Misplaced Pages

#75924

113-474: The monastery was built by the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I , enclosing what is claimed to be the burning bush seen by Moses . Centuries later, the purported body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria , said to have been found in the area, was taken to the monastery; Saint Catherine's relics turned it into an important pilgrimage site , and the monastery was eventually renamed after

226-558: A kaymakam -led internal administration. The emerging movement for a union of the Danubian Principalities (a demand first voiced in 1848, and a cause cemented by the return of revolutionary exiles) was advocated by the French and their Sardinian allies, supported by Russia and Prussia, but was rejected or suspicioned by all other overseers. After an intense campaign, a formal union was ultimately granted: nevertheless, elections for

339-606: A tax reform (which nonetheless confirmed tax exemptions for the privileged ), as well as major urban works in Bucharest and other cities. In 1834, Wallachia's throne was occupied by Alexandru II Ghica —a move in contradiction with the Adrianople treaty, as he had not been elected by the new Legislative Assembly ; he was removed by the suzerains in 1842 and replaced with an elected prince, Gheorghe Bibescu . Opposition to Ghica's arbitrary and highly conservative rule, together with

452-469: A Provisional Government, which made Dreptate, Frăție ("Justice, Brotherhood") the national motto . Although sympathetic to the anti-Russian goals of the revolution, the Ottomans were pressured by Russia into repressing it: Ottoman troops entered Bucharest on 13 September. Russian and Turkish troops, present until 1851, brought Barbu Dimitrie Știrbei to the throne, during which interval most participants in

565-636: A change of 'ownership'. Historian Nicolae Iorga associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241 Mongol invasion of Europe and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era, the Romanians taking the Roma from the Mongols as slaves and preserving their status. Other historians consider that they were enslaved while captured during the battles with the Tatars. The practice of enslaving prisoners may also have been taken from

678-465: A collection of early Christian icons , including the earliest known depiction of Jesus as Christ Pantocrator . Saint Catherine's has as its backdrop the three mountains it lies near: Ras Sufsafeh (possibly the Biblical Mount Horeb , peak c.1 km (0.62 mi) west); Jebel Arrenziyeb, peak c.   1km south; and Mount Sinai (locally, Jabal Musa , by tradition identified with

791-597: A collection of supplementary books of the Kartlis Cxovreba , dating from the 9th century. The most important manuscripts have since been filmed or digitized, and so are accessible to scholars. With planning assistance from Ligatus, a research center of the University of the Arts London , the library was extensively renovated, reopening at the end of 2017. Since 2011, a team of imaging scientists and experienced scholars in

904-470: A defeat on Murad II with the help of Pippo Spano . The peace signed in 1428 inaugurated a period of internal crisis, as Dan had to defend himself against Radu II , who led the first in a series of boyar coalitions against established princes. Victorious in 1431 (the year when the boyar-backed Alexander I Aldea took the throne), boyars were dealt successive blows by Vlad II Dracul (1436–1442; 1443–1447), who nevertheless attempted to compromise between

1017-838: A gift from Tsar Alexander II of Russia . The Codex was sold by Stalin in 1933 to the British Museum and is now in the British Library , London, where it is on public display. Prior to September 1, 2009, a previously unseen fragment of Codex Sinaiticus was discovered in the monastery's library, as well as among the New Finds of 1975. On other visits (1855, 1857) Constantin von Tischendorf also amassed their more valuable manuscripts ( Greek , Christian Palestinian Aramaic , Georgian , Syriac ) and took them with him to St. Petersburg and Leipzig, where they are stored today. In February 1892, Agnes S. Lewis discovered an early palimpsest manuscript of

1130-567: A prince without any claim to noble heritage, was imposed on the throne and consequently agreed to a decrease in autonomy (increasing taxes and carrying out an armed intervention in Transylvania – supporting the pro-Turkish John Zápolya ). Conflicts between boyar families became stringent after the rule of Pătrașcu the Good , and boyar ascendancy over rulers was obvious under Petru the Younger (1559–1568;

1243-426: A reign dominated by Doamna Chiajna and marked by huge increases in taxes), Mihnea Turcitul , and Petru Cercel . The Ottoman Empire increasingly relied on Wallachia and Moldavia for the supply and maintenance of its military forces ; the local army , however, soon disappeared due to the increased costs and the much more obvious efficiency of mercenary troops. Initially profiting from Ottoman support, Michael

SECTION 10

#1732855517076

1356-551: A request of several European powers), and sanction the end of Phanariote rules: in Wallachia, the first prince to be considered a local one after 1715 was Grigore IV Ghica . Although the new system was confirmed for the rest of Wallachia's existence as a state, Ghica's rule was abruptly ended by the devastating Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 . The 1829 Treaty of Adrianople placed Wallachia and Moldavia under Russian military rule, without overturning Ottoman suzerainty , awarding them

1469-621: A secluded storage area of the St George Tower in 1975. Highlights include "108 pages of previously unknown Greek poems and the oldest-known recipe attributed to the Greek physician Hippocrates ;" additional folios for the transmission of the Old Syriac Gospels; two unattested witnesses of an early Christian apocryphal text the Dormition of Mary ( Transitus Mariae ) of which most of the Greek text

1582-496: A store of almonds and other fruits." The olives were used to produce oil for lighting lamps and as a relish in the kitchen. For most of the time of the Mamluk Sultanate the monastery was able to prosper, but as the sultanate started to decline, it went through a crisis. While there had been several hundred monks in the mid-14th century, a hundred years later there were only several dozens. Local Bedouin tribes started harassing

1695-482: A turn of linguistic luck utterly in favor of the Wallachians' eastward posterity, this toponym, at least according to the phonotactics of modern Turkish, is homophonous with another word, افلاك , meaning "heavens" or "skies".). In old Albanian, the name was " Gogënia ", which was used to denote non-Albanian speakers. Arabic chronicles from the 13th century had used the name of Wallachia instead of Bulgaria . They gave

1808-621: Is Havasalföld , literally "Snowy lowlands", the older form of which is Havaselve , meaning "Land beyond the snowy mountains" ("snowy mountains" refers to the Southern Carpathians (the Transylvanian Alps) ); its translation into Latin, Transalpina was used in the official royal documents of the Kingdom of Hungary. In Ottoman Turkish , the term Eflâk Prensliği , or simply Eflâk افلاق , appears. (Note that in

1921-515: Is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania . It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians . Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Muntenia (Greater Wallachia) and Oltenia (Lesser Wallachia). Dobruja could sometimes be considered a third section due to its proximity and brief rule over it. Wallachia as a whole is sometimes referred to as Muntenia through identification with

2034-637: Is ambiguous: by some, including the church itself, it is considered autocephalous , by others an autonomous church under the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem . The archbishop is traditionally consecrated by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem ; in recent centuries he has usually resided in Cairo . During the period of the Crusades which was marked by bitterness between

2147-516: Is considered sacred by the three major Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Centuries after its foundation, the body of Saint Catherine of Alexandria was said to be found in a cave in the area. Catherine was a popular saint in Europe during the Middle Ages; her story says that, for defending Christianity, she was sentenced to death on a spiked breaking wheel , but, at her touch,

2260-474: Is lost; a previously unknown martyrdom of Patriklos of Caesarea Maritima ( Israel ), one of the eleven followers of Pamphilus of Caesarea ; some of the earliest known Georgian manuscripts; as well as insight into dead languages such as the previously hardly attested Caucasian Albanian and Christian Palestinian Aramaic , the local dialect of the early Byzantine period, with many unparalleled text witnesses. The complex houses irreplaceable works of art: mosaics,

2373-476: Is surrounded by the massive fortifications that have preserved it. Until the twentieth century, access was through a door high in the outer walls. The monastery, along with several dependencies in the area, constitute the entire Church of Sinai , which is headed by an archbishop , who is also the abbot of the monastery. The exact administrative status of the church within the Eastern Orthodox Church

SECTION 20

#1732855517076

2486-552: Is the oldest known surviving roof truss in the world. From the time of the First Crusade , the presence of Crusaders in the Sinai until 1270 spurred the interest of European Christians and increased the number of intrepid pilgrims who visited the monastery. The monastery was supported by its dependencies in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Crete, Cyprus and Constantinople. Throughout the Middle Ages,

2599-508: The Ad hoc Divans of 1859 profited from a legal ambiguity (the text of the final agreement specified two thrones, but did not prevent any single person from simultaneously taking part in and winning elections in both Bucharest and Iași ). Alexander John Cuza , who ran for the unionist Partida Națională , won the elections in Moldavia on 5 January; Wallachia, which was expected by the unionists to carry

2712-406: The seimeni rebellion of 1655). Furthermore, the growing importance of appointment to high office in front of land ownership brought about an influx of Greek and Levantine families, a process already resented by locals during the rules of Radu Mihnea in the early 17th century. Matei Basarab , a boyar appointee, brought a long period of relative peace (1632–1654), with the noted exception of

2825-573: The Battle of Nicopolis ), and accepted a peace treaty with the Ottomans in 1417, after Mehmed I took control of Turnu Măgurele and Giurgiu . The two ports remained part of the Ottoman state, with brief interruptions, until 1829. In 1418–1420, Michael I defeated the Ottomans in Severin, only to be killed in battle by the counter-offensive; in 1422, the danger was averted for a short while when Dan II inflicted

2938-514: The Danube , conceded to recognize him as overlord in 1368, but rebelled again in the same year; his rule also witnessed the first confrontation between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire (a battle in which Vladislav was allied with Ivan Shishman ). As the entire Balkans became an integral part of the growing Ottoman Empire (a process that concluded with the fall of Constantinople to Sultan Mehmed

3051-639: The Dâmboviţa River bridge to collect tax following the law. The presence of Bulgarian customs officers at the Carpathians indicates a Bulgarian suzerainty over those lands, though Radu's imperative tone hints at a strong and increasing Wallachian autonomy. Under Radu I and his successor Dan I , the realms in Transylvania and Severin continued to be disputed with Hungary. Basarab was succeeded by Nicholas Alexander , followed by Vladislav I . Vladislav attacked Transylvania after Louis I occupied lands south of

3164-508: The European rebellions of the same year ). Their pan-Wallachian coup d'état was initially successful only near Turnu Măgurele , where crowds cheered the Islaz Proclamation (9 June); among others, the document called for political freedoms , independence, land reform , and the creation of a national guard. On 11–12 June the movement was successful in deposing Bibescu and establishing

3277-486: The Fatimid Caliphate (909–1171), which was in regular use until the era of the Mamluk Sultanate in the 13th century and is still in use today on special occasions. During the Ottoman Empire , the mosque was in desolate condition; it was restored in the early 20th century. During the seventh century, the isolated Christian anchorites of the Sinai were eliminated: only the fortified monastery remained. The monastery

3390-751: The Ghicas , backed their own choice of princes ( Antonie Vodă din Popești and George Ducas ) before promoting themselves—with the ascension of Șerban Cantacuzino (1678–1688). Wallachia became a target for Habsburg incursions during the last stages of the Great Turkish War around 1690, when the ruler Constantin Brâncoveanu secretly and unsuccessfully negotiated an anti-Ottoman coalition. Brâncoveanu's reign (1688–1714), noted for its late Renaissance cultural achievements (see Brâncovenesc style ), also coincided with

3503-628: The Gospel in St Catherine Monastery's library that became known as the Syriac Sinaiticus and it remains in the monastery's possession. Agnes and her sister Margaret D. Gibson returned in 1893 with the Cambridge team of the two scholars that included their wives, and also J. Rendel Harris to photograph and transcribe the manuscript in its entirety, as well as to prepare the first catalogues of

Saint Catherine's Monastery - Misplaced Pages Continue

3616-687: The Growth of the Ottoman Empire brought increased pressures on Wallachia: political control was accompanied by Ottoman economical hegemony, the discarding of the capital in Târgoviște in favour of Bucharest (closer to the Ottoman border, and a rapidly growing trade center), the establishment of serfdom under Michael the Brave as a measure to increase manorial revenues, and the decrease in importance of low-ranking boyars (threatened with extinction, they took part in

3729-863: The Islamic State group at a checkpoint near the Monastery killed one policeman and injured three police officers. The monastery's library, founded sometime between 527 and 565, is recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest continuously operating library. It preserves the world's second-largest collection of early codices and manuscripts , outnumbered only by the Vatican Library . It contains Greek , Christian Palestinian Aramaic , Syriac , Georgian , Arabic , Ethiopic/Ge‘ez , Latin , Armenian , and Church Slavonic manuscripts and books, along with very rare Hebrew and Coptic books. In May 1844 and February 1859, Constantin von Tischendorf visited

3842-765: The Moesia Inferior province. The Roman limes was initially built along the Olt River in 119 before being moved slightly to the east in the second century, during which time it stretched from the Danube up to Rucăr in the Carpathians. The Roman line fell back to the Olt in 245 and, in 271, the Romans pulled out of the region. The area was subject to Romanization also during the Migration Period , when most of present-day Romania

3955-561: The Mongol invasion of Europe , Cuman domination was ended—a direct Mongol rule over Wallachia was not attested. Part of Wallachia was probably briefly disputed by the Kingdom of Hungary and Bulgarians in the following period, but it appears that the severe weakening of Hungarian authority during the Mongol attacks contributed to the establishment of the new and stronger polities attested in Wallachia for

4068-569: The Oltenian banat , who sought Ottoman support in their rivalry with Mihnea cel Rău (1508–1510) and replaced him with Vlăduț . After the latter proved to be hostile to the bans, the House of Basarab formally ended with the rise of Neagoe Basarab , a Craioveşti. Neagoe's peaceful rule (1512–1521) was noted for its cultural aspects (the building of the Curtea de Argeş Cathedral and Renaissance influences). It

4181-599: The Ottoman Empire ; this lasted until the 19th century. In 1859, Wallachia united with Moldavia to form the United Principalities , which adopted the name Romania in 1866 and officially became the Kingdom of Romania in 1881. Later, following the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the resolution of the elected representatives of Romanians in 1918, Bukovina , Transylvania and parts of Banat , Crișana , and Maramureș were allocated to

4294-451: The Peace of Bucharest , the rule of Jean Georges Caradja , although remembered for a major plague epidemic , was notable for its cultural and industrial ventures. During the period, Wallachia increased its strategic importance for most European states interested in supervising Russian expansion; consulates were opened in Bucharest, having an indirect but major impact on Wallachian economy through

4407-548: The Pechenegs , Turkic peoples who extended their rule west through the tenth and 11th century, until they were defeated around 1091, when the Cumans of southern Ruthenia took control of the lands of Wallachia. Beginning with the tenth century, Byzantine, Bulgarian, Hungarian, and later Western sources mention the existence of small polities, possibly peopled by, among others, Vlachs led by knyazes and voivodes . In 1241, during

4520-459: The Romanian-language name of țigani domnești ("Gypsies belonging to the lord"). The two other categories comprised țigani mănăstirești ("Gypsies belonging to the monasteries"), who were the property of Romanian Orthodox and Greek Orthodox monasteries, and țigani boierești ("Gypsies belonging to the boyars"), who were enslaved by the category of landowners. The abolition of slavery

4633-760: The Russo-Turkish War of 1806–12 was partly instigated by the Porte 's deposition of Constantine Ypsilantis in Bucharest—in tune with the Napoleonic Wars , it was instigated by the French Empire , and also showed the impact of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (with its permissive attitude towards Russian political influence in the Danubian Principalities ); the war brought the invasion of Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich . After

Saint Catherine's Monastery - Misplaced Pages Continue

4746-458: The Southern Carpathians , and is traditionally divided between Muntenia in the east (as the political center, Muntenia is often understood as being synonymous with Wallachia), and Oltenia (a former banat ) in the west. The division line between the two is the Olt River . Wallachia's traditional border with Moldavia coincided with the Milcov River for most of its length. To the east, over

4859-560: The Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. Only among the New Finds two additional palimpsest manuscripts came to light containing additional passages of the Old Syriac Gospels. The Monastery also has a copy of the Ashtiname of Muhammad , in which the Islamic prophet Muhammad is claimed to have bestowed his protection upon the monastery. Additionally, the monastery houses a copy of Mok'c'evay K'art'lisay,

4972-487: The biblical Mount Sinai ; peak c.  2 km (1.2 mi) south). The monastery was built around the location of what is traditionally considered to be the place of the burning bush seen by the Hebrew prophet Moses . Saint Catherine's monastery also encloses the "Well of Moses", where Moses is said to have met his future wife, Zipporah . The well is still today one of the monastery's main sources of water. The site

5085-482: The 1653 Battle of Finta , fought between Wallachians and the troops of Moldavian prince Vasile Lupu —ending in disaster for the latter, who was replaced with Prince Matei's favourite, Gheorghe Ștefan , on the throne in Iași . A close alliance between Gheorghe Ștefan and Matei's successor Constantin Șerban was maintained by Transylvania's George II Rákóczi , but their designs for independence from Ottoman rule were crushed by

5198-559: The 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma (Gypsy) ethnicity. The very first document attesting the presence of Roma people in Wallachia dates back to 1385, and refers to the group as ațigani (from the Greek athinganoi , the origin of the Romanian term țigani , which is synonymous with "Gypsy"). Although the Romanian terms robie and sclavie appear to be synonyms, in terms of legal status, there are significant differences: sclavie

5311-460: The 19th century. The use of the title "Roman Emperor" by those ruling from Constantinople was not contested until after the papal coronation of the Frankish Charlemagne as Holy Roman emperor (25 December 800). The title of all Emperors preceding Heraclius was officially " Augustus ", although other titles such as Dominus were also used. Their names were preceded by Imperator Caesar and followed by Augustus . Following Heraclius,

5424-413: The Brave ascended to the throne in 1593, and attacked the troops of Murad III north and south of the Danube in an alliance with Transylvania's Sigismund Báthory and Moldavia's Aron Vodă (see Battle of Călugăreni ). He soon placed himself under the suzerainty of Rudolf II , the Holy Roman Emperor , and, in 1599–1600, intervened in Transylvania against Poland 's king Sigismund III Vasa , placing

5537-470: The Conqueror in 1453), Wallachia became engaged in frequent confrontations in the final years of the reign of Mircea I (r. 1386–1418). Mircea initially defeated the Ottomans in several battles, including the Battle of Rovine in 1394, driving them away from Dobruja and briefly extending his rule to the Danube Delta , Dobruja and Silistra (c. 1400–1404). He swung between alliances with Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor , and Jagiellon Poland (taking part in

5650-442: The Danube north-south bend, Wallachia neighbours Dobruja ( Northern Dobruja ). Over the Carpathians, Wallachia shared a border with Transylvania ; Wallachian princes have for long held possession of areas north of the line ( Amlaș , Ciceu , Făgăraș , and Hațeg ), which are generally not considered part of Wallachia proper. The capital city changed over time, from Câmpulung to Curtea de Argeș , then to Târgoviște and, after

5763-407: The Danube, encountered his troops' strong opposition. From its establishment in 681 to approximately the Hungarians ' conquest of Transylvania at the end of the tenth century, the First Bulgarian Empire controlled the territory of Wallachia. With the decline and subsequent Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria (from the second half of the tenth century up to 1018), Wallachia came under the control of

SECTION 50

#1732855517076

5876-400: The Goths (who had settled north of the Danube) in 332. The period of Goth rule ended when the Huns arrived in the Pannonian Basin and, under Attila , attacked and destroyed some 170 settlements on both sides of the Danube. Byzantine influence is evident during the fifth to sixth century, such as the site at Ipotești–Cândești culture , but from the second half of the sixth century and in

5989-430: The Great , the first Christian emperor, who rebuilt the city of Byzantium as an imperial capital, Constantinople, and who was regarded by the later emperors as the model ruler. Modern historians distinguish this later phase of the Roman Empire as Byzantine due to the imperial seat moving from Rome to Byzantium, the Empire's integration of Christianity, and the predominance of Greek instead of Latin. The Byzantine Empire

6102-434: The Greeks". Towards the end of the Empire, the standard imperial formula of the Byzantine ruler was "[Emperor's name] in Christ, Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans" (cf. Ῥωμαῖοι and Rûm ). Dynasties were a common tradition and structure for rulers and government systems in the Medieval period. The principle or formal requirement for hereditary succession was not a part of the Empire's governance; hereditary succession

6215-400: The Habsburg monarchy on the other. Mavrocordatos himself was deposed by a boyar rebellion, and arrested by Habsburg troops during the Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18 , as the Ottomans had to concede Oltenia to Charles VI of Austria (the Treaty of Passarowitz ). The region, organized as the Banat of Craiova and subject to an enlightened absolutist rule that soon disenchanted local boyars,

6328-570: The Kingdom of Romania, thereby forming the modern Romanian state. The name Wallachia is an exonym , generally not used by Romanians themselves, who used the denomination "Țara Românească" – Romanian Country or Romanian Land, although it does appear in some Romanian texts as Valahia or Vlahia . It derives from the term walhaz used by Germanic peoples and Early Slavs to refer to Romans and other speakers of foreign languages. In Northwestern Europe , this gave rise to Wales , Cornwall , and Wallonia , among others, while in Southeast Europe it

6441-425: The Mongols. While it is possible that some Romani people were slaves or auxiliary troops of the Mongols or Tatars, the bulk of them came from south of the Danube at the end of the 14th century, some time after the foundation of Wallachia . The arrival of the Roma made slavery a widespread practice. Traditionally, Roma slaves were divided into three categories. The smallest was owned by the hospodars , and went by

6554-498: The Orthodox and Catholic churches, the monastery was patronized by both the Byzantine emperors and the rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , and their respective courts. Dominican theologian Felix Fabri visited the monastery in the 15th century and provided a detailed account of it. He also described the monastery's gardens, noting the presence of "tall fruit trees, salad herbs, grass, and grain," and mentioning "more than three thousand olive trees, many fig-trees and pomegranates, and

6667-416: The Ottoman Sultan and the Holy Roman Empire . The following decade was marked by the conflict between the rival houses of Dănești and Drăculești . Faced with both internal and external conflict, Vlad II Dracul reluctantly agreed to pay the tribute demanded of him by the Ottoman Empire, despite his affiliation with the Order of the Dragon , a group of independent noblemen whose creed had been to repel

6780-446: The Ottoman invasion. As part of the tribute, the sons of Vlad II Dracul ( Radu cel Frumos and Vlad III Dracula ) were taken into Ottoman custody. Recognizing the Christian resistance to their invasion, leaders of the Ottoman Empire released Vlad III to rule in 1448 after his father's assassination in 1447. Known as Vlad III the Impaler or Vlad III Dracula, he immediately put to death the boyars who had conspired against his father, and

6893-473: The Provisional Government included the emancipation ( dezrobire ) of the Roma as one of the main social demands. By the 1850s the movement gained support from almost the whole of Romanian society, and the law from February 1856 emancipated all slaves to the status of taxpayers (citizens). With an area of approximately 77,000 km (30,000 sq mi), Wallachia is situated north of the Danube (and of present-day Bulgaria ), east of Serbia and south of

SECTION 60

#1732855517076

7006-410: The alliance as broken—he had Vladimirescu executed, and faced the Ottoman intervention without Pandur or Russian backing, suffering major defeats in Bucharest and Drăgășani (before retreating to Austrian custody in Transylvania ). These violent events, which had seen the majority of Phanariotes siding with Ypsilantis, made Sultan Mahmud II place the Principalities under its occupation (evicted by

7119-531: The ascendancy of Greeks , compromised with the Greek revolutionaries in the Filiki Eteria and allied itself with the regents, while seeking Russian support (see also: Rise of nationalism under the Ottoman Empire ). On 21 March 1821 Vladimirescu entered Bucharest. For the following weeks, relations between him and his allies worsened, especially after he sought an agreement with the Ottomans; Eteria's leader Alexander Ypsilantis , who had established himself in Moldavia and, after May, in northern Wallachia, viewed

7232-466: The battle after an agreement between the Craiovești and Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent ; Prince Radu eventually confirmed Süleyman's position as suzerain and agreed to pay an even higher tribute. Ottoman suzerainty remained virtually unchallenged throughout the following 90 years. Radu Paisie , who was deposed by Süleyman in 1545, ceded the port of Brăila to Ottoman administration in the same year. His successor Mircea Ciobanul (1545–1554; 1558–1559),

7345-443: The best collection of early icons in the world, many in encaustic , as well as liturgical objects, chalices and reliquaries, and church buildings. The large icon collection begins with a few dating to the 5th (possibly) and 6th centuries, which are unique survivals; the monastery having been untouched by Byzantine iconoclasm , and never sacked. The oldest icon on an Old Testament theme is also preserved there. A project to catalogue

7458-446: The borders of Wallachia, which interfered with their control of trade routes. In retaliation, the Saxons distributed grotesque poems of cruelty and other propaganda, demonizing Vlad III Dracula as a drinker of blood. These tales strongly influenced an eruption of vampiric fiction throughout the West and, in particular, Germany. They also inspired the main character in the 1897 Gothic novel Dracula by Bram Stoker . In 1462, Vlad III

7571-438: The collections has been ongoing since the 1960s. The monastery was an important centre for the development of the hybrid style of Crusader art , and retains over 120 icons created in the style, by far the largest collection in existence. Many were evidently created by Latins, probably monks, based in or around the monastery in the 13th century. Byzantine Emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks

7684-416: The community, robbing their property of the Christian coastal village of Al-Tur and in 1505, the monastery was captured and sacked. Though the sultan demanded that the property be returned to the monks, the Mamluk government was unable to subdue the Bedouin nomads and preserve order. The German explorer Martin Baumgarten visited the monastery in 1507 and noticed its decline. On April 18, 2017, an attack by

7797-444: The conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire , which fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised sovereign authority are included, to the exclusion of junior co-emperors ( symbasileis ) who never attained the status of sole or senior ruler, as well as of the various usurpers or rebels who claimed the imperial title. The following list starts with Constantine

7910-468: The coordinates of Wallachia and specified that Wallachia was named al-Awalak and the dwellers ulaqut or ulagh . The area of Oltenia in Wallachia was also known in Turkish as Kara-Eflak ("Black Wallachia") and Kuçuk-Eflak ("Little Wallachia"), while the former has also been used for Moldavia. In the Second Dacian War (AD 105) western Oltenia became part of the Roman province of Dacia , with parts of later Wallachia included in

8023-409: The country during the Russo-Turkish-Austrian War , deposing Nicholas Mavrogenes in 1789. A period of crisis followed the Ottoman recovery: Oltenia was devastated by the expeditions of Osman Pazvantoğlu , a powerful rebellious pasha whose raids even caused prince Constantine Hangerli to lose his life on suspicion of treason (1799), and Alexander Mourousis to renounce his throne (1801). In 1806,

8136-641: The country, a move towards centralism . In 1768, during the Fifth Russo-Turkish War , Wallachia was placed under its first Russian occupation (helped along by the rebellion of Pârvu Cantacuzino ). The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca (1774) allowed Russia to intervene in favour of Eastern Orthodox Ottoman subjects, curtailing Ottoman pressures—including the decrease in sums owed as tribute —and, in time, relatively increasing internal stability while opening Wallachia to more Russian interventions. Habsburg troops, under Prince Josias of Coburg , again entered

8249-448: The decipherment of palimpsest manuscripts from the U.S. and Europe have photographed, digitized, and studied the library's collection of palimpsests during the international Sinai palimpsests project. Palimpsests are notable for having been reused one or more times over the centuries. Since parchment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, monks would erase certain texts with orange juice or scrape them off and write over them. Though

8362-526: The duration of his reign, the union was irreversible after the ascension of Carol I in 1866 (coinciding with the Austro-Prussian War , it came at a time when Austria, the main opponent of the decision, was not in a position to intervene). Slavery ( Romanian : robie ) was part of the social order from before the founding of the Principality of Wallachia, until it was abolished in stages during

8475-491: The fall of the Árpád dynasty opened the way for the unification of Wallachian polities, and to independence from Hungarian rule. Wallachia's creation, held by local traditions to have been the work of one Radu Negru (Black Radu), is historically connected with Basarab I of Wallachia (1310–1352), who rebelled against Charles I of Hungary and took up rule on either side of the Olt, establishing his residence in Câmpulung as

8588-431: The first common institutions and semblance of a constitution (see Regulamentul Organic ). Wallachia was returned ownership of Brăila , Giurgiu (both of which soon developed into major trading cities on the Danube ), and Turnu Măgurele . The treaty also allowed Moldavia and Wallachia to freely trade with countries other than the Ottoman Empire, which signalled substantial economic and urban growth, as well as improving

8701-550: The first ruler of the House of Basarab . Basarab refused to grant Hungary the lands of Făgăraș , Almaș and the Banate of Severin , defeated Charles in the Battle of Posada (1330), and, according to Romanian historian Ștefan Ștefănescu , extended his lands to the east, to comprise lands as far as Kiliya in the Budjak (reportedly providing the origin of Bessarabia ); the supposed rule over

8814-531: The following decades. One of the first written pieces of evidence of local voivodes is in connection with Litovoi (1272), who ruled over land each side of the Carpathians (including Hațeg Country in Transylvania), and refused to pay tribute to Ladislaus IV of Hungary . His successor was his brother Bărbat (1285–1288). The continuing weakening of the Hungarian state by further Mongol invasions (1285–1319) and

8927-405: The larger of the two traditional sections. Wallachia was founded as a principality in the early 14th century by Basarab I after a rebellion against Charles I of Hungary , although the first mention of the territory of Wallachia west of the river Olt dates to a charter given to the voivode Seneslau in 1246 by Béla IV of Hungary . In 1417, Wallachia was forced to accept the suzerainty of

9040-598: The late 17th century, to Bucharest . Contemporary historians estimate the population of Wallachia in the 15th century at 500,000 people. In 1859, the population of Wallachia was 2,400,921 (1,586,596 in Muntenia and 814,325 in Oltenia ). According to the latest 2011 census data, the region has a total population of 8,256,532 inhabitants, distributed among the ethnic groups as follows (as per 2001 census): Romanians (97%), Roma (2.5%), others (0.5%). The largest cities (as per

9153-640: The latter was not preserved by the princes that followed, as Kilia was under the rule of the Nogais c. 1334. There is evidence that the Second Bulgarian Empire ruled at least nominally the Wallachian lands up to the Rucăr– Bran corridor as late as the late 14th century. In a charter by Radu I , the Wallachian voivode requests that tsar Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria order his customs officers at Rucăr and

9266-474: The leadership of the three states, was considered in later periods as the precursor of a modern Romania, a thesis which was argued with noted intensity by Nicolae Bălcescu . Following Michael's downfall, Wallachia was occupied by the Polish–Moldavian army of Simion Movilă (see Moldavian Magnate Wars ), who held the region until 1602, and was subject to Nogai attacks in the same year. The last stage in

9379-631: The monastery for research and discovered the Codex Sinaiticus , dating from the 4th century, at the time the oldest almost completely preserved manuscript of the Bible. The finding from 1859 left the monastery for Russia , in circumstances that had been long disputed. But in 2003 Russian scholars discovered the donation act for the manuscript signed by the Council of Cairo Metochion and Archbishop Callistratus on 13 November 1869. The monastery received 9000 rubles as

9492-481: The monastery had a multiethnic profile, with monks of Arab, Greek, Syrian, Slavonic and Georgian origin. However, in the Ottoman period the monastic community became almost exclusively Greek, possibly due to the decline and depopulation of Transjordanian Christian towns. From the 1480s onwards, the Wallachian princes started sending out alms to the monastery. A mosque was created by converting an existing chapel during

9605-591: The original texts were once assumed to be lost, imaging scientists used narrowband multispectral imaging techniques and technologies to reveal features that were difficult to see with the human eye, including ink residues and small grooves in the parchment. These images have subsequently been digitized and are now freely available for research at the UCLA Library for scholarly use. As of June 2018, at least more than 160 palimpsests were identified, with over 6,800 pages of texts recovered. The newer finds were discovered in

9718-463: The peasant situation. Many of the provisions had been specified by the 1826 Akkerman Convention between Russia and the Ottomans, but it had never been fully implemented in the three-year interval. The duty of overseeing of the Principalities was left to Russian general Pavel Kiselyov ; this period was marked by a series of major changes, including the reestablishment of a Wallachian Army (1831),

9831-614: The protection they extended to Sudiți traders (who soon competed successfully against local guilds). The death of prince Alexander Soutzos in 1821, coinciding with the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence , established a boyar regency which attempted to block the arrival of Scarlat Callimachi to his throne in Bucharest. The parallel uprising in Oltenia , carried out by the Pandur leader Tudor Vladimirescu , although aimed at overthrowing

9944-403: The region under his authority; his brief rule also extended to Moldavia later in the following year. For a brief period, Michael the Brave ruled (in a personal, but not formal, union) most of the territories where Romanians lived, rebuilding the base of the ancient Kingdom of Dacia . The rule of Michael the Brave, with its break with Ottoman rule, tense relations with other European powers and

10057-516: The resurgent Vlad III and Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân during his 11-year reign. Subsequently, Radu IV the Great (Radu cel Mare, who ruled 1495–1508) reached several compromises with the boyars, ensuring a period of internal stability that contrasted his clash with Bogdan III the One-Eyed of Moldavia. The late 15th century saw the ascension of the powerful Craiovești family, virtually independent rulers of

10170-581: The revolution were sent into exile. Briefly under renewed Russian occupation during the Crimean War , Wallachia and Moldavia were given a new status with a neutral Austrian administration (1854–1856) and the Treaty of Paris : a tutelage shared by Ottomans and a Congress of Great Powers (Britain, France, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia , the Austrian Empire, Prussia, and, albeit never again fully, Russia), with

10283-410: The rise of Imperial Russia under Tsar Peter the Great —he was approached by the latter during the Russo-Turkish War of 1710–11 , and lost his throne and life sometime after sultan Ahmed III caught news of the negotiations. Despite his denunciation of Brâncoveanu's policies, Ștefan Cantacuzino attached himself to Habsburg projects and opened the country to the armies of Prince Eugene of Savoy ; he

10396-453: The rise of liberal and radical currents, was first felt with the protests voiced by Ion Câmpineanu (quickly repressed); subsequently, it became increasingly conspiratorial , and centered on those secret societies created by young officers such as Nicolae Bălcescu and Mitică Filipescu . Frăția , a clandestine movement created in 1843, began planning a revolution to overthrow Bibescu and repeal Regulamentul Organic in 1848 (inspired by

10509-407: The saint. Controlled by the autonomous Church of Sinai , which is part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church , the monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2002 for its unique importance to the three major Abrahamic religions : Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . The monastery library holds unique and rare works, such as the Codex Sinaiticus and the Syriac Sinaiticus , as well as

10622-436: The same vote, returned a majority of anti-unionists to its divan . Those elected changed their allegiance after a mass protest of Bucharest crowds, and Cuza was voted prince of Wallachia on 5 February (24 January Old Style ), consequently confirmed as Domnitor of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia ( of Romania from 1862) and effectively uniting both principalities . Internationally recognized only for

10735-507: The seventh century, Slavs crossed the territory of Wallachia and settled in it, on their way to Byzantium, occupying the southern bank of the Danube. In 593, the Byzantine commander-in-chief Priscus defeated Slavs, Avars and Gepids on future Wallachian territory, and, in 602, Slavs suffered a crucial defeat in the area; Flavius Mauricius Tiberius , who ordered his army to be deployed north of

10848-770: The state were Muntenia (The Land of Mountains), Țara Rumânească (the Romanian Land), Valahia, and, rarely, România. The spelling variant Țara Românească was adopted in official documents by the mid-19th century; however, the version with u remained common in local dialects until much later. For long periods after the 14th century, Wallachia was referred to as Vlashko ( Bulgarian : Влашко ) by Bulgarian sources, Vlaška ( Serbian : Влашка ) by Serbian sources, Voloschyna ( Ukrainian : Волощина ) by Ukrainian sources, and Walachei or Walachey by German -speaking (most notably Transylvanian Saxon ) sources. The traditional Hungarian name for Wallachia

10961-569: The title commonly became the Greek Basileus (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant sovereign , though Augustus continued to be used in a reduced capacity. Following the establishment of the rival Holy Roman Empire in Western Europe, the title " Autokrator " (Gr. Αὐτοκράτωρ) was increasingly used. In later centuries, the Emperor could be referred to by Western Christians as the "Emperor of

11074-500: The troops of Mehmed IV in 1658–1659. The reigns of Gheorghe Ghica and Grigore I Ghica , the sultan's favourites, signified attempts to prevent such incidents; however, they were also the onset of a violent clash between the Băleanu and Cantacuzino boyar families, which was to mark Wallachia's history until the 1680s. The Cantacuzinos, threatened by the alliance between the Băleanus and

11187-616: The wheel shattered. It was then ordered that she be beheaded . The relics of Saint Catherine, kept to this day inside the monastery, have made it a favourite site of pilgrimage . The patronal feast of the monastery is the Feast of the Transfiguration . The oldest record of monastic life at Mount Sinai comes from the travel journal written in Latin by a pilgrim woman named Egeria (Etheria; Saint Sylvia of Aquitaine ) about 381/2–386. The monastery

11300-671: Was a common practice in Eastern Europe at the time, and there is some debate over whether the Romani people came to Wallachia as free people or as slaves. In the Byzantine Empire , they were slaves of the state and it seems the situation was the same in Bulgaria and Serbia until their social organization was destroyed by the Ottoman conquest, which would suggest that they came as slaves who had

11413-1934: Was a custom and tradition, carried on as habit and benefited from some sense of legitimacy, but not as a "rule" or inviolable requirement for office at the time. (30 years, 9 months and 27 days) (24 years, 1 month and 25 days) (1 year, 7 months and 23 days) (7 months and 21 days) (1 month and 2 days) (14 years, 4 months and 12 days) (5 months and 10 days) (15 years, 11 months and 29 days) (13 years, 3 months and 14 days) (42 years, 2 months and 27 days) (6 years, 5 months and 2 days) (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) (10 months) (11 months and 11 days) August 476 – 9 April 491 (14 years and 8 months) (1 year and 7 months) (27 years, 2 months and 28 days) (9 years and 23 days) (38 years, 7 months and 13 days) (12 years, 10 months and 21 days) (3 years, 10 months and 19 days) (20 years, 3 months and 14 days) (7 years, 10 months and 12 days) (30 years, 4 months and 6 days) (3 months and 14 days) (8 months and 25 days) (26 years and 10 months) (16 years and 10 months) (10 years) (3 years) (7 years) (6 years, 2 months and 14 days) (1 year, 6 months and 30 days) (less than 2 years) (less than 2 years) (24 years, 2 months and 24 days) (34 years, 2 months and 27 days) (2 years and 5 months) (4 years, 11 months and 25 days) (16 years, 11 months and 11 days) (5 years, 2 months and 12 days) (8 years, 8 months and 26 days) (2 months and 4 days) (1 year, 9 months and 9 days) Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia ( / w ɒ ˈ l eɪ k i ə / ; Romanian : Țara Românească , lit.   'The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country'; Old Romanian : Țeara Rumânească , Romanian Cyrillic alphabet : Цѣра Рꙋмѫнѣскъ )

11526-531: Was also a period of increased influence for the Saxon merchants in Brașov and Sibiu , and of Wallachia's alliance with Louis II of Hungary . Under Teodosie , the country was again under a four-month-long Ottoman occupation, a military administration that seemed to be an attempt to create a Wallachian Pashaluk . This danger rallied all boyars in support of Radu de la Afumaţi (four rules between 1522 and 1529), who lost

11639-453: Was also invaded by Goths and Sarmatians known as the Chernyakhov culture , followed by waves of other nomads . In 328, the Romans built a bridge between Sucidava and Oescus (near Gigen ) which indicates that there was a significant trade with the peoples north of the Danube. A short period of Roman rule in the area is attested under Emperor Constantine the Great , after he attacked

11752-458: Was brought to Wallachia in 1715 by the very same ruler. The tense relations between boyars and princes brought a decrease in the number of taxed people (as a privilege gained by the former), a subsequent increase in total taxes, and the enlarged powers of a boyar circle in the Divan. In parallel, Wallachia became the battleground in a succession of wars between the Ottomans on one side and Russia or

11865-515: Was built by order of Emperor Justinian I (reigned 527–565), enclosing the Chapel of the Burning Bush (also known as "Saint Helen's Chapel") ordered to be built by Empress Consort Helena , mother of Constantine the Great , at the site where Moses is supposed to have seen the burning bush . The living bush on the grounds is purportedly the one seen by Moses. Structurally the monastery's king post truss

11978-571: Was carried out following a campaign by young revolutionaries who embraced the liberal ideas of the Enlightenment . The earliest law which freed a category of slaves was in March 1843, which transferred the control of the state slaves owned by the prison authority to the local authorities, leading to their sedentarizing and becoming peasants. During the Wallachian Revolution of 1848 , the agenda of

12091-496: Was characterized as both a national hero and a cruel tyrant . He was cheered for restoring order to a destabilized principality, yet showed no mercy toward thieves, murderers or anyone who plotted against his rule. Vlad demonstrated his intolerance for criminals by utilizing impalement as a form of execution. Vlad fiercely resisted Ottoman rule, having both repelled the Ottomans and been pushed back several times. The Transylvanian Saxons were also furious with him for strengthening

12204-509: Was defeated by Mehmed the Conqueror during his offensive at the Night Attack at Târgovişte before being forced to retreat to Târgoviște and accepting to pay an increased tribute. Meanwhile, Vlad III faced parallel conflicts with his brother, Radu cel Frumos, (r. 1437/1439–1475), and Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân . This led to the conquest of Wallachia by Radu, who would face his own struggles with

12317-582: Was himself deposed and executed in 1716. Immediately following the deposition of Prince Ștefan, the Ottomans renounced the purely nominal elective system (which had by then already witnessed the decrease in importance of the Boyar Divan over the sultan's decision), and princes of the two Danubian Principalities were appointed from the Phanariotes of Constantinople . Inaugurated by Nicholas Mavrocordatos in Moldavia after Dimitrie Cantemir , Phanariote rule

12430-584: Was returned to Wallachia in 1739 (the Treaty of Belgrade , upon the close of the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–39) ). Prince Constantine Mavrocordatos , who oversaw the new change in borders, was also responsible for the effective abolition of serfdom in 1746 (which put a stop to the exodus of peasants into Transylvania ); during this period, the ban of Oltenia moved his residence from Craiova to Bucharest , signalling, alongside Mavrocordatos' order to merge his personal treasury with that of

12543-608: Was the direct legal continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire following the division of the Roman Empire in 395. Emperors listed below up to Theodosius I in 395 were sole or joint rulers of the entire Roman Empire. The Western Roman Empire continued until 476. Byzantine emperors considered themselves to be Roman emperors in direct succession from Augustus ; the term "Byzantine" became convention in Western historiography in

12656-468: Was the term corresponding to the legal institution during the Roman era , where slaves were considered goods instead of human beings and the owners had ius vitae necisque over them (right to end the life of the slave); while robie is the feudal institution where the slaves were legally considered human beings and they had reduced legal capacity. The exact origins of slavery in Wallachia are not known. Slavery

12769-832: Was used to designate Romance -speakers, and subsequently shepherds in general. In Slavonic texts of the Early Middle Ages , the name Zemli Ungro-Vlahiskoi ( Земли Унгро-Влахискои or "Hungaro-Wallachian Land") was also used as a designation for the region. The term, translated in Romanian as "Ungrovalahia", remained in use up to the modern era in a religious context, referring to the Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan seat of Hungaro-Wallachia , in contrast to Thessalian or Great Vlachia in Greece or Small Wallachia (Mala Vlaška) in Serbia. The Romanian-language designations of

#75924