Product Code Database
Vlach ( ), also Wallachian and many other variants, 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 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 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'', ''Ilac'', ''Ulah'', etc.) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a [[Celtic|Celts]] tribe, adopted into Proto-Germanic ''*[[Walhaz]]'', which meant 'stranger', from ''*Wolkā-''Ringe, Don. "[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1012 Inheritance versus lexical borrowing: a case with decisive sound-change evidence]." ''Language Log,'' January 2009. ([[Caesar]]'s , [[Strabo]] and [[Ptolemy]]'s ).(2025). 9789521002465, Dept. of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, University of Helsinki. . ISBN 9789521002465Via [[Latin|Latin language]], in [[Gothic|Gothic language]], as *walhs, 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|Slavic languages]] as ''Vlah'' () or ''Voloh'', Hungarian as ''oláh'' and ''olasz'', etc. The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for [[Wales]] and [[Walloon|Walloons]], and in Switzerland for [[Romansh|Romansh language]]-speakers (), 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 is still used in [[Polish|Wlochy]] (''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 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.
In historical sources the term "Vlach" could also refer to different peoples: " Slovak, Hungarian, Balkan, Transylvanian, Romanian, or even Albanian".Jan Gawron; (2020) Locators of the settlements under Wallachian law in the Sambor starosty in XVth and XVIth c. Territorial, ethnic and social origins. p. 274–275; BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA xxVI, [1] 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 "Greeks", "Serbs" or "Latin".
In 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 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 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 Morlachs by the inhabitants of the Dalmatian coast and islands. In these areas, the term Vlah evolved to Vlaj () and is still used as a derogatory term to refer to the rural inhabitants of the hinterland, both Croats and Serbs, as "peasants" and "ignorants". In Istria, the ethnonym Vlach is used by the Chakavian 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. The Balkan Vlachs: Born to Assimilate? at culturalsurvival.org) is used in scholarship for the Eastern 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 language, Valasi, other than denoting people of Vlachian ethnicity or origin, is synonymously and even more prominently used to describe , 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, the area of Moravian Wallachia is known as Valašsko and the inhabitants as Valaši, names usually translated in English as Wallachia and Wallachians, respectively.
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.Spinei, V. (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill, p. 152
Ibn al-Nadīm published in 998 the work Kitāb al-Fihrist mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and Blaghā". According to B. Dodge the ethnonym Blaghā could refer to Wallachians/Romanians.Ibn al Nadim, al-Fihrist. English translation: The Fihrist of al-Nadim. Editor și traducător: B. Dodge, New York, Columbia University Press, 1970, p. 37 with n.82Spinei, Victor, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill. 2009, p. 83 It is important to note, however, that the original Arabic text does not contain the word "Blaghā" but rather "البلغار," which translates to " al-Bulghār," the term used in contemporary Arabic texts to refer to Volga Bulgaria. The new Arabic edition also features the word "al-Bulghār" ("البلغار") instead of "Blaghā." Furthermore, the first critical edition edited by Gustav Flügel in 1871, which includes the original Arabic text, likewise uses the designation "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār"). The word "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") appears instead of "البلغم" ("al-Blagham") in both the 1971/1973/1988 Tehran/Beirut/Cairo critical editions as well. Thus, Bayard's translation is incorrect, as he mistakenly read "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") as "البلغم" ("al-Blagham"). Therefore, the original Arabic text refers to Volga Bulgaria, not the Vlachs.
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 the Vlachs in Hellas theme. Nikulitsa switched alliance to Samuel of Bulgaria after the conquest of Larissa by the Bulgarian Tsar.G. Murnu, Când si unde se ivesc românii întâia dată în istorie, în "Convorbiri Literare", XXX, pp. 97–112
Mutahhar al-Maqdisi, "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, Waladj, Alans, Greeks and many other peoples."A. Decei, V. Ciocîltan, "La mention des Roumains (Walah) chez Al-Maqdisi", in Romano-arabica I, Bucharest, 1974, pp. 49–54 According to other non-Romanian historians, based on the context, the "Waladj" are not the Vlachs, but a people living around the Volga.
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 the Vlachs.Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, in Drei lygisogur, ed. Å. Lagerholm (Halle/Saale, 1927), p. 29 Omeljan Pritsak, however, point out that the texts probably refer to a nomadic Turkic peoples 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 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.David Jacoby, Byzantium, Latin Romania and the Mediterranean, St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 1984, p. 522Alan Harvey, Economic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 172
In 1025, the Annales Barenses mentions a people called "Vlach" who live near the river Vardar.
The same chronicle the Annales Barenses describes that in 1027 the Byzantine Empire 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 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 the northern parts", as Kekaumenos associates them with Dacians or Bessi of Antiquity.Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 37, 2015
A Byzantine Empire 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 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 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 the Roman province Roman Dacia 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".Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 39, 2015
According to the Alexiad, in 1094–1095, Emperor Alexius Komnenos was notified by a Vlach chieftain called Poudila about the crossing of the Danube by a Cumans 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 Almopia 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 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.Emil Țîrcomnicu: Historical Aspects Regarding the Megleno-Romanian Groups in Greece, the FY Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Romania page 15
In 1097, many Vlachs were resettled from the Chalkidiki to the Peloponnese by order of the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos.
In 1099, First Crusade were attacked by Vlachs, in the mountains along the road from Braničevo to Naissus.
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 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.
In 1167, Vlachs living by 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 1167.A. Decei, op. cit., p. 25.V. Spinei, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta From the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2009, p. 132. . John Kinnamos says Vlachs were "colonists brought from Italy".Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 40, 2015 The uprising of brothers Asen and Peter 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 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 Byzantine Empire, but he angered the "barbarians who dwelt in the Balkan Mountains mountains, who were once called , 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 the upper region of Vardar and Almopia. Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans page 15 A similar event is recorded by the same author in the area of Plovdiv where a Vlach called Ivanko, formerly a boyar at the Asen dynasty brothers' court was given military command by Emperor Isaac and expanded his rule to Smolyan, Mosynopolis, and Xanthi. Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans page 14
According to Niketas Choniates, Thessaly and Macedonia is called "Magna Vlachia", Aetolia and Acarnata are called "Little Vlachia" and north-eastern Epirus 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 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 Veliko Tarnovo with a great pomp."
According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, the authenticity of which is highly disputed by historians, AD the Pannonian Avars conquered Salona, then, attacking further south, ravaged Macedonia and the "land of the black Latins, now called Morlachs".
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 with aid from the inhabitants of the area of Prizren. Octavian Ciobanu : The heritage of Western Balkan Vlachs
The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick mention the Vlachs as people living in 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.
Numerous Serbs documents from the very end of the 12th century speak of Vlach shepherds in the mountains between the Drina and the Morava Valley.
Kaloyan was given the title imperator Caloihannes dominus omnium Bulgarorum atque Blachorum ("Emperor Kaloyan, Lord of All Bulgarians and Vlachs") by Patriarch Basil I of Bulgaria and the title Rex Bulgarorum et Blachorum ("King of the Bulgarians and the Vlachs") by Pope Innocent II.
In 1204 and 1205 Raimbaut de Vaqueiras mentions the Vlachs as enemies of Boniface of Montferrat.Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 27, 2015
After 1207 Geoffrey of Villehardouin mentions twelve times the Vlachs part of the armies of Kaloyan of Bulgaria, either as defenders against Henry of Flanders or among the attackers of Adrianopole.Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 29, 2015
Around the same time Henry of Valenciennes writes about the country he calls Blasquie ruled by Burile (Borilă). Henry of Flanders conquers this land and awards it to Burile's cousin Esclas (Slav). From there on the country will be known as Blakie la Grant (Great Valachia).
Sándor Timaru-Kast alleges that the Venetian Chronicle refers to the land that would become Wallachia as "Black Cumania", "the colony of black Vlachs who migrated northwards".
According to the medieval Hungarian chronicle, the Gesta Hungarorum ("The deeds of the Hungarians"), written in the early 13th century, when the Hungarians of Grand Prince Árpád conquered the Carpathian Basin, at that time Slavs, Bulgarians and Blachij, and also the shepherds of the Romans ( sclauij, Bulgarij et Blachij, ac pastores romanorum) inhabited Pannonia. Most researchers say that the Blachij are the Vlachs,E.g. Armbruster, Adolf (1972). Romanitatea românilor: Istoria unei idei; Kristó, Gyula (2002). Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon; Spinei, Victor (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth century some Hungarian scholars claim that they are the Bulaqs, a Turkic people.E.g. Györffy, György (1963). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország Történeti Földrajza; Faragó, Imre (2017). Térképészeti földrajz; Rásonyi, László (1979), Bulaqs and Oguzs in Medieval Transylvania László Makkai writes that "this hypothesis does not bear the test of scholarly scrutiny". The chronicle's authenticity is in question in historiography, because it confuses the peoples living in the area in the 12th century and the peoples of the 9th century. Among others, it includes the Cumans in Transylvania, who arrived only centuries later.Thoroczkay, Gábor (2009). Írások az Árpád-korrólRóna-Tas, András (1999) Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian HistoryGyula, Kristó (2002). Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori MagyarországonMacartney, Carlile Aylmer (1953). The Medieval Hungarian Historians: A Critical & Analytical Guide Romanian historian Ioan-Aurel Pop states that some exaggerations and inaccuracies, typical of a chronicle at the time and mostly in favour of the Royal House, are not a sufficient reason to discredit the entire document as a historical source. It is important to note, however, that the chronicle mentions many rulers, but none of them is mentioned in any other contemporary chronicle. According to Romanian historian Florin Curta and leading Romanian medievalist Radu Popa, during the 1960–1989 period, the archaeological evidences were manipulated to meet the demands of the nationalist policies of the Ceaușescu's regime, and Romanian archaeologists made every possible attempt to prove that the Gesta Hungarorum is a reliable source for the Romanian presence in Transylvania prior to the Hungarian conquest, however no archaeological evidence was found to prove the subject. Hungarian archaeologist István Bóna also accused Romanian archaeologists of hiding evidence that did not fit their interpretation regarding the Gesta Hungarorum during the excavation of the early medieval hillfort at Dăbâca as Gelou capital city. Whether archeology supports the Gesta or not is disputed among historians. British-Romanian historian Dennis Deletant states the analysis of the Gesta Hungarorum shows that is too naive to claim it is an immaculate source, just as it is foolhardy to totally discredit its reliability, and the conclusion, the cases for and against the existence of Gelou and the Vlachs simply cannot be proven. British historian Carlile Aylmer Macartney writes in his critical and analytical guide of Anonymus that all Romanian historians refer to Anonymus, but they are not credible in the subject and the chronicle is not evidence for presence of Vlachs in Transylvania. Madgearu attempts to prove that a Vlach-Slav population existed in Transylvania before the arrival of the Hungarians by recounting place names of Slavic origin he believes weren't adopted to Romanian via Hungarian.
In 1213, an army of Vlachs, Saxons and Pechenegs, led by the Count of Sibiu, Joachim Türje, attacked the Second Bulgarian Empire – Bulgarians and Cumans in the Baba Vida of Vidin.Curta, 2006, p. 385 After this, all Hungarian battles in the Carpathian region were supported by Romance-speaking soldiers from Transylvania.Papacostea, Șerban, Românii în secolul al XIII-lea între cruciată şi imperiul mongol, București, 1993, 36; A. Lukács, Ţara Făgăraşului, 156; T. Sălăgean, Transilvania în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIII-lea. Afirmarea regimului congregaţional, Cluj-Napoca, 2003, 26-27
Stefan the First-Crowned donates 200 families of Vlachs from Prokletije and Peja to Žiča monastery.Zef Mirdita (1995). " Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora". Povijesni Prilozi (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. 14 (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades)
In 1220, king Stefan the First-Crowned proclaimed that all Vlachs of his kingdom belonged to the Eparchy of Žiča.Zef Mirdita (1995). " Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora". Povijesni Prilozi (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. 14 (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades).
A royal chancellery document from 1223, connected to the foundation of the Cistercians abbey at Cârța around 1202, which was granted land, mentions it was built in the land of the Vlachs/Romanians. This is also the first mention of the Vlachs in Hungarian documents.László Makkai (2025). 9780880334792, Columbia University Press, (The Hungarian original by Institute of History Of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences). ISBN 9780880334792
In the Diploma Andreanum issued by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1224, " silva blacorum et bissenorum" was given to the Saxon settlers.J. DEER, Der Weg zur Goldenen Bulle Andreas II. Von 1222, în Schweizer Beitrage zur Allgemeinen Geschichte, 10, 1952, pp. 104-138
The Orthodox Vlachs spread further northward along the Carpathians to the present day territory of Poland, Slovakia, and Czech Republic, and were granted autonomy under the ''Vlach law''.
In 1230 Constantine Akropolites, in his writing about the conquests of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen, notes that the "Magna Vlachia" is next to Albania.
Pope Gregory IX wrote several letters to the Hungarian king, in which he talks about the conversion of the Cumans who lived in the southern part of Moldavia and eastern Wallachia regions of present-day Romania. In one of his letters he mentions the Vlachs, asking King Béla IV of Hungary to let them into his country: "for the sake of God, give refuge to those poor Vlachs who tried to escape from their Cuman rulers."
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine mentions in 1247, when returning from his mission to the Mongol Khan, a "Rus" prince by the name Olaha east of the Carpathian Mountains. Historians Victor Spinei and Nikolai Russev consider it a reference to a Vlach community of Orthodox faith.
In 1247, Béla IV of Hungary gives the "Land of Severin" to the Knights Hospitallers with two polities ( kenezatus of John and Farkas), except kenezatus of voivode Litovoi which was left to the Vlachs as they held it. The land of Hateg is excepted, while the voivodate of Seneslaus the king keeps for himself.
In 1252 King Béla IV of Hungary, for his services in various foreign embassies, donates to Vince, Comes of the Szekler of Sebus, the land called Zek between the territory of the Vlachs of Kyrch, the Saxons of Barasu, and the Szeklers of Sebus, which once belonged to a Saxon estate called Fulkun, but has been uninhabited since the Mongol invasion.
In 1256 King Béla IV of Hungary, upon the complaint of Archbishop Benedict of Esztergom, confirms the right of the archdiocese to tithes from mining wages and from animal taxes collected from the Szeklers and Vlachs to the king or anyone else, among the judicial, accommodation and taxation privileges of the archdiocese, with the exception of land rents from Saxons, but also from Vlachs from everywhere and from anywhere they came.
King Ottokar II of Bohemia reports to Pope Alexander IV that about the defeated of King Béla IV of Hungary on 12 July 1260, on the border between Hungary and Austria, near the castle and town of Hemburg on the Moraua River. Among the people that fought in Béla's army Vlachs, called Walachorum, are named.
In 1272, King Ladislaus donates the royal lands or villages of Budula and Tohou, also known as Olahteleky, to Simon's son, Nicholas of Brașov.
From 1276 King Ladislaus allows the chapter of Alba Iulia to settle 60 Romanian households (mansiones) on the border of his estates called Fülesd and Enyed, separated from the episcopal lands, and to exempt them from all royal taxes, fiftieth and tithes.
In a grant (around 1280) Queen Helena confirmed the grant given by Stefan Vladislav to the Vranjina monastery, the Vlachs are separately mentioned, along with Arbanasi (Albanians), Latins, and Serbs.
In the 1280s, Simon of Kéza in the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum mentions the Vlachs in his work three times: After the land had been conquered by King Attila, several people left Pannonia, the Vlachs ( Blackis) were elected to remain in Pannonia who had been their shepherds and husbandmen. The Székelys were settled with the Vlachs ( Blackis) in the border mountains, mingling with them, and adopting their alphabet. After the withdrawal of the Huns, the only people left in Pannonia were immigrants, Slavs, Greeks, Germans, Moravians, and Vlachs ( Ulahis) who had been servants of Attila. Miskolczy points out that the ( Ulahis advenis) "Vlach newcomer", the adjective classifying Romanians as immigrants was omitted from the Romanian translation. Pop on other hand argues that Moravians (Slavs), as well as the Byzantines (Greeks), Germans (Teutons, East Franks), Bulgarians (Messians) and Romanians (Vlachs) are confirmed by other sources as being present in Pannonia or, at least, on its edges in the period preceding the appearance of the Hungarians. Some Hungarian scholars noted that Simon of Kéza used different spellings for Blackis and Ulahis, arguing that Blackis were actually the Turkic people Bulaqs who were confused with the Vlachs. According to Polish historian Ryszard Grzesik, the Vlachs appeared in Transylvania only in the 12th century, therefore Hungarian chroniclers identified the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Vlachs as a distinguishing characteristic. Kézai wrote that the Vlachs gave script to the Székelys, but the reality is different, because Kézai wrote about the Székelys runs, and his opinion was based on the observation that the Vlach shepherds engraved symbols while counting their sheep. Kézai confused the Székely runs with the Cyrillic script which was used by the Vlachs.
Ragusan medieval notary records mention Vlachs in the vicinity of the city were attacked and robbed by several Ragusans in 1284.
Several sources cite that the passes of the Carpathians in Transylvania were defended by the Vlachs together with Székelys and Saxons during the Second Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1285.
According to the old Russian chronicle, Ladislaus IV of Hungary asked for help from Rome and Constantinople because he feared an invasion by the Mongol Empire. Constantinople sent an army of Vlachs from what is now Serbia, but after the victorious battle, the Vlachs refused to go home and settled in the territory of Maramures.
Also in 1285, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos decides to move the Vlachs from Thrace to Asia-Minor, fearing their possible alliance with the Tatars. The same emperor, in 1289, confirms the rights of St. Andrew Monastery from Thessaly over the village Praktikatous or Vlachokatouna.
In 1288, as external threats from the Tatars, Cumans, Saracens, and other pagans arose ( omnino Tartarorum vel Cumanum Saracenum vel Meugarium), the universitas of the Vlachs was called to join the other Estates, including Hungarian nobles, Saxons and Szeklers (universisque nobilibus Ungarorum, Saxonibus, Syculis et Volachis), along with Church representatives from Brașov and Sibiu counties. This assembly was convened to defend the Christian faith, as stated in a letter from Lodomer, Archbishop of Esztergom.
According to a legend, in 1290 Ladislaus the Cuman was assassinated; the new Hungarian king allegedly drove voivode Radu Negru and his people across the Carpathians, where they formed Wallachia along with its first capital Câmpulung, as a Hungarian vassal state.D. CĂPRĂROIU, ON THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TOWN OF CÂMPULUNG, ″Historia Urbana″, t. XVI, nr. 1-2/2008, pp. 37-64
In 1291 Andrew III of Hungary presides over a meeting of "Nobles, Saxons, Szeklers, and Vlachs" in Alba Iulia.Ioan Aurel Pop: Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I, Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.467
In 1292, Andrew III of Hungary allows some Hungarian nobles to invite Vlachs to the country, to their estates called "Ilye", "Szád" and "Fenes".
In 1293, Andrew III of Hungary, publishes an "angry" charter to the Transylvanian nobility, mentions that all the Vlachs were supposed to be settled on the royal crown's property called "Székes", not on their own estates.
In November 1293, King Andrew confirms King Ladislaus's earlier concession to the chapter of Alba Iulia to keep the 60 households of Romanians (mansiones Olacorum) free from all taxes and services on the lands of Dalya, Ompaycza, Fylesd and Enugd, separated from the episcopal estates. These Romanians should not be forced by any royal tax collector to pay taxes, dues, or fiftieths. The charter, confirmed by a double seal, is dated by the hand of Theodore, provost of Fehérvár, vice-chancellor.
Stefan Milutin, in another medieval Serbian document, mentions that 30 Vlach families live on a church estate near Pristina.
In 1321 on the island of Krk, a priest gave land to the church, and the given land extended to the land of Kneže, where Vlachs lived.
In a battle, Vlachs fought alongside Mladen Šubić near Trogir in 1322.
King Władysław I Łokietek attacks Brandenburg with neighboring Vlach reinforcements " etiam vicinorum populorum, videlicet Ruthenorum, Walachorum et Lithwanorum stipatusc".
Goods sold by the Vlachs are mentioned in after 1328 by Ragusan documents, among them formaedi vlacheschi, a type of cheese.
First mention of a Vlach called Radul in 1329, in the Istria.
In 1330 Stefan Dečanski gifts to Visoki Dečani monastery the Vlach pastures and katuns along Drim and Lim rivers.
Croatian chronicler Miha de Barbazanis writes that Vlachs from the area of Cetina fought for Mladen II Šubić of Bribir against Charles I of Hungary and Ban John Babonić.Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule, 2017, pages 33-34
In the list of Papal Tithes from 1332–1337 in the Kingdom of Hungary, one settlement mentioned in the source as Romanian: " Căprioara". This Romanian place-name is the first recorded Romanian toponym in the Kingdom of Hungary, including Transylvania.László Makkai (2025). 9780880334792, Columbia University Press, (The Hungarian original by Institute of History Of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences). ISBN 9780880334792
In 1335, a royal commissioner, on the orders of the King of Hungary, arranges for a Vlach voivode named Bogdan to move to the Kingdom of Hungary "with his entire household and people". According to the charter, the settlement of the Vlach voivode and his people lasted from 1 November 1334 to 15 August 1335.
In 1341, a Hungarian royal document notes that the Hungarian Czibak noble family can invite and settle more Vlachs to their Tileagd estate, "from the south".
Stefan Dušan styles himself "Imperator Raxie et Romanie, dispotus Lartae et Blachie comes" – Emperor of Rascia and Romania, despot of Arta and ispan of Vlachia.
Stefan Dušan donates 320 Vlach families to the Bistrica monastery.
A charter, issued by Stefan Dušan, mentions that, Dobrodoliane is inhabited by Vlachs.
Morlachs are first recorded in 1344, during the struggle between the counts of the Kurjaković and Nelipić families, in the regions near Knin and Krbava, when a region called "Morlacorum" mentioned.
A letter from 1345 from Pope Clement VI to the Hungarian king Louis I, the phrase quod Olachi Romani appears, which can be interpreted as an expression of the papal chancellery's conviction about the Roman origin of the Wallachians.
In 1349, another Hungarian royal charter mentions the Vlachs, allowing the voivode to send a Vlach priest to Transylvania, thus encouraging more Vlachs to settle in the Hungarian kingdom from the south.
A Hungarian charter of 1352 states that, the lord lieutenant of Krassó County Szeri Pósa invited Vlachs to Hungary, to populate the area around the Mutnok stream.
Around 1355, Bogdan of Cuhea, former Voivode of Maramureș, but now in conflict with Louis I of Hungary, crosses the mountains with other Vlachs from Maramureș and takes over Moldavia.Ioan Aurel Pop: Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I, Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.473
In 1359, the King of Hungary allowed a Vlach noble family and their household to settle in the country, first giving them 13 villages, and then 6 years later another 5 villages in the Banat.
Also in 1359, the village of Lakság "near Oradea", reports in a letter to the bishop of Oradea that "the first Vlach inhabitants have arrived".
In 1365 Balc, son of Voivode Sas of Moldavia, defeated by Bogdan, moves to the Kingdom of Hungary and is given by Louis I of Hungary the confiscated domains of his opponent. Later, Balc became the head of Szatmár (Sătmar), Ugocsa County and Máramaros (Maramureș) counties in the Kingdom of Hungary, and he was also invested with the title of Count of the Székelys.
Vlachs from the domain of Vidčeselo, between Lika and Zrmanja, are rewarded for their military support by the ban of Croatia .
In June 1366 King Louis I of Hungary grants through the Decree of Turda special privileges to the Transylvanian noblemen to take measures against malefactors belonging to any nation, especially the Vlachs.I. Dani, K. Gündish et al. (eds.) Documenta Romaniae Historica, vol. XIII, Transilvania (1366-1370), Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 1994, p. 161–162
In 1370, Louis I of Hungary decreed that only those Vlach settlers who were Catholic Church could receive royal grants.
The village of Wołodź in Ruthenia was first documented in 1373 as a Vlach settlement.
In a letter dates to 1374, the Cathedral chapter of Oradea complains that he has only 9 Vlach villages, and asks for permission "to invite more Vlachs into the country" and to "settle them on his estates". Also in the same letter, he asks the "border nobles" that "if strangers come from Wallachia, do not stop them".
Papal documents from late 14th century reference the conquest of Medieș fortress "from the hands of schismatic Vlachs" by an unnamed King of Hungary. Historian Ioan-Aurel Pop places this event close to the Fourth Council of the Lateran
In 1374, the Cathedral chapter of Oradea complained that the Vlachs living in its territory are not willing to give up their nomadic lifestyle.
In 1374, Bishop László of Oradea obliges his successors not to prevent the Vlach knezes from settle further "foreigners" to the border areas of Bónafalva, Királybányatoplica and Keresztényfalva.
In 1376 the ban of Knin is also called "comes Holachorum".
In 1381 Croatian documents from Knin mention "universitas Valachorum".
In 1383 the so-called "Peace convention of Christian" is signed by Saxons and Romanians (Vlachs) from the area of Sibiu, aimed to ensure the peace between the two communities.
Vlachs are a documented presence in Belz since the rule of Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, probably as early as 1388.
In the 14th century, royal charters from the Kingdom of Serbia included segregation policies stating that "a Serb shall not marry a Vlach".Sima Ćirković; (2004) The Serbs p. 130; Wiley-Blackwell, Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule, 2017, page 31 However, these laws were not successful and intermarriage between Slavs, Vlachs and also Albanians did take place.
The biggest caravan shipment between Podvisoki in Bosnia and Republic of Ragusa was recorded on 9 August 1428, where Vlachs transported 1500 modius of salt with 600 horses.„Crainich Miochouich et Stiepanus Glegieuich ad meliustenendem super se et omnia eorum bona se obligando promiserunt ser Тhome de Bona presenti et acceptanti conducere et salauum dare in Souisochi in Bosna Dobrassino Veselcouich nomine dicti ser Тhome modia salis mille quingenta super equis siue salmis sexcentis. Et dicto sale conducto et presentato suprascripto Dobrassino in Souisochi medietatem illius salis dare et mensuratum consignare dicto Dobrassino. Et aliam medietatem pro eorum mercede conducenda dictum salem pro ipsius conductoribus retinere et habere. Promittentes vicissim omnia et singularia suprascripta firma et rata habere et tenere ut supra sub obligatione omnium suorum bonorum. Renuntiando" (09.08. 1428.g.), Div. Canc., XLV, 31v.
In 1433 Vlach knezes, voievodes, and juzi from Croatia vow to respect the property right of the local St. John church.
Vlachs are mentioned in a document of Grand Duke Švitrigaila, in Kremenets, as part of the local population subject to mayor of Busk legal authority.
Nicholas of Ilok styled himself as " Bosniae and Valachiae Rex".
In 1450, the Vlachs are granted a privilege in Šibenik, allowing the Vlachs to enter the town if they call themselves Croats.
Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini claims in 1450 that Trajan left a colony among the Sarmatians which still retains much of the Latin vocabulary, and that its members say: " oculum, digitum, manum, panem, and many other things, from which it appears that the Latins, who remained there as settlers, used the Latin language.""Apud superiores Sarmatas colonia est ab Traiano, ut aiunt, derelicta, quae nunc etiam inter tantam barbariem multa retinet latina vocabula, ab Italis, qui eo profecti sunt, notata. Oculum dicunt, digitum, manum, panem multaque alia quibus apparet ab Latinis, qui coloni ibidem relicti fureant manasse, eamque coloniam fuisse latino sermone usam." Poggio Bracciolini, Historia convivalis, utrum priscis Romanis latina lingua omnibus communis fuerit... in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58
In 1453, Flavio Biondo notes that "the Dacians or Vlachs claim to have Roman origins and they think this fact is a decoration in itself" and that "when they spoke the language of their common and simple people it scent of a grammatically incorrect peasant Latin"."Et qui e regione Danubio item adiacent Ripenses Daci, sive Valachi, originem, quam ad decus prae se ferunt praedicantque Romanam, loquela ostendunt, quos catholice christianos Romam quotannis et Apostolorum limina invisentes aliquando gavisi sumus ita loquentes audire, ut, quae vulgari communique gentis suae more dicunt, rusticam male grammaticam redoleant latinitatem." Flavio Biondo, Ad Alphonsum Aragonensem serenissimum regem de expeditione in Turchos Blondus Flavius Forliviensis in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58
King Matthias confirmed the liberties of the Vlachs in an open letter, issued March 31, 1474 in the town of Ružomberok.
Jan Długosz in his Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae wrote about Vlachs in Medieval Poland – Małopolska region, theorizing their origin as a population that came from Italy or Rome who expelled the Ruthenians (Slavic) population from the Danube settlements, and then they themselves settled in the fertile lands there.
An attested reference to Romanian comes from a Latin title of an oath made in 1485 by the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great to the Polish King Casimir, in which it is reported that "Haec Inscriptio ex Valachico in Latinam versa est sed Rex Ruthenica Lingua scriptam accepta"—"This Inscription was translated from Valachian (Romanian) into Latin, but the King has received it written in the Ruthenian language (Slavic)."
Regions and places are:
Some researchers, such as Bogumil Hrabak and Marian Wenzel, theorized that the origins of Stećci tombstones, which appeared in medieval Bosnia between 12th and 16th century, could be attributed to Vlach Burial of Bosnia and Herzegovina of that times.Marian Wenzel, "Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstobes—Who Made Them and Why?" Sudost-Forschungen 21 (1962): 102–143
Researcher have also raised a concern about cultural appropriation of Vlach heritage in the Balkans, denial of Vlach descent of various groups and personalities, and exclusion from political life. Octavian Ciobanu: Cultural appropriation of the Vlachs' heritage in Balkans
|
|
