Codrii Vlăsiei was an old-growth forest that once covered parts of southern Romania , including the territory of today's Bucharest and the surrounding Ilfov County .
58-730: The thick forests were used by Romanians as a retreat during the age of migrations because they were not easy to cross on horseback. In fact, the name of the forest means "the Forests of Wallachia ". Codrii means "forests" in the Romanian language , while Vlăsiei is the genitive form of Vlăsia , the Slavic denomination for Wallachia. The thick forest was also useful in the Middle Ages, being used by several voivods to defeat other armies. In 1456, Vlad Țepeș defeated his rival Vladislav Dan at Târgșor at
116-619: A mixture of elements from the Czech and Slovak languages, and has a distinct lexicon of Romanian origin relating to the pastoral economy of the highlands. The name originated from the term " Vlach ", the exonym of Romanians . Moravian Wallachia is a mountainous region located in the easternmost part of Moravia in the Czech Republic , near the Slovak border, roughly centered on the cities Vsetín , Valašské Meziříčí and Rožnov pod Radhoštěm . It
174-563: A people living around the Volga . Vlachs were present in large numbers, on the Chalcidice peninsula around 1000, according to monastic documents from Mount Athos . On the peninsula, the Vlachs were famous for their cheese and meat products. In these texts sometimes they are called " Vlachorynhinii ", which may be a mixture of the name "Vlach" and " Rynhini " a Slavic tribe who settled in the same area in
232-502: Is a mountainous ethnoregion located in the easternmost part of Moravia in the Czech Republic , near the Slovak border, roughly centered on the cities Vsetín , Valašské Meziříčí and Rožnov pod Radhoštěm . The name Wallachia used to be applied to all the highlands of Moravia and the neighboring Silesia , although in the 19th century a smaller area came to be defined as ethno-cultural Moravian Wallachia. The traditional dialect represents
290-764: Is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe —south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula ) and north of the Danube . Although it has also been used to name present-day Romanians , the term "Vlach" today refers primarily to speakers of the Eastern Romance languages who live south of
348-536: Is also mirrored by the Y-chromosome genetic results, with Moravian Vlachs resembling isolated Balkan groups such as Aromanians more than the surrounding Central European populations. The Vlachs in eastern Moravia rose up during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48). They fought successfully against Habsburg rule in 1620–23, and were initially supported by rebellious Protestant Hungarians. Having had all of Moravia east of
406-638: Is also used to refer to the ethnographic group of Moravian Vlachs who speak a Slavic language but originate from Romanians, as well as for Morlachs and Istro-Romanians . The word Vlach / Wallachian (and other variants such as Vlah , Valah , Valach , Voloh , Blac , oláh , Vlas , Ulah , etc. ) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a Celtic tribe, adopted into Proto- Germanic * Walhaz , which meant 'stranger', from *Wolkā- ( Caesar 's Latin : Volcae , Strabo and Ptolemy 's Greek : Ouolkai ). Via Latin , in Gothic , as * walhs ,
464-546: Is called "Upper Vlachia". According to Niketas Choniates, the Vlachs are the barbarians who live in the Balkan mountains , in Moesia . In 1183 Hungarian documents mention, that King Béla III of Hungary , in his campaign against the Byzantine Empire , sacked Sofia , and among the defenders there were many Vlachs. The King used the opportunity and "... took home a number of these valiant mountain soldiers, and settled them in
522-551: Is currently just about 3,500 ha (8,600 acres). Băneasa Forest , situated in the north of Bucharest , is in danger to be transformed in a park. The slicing of forest estates as a result of restitution of forestland to the pre-World War II owners creates major difficulties in the management of forests from the area, which imposes new rules in the unitary management of forests as well. Vlachs#Wallachia Vlach ( English: / ˈ v l ɑː k / or / ˈ v l æ k / ), also Wallachian (and many other variants ),
580-529: Is part of the Western Carpathians . It is bordered to the west with Lachia ( Czech : Lašsko ) along the Štramberk – Příbor – Frýdek line (according to Šembera) or according to dialectology (according to František Bartoš ). The population is traditionally pastoralist. Although animal husbandry was long associated with agriculture practiced in the lowlands adjacent to the Western Carpathians,
638-615: Is still used in Polish ( Włochy, Włosi, włoskie ) and Hungarian ( Olasz, Olaszország ) as an exonym for Italy, while in Slovak ( Vlach - pl. Vlasi , Valach - pl. Valasi ), Czech ( Vlachy ) and Slovenian ( Laško , Láh, Láhinja, laško ) it was replaced with the endonym Italia . Other forms which were recognised by linguists to designate the "Vlachs" are: Blaci, Blauen, Blachi found in Western medieval sources, Balachi, Walati found in Western sources derived from medieval German, while
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#1732890595363696-847: Is used in scholarship for the Romance-speaking communities in the Balkans, especially those in Greece, Albania and North Macedonia. In Serbia the term Vlach (Serbian Vlah , plural Vlasi ) is also used to refer to Romanian speakers, especially those living in eastern Serbia. In modern Slovak , Valasi , other than denoting people of Vlachian ethnicity or origin, is synonymously and even more prominently used to describe shepherds , more commonly apprentice shepherds. The term originated following Vlachian arrival in mounts and hills of present-day Slovakia in 14th century and coinciding development in sheep herding and dairy industry. Further west, in Czech Republic ,
754-513: The Migration Period . On the other hand, opponents of this theory say that the Romanians and the Vlachs, including the ancestors of present-day Aromanians, were originally part of the same group of speakers of Eastern Romance languages, and that their origins should be sought in the southern Balkans. Early Romanian-speakers would have then moved northwards from the 12th century onwards. During
812-511: The North Sea to the Danube . The Byzantine princess and scholar Anna Komnene , in her book Alexiad , mentions a Vlach settlement called Ezeba, which was near Larissa and Androneia. In the same work she also describes the Vlachs as "the nomadic tribes, called Vlachs in popular parlance". In 1109, monks on Mount Athos mention the Vlachs in Chalkidiki and that the presence of women disturbed
870-659: The Szeben County ." A Byzantine church document mentions that in 1190, "the Cumans and the Vlachs take the relics of Saint Ryli from Sofia to Tirnovo with a great pomp." According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja , the authenticity of which is highly disputed by historians, c. 600 AD the Avars conquered Salona , then, attacking further south, ravaged Macedonia and
928-625: The Vlachs . Omeljan Pritsak , however, point out that the texts probably refer to a nomadic Turkic people, since the "Blakumen" in the texts are "non-christian heathens" and nomadic horsemans. Spinei contrasts Pritsak's view by claiming that there are several mentions of the Blakumen or Blökumen in contexts taking place decades before the earliest appearance of the Cumans in the Pontic steppe, and that translating
986-535: The Western Balkans , during the High Middle Ages , the word also acquired a socio-economic component, being used as an internal name for the pastoral population in the medieval Kingdom of Serbia , one that was also often engaged in the transport of goods, colonisation of empty lands, and military service. It will then expand to local interpretations with religious, ethnic, and social status particularities across
1044-591: The endonym rumân or român , from the Latin romānus , meaning ' Roman '. Also Aromanians use the endonym armãn ( pl. : armãni ) or rãmãn ( pl. : rãmãni ), from romānus . From Latin romānus are also the Albanian forms rëmen and rëmër , 'vlach'. Megleno-Romanians designate themselves with the Macedonian form Vla ( pl. : Vlaš ) in their own language. In historical sources
1102-805: The ethnonym took on the meaning 'foreigner' or 'Romance-speaker' and later "shepherd', 'nomad'. The term was adopted into Greek as Vláhoi or Blachoi ( Βλάχοι ), Albanian vllah , Slavic as Vlah ( pl. Vlasi ) or Voloh , Hungarian as oláh and olasz , etc. The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for Wales and Walloon , and in Switzerland for Romansh -speakers ( German : Welsch ), and in Poland Włochy or in Hungary olasz became an exonym for Italians. The Slovenian term Lahi has also been used to designate Italians. The same name
1160-587: The "land of the black Latins, now called Morvlachs ". The first mention of Vlachs in Serbian medieval chronicles is dated from the time of Stefan Nemanjić , most probably 1198–1199, and it is related to a donation act towards restoration of Hilandar monastery with aid from the inhabitants of the area of Prizren . The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick mention the Vlachs as people living in
1218-522: The 7th century. In 1013, a Byzantine document mentions the settlement of "Kimbalongu" in the mountains near Strumitsa , which was a Vlach settlement. The names Blakumen or Blökumenn is mentioned in Nordic sagas dating between the 11th and 13th centuries, with respect to events that took place in either 1018 or 1019 somewhere at the northwestern part of the Black Sea and believed by some to be related to
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#17328905953631276-650: The Alexiad, in 1094–1095, Emperor Alexius Komnenos was notified by a Vlach chieftain called Poudila about the crossing of the Danube by a Cuman army, and that to prepare himself for the attack, then the Vlachs likewise led the Cumans through the gorges of the Balkan Mountains. Also in 1094 the first mention of Vlachs in Moglena region is made, the document is kept in the archive of the monastery Great Lavra on Mount Athos. According to this Emperor Alexios I Komnenos replies to
1334-587: The Annales Barenses describes that in 1027 the Byzantine army led by Orestes that tried to recapture Sicily from the Arabs , also included many Vlachs recruited from Macedonia . Kekaumenos writes about the revolt in 1066 in the region of Thessaly led by Nikoulitzas Delphinas , nephew of the homonymous 10th century military commander, and father in law of the writer. In 1071, a Byzantine document mentions that
1392-545: The Dacians and Vlachs had a perfectly matching nature, treachery and political unreliability, so much that in his opinion they should not be believed even if the Vlachs take an oath. Kekaumenos arbitrarily identified the Vlachs with the Dacians according to the archaizing efforts of his time, because the tendency to refer to later peoples with classical names was common in Byzantium at the time of Kekaumenos. Kekaumenos also confused
1450-739: The Danube, in Albania , Bulgaria , northern Greece , North Macedonia and eastern Serbia . These people include the ethnic groups of the Aromanians , the Megleno-Romanians and, in Serbia, the Timok Romanians . The term also became a synonym in the Balkans for the social category of shepherds, and was also used for non-Romance-speaking peoples, in recent times in the western Balkans derogatively. The term
1508-555: The Germanic population from Transylvania used also the variants Woloch, Blôch . French sources used mostly Valaques while the medieval Song of Roland used Blos . In English and in modern German the forms Wallachians, Walachen appear, respectively. In the Balkan Peninsula various names such as Rumer, Tzintzars, Morlachs, Maurovlachs, Armâns, Cincars, Koutzovlachs were used, while Muslim sources speak of Ulak, Ilak, Iflak . The term 'Vlach' first appeared in medieval sources and
1566-608: The Habsburgs finally defeated the Vlachs in 1644. Since at least the mid-18th century the population of Moravian Wallachia described itself as Wallachian. At that time, in German, the community was known as die Wallachey . Daniel Sloboda [ de ] replaced the term Ualachy (Vlahi) with Ualassko (Valasko), and defined the Moravian Wallach as a shepherd, and stressed that the term had nothing to do with Romanians. He noted that
1624-473: The Middle Ages, the term "Magna Vlachia" appears in Byzantine documents. This name was used for Thessaly and present-day North Macedonia. John Skylitzes mentioned the Vlachs in 976, as guides and guards of Byzantine caravans in the Balkans. Between Prespa and Kastoria , they met and fought with David of Bulgaria . The Vlachs killed David in their first documented battle. Ibn al-Nadīm published in 998
1682-648: The Morava river under their control by 1621, the Vlachs were defeated in 1623, after which a series of public executions took place. They renewed attacks in late 1623, and notably defeated a Polish contingent in March 1624. In 1625–30 Habsburg and Danish armies repeatedly crossed Moravia. The Vlachs joined the Danes, and later, the Swedes. After the Danish retreat in 1627, and Swedish retreat in 1643,
1740-779: The Roman province Dacia Traiana with Dacia Aureliana , and even he placed it further west where it actually was, that is why he mentioned the Serbian territory as the homeland, the Bessus tribe was a neighbor of the Roman province Macedonia. Alexius Komnenos mentions that in 1082 he passed through a Vlach settlement called Exeva in Macedonia. Anna Komnene mentions in her Alexiad that in 1091 Emperor Alexios ordered Nikephoros Melissenos to raise an army against invading Pechenegs . Melissenos recruited, among others, Bulgarians and "the nomadic tribes called Vlachs in popular parlance". According to
1798-505: The Romans while they were constantly attacked and pillaged, therefore, Trajan launched a war, their leader, Decebalus was also killed, and then the Vlachs were scattered in Macedonia , Epirus and Hellas . According to Hungarian historians, Kekaumenos made the Dacians the ancestors of the Vlachs because he knew about the deceitfulness of the Dacians against the Romans, and according to him
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1856-495: The Vlach methods and associated rituals of sheep and goat tending were unique and newly introduced by them, as were the introduction of grazing in the highlands and the emphasis upon the production of milk and cheese ( bryndza ), with other specific words like košár or kotár - sheep enclosure, čutora - water bottle, fujara - shepherd’s flute with a specific melancholic sound, koliba - cottage for shepherds, and bača - head shepherd entering
1914-544: The Vlach migrations into what is today Czech Republic and Slovakia occurred. According to Lozovan, the Vlachs were at first Romance-speaking, Orthodox Christian , transhumant pastoralists originating in Transylvania . Kamusella notes that Vlachs migrated up along the Carpathians to Moravia between the 13th and 18th centuries and that most preserved Orthodox Christianity but were Slavicized. The distinct cultural heritage
1972-605: The Vlachs in Hellas theme . Nikulitsa switched alliance to Samuel of Bulgaria after the conquest of Larissa by the Bulgarian Tsar. Mutahhar al-Maqdisi , "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, Waladj , Alans, Greeks and many other peoples." According to other non-Romanian historians, based on the context, the "Waladj" are not the Vlachs, but
2030-466: The Vlachs is incorrect. So, the text does not refer to the Vlachs here but rather to Volga Bulgaria.. A monastic document from Mount Athos mentions that 300 Vlach families live near the mountain, and in their own language they call their settlements "Catuns". Byzantine writer Kekaumenos , author of the Strategikon (1078), writes about a leader, Nikulitsa , who is given command by Basil II over
2088-529: The area of Moravian Wallachia is known as Valašsko and the inhabitants as Valaši, names usually translated in English as Wallachia and Wallachians, respectively. According to the theory of Daco-Roman continuity , the ancestors of modern Vlachs and Romanians originated from Dacians . For proponents of this theory, Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the lower Danube basin during
2146-560: The beginning of the 17th century. In this context, a large part of the Dalmatian hinterland was repopulated by Slavic settlers, both Orthodox and Catholic, speaking the Shtokavian dialect and called Vlach or Morlach by the inhabitants of the Dalmatian coast and islands. In these areas, the term Vlah evolved to Vlaj ( pl. Vlaji ) and is still used as a derogatory term to refer to
2204-569: The border of the Principality of Halych during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl , captured Andronicus and returned him to Emperor Manuel . Byzantine historian John Kinnamos described Leon Vatatzes' military expedition along the northern Danube, where Vatatzes mentioned the participation of Vlachs in battles with the Magyars (Hungarians) in 1166. John Kinnamos says Vlachs were "colonists brought from Italy". The uprising of brothers Asen and Peter
2262-447: The daughter of Bela III of Hungary, but there was not enough money for the wedding, so he imposed taxes in the regions and cities of the empire , but he angered the "barbarians who dwelt in the Haemos mountains, who were once called Moesians , but are now called Vlachs". Mentions of Vlachs in Medieval Bulgaria also come from Niketas Choniates who writes about a Vlach called Dobromir Chrysos who established an autonomous polity in
2320-409: The edge of Codrii Vlăsiei. This was also the place where Vlad defeated the Ottoman army that came to depose him. It is also thought that Vlad was assassinated there following a plot of the boyars . The forests were later a hideout for highwaymen , haiducs and other outlaws. Between 1692 and 1700, a paved road which linked the centre of Bucharest to the Mogoșoaia Palace of Constantin Brâncoveanu
2378-456: The herds of the Vlachs and their household spend the months of April to September beyond Thessaly , in the high mountains of Bulgaria, where it is very cold. (it is clear from the text that we are talking about the mountains of today's North Macedonia ). The same text describes that the homeland of the Vlachs is Thessaly, precisely the part of the region divided by the river Pleres. Florin Curta adds that Kekaumenos calls Vlachs "migrants from
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2436-418: The local language. The "Vlach" dress are still important elements of the ethnography of the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. The music of the area is thought to have been influenced by the Vlachs (e.g. see Lachian Dances ), but it also represents a locally vibrant mixture of Vlach with Slovak, Czech, German, and Polish music cultures from the Tatras and Morava valley. It is unclear exactly why and when
2494-437: The monachal activities. Traveler Benjamin of Tudela (1130–1173) of the Kingdom of Navarre was one of the first writers to use the word Vlachs for a Romance-speaking population. In his work he mentions that these Vlachs live high up in the mountains of Thessaly , and from there they sometimes come down to plunder, which they do quickly, as swift as deers, for which reasons there is no king to rule them. Vlachs living by
2552-411: The monks of the monastery complaining that people on their domain are not paying taxes. The document contains some of the first Romanian names, such as Stan, Radu cel Şchiop, and Peducel. In 1097, many Vlachs were resettled from the Chalcidice peninsula to the Peloponnese by order of the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos. In 1099, crusading armies were attacked by Vlachs, in the mountains along
2610-461: The mountains and forests of the Balkans. The chronicle also describes the Vlachs' homeland as being near Thessaloniki . The chronicle describes how the Crusaders captured several Vlachs who told them that the Vlachs live in Macedonia, Thessaly and Bulgaria, and that because they were heavily taxed, they were rebelling. Moravian Wallachia Moravian Wallachia ( Czech : Moravské Valašsko , or simply Valašsko ; Romanian : Valahia Moravă )
2668-428: The name to "Black Cumans" is not concordant with the Varangian ethnic terminology. In 1020, the Archdiocese of Ohrid was founded, which was responsible for "the spiritual care of all the Vlachs". In 1022, Vlach shepherds from Thessaly and the Pindus mountains provided cheese for Constantinople. In 1025, the Annales Barenses mentions a people called "Vlach" who live near the river Axios . The same chronicle
2726-427: The northern parts", as Kekaumenos associates them with Dacians or Bessi of Antiquity. A Byzantine author, Kekaumenos writes about the Vlachs in Greece in connection about their origin and way of life in the Strategikon in 1075–1078. According to Kekaumenos, the Vlachs were Dacians and Bessi, who lived near and south from the Danube and the Sava , where the Serbs live now. They feigned loyalty to
2784-415: The road from Braničevo to Naissus . The Primary Chronicle , written c. 1113 states that the Slavs settled beside the Danube , then the Volochi people attacked the Slavs, settled among them and did them violence, leading to the Slavs departing and settling around the Vistula under the name of Leshi . According to the chronicle the Slavs settled there first, and the Volochi seized
2842-413: The rural inhabitants of the hinterland, both Croats and Serbs, as "peasants" and "ignorants". In Istria , the ethnonym Vlach is used by the Chakavian-speaking Croatian inhabitants to refer to the Istro-Romanians and the Slavs who settled in the 15th and 16th centuries. Nowadays, the term Vlachs (also known under other names, such as "Koutsovlachs", "Tsintsars", "Karagouni", "Chobani", "Vlasi", etc. )
2900-435: The term "Vlach" could also refer to different peoples: " Slovak, Hungarian, Balkan, Transylvanian, Romanian, or even Albanian ". In late Byzantine documents, the Vlachs are sometimes mentioned as Bulgaro-Albano-Vlachs ( Bulgaralbanitoblahos ), or Serbo-Albano-Bulgaro-Vlachs. According to the Serbian historian Sima Ćirković , the name "Vlach" in medieval sources had the same rank as the name " Greek ", " Serb " or "Latin". In
2958-423: The territory of the Slavs; later, the Hungarians drove the Volochi away, took their land and settled among the Slavs. The Primary Chronicle thus contains a possible reference to Romanians. Other non-Romanian historians consider the Volochi the Franks , as their country is placed west to Baltic Sea and near England by the author of the work, Nestor the Chronicler . The Frankish Empire stretched from
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#17328905953633016-479: The upper region of Vardar river and Moglena . A similar event is recorded by the same author in the area of Philippopolis where a Vlach called Ivanko , formerly a boyar at the Asen brothers' court was given military command by Emperor Isaac and expanded his rule to Smolyan , Mosynopolis , and Xanthi . According to Niketas Choniates , Thessaly and Macedonia is called "Magna Vlachia", Aetolia and Acarnata are called "Little Vlachia" and north-eastern Epirus
3074-534: The wider region, being employed as a name for Eastern Romance speaking people, Eastern Orthodox population in opposition to Catholic population, for the rural population of the hinterlands, the Christian population in general as opposed to Muslim population, or a combination of these aspects. During the early history of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, there was a military class of Vlachs in Serbia and Ottoman Macedonia , made up of Christians who served as auxiliary forces and were exempted of certain taxes until
3132-442: The work Kitāb al-Fihrist mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and Blaghā ". According to B. Dodge the ethnonym Blaghā could refer to Wallachians/Romanians. However, it is important to mention that the original Arabic text uses the term "البلغار", which is read as "al-Bulghār", and not "Blaghā". The term "al-Bulghār" (البلغار) was commonly used in Arabic texts to refer to Volga Bulgaria . Therefore, Bayard's assumption that this refers to
3190-453: Was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire , also known in its early history as the Empire of Bulgarians and Vlachs. According to Niketas Choniates , after the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos lost his wife, he wanted to marry
3248-404: Was built through the forest. Named Podul Mogoșoaiei , it was made of oak wood. Most roads in the Balkans at that time became muddy in the spring and autumn, and the wood prevented this. Consequently, the road was one of the most important construction works of the area and a source of pride to Bucharesters. In 1842 the road was paved with cobblestone . It was later upgraded to asphalt . The road
3306-410: Was generally used as an exonym for speakers of the Eastern Romance languages . But testimonies from the 13th and the 14th centuries show that, although in Europe and beyond, they were called Vlachs or Wallachians ( oláh in Hungarian, Vláchoi (Βλάχοι) in Greek, Volóxi (Воло́хи) in Russian, Walachen in German, Valacchi in Italian, Valaques in French, Valacos in Spanish), the Romanians used
3364-477: Was renamed Calea Victoriei after the Romanian victory in the Independence War of 1877–1878. Most of the forest was intact until the 19th century, when commerce involving cereals and wood began to develop in Wallachia and the forest was razed for the land to be used in agriculture. Of the old forests only a few small areas remain, mostly north of Bucharest, in localities such as Snagov , Pustnicu , Cernica , Romanești and Comana . The surface of forests
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