The original and short-lived reference to the region was
, the founding figure of the principality. The names
are derived from the name of the Moldova River
; however, the etymology is not known and there are several variants:
- a legend mentioned in
by Dimitrie Cantemir
links it to an aurochs
hunting trip of the Maramureș
and the latter's chase of a star-marked bull. Dragoș was accompanied by his female hound called Molda; 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 given to the river and extended to the country.
- the old
Molde, meaning "open-pit mine"
(Gothic: 𐌼𐌿𐌻𐌳𐌰, Runic: ᛗᚢᛚᛞᚨ) meaning "dust", "dirt" (cognate with the English mould), referring to the river.
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 local
in service to Yuriy 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.
In several early references,
"Moldavia" is rendered under the composite form Moldo-Wallachia
(in the same way Wallachia
may appear as Hungro-Wallachia
references to Moldavia included Boğdan Iflak
's Wallachia") and
(and occasionally Kara-Boğdan
– "Black Bogdania"). See also names in other languages
The inhabitants of Moldova were Christians. Archaeological works revealed the remains of a Christian necropolis at Mihălășeni, 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 8 and 7 meters. Similar necropolis and place of worship were found at Nicolina, in Iași
, is mentioned by the Hypatian Chronicle in the 13th century. The chronicle shows that this 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. 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.
The Bolohoveni disappeared from chronicles after their defeat in 1257 by Daniil Romanovich's troops.
In the early 13th century, the
, a possible
state of Halych
, were present, alongside the Vlachs, in much of the region's territory (towards 1216, the Brodniks are mentioned as in service of
On the border between Halych and the Brodniks, in the 11th century, a
by the name of Rodfos
was killed in the area by Vlachs who supposedly betrayed him.
In 1164, the future Byzantine Emperor
Andronikos I Komnenos
, was taken prisoner by Vlach shepherds around the same region.
, mentioned as a Vlach
, was sent by
to establish a line of defense against the Golden Horde
forces of Mongols on the Siret River
. This expedition resulted in a polity vassal to Hungary, centered around
Bogdan of Cuhea
, another Vlach
from Maramureș who had fallen out with the Hungarian king, crossed the Carpathians in 1359, took control of Moldavia, and succeeded in removing Moldavia from Hungarian control. His realm extended north to the Cheremosh River
, while the southern part of Moldavia was still occupied by the Tatar Mongols.
After first residing in Baia, Bogdan moved Moldavia's seat to
(it was to remain there until Petru Mușat
moved it to Suceava
; it was finally moved to
under Alexandru Lăpușneanu
- in 1565). The area around Suceava, roughly correspondent to future Bukovina
, formed one of the two administrative divisions of the new realm, under the name
Țara de Sus
(the "Upper Land"), whereas the rest, on both sides of the Prut
river, formed Țara de Jos
(the "Lower Land").
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 of
, the fiefdoms of
Cetatea de Baltă
(both in Transylvania
) or, at a later date, the territories between the Dniester and the Bug rivers.
profited from the end of the Hungarian-Polish union and moved the country closer to the Jagiellon realm
, becoming a
of Władysław II
on September 26, 1387. This gesture was to have unexpected consequences: Petru supplied the Polish ruler with funds needed in the war against the Teutonic Knights
, and was granted control over
until the debt was to be 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 the Battle of Obertyn
(1531). Prince Petru also expanded his rule southwards to the Danube Delta
. His brother Roman I conquered the Hungarian-ruled
in 1392, giving Moldavia an outlet to the Black Sea
, before being toppled from the throne for supporting
in his conflict with Vytautas the Great
, growing Polish influence was challenged by
Sigismund of Hungary
, whose expedition was defeated at
in 1385; however, Stephen disappeared in mysterious circumstances.
was brought to the throne in 1400 by the Hungarians (with assistance from Mircea I of Wallachia
), he shifted his allegiances towards Poland (notably engaging Moldavian forces on the Polish side in the
Battle of Grunwald
and the Siege 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 very first confrontation with the
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 of Bogdan II
and the ascension of Peter III Aaron
in 1451. Nevertheless, Moldavia was subject to further Hungarian interventions after that moment, as Matthias Corvinus
deposed Aron and backed Alexăndrel
to the throne in Suceava
. Petru Aron's rule also signified the beginning of Moldavia's
allegiance, as the ruler agreed to pay tribute
to Sultan Mehmed II
Stephen the Great
, who took the throne and subsequently came to an agreement with
Kazimierz IV of Poland
in 1457, the state reached its most glorious period. Stephen blocked Hungarian interventions in the Battle of Baia
, invaded Wallachia in 1471, and dealt with Ottoman reprisals in a major victory (the 1475
Battle of Vaslui
); after feeling threatened by Polish ambitions, he also attacked
and resisted Polish reprisals in the Battle of the Cosmin Forest
(1497). However, he had to surrender Chilia
(Kiliya) and Cetatea Albă (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi
), the two main fortresses in the
, 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 Sultan
. Following the taking of
(Khotyn) and Pokuttya
, Stephen's rule also brought a brief extension of Moldavian rule into
: Cetatea de Baltă and
became his fiefs
Bogdan 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 the
over his ambitions in Transylvania (losing possessions in the region to George Martinuzzi
), was defeated in Pokuttya by Poland, and failed in his attempt to extricate Moldavia from Ottoman rule – the country lost
to the Ottomans, who included it in their Silistra Eyalet
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 of
). In time, much of the resources were tied to the
, either through
on trade that were only lifted in 1829, after the Treaty 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 the boyars
and the boyar Council – Sfatul boieresc
(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 the văcărit
(a tax on head of cattle), first introduced by Iancu Sasul
in the 1580s.
The economic opportunities offered brought about a significant influx of
financiers and officials, who entered a stiff competition with the high boyars over appointments to the Court. As the manor system
suffered the blows of economic crises, and in the absence of salarisation
(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 of serfdom
, 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 a
, based on exchanges in foreign currency. Serfdom was doubled by the much less numerous slave population (robi
), composed of migrant
and captured Nogais
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 as
and John III
. Ioan Vodă's revolt against the Ottomans ended in his execution (1574). The country descended into political chaos, with frequent Ottoman and
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 a
Greek who encouraged the Renaissance
and attempted to introduce Lutheranism
The Wallachian prince
Michael the Brave
, after previously taking over
, also deposed Prince Ieremia Movilă, in 1600, and managed to become the first Prince to rule over Moldavia, Wallachia, and Transylvania;
the episode ended in Polish conquests of lands down to Bucharest
, soon ended by the outbreak of the
and the reestablishment of Ottoman rule. Polish incursions were dealt a blow by the Ottomans during the 1620 Battle of Cecora
, which also saw an end to the reign of
Phanariote rule was marked by
, 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 by
(such as the decision by Constantine Mavrocordatos
to salarize public offices, to the outrage of boyars, and the abolition of serfdom in 1749, as well as Scarlat Callimachi
), 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 1774
Treaty 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.
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 Islamic colonization
In 1775 Moldavia lost to the
its northwestern part, which became known as Bukovina
. 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.
Treaty of Jassy
in 1792 forced the Ottoman Empire to cede Yedisan
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 as Bessarabia
) to the Russian Empire in 1812.
The first Moldavian rule established under the Statute, that of
, was nonetheless ambivalent: eager to reduce abuse of office, Sturdza introduced reforms (the abolition of slavery,
, 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 Romanian
, he obtained the establishment of a
between the two countries (1847) and showed support for radical
projects favored by low boyars; nevertheless, he clamped down with noted violence the Moldavian 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 the National Party
), a trans-boundary group of radical union supporters which campaigned for a single state under a foreign dynasty.
Russian domination ended abruptly after the
, when the Treaty of Paris also passed the two Romanian principalities under the tutelage of
Great European Powers
(together with Russia and the Ottoman overlord, power-sharing included the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Austrian Empire
Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia
). Due to Austrian and Ottoman opposition and British reserves, the union program as demanded by radical campaigners was debated intensely. In September 1857, given that
had perpetrated fraud
in elections in Moldavia, the Powers allowed the two states to convene ad-hoc divans
, which were to decide a new constitutional framework; the result showed overwhelming support for the union, as the creation of a
state. After further meetings among leaders of tutor states, an agreement was reached (the Paris Convention
), whereby a limited union was to be enforced – separate governments and thrones, with only two bodies (a
Court of Cassation
and a Central Commission residing in Focșani
); it also stipulated that an end to all privilege was to be passed into law, and awarded back to Moldavia the areas around
However, the Convention failed to note whether the two thrones could not be occupied by the same person, allowing
to introduce the candidacy of Alexandru Ioan Cuza
in both countries. On January 17 (January 5, 1859 Old Style
, he was elected prince of Moldavia by the respective electoral body. After street pressure over the much more
body in Bucharest
, Cuza was elected in Wallachia as well (February 5/January 24). Exactly three years later, after diplomatic missions that helped remove opposition to the action, the formal union created the
(the basis of modern Romania) and instituted Cuza as Domnitor
(all legal matters were clarified after the replacement of the prince with Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
in April 1866, and the creation of an independent Kingdom of Romania
in 1881) - this officially ending the existence of the Principality of Moldavia.
) was part of the
from before the founding of the Principality of Moldavia, until it was abolished
in stages during the 1840s and 1850s. Most of the slaves were of Roma
(Gypsy) ethnicity. There were also slaves of Tatar
ethnicity, probably prisoners captured from the wars with the Nogai
and Crimean Tatars
. The institution of slavery was first attested in a 1470 Moldavian document, through which Prince
Stephen the Great
frees Oană, a Tatar slave who had fled to Jagiellon Poland
The exact origins of slavery are not known, as it was a common
practice in medieval Europe
. As in the
, the Roma were held as slaves of the state, of the
or of the monasteries. Historian Nicolae Iorga
associated the Roma people's arrival with the 1241 Mongol invasion of Europe
and considered their slavery as a vestige of that era; he believed that the Romanians took the Roma as slaves from the Mongols
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 the Golden Horde
, or the slaves of Tatars and Cumans.
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 the Danube
, demonstrating that slavery a widespread practice. The Tatar slaves, smaller in numbers, were eventually merged into the Roma population.
Traditionally, Roma slaves were divided into three categories. The smallest was owned by the
, and went by the Romanian-language name of
("Gypsies belonging to the lord"). The two other categories comprised țigani mănăstirești
("Gypsies belonging to the monasteries"), who were the property of Romanian Orthodox
and Greek Orthodox
monasteries, and țigani boierești
("Gypsies belonging to the boyars"), who were enslaved by the category of landowners.
The abolition of slavery was carried out following a campaign by young revolutionaries who embraced the
ideas of the Enlightenment
. In 1844, Moldavian Prince
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 Prince Grigore Alexandru Ghica
, a bill drafted by
and Petre Mavrogheni
was adopted by the Divan; the law emancipated all slaves to the status of taxpayers (citizens).
Support for the abolitionists was reflected in
of the mid-19th century. The issue of the Roma slavery became a theme in the literary works of various liberal
intellectuals, many of whom were active in the abolitionist camp. The Romanian abolitionist movement was also influenced by the much larger movement against Black slavery
in the United States through press reports and through a translation of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Uncle Tom's Cabin
. Translated by Theodor Codrescu and first published in
in 1853, under the name Coliba 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.
Under the reign of
Stephen 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 chronicler
, if someone was found without carrying a weapon, he was
sentenced to death
Stephen reformed the army by promoting men from the landed free peasantry răzeși
(i.e. something akin to freeholding
) to infantry (voinici
) and light cavalry (hânsari
) — to make himself less dependent on the
— and introduced his army to guns. In times of crises, The Small Host (Oastea Mică
) — which consisted of around 10,000 to 12,000 men — stood ready to engage the enemy, while the Large Host (Oastea Mare
) — which could reach up to 40,000 — had all the free peasantry older than 14, and strong enough to carry a
or use the bow
, recruited. This seldom happened, for such a
levée en masse
was devastating for both economy and population growth. In the Battle of Vaslui
, Stephen had to summon the Large Host and also recruited
and early Renaissance
, the Moldavians relied on light
) which used
similar to those of the Tatars
; 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 400
were sent to aid Jagiellon Poland
, Moldavia’s overlord against the
. When making eye-contact with the enemy, the horse archers would withdraw to a nearby forest and
themselves with leaves and branches; according to Jan Długosz, when the enemy entered the wood, they were "showered with arrows" and defeated.
The heavy cavalry consisted of the nobility, namely, the boyars and their guards, the viteji
(lit. "brave ones", small nobility) and the curteni
— the Court Cavalry (all nominally part of the Small Host
). In times of war, boyars were compelled by the
feudal system of allegiance
to supply the prince with troops in accordance with the extent of their manorial domain
Other troops consisted of professional foot soldiers (lefegii
) which fulfilled the
role, and the plăieși
, free peasants whose role was that of border guards: they guarded the mountain passes and were prepared to
the enemy and to fight delaying actions.
In the absence of the prince, command was assigned to the
(Grand Sword-Bearer - a military office) or to the Mare Vornic
(approx. Governor of the Country; a civilian office second only to the Voievod
, 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 a
policy combined with harassment of the advancing enemy using hit-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 the Battle of Vaslui
Towards the end of the 15th century, especially after the success of
, mercenaries became a dominant force in the country’s military. With the economic demands created by the
stagnation of the Ottoman Empire
, the force diminished and included only mercenaries such as the
The Treaty of Adrianople provided for a Moldavian self-defense naval force, to be composed of
armed with cannons
were first built in the 1840s. Along with patrolling the Danube, these made their way on its tributaries, the Siret
and the Prut River
Of late 15th century Moldavia, with an area of approximately 97,000 km2
(37,000 sq mi), the biggest part and the core of the former principality is located in Romania (47.5%), followed by the Republic of Moldova
(30.5%) and Ukraine (22%). This represents 88% of the Republic of Moldova's surface, 19.5% 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 is
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 - 600,000 people,
but an extensive catagraphy was first conducted in 1769-1774.
In 1848, the northwestern part, annexed in 1775 by the Habsburg Empire,
, had a population of 377,571; in 1856, the eastern half of Moldavia,
, 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.
The largest cities (as per last censuses) and
in the Moldavia region are:
- 290,422 (465,477 in metropolitan area) - capital of Moldavia between 1564–1859
- 249,432 (323,563)
- 144,307 (223,239)
- 106,847 (144,617)
- 92,121 (144,100) - capital of Moldavia between 1388–1564
- Piatra Neamț
- 85,055 (131,334)
- 79,315 (125,699)
In 1562, the so-called
(a Latin Academic College) was founded in Cotnari
, a school which marked the beginnings of the organized humanistic education institutions in Moldavia.
The first institute of higher learning that functioned on the territory of Romania was
founded by Prince Vasile Lupu as a Higher School for Latin and Slavonic Languages
, followed by the
, in 1707. The first high education structure in
was established in the autumn of 1813, when Gheorghe 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 language, regarding both
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 established
University of Iași
, the first Romanian modern university.
Ștefan Pascu, Documente străine despre români, ed. Arhivelor statului, București 1992,
"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 … "
în Voyage fait par moy, Pierre Lescalopier l’an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople, în: Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii și materiale de istorie medievală, IV, 1960, p. 444
Pierre Lescalopier l’an 1574 de Venise a Constantinople, dans Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii și materiale de istorie medievală, IV, 1960, p. 444
Paul Cernovodeanu, Studii și materiale de istorie medievală, IV, 1960, p. 444.
Where did the name Moldova come from?
2010-01-27 at the Wayback Machine.
Etymology of Moldova
2011-09-19 at the Wayback Machine.
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
"Archived copy". Archived from
on 2006-06-16. Retrieved
The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 273
Michael the Brave
at Encyclopædia Britannica
George W. White (2000).
Nationalism and Territory: Constructing Group Identity in Southeastern Europe. Rowman & Littlefield.
A document issued by Michael the Brave in 1600, in Iași
King, p.22-23; Hitchins, p. 41
The Roma in Romanian History, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2004,
Istoria medie a României, Vol. I, Editura Universității din București, Bucharest, 1991
Între Orient și Occident. Țările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995.
Between Past and Future: The Roma of Central and Eastern Europe, University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield, 2001.
The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 566
Długosz, p. 438
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,
ISBN 973-95477-3-7, Romanian Edition
First activities of population counting conducted on the Romanian territory of today
Moldavians at the 2002 census
Schola Latina - The Foundation of the first School in which mathematics was taught in Roumania
History of Education
History of the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași
- Gheorghe I. Brătianu,
Sfatul domnesc și Adunarea Stărilor în Principatele Române, Bucharest, 1995
- Vlad Georgescu,
Istoria ideilor politice românești (1369-1878), Munich, 1987
- Ștefan Ștefănescu,
Istoria medie a României, Bucharest, 1991
||Wikimedia Commons has media related to