Transylvania

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Transylvania highlighted on a map of Romania, with the counties' boundaries. The light yellow areas correspond to the core territory of the historical Voivodeship. The regions marked in dark yellow, corresponding to Maramure?, Cri?ana and the Romanian Banat, are sometimes considered part of Transylvania.

Location of Transylvania (including Banat, Cri?ana and Maramure?) in Europe.

Transylvania (Romanian: Ardeal or Transilvania; Hungarian: ErdÊly; German: Siebenbßrgen (help¡info), see also other denominations) is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term frequently encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical regions of Cri?ana, Maramure?, and (Romanian) Banat.

Transylvania was once the nucleus of the Kingdom of Dacia (82 BC–106 AD). In 106 AD the Roman Empire conquered the territory and after that its wealth was systematically exploited. After the Roman legions withdrew in 271 AD, it was overrun by a succession of tribes, which subjected it to various influences. During this time areas of it were under the control of the Visigoths, Huns, Gepids, Avars and Bulgars. Thereafter the Romanized Dacian inhabitants either moved into the mountains and preserved their culture or migrated southward. It is likely that elements of the mixed Daco–Roman population held out in Transylvania.^[1] There is an ongoing scholarly debate over the population of Transylvania before the Hungarian conquest^[2] (see Origin of the Romanians).

The Magyars conquered the area at the end of the 9th century and firmly established their control over it in 1003, when their king Stephen I, according to legend, defeated the native prince entitled or named Gyula.^[3][4][5][6] Between 1003 and 1526, Transylvania was a voivodeship of the Kingdom of Hungary, led by a voivod appointed by the Hungarian King. After the Battle of MohĂĄcs in 1526 Transylvania became effectively an independent principality ruled primarily by Calvinist Hungarian princes. Afterward, in 1566, Hungary was divided between the Habsburgs and the Turks, with the Transylvanian principality maintaining autonomy as an Ottoman subject.

The Habsburgs acquired the territory shortly after the Battle of Vienna in 1683. The Habsburgs, however, recognized the Hungarian sovereignty over Transylvania,^{[1][dubious – discuss]} while the Transylvanians recognized the suzerainty of the Habsburg emperor Leopold I (1687), and the region was officially attached to the Habsburg Empire, separated in all but name^[7][8] from Habsburg controlled Hungary^[9][10][11] and subjected to the direct rule of the emperor’s governors.^[12] In 1699 the Turks legally conceded their loss of Transylvania in the Treaty of Karlowitz; however, anti-Habsburg elements within the principality only submitted to the emperor in the 1711 Peace of Szatmár. After the Ausgleich of 1867 the region was fully reabsorbed into Hungary ^[4][6] as a part of the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Following defeat in World War I, Austria-Hungary began to disintegrate. The ethnic Romanian majority elected representatives, who then proclaimed union with Romania on December 1, 1918. In 1920, the Allies confirmed the union in the Treaty of Trianon. Hungary protested against the detach, as over 1,600,000 Hungarian people^[13] were living in the area in question, mainly in Szekler Land of Eastern Transylvania, and along the newly created border, which was drawn through areas with Hungarian majority. In August 1940, in the midst of World War II, Hungary regained about 40% of Transylvania by the Vienna Award, with the aid of Germany and Italy. The territory, however, reverted to Romania in 1945; this was confirmed in the 1947 Paris Peace Treaties^[4].

In distant regions, Transylvania is also often associated with Dracula^[14][15][16] (Bram Stoker's novel and its film adaptations), and the horror genre in general, while in countries of Central and Eastern Europe the region is known for the scenic beauty of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history.

Etymology

• Transylvania was first referred to in a Medieval Latin document in 1075 as ultra silvam, meaning "beyond the forest" (ultra (+accusative) meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative case of sylva (sylvam) meaning "wood or forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods". Hungarian historians claim that the Medieval Latin form Ultrasylvania, later Transylvania, was a direct translation from the Hungarian form Erd?-elve (not the Hungarian was derived from the Latin).^[17]
• The German name SiebenbĂźrgen means "seven fortresses", after the seven (ethnic German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region (Kronstadt, Schäßburg, Mediasch, Hermannstadt, MĂźhlbach, Bistritz and Klausenburg). This is also the origin of many other languages' names for the region, such as the Polish SiedmiogrĂłd.
• The Hungarian form ErdĂŠly was first mentioned in the 12th century Gesta Hungarorum as "Erdeuleu".
• The first known occurrence of the Romanian name Ardeal appeared in a document in 1432 as Ardeliu.^[18]

History

In its early history, the territory of Transylvania belonged to a variety of empires and states, including Dacia, the Roman Empire, the Hun Empire and the Gepid Kingdom.^[19] There were also periods when autonomous political entities arose under the control of the Byzantine and the Bulgarian Empire^[20].

In the 11th century Hungary took possession of Transylvania, a territory that probably had a mixed but basically Romanian population.^[21] After the occupation the Hungarian crown encouraged immigration in order to strengthen against outside invasion. Most important was the settlement of the Szeklers and the Germans, who came in the 12th century. As a political entity, (Southern) Transylvania is mentioned from the 12th century as a county (Alba) of the Kingdom of Hungary (M. princeps ultrasilvanus - comes Bellegratae). Transylvania's seven counties were brought under the voivode's (count of Alba Iulia) rule in 1263. Although Transylvania was part of the Kingdom of Hungary, it retained wide autonomous privileges^[22] and status^[23] and after 1526 became a fully autonomous principality^[23] under nominal Ottoman suzerainty.

A few centuries later, in 1688, it was added to the expanding territories of Habsburg Monarchy, then became again a part of the Kingdom of Hungary within the newly established Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. Since World War I, it has been part of Romania, apart from a brief period of Hungarian occupation during World War II.

Cluj-Napoca is today considered to be the region's spiritual capital, although Transylvania was also ruled from Alba Iulia during its period as an autonomous principality within the Ottoman Empire, and from Sibiu, where the Habsburg governor was located from 1711 to 1848. The seat of the Transylvanian Diet was itself moved to Sibiu for some time in the 19th century.

Since medieval times, the population of the region has been a mixture of ethnic Romanians (historically known as Vlachs), Hungarians, the ethnic Hungarian^[24] SzĂŠkely people, Germans (known as Saxons), Bulgarians (see ?chei, ?cheii Bra?ovului, Banat Bulgarians), Armenians (especially in Gherla (Armenopolis), Gheorgheni and Tarnaveni), Jews and Roma (known as Gypsies or "tatars" - Tatern in Transylvanian Saxon or t?t?ra?i in Romanian).

The Roman province of Dacia

The Kingdom of Dacia was in existence at least as early as the beginning of the 2nd century BC when, Rubobostes, a Dacian king from the territory of present-day Transylvania, undertook the control of the Carpathian basin by defeating the Celts who previously held the power in the region.

Transylvania within the Dacian Kingdom, during the rule of Burebista, 82 BC, stretching from the Black Sea to the Adriatic and from the Balkan Mountains to Bohemia.^[25]

Dacia reached its maximum extent under the rule of Burebista. The area now constituting Transylvania was the political center of the ancient Kingdom of Dacia, where several important fortified cities were built; among them was the capital Sarmizegetusa, located near the current Romanian town of Hunedoara.

In 101-102 and 105-106 AD, Roman armies under the Emperor Trajan fought a series of military campaigns to subjugate the wealthy Dacian Kingdom. The Romans under Trajan succeeded by 106 to subdue the south and the center regions of Dacia. After the conquest, the Romans seized an enormous amount of wealth (the Dacian Wars were commemorated on Trajan's Column in Rome) and immediately started to exploit the Dacian gold and salt mines located in today territory of Transylvania. Roman influence was broadened by the construction of modern roads, and some existing major cities, like Sarmizegetusa and Dierna (today Orsova) were made colonies. The new province was divided under Hadrian: Dacia Superior, that corresponded roughly to Transylvania and Dacia Inferior, similar to the region of South Romania (Walachia)^{[citation needed]}. During Antoninus Pius (138-161) the same territory was included in the provinces Dacia Porolissensis (capital at Porolissum) and Dacia Apulensis (capital at Apulum, today Alba-Iulia city in Romania). The Romans built new mines, roads and forts in the province. Colonists from other Roman provinces were brought in to settle the land and found cities like Apulum (now Alba Iulia), Napoca (now Cluj-Napoca), Ulpia Traiana Sarmizegetusa and Aquae. During the Roman administration also Christianity entered in the current territory of Transylvania from the neighboring Roman provinces where, according to the tradition of the Romanian Orthodox Church, St. Peter preached.

Due to increasing pressure from the Visigoths,^[26] the Romans abandoned the province during the reign of the Emperor Aurelian in 271. As across much of Europe, a period of chaos and conquests followed after the collapse of Roman rule. However, as shown by the archeological research, many of the Roman cities continued to exist, building fortifications. Also Christianity survived as proved by the many artifacts discovered. Among the most famous is the donarium from Biertan (4th century) having the inscription 'Ego Zenovius votvm posui' (I, Zenovie, offered this). The territory fell under the control of the Visigoths and Carpians until they were in turn displaced and subdued by the Huns in 376, under the leadership of their infamous warlord Attila. After the disintegration of Attila's empire, the Huns were succeeded by Gepids of Eurasian Avar descent. The region was also influenced during this period by massive Slavic immigration.

At the beginning of the 9th century, Transylvania, along with eastern Pannonia, was under the control of the First Bulgarian Empire^{[citation needed]}. After a brief period of Bulgarian rule, the territory, was partially under Byzantine control.

Conquest of Transylvania and integration into the Kingdom of Hungary

Based on Primary Sources

The presence of Romanians in Transylvania before the arrival of the Magyar tribes is mentioned in the Hungarian chronicle Gesta Hungarorum. According to this document, Transylvania was inhabited by Romanians/Vlachs and Slavs at the time of the Magyar conquest and was ruled by the Vlach prince Gelou. After Gelou was killed by the Hungarians in a battle near the River Some?, his subjects elected Tuhutum as their prince.^[27]

Some historians consider the Gesta Hungarorum an unreliable source.^[28] For example the author thought Kende had been the father of KurszĂĄn.^[29] In fact "kende" was a title of a Hungarian dignitary, probably the sacral ruler.^[29] It is also worth mentioning that the Gesta was written about 300 years after the Hungarians entered Transylvania. The author of Gesta also talks about Cuman people at the time of the arrival of the Hungarians in Transylvania, though their first appearance in the ancient homeland of the Hungarians (between the Lower Danube and the Don) is dated to the eleventh century.^[30]

The account of the Gesta Hungarorum is however repeated by Simon of KĂŠza who writes that the Vlachs remained after Attila left in Pannonia and Transylvania,^[31] and also that the SzĂŠkely were settled "among the Vlachs" (sed cum Blakis) in the mountains.^[32] These words are repeated in the Chronicon Dubnicense, Chronicon Posoniense^[33] Anna Komnenos also mentions "Dacians" (Vlachs) North of the Danube in her Alexiad.^[34] Likewise, John Kinnamos writes in 1176 on the expedition of John Vatzates that there were Vlachs North of the Danube and that "it is said they are colonists arrived long ago from Italy."^[35] These statements are repeated by all humanist authors like Antonio Bonfini^[36] or Filip Callimachus^[37] who state the Vlachs were descendants of the Roman colonists in Transylvania. With the exception of Istvan Szamoskozy, it was not until the late 18th century that any historian cast doubt on the continuity of the Romanians in Dacia.^[38]

Based on Library of Congress

No written or architectural evidence bears witness to the presence of "proto-Romanians" the lands north of the Danube during the millennium after Rome's withdrawal from Dacia.^[39] However, according to the same source, when the Magyars arrived in the Carpathian Basin, they met local population and "there is little doubt that these included some Romanians who remained faithful to the Eastern Orthodox Church after the East-West Schism".^[39] Though, the Library of Congress in its country study about Hungary simply points out that "Romanian and Hungarian historians disagree about the ethnicity of Transylvania's population before the Magyars' arrival".^[2]
These facts have fueled a centuries-long feud between Romanian and Hungarian historians over Transylvania.^[39] The Romanians assert that they are the descendants of Latin-speaking Dacian peasants who remained in Transylvania after the Roman exodus, and of Slavs who lived in Transylvania's secluded valleys, forests, and mountains, and survived there during the tumult of the Dark Ages.^[39] Romanian historians explain the absence of hard evidence for their claims by pointing out that the region lacked organized administration until the twelfth century and by positing that the Mongols destroyed any existing records when they plundered the area in 1241.^[39]
Hungarians assert, among other things, that the Roman population quit Dacia completely in 271, that the Romans could not have made a lasting impression on Transylvania's aboriginal population in only two centuries,^[39] and that Transylvania's Romanians descended from Balkan nomads who crossed northward over the Danube in the thirteenth century and flowed into Transylvania in any significant numbers only after Hungary opened its borders to foreigners.^[39] The Hungarians maintain that Transylvania was inhabited not by the ancestors of the Romanians but by Slavs and point out that the first mention of the Romanians' ancestors in Hungarian records, which appeared in the thirteenth century, described them as drifting herders.^[2]

The conquest

Map of Europe showing Transylvania as part of the Kingdom of Hungary (around 1097 AD)

At the beginning of the 9th century the Hungarian tribes were located in the north of the Black Sea. In 895 as a result of a planned 'conquest' and a massive withdrawal caused by a Bulgarian-Pecheneg attack they established in the Upper-Tisza region and Transylvania and started to expand their territories towards west only in 899. According to the Gesta Hungarorum describing among others the conquest of Transylvania, three statal structures ruled by^[40] Menumorut, Glad and Gelu, the most powerful local leaders who opposed the Magyars^[40] were encountered and defeated by the Magyars.^[40] The privileged position of these figures tended to put brakes on the normal exercise of Romanian critical historiography.^[41]

Magyars in Transylvania (10-11th century)^[42]

Gelou (Gelu in Romanian, Gyalu in Hungarian) leader of the Vlachs (ancient Romanians)^[40] and Slavs^[40] in Transylvania was ruling over the Middle part of Transylvania^[40] and had his capital at D?bâca. He was defeated by the warriors of the Magyar chieftain TÊtÊny (also called TÜhÜtÜm; in the original Latin: Tuhutum) sometime during the 10th century.

Glad (Bulgarian and Serbian Cyrillic: ????) ruled over the South-West of Trabsylvania,^[40] having authority over the Slavs and Vlachs, which consisted most of the population of mentioned regions at the time. He was, according to the Gesta Hungarorum, a voivod (duke) from Bundyn (Vidin), ruler of the territory of Banat, during the 9th and 10th centuries. He also ruled part of south Transylvania, and Vidin region, and was a local governor or vassal of the First Bulgarian Empire under Bulgarian tsar Simeon. Glad was defeated by the Hungarians during the 10th century.^[40] One of his descendants, Ahtum, was a duke of Banat and the last ruler^[40] who opposed the establishment of the Hungarian Kingdom in the 11th century, but he too was defeated by the Hungarian Crown.

Menumorut, a vassal of Byzantium^[40] ruled the lands between the River Tisza and the Ygfon Forest^[40] in the direction of Transylvania, from the Mure? river to the Some? river. He declined the request of the Magyar ruler Árpåd (907) to cede his territory between the Some? river and the Mese? Mountains, and in the negotiations with the ambassadors Usubuu and Veluc of Árpåd he invoked the sovereignty of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise. The Magyars first besieged the citadel of Zotmar (Romanian: Satu Mare, Hungarian: Szatmår) and then Menumorut's castle in Bihar, and were able to defeat him. The Gesta Hungarorum then retells the story of Menumorut^[40] . In the second telling, he married his daughter into the Árpåd dynasty. Her son Taksony, the grandson of Menumorut^[40] , became ruler of the Magyars and father of Mihåly and GÊza, whose son Vajk became the first King of Hungary in 1001 under the Christian baptismal name Stephen (Istvån). The early 11th century was marked by the conflict between King Stephen I of Hungary and his uncle Gyula, the ruler of Transylvania. The Hungarian ruler was successful in these wars, and Transylvania was incorporated into the Christian Kingdom of Hungary. The Transylvanian Christian bishopric and the comitatus system were organised. By the early 11th century the ethnic Hungarian SzÊkely were established in southeastern Transylvania^[43] as a border population of ready warriors, and in the 12th and 13th centuries, the areas in the south and northeast were settled by German colonists called Saxons.^[43] Romanians maintained control over a few autonomous regions called 'terrae': Fagaras, Amlas. Hateg, Maramures, Lapus. However, the autonomy was taken by the end of Árpåd dynasty in 1301.

Medieval period

In 1241-1242, during the Mongol invasion of Europe, Transylvania was among the territories devastated by the Golden Horde. A large portion of the population perished. This was followed by a second Mongol invasion in 1285, led by Nogai Khan. To escape the deprecations, Wallachian (Romanian) settlers moved into the mountain fastness of the Carpathians.^[1] The rulers of the Kingdom of Hungary established programs of colonization in eastern and southern Hungary. Saxon Germans, Szeklers, Slavs, and Wallachians settled in the peripheral areas which had suffered so greatly from the Mongol invasion.^[1]

Diocesan division of Transylvania in the 13th century within the Kingdom of Hungary

Following this devastation, Transylvania was reorganized according to a class system of Estates, which established privileged groups (universitates) with power and influence in economic and political life, as well as along ethnic lines. The first Estate was the lay and ecclesiastic aristocracy, ethnically heterogeneous, but undergoing a process of homogenization around its Hungarian nucleus. The other Estates were Saxons, Szeklers and Romanians (or Vlachs - Universitas Valachorum), all with an ethnic and ethno-linguistic basis (Universis nobilibus, Saxonibus, Syculis et Olachis). The general assembly (congregatio generalis) of the four Estates had few genuine legislative powers in Transylvania, but it sometimes took measures regarding order in the country.

After the Decree of Turda (1366), which openly called for "to expel or to exterminate in this country malefactors belonging to any nation, especially Romanians" in Transylvania,^[44] the only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility was through conversion to Roman Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, being integrated in the Hungarian nobility, but the most of them declined, thus losing their status and privileges.^[45]

In some regions in the north (Maramure?) and south (?ara Ha?egului, Fagaras, Banat) where Romanians formed a majority of the population,^[46] the Orthodox Romanian ruling class of nobilis kenezius (classed as lesser and middle nobility in the Kingdom as a whole) enjoyed a period of prosperity at the end of the 14th and the beginning of the 15th century, reflected in the reconstruction and decoration of some Orthodox churches. A Romanian archbishop is mentioned in 1377 in Transylvania; other Orthodox hierarchs were established in St. Michael's monastery at Feleac, near Cluj and Peri.^[46] Nevertheless, because of the gradual loss of a nobility of its own, Romanians were no longer able to keep their Universitas Valachorum.

John Hunyadi

A key figure to emerge in Transylvania in the first half of the 15th century was John Hunyadi/JĂĄnos Hunyadi^[47][48]/Iancu de Hunedoara, a native of Transylvania, born in a family of Romanian origins.^[46] (According to the usage of Hungarian noblemen of the time, Iancu/John/JĂĄnos took his family name after his landed estate.^[47]) He was one of the greatest military figures of the time, being Hungarian general, voivode of Transylvania^[47] and then governor of the Kingdom of Hungary^[46][47] from 1446 to 1452. He was a Transylvanian noble of Romanian origin^[46] some sources indicating him as the son of Voicu/Vajk, a Romanian boyar from Wallachia^[49] though other sources are telling that his father was a native Transylvanian .^[50] Hungarian historians claim that his mother was ErzsĂŠbet Morzsinay the daughter of a Hungarian noble family.^[51] His fame was built in the effective wars of defence against the Turkish attacks, waged from 1439. With his private mercenary army John rapidly rose to the heights of power. His military campaigns against the Ottoman Empire brought him the status of Transylvanian governor in 1446 and papal recognition as the Prince of Transylvania in 1448. Continuing his military activity, he won an important victory at Belgrade in 1456, which halted the Ottomans' advance for several decades, but died shortly afterwards during an epidemic.

After the suppression of the Budai Nagy Antal-revolt in 1437, the political system was based on Unio Trium Nationum (The Union of the Three Nations). According to the Union, which was explicitly directed against serfs and other peasants, society was ruled by three privileged Estates of the nobility (mostly ethnic Hungarians), the SzĂŠkelys, also an ethnic Hungarian people who primarily served as warriors, and the ethnic German, Saxon burghers.

The only possibility for Romanians to retain or access nobility in Hungarian Transylvania was through conversion to Catholicism. Some Orthodox Romanian nobles converted, becoming integrated into the Hungarian nobility. These circumstances marked the beginning of a conflict between ethnic Hungarian Catholics and ethnic Romanian Orthodox (and ethnic Romanian Greek Catholics also) in the territory of Transylvania which in some regions remains unresolved to this very day.^[52]

Transylvania as an Independent Principality

The Kingdom of Hungary was divided into three parts after the Battle of MohĂĄcs, (1526) which led to the formation of the Independent Principality     Transylvania

The 16th century in Southeastern Europe was marked by the struggle between the Muslim Ottoman Empire and the Catholic Habsburg Empire. After the Hungarian defeat at Mohacs, Hungary was divided between the Ottoman and Habsburg empires.^[53]

Principality of Transylvania

Transylvania became an Ottoman vassal state, where native princes, who paid the Turks tribute, ruled with considerable autonomy.^[53] Austrian and Turkish influences vied for supremacy for nearly two centuries. It is this period of independence and Turkish influence that contributed to Transylvania being seen as exotic in the eyes of Victorians such as Bram Stoker, whose novel Dracula was published in 1897.^[54]

Michael the Brave entering Alba Iulia

Because Transylvania was now beyond the reach of Catholic religious authority, Protestant preaching such as Lutheranism and

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