Some Considerations on the Emergence of the Principality of Moldavia in the Middle of the Fourteenth Century

Type:

Book Chapter

Author:

Dennis Deletant

Published:

1988

Publisher:

Palgrave Macmillan UK

For the earliest chroniclers of Moldavia’s history the emergence of the principality was associated with a legendary event: the hunt for an aurochs by Dragoş, a Romanian from the region of Maramureş in northern Transylvania, who crossed the Carpathians and settled in what is now Moldavia, becoming its first voivode.1 It is not our aim here to investigate the mythology behind the legend that developed around this hunt,2 although, as we shall, see, Dragoş cannot be dismissed entirely as a figure of legend, but rather to demonstrate how recent historical research has elucidated the problems surrounding the origins of the feudal state of Moldavia and has proposed a solution of them. In doing so, our hope is that the fruits of the labours of a number of scholars, in particular of several scholars in Romania, will reach a wider audience and thus dispel the mist of mystery that for some still envelops the early stages of the development of Moldavia.

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