• Making medieval culture and traditions alive in our own Making medieval culture and traditions alive in our own daysdays

• Medieval events chart (IXth to XVIIth century)

IX-th Century• First Hungarian attack in

Transylvania• Depicted by Anonymus in his

chronicle “Gesta Hungarorum”• Hungarians found here three rulers:

Gelu, Glad, Menumorut• In the next century, those three

were defeated by the Hungarians

Gesta Hungarorum

Ruins of the Biharea fortress, Menumorut’s residence

• Menumorut was a strong leader, who tried to fight the Hungarians

X-th century• Jupan (ruler) Dimitrie ruled in Dobrudja

(South-Eastern part of Romania, on the Black Sea Coast)

• His name can be found on an inscription discovered in today’s Mircea Voda, dating 943

• Little is known about Dimitrie or his state

The inscription of 943 • The language in the old language

of the Slavs, used by the Romanians in the medieval times

• It seems to be the first written document in this language discovered in our country

The inscription of 943

XI-th century• The Roman-Catholic Cathedral “Saint

Michael” in Alba-Iulia is built beginning with the XI-th century

• It was built in Romanic style with Gothic influences added later

• It was partially destroyed by the Tartars in 1242

• Here are the tombs of Iancu of Hunedoara and Ioan Sigismund, rulers of Transylvania

XI-th century• Saint Michael Cathedral of Alba-

Iulia

XII-th century• 1176-the first voievod (ruler,

prince) of Transylvania is mentioned in a document

• His name was Leustachius• Transylvania was under the rule of

the Hungarian kingdom by that time

XII-th century• He was also count of Dăbâca

before being ruler of Transylvania• Little is known about him and his

period as a ruler

XIII-th century• Building of the Râşnov peasants’ fortress• It was built by the inhabitants from

Râşnov, near the city of Braşov• They needed a fortess in order to protect

themselves from the attacks of the Tartars and later from the Turks; the Tartars could not conquer the fortress in the 13th century

Râşnov fortress

XIV-th century• The Battle of Posada-1330• In 1330, the Hungarian king Carol

Robert of Anjou tried to defeat the Romanian ruler Basarab (also named Basarab the I-st the Founder, the first prince of Valachia, the Southern part of Romania)

• Basarab won and the Romanian state became independent

The battle of Posada• Basarab I

Posada• The battle is depicted in a

Hungarian chronicle (but kept in Vienne)

XV-th century• The battle of Podu-Inalt (Vaslui)• In 1475, January 10-th, a huge Turkish

army tried to conquer Moldavia (the Eastern part of Romania), which was ruled by the greatest medieval prince, Steven the Great.

• The Turks were badly defeated, but returned the next year

Battle of Podu-Inalt (Vaslui)

• The monument of Steven the Great on the site of the battle

XVI-th century• The battle of Calugareni• In 1595, the Turkish army led by Sinan

attacked Valachia again• The battle took place in Calugareni, on the river

Neajlov, in a moor (close to the Danube river)• The Romanians under the rule of Michael the

Brave won• Michael the Great was the first ruler of the

three Romanian states (Transylvania, Valachia and Moldavia) in 1600

The battle of Calugăreni

• The battle depicted in medieval documents

XVII-th century• The Bible of Bucharest, 1688• This Bible is the first book written in Romanian• The work of translating the Bible into Romanian

started during the rule of prince Serban Cantacuzino and finished under the rule of the great prince Constantin Brancoveanu

• It was translated by a group of scholars• It was one of the most important books in the

Romanian space in medieval times and helped to the creation of today literary language

Bible of Bucharest• Bucharest was the capital of

Valachia in medieval and modern times and became the capital of Romania in the XIX-th century

Authors

• This presentation was made by the “History group” led by Răzvan Ciobanu using materials from different students

• Andrea Vornicu (English group) helped with the translation

• 2008-2009