^ Modern reconstruction of a Moldavian princely standard(attested versions of the number and general aspects of symbols other than theaurochs vary considerably).
^ Modern reconstruction of a Moldavian coat of arms based on the seals ofStephen the Great,Roman I and others (attested versions of the field tincture and number and general aspects of symbols other than theaurochs vary considerably).
The original and short-lived reference to the region wasBogdania, afterBogdan I, the founding figure of the principality.[c]
The namesMoldavia andMoldova are derived from the name of theMoldova River; however, the etymology is not known and there are several variants:[12][13]
A legend mentioned inDescriptio Moldaviae (1714–1716) byDimitrie Cantemir links it to anaurochs hunting trip of thevoivode of theVoivodeship of MaramureșDragoș and the latter's chase of a star-marked aurochs. Dragoș was accompanied by his female hound, calledMolda; when they reached the shores of an unfamiliar river, Molda caught up with the animal and was killed by it. The dog's name would have been combined with the Romanian word for water,apă, and given to the river and extended to the country.
theGothicMulda (Gothic:𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰,ᛗᚢᛚᛞᚨ) meaning 'dust', 'dirt' (cognate with the Englishmould), referring to the river.
ASlavic etymology (-ova is a quite common Slavic suffix), marking the end of one Slavic genitive form, denoting ownership, chiefly of feminine nouns (i.e., 'that of Molda').
A landowner named Alexa Moldaowicz is mentioned in a 1334 document as a localboyar in service toYuriy II of Halych; this attests to the use of the name before the foundation of the Moldavian state and could be the source for the region's name.[citation needed]
On a series of coins ofPeter I andStephen I minted bySaxon masters and with German legends, thereverses feature the name of Moldavia in the formMolderlang/Molderlant (recte:Molderland).[14][15]
In several early references,[16]Moldavia is rendered under the composite formMoldo-Wallachia (in the same wayWallachia may appear asHungro-Wallachia).Ottoman Turkish references to Moldavia includedBoğdan Iflak (بغدان افلاق, meaning 'Bogdan's Wallachia') andBoğdan (and occasionallyKara-Boğdan,قره بغدان, "Black Bogdania"). See alsonames in other languages.
The names of the region in other languages includeFrench:Moldavie,German:Moldau,Hungarian:Moldva,Russian:Молдавия (Moldaviya),Turkish:Boğdan Prensliği,Greek:Μολδαβία.
The inhabitants of Moldavia were Christians. Archaeological works revealed the remains of a Christian necropolis atMihălășeni,Botoșani county, from the 5th century. The place of worship, and the tombs had Christian characteristics. The place of worship had a rectangular form with sides of eight and seven meters. Similar necropolises and places of worship were found at Nicolina, in Iași[17]
TheBolohoveni are mentioned by theHypatian Chronicle in the 13th century. The chronicle shows that this[which?] land is bordered on the principalities of Halych, Volhynia and Kiev. Archaeological research also identified the location of 13th-century fortified settlements in this region.[which?] Alexandru V. Boldur identified Voscodavie, Voscodavti, Voloscovti, Volcovti, Volosovca and their other towns and villages between the middle course of the rivers Nistru/Dniester and Nipru/Dnieper.[18] The Bolohoveni disappeared from chronicles after their defeat in 1257 byDaniel of Galicia's troops. Their ethnic identity is uncertain; although Romanian scholars, basing on their ethnonym identify them asRomanians (who were calledVlachs in theMiddle Ages), archeological evidence and theHypatian Chronicle (which is the onlyprimary source that documents their history) suggest that they were aSlavic people.[19][20]
In the early 13th century, theBrodniks, a possibleSlavic–Vlach[citation needed]vassal state ofHalych, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the region's territory (towards 1216, the Brodniks are mentioned as in service ofSuzdal).
The Franciscan FriarWilliam of Rubruck, who visited the court of the Great Khan in the 1250s, listed "the Blac",[22] or Vlachs, among the peoples who paid tribute to the Mongols, but the Vlachs' territory is uncertain.[23][24] Friar William described "Blakia" as "Assan's territory"[25] south of the Lower Danube, showing that heidentified it with the northern regions of theSecond Bulgarian Empire.[26]Later in the 14th century, KingCharles I of Hungary attempted to expand his realm and the influence of theCatholic Church eastwards after the fall of Cuman rule, and ordered a campaign under the command ofPhynta de Mende (1324). In 1342 and 1345, the Hungarians were victorious in a battle againstTatar-Mongols; the conflict was resolved by the death ofJani Beg, in 1357. The Polish chroniclerJan Długosz mentioned Moldavians (under the nameWallachians) as having joined a military expedition in 1342, under KingWładysław I, against theMargraviate of Brandenburg.[27]
In 1353,Dragoș, mentioned as a VlachKnyaz inMaramureș, was sent byLouis I to establish a line of defense against theGolden Horde forces of Mongols on theSiret River. This expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, in theBaia (Târgul Moldovei orMoldvabánya) region.
Bogdan of Cuhea, another Vlachvoivode from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathians in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in wrenching Moldavia from Hungarian control. His realm extended north to theCheremosh River, while the southern part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatar Mongols.
After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavia's seat toSiret (it was to remain there untilPetru II Mușat moved it toSuceava; it was finally moved toIași underAlexandru Lăpușneanu - in 1565). The area around Suceava, roughly correspondent to futureBukovina, would later constitute one of the two administrative divisions of the new realm, under the nameȚara de Sus (the "Upper Land"), whereas the rest, on both sides of thePrut river, formedȚara de Jos (the "Lower Land").
Disfavored by the brief union ofAngevin Poland and Hungary (the latter was still the country's overlord), Bogdan's successorLațcu acceptedconversion toLatin Catholicism around 1370. Despite the founding of theLatin diocese of Siret, this move did not have any lasting consequences. Despite remaining officiallyEastern Orthodox and culturally connected with theByzantine Empire after 1382, princes of theHouse of Bogdan-Mușat entered a conflict with theConstantinople Patriarchate about control of appointments to the newly foundedMoldavian Metropolitan seat;Patriarch Antony IV even cast ananathema over Moldavia afterRoman I expelled Constantinople's candidate, sending him back to Byzantium. The crisis was finally settled in favor of the Moldavian princes underAlexander I. Nevertheless, religious policy remained complex: while conversions to faiths other than Orthodox were discouraged (and forbidden for princes), Moldavia included sizable Latin Catholic communities (Germans andMagyars), as well asArmenians of the non-ChalcedonianArmenian Apostolic Church; after 1460, the country welcomedHussite refugees (founders ofCiuburciu and, probably,Huși).
The principality of Moldavia covered the entire geographic region of Moldavia. In various periods, various other territories were politically connected with the Moldavian principality. This is the case of the province ofPokuttya, the fiefdoms ofCetatea de Baltă andCiceu (both inTransylvania) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug rivers.
Petru II profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union and moved the country closer to theJagiellonian realm, becoming avassal ofWładysław II on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against theTeutonic Knights, and was granted control overPokuttya until the debt was repaid; as this is not recorded to have been carried out, the region became disputed by the two states, until it was lost by Moldavia in theBattle of Obertyn (1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to theDanube Delta. His brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruledCetatea Albă in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to theBlack Sea, before being toppled from the throne for supportingFyodor Koriatovych in his conflict withVytautas the Great ofLithuania. UnderStephen I.
AlthoughAlexander I was brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance fromMircea I of Wallachia), he shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in theBattle of Grunwald and theSiege of Marienburg), and placed his own choice of rulers in Wallachia. His reign was one of the most successful in Moldavia's history, but also saw the first confrontation with theOttoman Turks at Cetatea Albă in 1420, and later even a conflict with the Poles. A deep crisis was to follow Alexandru's long reign, with his successors battling each other in a succession of wars that divided the country until the murder ofBogdan II and the ascension ofPetru III Aron in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, asMatthias Corvinus deposed Aron and backedAlexăndrel to the throne inSuceava. Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia'sOttoman Empire allegiance, as the ruler agreed to paytribute to SultanMehmed II.
UnderStephen the Great, who took the throne and subsequently came to an agreement withCasimir IV of Poland in 1457, the state reached its most glorious period. Stephen blocked Hungarian interventions in theBattle of Baia, invaded Wallachia in 1471, and dealt with Ottoman reprisals in a major victory (the 1475Battle of Vaslui); after feeling threatened by Polish ambitions, he also attackedGalicia and resisteda Polish invasion in theBattle of the Cosmin Forest (1497). However, he had to surrenderChilia (now Kiliia) andCetatea Albă (now Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), the two main fortresses in theBudjak, to the Ottomans in 1484, and in 1498 he had to accept Ottoman suzerainty, when he was forced to agree to continue paying tribute to SultanBayezid II. Following the taking ofHotin (Khotyn) andPokuttya, Stephen's rule also brought a brief extension of Moldavian rule intoTransylvania: Cetatea de Baltă andCiceu became hisfiefs in 1489.
UnderBogdan III the One-Eyed, Ottoman overlordship was confirmed in the shape that would rapidly evolve into control over Moldavia's affairs.Peter IV Rareș, who reigned in the 1530s and 1540s, clashed with theHabsburg monarchy over his ambitions in Transylvania (losing possessions in the region toGeorge Martinuzzi), was defeated in Pokuttya by Poland, and failed in his attempt to extricate Moldavia from Ottoman rule – the country lostBender to the Ottomans, who included it in theirSilistra Eyalet.
A period of profound crisis followed. Moldavia stopped issuing its own coinagec. 1520, underPrince Ștefăniță, when it was confronted with rapid depletion of funds and rising demands from thePorte. Such problems became endemic when the country, brought into theGreat Turkish War, suffered the impact of thestagnation of the Ottoman Empire; at one point, during the 1650s and 1660s, princes began relying oncounterfeit coinage (usually copies ofSwedish riksdalers, as was that issued byEustratie Dabija). The economic decline was accompanied by a failure to maintain state structures: thefeudal-basedMoldavian military forces were no longer convoked, and the few troops maintained by the rulers remained professionalmercenaries such as theseimeni.
However, Moldavia and the similarly affected Wallachia remained both important sources of income for the Ottoman Empire and relatively prosperous agricultural economies (especially as suppliers of grain and cattle – the latter was especially relevant in Moldavia, which remained an under-populated country ofpastures). In time, much of the resources were tied to theOttoman economy, either throughmonopolies on trade that were only lifted in 1829, after theTreaty of Adrianople (which did not affect all domains directly), or through the raise in direct taxes - the one demanded by the Ottomans from the princes, as well as the ones demanded by the princes from the country's population. Taxes were directly proportional with Ottoman requests, but also with the growing importance of Ottoman appointment and sanctioning of princes in front of election by theboyars and the boyar Council –Sfatul boieresc [ro] (drawing in a competition among pretenders, which also implied the intervention of creditors as suppliers of bribes). The fiscal system soon included taxes such as thevăcărit (a tax on head of cattle), first introduced byIancu Sasul in the 1580s.
The economic opportunities offered brought about a significant influx ofGreek andLevantine financiers and officials, who entered a stiff competition with the high boyars over appointments to the Court. As themanor system suffered the blows of economic crises, and in the absence ofsalarisation (which implied that persons in office could decide their own income), obtaining princely appointment became the major focus of a boyar's career. Such changes also implied the decline of free peasantry and the rise ofserfdom, as well as the rapid fall in the importance of low boyars (a traditional institution, the latter soon became marginal, and, in more successful instances, added to the population of towns); however, they also implied a rapid transition towards amonetary economy, based on exchanges in foreign currency. Serfdom was doubled by the much less numerous slave population (robi), composed of migrantRoma and capturedNogais.
Moldavia through the ages
The conflict between princes and boyars was to become exceptionally violent – the latter group, who frequently appealed to the Ottoman court in order to have princes comply with its demands, was persecuted by rulers such asAlexandru Lăpușneanu andJohn III. Ioan Vodă's revolt against the Ottomans ended in his execution (1574). The country descended into political chaos, with frequent Ottoman andTatar incursions and pillages. The claims of Mușatins to the crown and the traditional system of succession were ended by scores of illegitimate reigns; one of the usurpers,Ioan Iacob Heraclid, was aProtestant Greek who encouraged theRenaissance and attempted to introduceLutheranism to Moldavia.
In 1595, the rise of theMovilești boyars to the throne withIeremia Movilă coincided with the start of frequent anti-Ottoman and anti-Habsburg military expeditions of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into Moldavian territory (seeMoldavian Magnate Wars), and rivalries between pretenders to the Moldavian throne encouraged by the three competing powers.
The Wallachian princeMichael the Brave, after previously taking overTransylvania, also deposed Prince Ieremia Movilă, in 1600, and managed to become the first Prince to rule over Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania;[28][29][30] the episode ended in Polish conquests of lands down toBucharest, soon ended by the outbreak of thePolish–Swedish War and the reestablishment of Ottoman rule. Polish incursions were dealt a blow by the Ottomans.
During the 1620Battle of Cecora, the voivode of the Principality of Moldavia, was assassinated by theSeptilici noble family in which also saw an end to the reign ofGaspar Graziani.
The Principalities of Moldavia andWallachia in 1782, Italian map by G. Pittori, since the geographer Giovanni Antonio Rizzi ZannoniThe siege and capture ofIași by the Russian Army during theRusso-Turkish War in 1788
Phanariote rule was marked bypolitical corruption, intrigue, and high taxation, as well as by sporadic incursions of Habsburg and Russian armies deep into Moldavian territory. Nonetheless, they also attempted legislative and administrative modernization inspired byThe Enlightenment (such as the decision byConstantine Mavrocordatos to salarize public offices, to the outrage of boyars, and the abolition of serfdom in 1749, as well asScarlat Callimachi'sCode), and signified a decrease in Ottoman demands after the threat of Russian annexation became real and the prospects of a better life led to waves of peasant emigration to neighboring lands. The effects of Ottoman control were also made less notable after the 1774Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca allowed Russia to intervene in favour of Ottoman subjects of the Eastern Orthodox faith - leading to campaigns of petitioning by the Moldavian boyars against princely policies.
In 1712,Hotin was taken over by the Ottomans and became part of a defensive system that Moldavian princes were required to maintain, as well as an area for Islamiccolonization (theLaz community).
The Principality of Moldavia, 1793–1812, highlighted in orange
In 1775, Moldavia lost to theHabsburg Empire its northwestern part, which became known asBukovina. For Moldavia, it meant both an important territorial loss and a major blow to the cattle trade, as the region stood on the trade route to Central Europe.
TheTreaty of Jassy in 1792 forced the Ottoman Empire to cedeYedisan to the Russian Empire, which made Russian presence much more notable, given that the Empire acquired a common border with Moldavia. The first effect of this was the cession of the eastern half of Moldavia (renamed asBessarabia) to the Russian Empire in 1812.
Phanariote rule was officially ended after the 1821 occupation of the country byAlexander Ypsilantis'sFiliki Eteria during theGreek War of Independence; the subsequent Ottoman retaliation led to the rule ofIoan Sturdza. He was considered the first of a new system, since the Ottomans and Russia had agreed in 1826 to allow for the election by locals of rulers over the twoDanubian Principalities, and convened on their mandating for seven-year terms. In practice, a new foundation to reigns in Moldavia was created by theRusso-Turkish War (1828–1829), beginning a period of Russian domination over the two countries which ended only in 1856. Begun as a military occupation under the command ofPavel Kiselyov, Russian domination gave Wallachia and Moldavia, which were not removed from nominal Ottoman control, the modernizingOrganic Statute (the first document resembling aconstitution, as well as the first to regard both principalities). After 1829, the country also became an important destination forimmigration ofAshkenazi Jews from theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria and areas of Russia (seeHistory of the Jews in Romania andSudiți).
The first Moldavian rule established under the Statute, that ofMihail Sturdza, was nonetheless ambivalent: eager to reduce abuse of office, Sturdza introduced reforms (the abolition of slavery,secularization, economic rebuilding), but he was widely seen as enforcing his own power over that of the newly instituted consultative Assembly. A supporter of the union of his country with Wallachia and of RomanianRomantic nationalism, he obtained the establishment of acustoms union between the two countries (1847) and showed support forradical projects favored by low boyars; nevertheless, he clamped down with noted violence theMoldavian revolutionary attempt in the last days of March 1848.Grigore Alexandru Ghica allowed the exiled revolutionaries to return to Moldavia c. 1853, which led to the creation of theNational Party (Partida Națională), a trans-boundary group of radical union supporters which campaigned for a single state under a foreign dynasty.
In 1856, under the terms of theTreaty of Paris, the Russian Empire returned to Moldavia a significant territory in southernBessarabia (including a part ofBudjak), organised later as theBolgrad,Cahul, andIsmail counties.[31]
Russian domination ended abruptly after theCrimean War, when the Treaty of Paris also passed the two Romanian principalities under the tutelage ofGreat European Powers (together with Russia and the Ottoman overlord, power-sharing included the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, theAustrian Empire, theFrench Empire, theKingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, andPrussia). Due to Austrian and Ottoman opposition and British reserves, the union program as demanded by radical campaigners was debated intensely.
In September 1857, given thatCaimacamNicolae Vogoride had perpetratedfraud in elections in Moldavia, the Powers allowed the two states to convene ad hocdivans, which were to decide a new constitutional framework; the result showed overwhelming support for the union, as the creation of aliberal andneutral state. After further meetings among leaders of tutor states, an agreement was reached (theParis Convention), whereby a limited union was to be enforced – separate governments and thrones, with only two bodies in common (aCourt of Cassation and a Central Commission residing inFocșani); it also stipulated that an end to all privilege was to be passed into law, and awarded back to Moldavia the areas aroundBolhrad,Cahul, andIzmail.
However, the Convention failed to note whether the two thrones could not be occupied by the same person, allowingPartida Națională to introduce the candidacy ofAlexandru Ioan Cuza in both countries. On January 17 (January 5, 1859,Old Style), inIași, he was elected prince of Moldavia by the respective electoral body. After street pressure over the much moreconservative body inBucharest, Cuza was elected in Wallachia as well (February 5/January 24), this being considered as the day of theunification of Moldavia and Wallachia by means of apersonal union.
In 1862, after diplomatic missions that helped remove opposition to the action, theUnited Principalities (the basis of modern Romania) was formally created, and instituted Cuza asDomnitor – thus officially ending the existence of the Principality of Moldavia. All other pending legal matters were clarified after the replacement of Cuza withCarol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen in April 1866, and the creation of an independentKingdom of Romania in 1881.
Slavery (Romanian:robie) was part of thesocial order from before the founding of the Principality of Moldavia, until it wasabolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were ofRoma (Gypsy) ethnicity. There were also slaves ofTatar ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with theNogai andCrimean Tatars. The institution of slavery was first attested in a 1470 Moldavian document, through which PrinceStephen the Great frees Oană, a Tatar slave who had fled toJagiellon Poland.[32]
The exact origins of slavery are not known, as it was a commonpractice in medieval Europe. As in theByzantine Empire, the Roma were held as slaves of the state, of theboyars or of the monasteries. HistorianNicolae Iorga associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241Mongol invasion of Europe and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era; he believed that the Romanians took the Roma as slaves from theMongols and preserved their status to control their labor. Other historians consider that the Roma were enslaved while captured during the battles with the Tatars. The practice of enslaving prisoners may also have been taken from the Mongols. The ethnic identity of the "Tatar slaves" is unknown, they could have been captured Tatars of theGolden Horde,Cumans, or the slaves of Tatars and Cumans.[32] While it is possible that some Romani people were slaves or auxiliary troops of the Mongols or Tatars, most of them came from south of theDanube, demonstrating that slavery was a widespread practice. The Tatar slaves, smaller in numbers, were eventually merged into the Roma population.[33]
Traditionally, Roma slaves were divided into three categories. The smallest was owned by thehospodars, and went by the Romanian-language name ofțigani domnești ("Gypsies belonging to the lord"). The two other categories comprisedțigani mănăstirești ("Gypsies belonging to the monasteries"), who were the property ofRomanian Orthodox andGreek Orthodox monasteries, andțigani boierești ("Gypsies belonging to the boyars"), who were enslaved by the category of landowners.[34][35]
The abolition of slavery was carried out following a campaign by young revolutionaries who embraced theliberal ideas of theEnlightenment. In 1844, Moldavian PrinceMihail Sturdza proposed a law on the freeing of slaves owned by the church and state. By the 1850s, the movement gained support from almost the whole of Romanian society. In December 1855, following a proposal by PrinceGrigore Alexandru Ghica, a bill drafted byMihail Kogălniceanu andPetre Mavrogheni was adopted by the Divan; the law emancipated all slaves to the status of taxpayers (citizens).[32][34]
Support for the abolitionists was reflected inRomanian literature of the mid-19th century. The issue of the Roma slavery became a theme in the literary works of variousliberal andRomantic intellectuals, many of whom were active in the abolitionist camp. The Romanian abolitionist movement was also influenced by the much larger movement againstBlack slavery in the United States through press reports and through a translation ofHarriet Beecher Stowe'sUncle Tom's Cabin. Translated by Theodor Codrescu and first published inIași in 1853, under the nameColiba lui Moșu Toma sau Viața negrilor în sudul Statelor Unite din America (which translates back as "Uncle Toma's Cabin or the Life of Blacks in the Southern United States of America"), it was the first American novel to be published in Romanian. The foreword included a study on slavery by Mihail Kogălniceanu.[32]
Under the reign ofStephen the Great, all farmers and villagers had to bear arms. Stephen justified this by saying that "every man has a duty to defend his fatherland"; according to Polish chroniclerJan Długosz, if someone was found without carrying a weapon, he wassentenced to death.[36] Stephen reformed the army by promoting men from the landed free peasantryrăzeși (i.e. something akin tofreeholdingyeomen) to infantry (voinici) and light cavalry (hânsari), reducing his dependence on theboyars, and introduced guns. The Small Host (Oastea Mică) consisted of around 10,000 to 12,000 men. The Large Host (Oastea Mare), which could reach up to 40,000, was recruited from all the free peasantry older than 14 and strong enough to carry asword or use abow. This seldom happened, for such alevée en masse was devastating for both economy and population growth. In theBattle of Vaslui, Stephen had to summon the Large Host and also recruitedmercenary troops.
In theMiddle Ages and earlyRenaissance, the Moldavians relied on lightcavalry (călărași) which usedhit-and-run tactics similar to those of theTatars; this gave them great mobility and also flexibility, in case they found it more suitable to dismount their horses and fight in hand-to-hand combat, as it happened in 1422, when 400horse archers were sent to aidJagiellon Poland, Moldavia's overlord against theTeutonic Knights. When making eye-contact with the enemy, the horse archers would withdraw to a nearby forest andcamouflage themselves with leaves and branches; according to Jan Długosz, when the enemy entered the wood, they were "showered with arrows" and defeated.[37] The heavy cavalry consisted of the nobility, namely, the boyars, and their guards, theviteji (lit. "brave ones", small nobility) and thecurteni (court cavalry). These were all nominally part of the Small Host. In times of war, boyars were compelled by thefeudal system of allegiance to supply the prince with troops in accordance with the extent of theirmanorial domain.
Other troops consisted of professional foot soldiers (lefegii) which fulfilled theheavy infantry role, and theplăieși, free peasants whose role was that of border guards: they guarded the mountain passes and were prepared toambush the enemy and to fight delaying actions.
In the absence of the prince, command was assigned to theMare Spătar (Grand Sword-Bearer, a military office) or to theMare Vornic (approx. Governor of the Country; a civilian office second only to theVoievod, which was filled by the prince himself). Supplying the troops was by tradition-later-made-into-law the duty of the inhabitants of those lands on which the soldiers were present at a given time.
The Moldavians' (as well as Wallachians') favourite military doctrine in (defensive) wars was ascorched earth policy combined with harassment of the advancing enemy usinghit-and-run tactics and disruption of communication and supply lines, followed by a large scale ambush: a weakened enemy would be lured in a place where it would find itself in a position hard or impossible to defend. A general attack would follow, often with devastating results. The shattered remains of what was once the enemy army would be pursued closely and harassed all the way to the border and sometimes beyond. A typical example of successful employments of this scenario is theBattle of Vaslui.
Towards the end of the 15th century, especially after the success ofguns andcannons, mercenaries became a dominant force in the country's military. With the economic demands created by thestagnation of the Ottoman Empire, the force diminished and included only mercenaries such as theseimeni.
The Treaty of Adrianople provided for a Moldavian self-defense naval force, to be composed ofcaicque vessels.Schooners armed withcannons were first built in the 1840s. Along with patrolling the Danube, these made their way on its tributaries, theSiret and thePrut River.
Of late 15th century Moldavia, with an area of 94,862 km2 (36,626 sq mi),[38] the biggest part and the core of the former principality is located in Romania (45.6%), followed by theRepublic of Moldova (31.7%), and Ukraine (22.7%). This represents 88.2% of the Republic of Moldova's surface, 18% of Romania's surface, and 3.5% of Ukraine's surface.
The region is mostly hilly, with a range of mountains in the west, and plain areas in the southeast. Moldavia's highest altitude isIneu peak (2,279 m), which is also the westernmost point of the region.
Contemporary historians estimate the population (historically referred to as Moldavians) of the Moldavian Principality in the 15th century, at between 250,000 and 600,000 people,[39][40] but an extensive census was first conducted in 1769–1774.[41]
In 1848, the northwestern part, annexed in 1775 by the Habsburg Empire,Bukovina, had a population of 377,571; in 1856, the eastern half of Moldavia,Bessarabia, annexed in 1812 by the Russian Empire, had a population of 990,274, while the population of Moldavia proper (the western half), in 1859, was 1,463,927.[42]
The contemporary population peaked in 1992, at 10.07 million inhabitants in all three historical divisions (Western Moldavia, Bessarabia and Bukovina). As of 2011, the population was 8.63 million people, of which 3.67 million were in Western Moldavia, 3.86 million in Bessarabia and 1.08 million in Bukovina.[38]
Academia Mihăileană was the first modern institution of higher learning in Moldavia.
In 1562, the so-calledSchola Latina (a Latin Academic College) was founded inCotnari, nearIași, a school which marked the beginnings of the organized humanistic education institutions in Moldavia.[43]
The first institute of higher learning that functioned on the territory of Romania wasAcademia Vasiliană (1640),[44] founded by Prince Vasile Lupu as aHigher School for Latin and Slavonic Languages, followed by thePrincely Academy, in 1707. The first high education structure inRomanian was established in the autumn of 1813, whenGheorghe Asachi laid the foundations of a class of engineers, its activities taking place within the Greek Princely Academy.
After 1813, other moments marked the development of higher education in Romanian, regarding bothhumanities and the technical science.Academia Mihăileană, founded in 1835 by Prince Mihail Sturdza, is considered the first Romanian superior institute. In 1860, three faculties part of the Academia Mihăileană formed the nucleus for the newly establishedUniversity of Iași, the first Romanian modern university.[45]
^As written chancellery language until it was replaced by Romanian starting with the 16th century. Used for liturgical purposes until the end of the 18th century.
^As chancellery and cultural language, especially during the Phanariot period of time.
^HistorianIlona Czamańska [pl] states that this name is "undoubtedly associated with Bogdan I," the first voivode of Moldavia in the 1360s.[11]
^Ștefan Pascu,Documente străine despre români, ed. Arhivelor statului, București 1992,ISBN973-95711-2-3
^"Tout ce pays: la Wallachie, la Moldavie et la plus part de la Transylvanie, a esté peuplé des colonies romaines du temps de Trajan l'empereur... Ceux du pays se disent vrais successeurs des Romains et nomment leur parler romanechte, c'est-à-dire romain... " "Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l'an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople", in: Paul Cernovodeanu,Studii și materiale de istorie medievală, IV, 1960, p. 444
^Panaitescu, Petre P. (1965).Începuturile şi biruinţa scrisului în limba română (in Romanian). Editura Academiei Bucureşti. p. 5.
^Janowski, Maciej; Constantin, Iordachi; Trencsenyi, Balazs (2005). "Why bother about historical regions?: Debates over central Europe in Hungary, Poland and Romania".East Central Europe.32 (1–2):5–58.doi:10.1163/18763308-90001031.
^L. Bieltz, "MOLDER LANT — o legendă inedită pe monedele emise de Ștefan I — 1394-1399" inCercetări numismatice 7(1996), p. 155–157.
^K. Pârvan, "Aspects of Moldavia’s coinage at the end of the fourteenth century", in130 Years Since the Establishment of the Modern Romanian Monetary System, Bucharest, 1997, p. 204–214.
^Ion Ciortan, Măriuca Radu, Octavian Ion Penda, Descriptio Romaniae (cartographie), National Museum of Maps & old books, Autonomous regie Monitorul oficial, Bucharest 2004
^Octavian-Liviu Șovan, Zorile creștinismului în nord-estul Moldovei-repere arheologice, Revista Forum cultural, Anul V, nr.4, decembrie 2005 (19)
^A.V. Boldur, Istoria Basarabiei, Editura V. Frunza, p 111-119
^East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000–1500, Jean W. Sedlar, page 255, 1994
^Cavalerii Apocalipsului: Calamitatile Naturale Din Trecutul Romaniei (Pana La 1800), Paul Cernovodeanu, Paul Binder, 1993,ISBN973-95477-3-7, Romanian Edition
Gheorghe I. Brătianu,Sfatul domnesc și Adunarea Stărilor în Principatele Române, Bucharest, 1995
Vlad Georgescu,Istoria ideilor politice românești (1369-1878), Munich, 1987
Ruysbroeck, Willem van (2009) [1990].The Mission of Friar William of Rubruck: His Journey to the Court of the Great Khan Möngke, 1253-1255. Translated by Peter Jackson. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett.
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.ISBN978-973-7784-12-4.
Spinei, Victor (1986).Moldavia in the 11th–14th Centuries. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Româna.
Ștefan Ștefănescu,Istoria medie a României, Bucharest, 1991
Vásáry, István (2005).Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge University Press.ISBN0-521-83756-1.
.svg)
.svg)
-en.png)
.svg)
.jpg)
-Trei_Ierarhi_Monastery_(J.Rey%2c_1845).jpg)
.png)
