of Wallachia". Studia Slavica et Balcanica Petropolitana. 1 (11): 79–94. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Djuvara, Neagu (2014). A Brief Illustrated History of Romanians. Humanitas. ISBN 978-973-50-4334-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Fine, John V. A (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Georgescu, Vlad (1991). The Romanians: A History. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0-8142-0511-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Rădvan, Laurenţiu (2010). At Europe's Borders: Medieval Towns in the Romanian Principalities. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-18010-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Sălăgean, Tudor (2005). "Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th–14th Centuries AD)". In Pop, Ioan-Aurel; Bolovan, Ioan (eds.). History of Romania: Compendium. Romanian Cultural Institute (Center for Transylvanian Studies). pp. 133–207. ISBN 978-973-7784-12-4. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spinei, Victor (1986). Moldavia in the 11th–14th Centuries. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Româna. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Spinei, Victor (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth century. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-17536-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Treptow, Kurt W.; Popa, Marcel (1996). Historical Dictionary of Romania. Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-3179-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Vásáry, István (2005). Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83756-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Template:Persondata

• Rulers of Wallachia
• History of Wallachia (1242–1386)
• House of Basarab
• 1310s births
• 1352 deaths
• People of medieval Romania
• Romanian people