Church Slavonic was the main language used for administrative (until the 16th century) and liturgical purposes (until the 17th century) by the Romanian principalities, being still occasionally used in the Orthodox Church until the early 18th century. [1]
The language, while based on Church Slavonic, was influenced by the Slavic languages used by surrounding peoples. The most important influences were from Middle and Modern Bulgarian, with influences from Serbian (in Wallachia) and Russian (in Moldavia). Starting with the 15th century, the language was also influenced by Romanian language. [2]
After the Slavic migrations, Slavonic became the liturgical language of the Eastern Orthodox Church in present-day Romania, under the influence of the South Slavic feudal states. The exact timing of this change happened is not known, but it was probably in the 10th century. [3] While the language was not understood by most Romanians, it was a language known by the bishops, the monks, some of the priests, the clerks, the merchants, the boyars and the Prince. [4]
Church Slavonic was also used as a literary language, for example in chronicles, story-books, law codexes (known as pravila), property documents (hrisov), decrees of the voivodes or boyars, diplomatic correspondence and sometimes even in private letters. [5] It also led to an integration of the written Romanian culture into the Slavic culture of the neighbours. [3]
The earliest contracts (zapis) to be written in Romanian rather than Slavonic date from 1575 to 1590 and by 1655–1660, all the administrative documents at the Princely Courts of both Wallachia and Moldavia were written in Romanian. [6]
The replacement of Slavonic religious texts with Romanian versions began with the first translations in Máramaros (now Maramureș) in the late 15th century, further translations being created in Transylvania after the Protestant Reformation. [7] In Wallachia, the gospels were translated into the vernacular between 1512 and 1518, and by the middle of the 16th century, the earliest religious works were printed, while the first complete bible in Romanian was printed in Bucharest in 1688. [3]
Nevertheless, the Orthodox Church opposed the changes and the Metropolitan printing presses continued to print Church Slavonic books until 1731 in Moldavia and 1745 in Wallachia. [8]
Coresi, the printer of the first Romanian-language book, saw in 1564 no good in the usage of Church Slavonic as a liturgical language, as the priests speak to the people in a foreign language, arguing that all the other peoples have the word of God in their language, except for the Romanians. [3] Dimitrie Cantemir, a Moldavian scholar who published the first novel in Romanian, saw the usage of Church Slavonic as a "barbarism", which caused a cultural regression. [8]
However, there were some cultural accomplishments done in the Church Slavonic language, such as a number of chronicles and historiographical works in Moldavia or Neagoe Basarab's Teachings to his son Theodosie. [9]
Moldavia is a historical region and former principality in Central and Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially independent and later autonomous state, it existed from the 14th century to 1859, when it united with Wallachia as the basis of the modern Romanian state; at various times, Moldavia included the regions of Bessarabia, all of Bukovina and Hertsa. The region of Pokuttya was also part of it for a period of time.
Wallachia or Walachia 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 and Oltenia. 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 the larger of the two traditional sections.
The Middle Ages in Romania began shortly after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the former Roman province of Dacia in the late 3rd century and with the start of the Early Middle Ages and the Migration Period that followed afterwards respectively. It subsequently came to an end with the reign of Domn Michael the Brave (1593–1601) who managed, for a short time between 1599 and 1600, to rule Wallachia, Moldavia, and Transylvania together, the three principalities whose territories were to be united some three centuries later to form modern and contemporary Romania.
Lupu Coci, known as Vasile Lupu, was a Voivode of Moldavia of Albanian and Greek origin between 1634 and 1653. Lupu had secured the Moldavian throne in 1634 after a series of complicated intrigues and managed to hold it for twenty years. Vasile was a capable administrator and a brilliant financier and was soon almost the richest man in the Christian East. His gifts to Ottoman leaders kept him on good terms with the Ottoman authorities.
Church Slavonic is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Serbia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, Slovenia and Croatia. The language appears also in the services of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese, and occasionally in the services of the Orthodox Church in America.
Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Fanariots were members of prominent Greek families in Phanar, the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is located, who traditionally occupied four important positions in the Ottoman Empire: Voivode of Moldavia, Voivode of Wallachia, Grand Dragoman of the Porte and Grand Dragoman of the Fleet. Despite their cosmopolitanism and often-Western education, the Phanariots were aware of their Greek ancestry and culture; according to Nicholas Mavrocordatos' Philotheou Parerga, "We are a race completely Hellenic".
Baia is a commune in Suceava County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, northeastern Romania with a population of 6,793. It is composed of two villages, namely Baia and Bogata. Located on the Moldova River, it was one of the earliest urban settlements in Moldavia.
The history of coins in the area that is now Romania spans over a 2500-year period; coins were first introduced in significant numbers to this area by the Greeks, through their colonies on the Black Sea shore.
The early modern times in Romania started after the death of Michael the Brave, who ruled in a personal union, Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia – three principalities in the lands that now form Romania – for three months, in 1600. The three principalities were subjected to the Ottoman Empire, and paid a yearly tribute to the Ottoman Sultans, but they preserved their internal autonomy. In contrast, Dobruja and the Banat were fully incorporated into the Ottoman Empire.
The history of Christianity in Romania began within the Roman province of Lower Moesia, where many Christians were martyred at the end of the 3rd century. Evidence of Christian communities has been found in the territory of modern Romania at over a hundred archaeological sites from the 3rd and 4th centuries. However, sources from the 7th and 10th centuries are so scarce that Christianity seems to have diminished during this period.
The Metropolis of Chișinău and All Moldova, also referred to as the Moldovan Orthodox Church, is an autonomous metropolitanate under the Russian Orthodox Church. Its canonical territory is the Republic of Moldova.
Chattel slavery existed on the territory of present-day Romania from the founding of the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia in 13th–14th century, until it was abolished in stages during the 1840s and 1850s before the Romanian War of Independence and the formation of the United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859, and also until 1783 in Transylvania and Bukovina. Most of the slaves were of Romani ethnicity. Particularly in Moldavia there were also slaves of Tatar ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with the Nogai and Crimean Tatars.
A controversy exists over the national identity and name of the native language of the main ethnic group in Moldova. The issue more frequently disputed is whether Moldovans constitute a subgroup of Romanians or a separate ethnic group. While there is wide agreement about the existence of a common language, the controversy persists about the use of the term "Moldovan language" in certain political contexts.
The obște was an autonomous agricultural community of the Romanians of the Middle Ages. Mixing private and common ownership, the communities generally employed an open field system. The obști were usually based on one or more extended families. This system of organization was similar throughout the Romanian-inhabited areas and it generally receded as overlords assumed more power over the rural communities and as the peasants lost their freedom by becoming serfs.
The Archdiocese of Râmnic is a Romanian Orthodox archdiocese based in Râmnicu Vâlcea, Romania, in the historic region of Oltenia, and covering Vâlcea County. Established in 1503-1504, although with a bishop residing there from the previous century, it is a continuation of the medieval Metropolis of Severin. Initially covering all of Oltenia, it saw a flourishing cultural and religious output during the 16th to 18th centuries, both in the see and in the monasteries of the region. The area of the diocese began to fall in 1939, reaching its current proportions in 2008, a year before it became an archdiocese.
The boyars of Moldavia and Wallachia were the nobility of the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia. The title was either inherited or granted by the Hospodar, often together with an administrative function. The boyars held much of the political power in the principalities and, until the Phanariote era, they elected the Hospodar.
Serfdom was widespread in Moldavia and Wallachia between 15th and 18th centuries, replacing the obște which were common before the founding of the medieval states of Wallachia and Moldavia. Initially, the serfs were allowed to change the estate on which they lived, although restrictions were introduced over the decades.
Udriște Năsturel, first name also Uriil, Uril, Ioriste, or Oreste, last name also Năsturelovici, was a Wallachian scholar, poet, and statesman, the brother-in-law of Prince Matei Basarab through his sister Elena Năsturel. Together, the three staged a cultural revival centered on Bucharest and Târgoviște. Năsturel had risen through the ranks of the Wallachian bureaucracy and had served Radu Mihnea's government in Moldavia, being kept as Logothete by Matei Basarab. In office, he had international correspondence and went on diplomatic travels through Central Europe, also overseeing the printing presses. He was the titular boyar of Herăști, known in his day as Fierești and Fierăști, where he built a palace that stands as a late example of Renaissance architecture, and earned him a regional fame.
The Paharnic was a historical Romanian rank, one of the non-hereditary positions ascribed to the boyar aristocracy in Moldavia and Wallachia. It was the local equivalent of a cup-bearer or cześnik, originally centered on pouring and obtaining wine for the court of Moldavian and Wallachian Princes. With time, it became a major administrative office and, in Wallachia, also had a lesser military function. The retinue of such boyars, usually called Păhărnicei, was in both countries also a private army.
The Romanian transitional alphabet, also known as the civil alphabet, was a series of alphabets containing a mix of Cyrillic and Latin characters used for the Romanian language in the 19th century. It replaced the Romanian Cyrillic alphabet and was in turn replaced by the Romanian Latin alphabet.