Bogdan I of Moldavia
Encyclopedia
Bogdan I the Founder was the third or fourth voivode of Moldavia
Moldavia
Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river...

 (c. 1363–c. 1367). He and his successors established the independence of Moldavia, freeing the territory east of the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

 of Hungarian
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

 and Tatar
Golden Horde
The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

 domination.

His contribution to the constitution of the autonomous Moldavian state, ignored by the Slavo-Romanian chronicles, is reflected by the name of Kara-Boğdan attributed by the Turks
Turkic peoples
The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

 to Moldavia.

Voivode in Maramureş

Towards the end of the reign of King Charles I of Hungary
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I , also known as Charles Robert , was the first King of Hungary and Croatia of the House of Anjou. He was also descended from the old Hungarian Árpád dynasty. His claim to the throne of Hungary was contested by several pretenders...

 (1308–1342), Bogdan become voivode of Maramureş
Maramures
Maramureș may refer to the following:*Maramureș, a geographical, historical, and ethno-cultural region in present-day Romania and Ukraine, that occupies the Maramureș Depression and Maramureș Mountains, a mountain range in North East Carpathians...

. At that time, the Romanian
Romanians
The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 voivodes were chosen by the cneazes (the chiefs of villages) among their number. In Maramureş, Bogdan’s residence was at Cuhea, on the Iza
Iza River
The Iza River is a tributary of the Tisa River in Romania.-References:* Administraţia Naţională Apelor Române - Cadastrul Apelor - Bucureşti* Institutul de Meteorologie şi Hidrologie - Rîurile României - Bucureşti 1971* Capitolul 3 Apa...

 valley. Archaeological excavations at Cuhea revealed the remains of a noble's residence and of a stone church with Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 architectural elements. In the church, dedicated to King St Stephen of Hungary, there is a sacristy
Sacristy
A sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...

 which may suggest either that Bogdan and his family adopted Catholicism or that the building was adopted to the needs of a Romanian Orthodox noble family.

Some historians argue Bogdan of Cuhea might be identical to a voivode Bogdan, son of Mykula, who, together with his people, was settled in the Kingdom of Hungary in 1334-5.
Using a document issued by King Charles I in 1335, some Hungarian historians maintain that Bogdan, Mykula's son, brought along so many people that the migration stretched over nine months (Györffy, György op. cit. p. 118.) and that the king delegated the archbishop of Kalocsa, to organize the settlement. (Györffy, György op. cit. p. 118.) Aurel Decei notes that this document was read in an inaccurate, arbitrary, and tendentious way. (Decei, op. cit. p. 292-3)

In 1334-5 King Charles I occupied Severin. Some authors suggest the negotiations between Bogdan and the archbishop of Kalocsa are connected to this campaign.(Bogdan op. cit. p. 169, Holban op. cit. p. 414)

Bogdan arrived in Banat
Banat
The Banat is a geographical and historical region in Central Europe currently divided between three countries: the eastern part lies in western Romania , the western part in northeastern Serbia , and a small...

 from Greater Vlakhia (now in Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

), from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the bishopric of Vranje
Vranje
Vranje is a city and municipality located in southern Serbia. In 2011 the city has total population of 82,782, while the urban area has 54,456...

 (Vásáry, István op. cit. p. 159.) or from Wallachia
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

. (Pascu op. cit. p. 511, Lukinics op. cit. p. 75, Bogdan op. cit. p. 169)

Some domains from Bács
Bács-Bodrog
Bács-Bodrog County was the administrative county of the Habsburg Kingdom of Hungary from 18th century to 1918. Its territory is currently in northern Serbia and southern Hungary. The capital of the county was Zombor .-Name:The county was named after two older counties: Bács and Bodrog...

 county, between Danube
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

 and Tisa
Tisá
Tisá is a village and municipality in Ústí nad Labem District in the Ústí nad Labem Region of the Czech Republic.The municipality covers an area of , and has a population of 786 ....

, might have belonged to Bogdan and his family. (Decei, op. cit. p. 310) In 1339, Bogdan and his sons visited the see of the bishopric of Vranje (Györffy, György op. cit. p. 119.). They also make an assault on the villages owned by Töttös Becsei, killed some of his servants and carried off some of his oxen (Györffy, György op. cit. p. 119.).
But the identification of the two Bogdans based on the similitude of their names is sharply debated, since the situation of Bogdan of Cuhea and his family within socio-political relations in Maramureş seems to exclude that he came from other regions.

Shortly after Charles I’s son, King Louis I of Hungary (1342–1382) was crowned king, a bitter conflict arose between Bogdan and the young king of Hungary. In a document issued on 21 October 1343, Bogdan is qualified as “former voivode of Maramureş” and “faithless” to his sovereign.‘Quondam woyvoda de Maramarosio, noster infidelis’; Spinei, Victor op. cit. p. 205. The document does not give the reason of their misunderstanding.

In spite of the acute conflict with the king, Bogdan did not seek refuge in Moldavia, but remained on his estate. A document issued on 15 September 1349 shows that Ştefan, Iuga’s son and Bogdan’s nephew, joined his uncle and burned the houses of Giula of Giuleşti (another Romanian landowner in Maramureş) and his six sons and chased them from their estates. The reason given is that Giula and his sons had refused to join Bogdan. In the document, Bogdan is now called “former voivode and an inveterate faithless subject” of the king.‘Quondam vayvodæ nostril infidels notorii’; Spinei, Victor op. cit. p. 205.

The last mention of the presence of Bogdan in Maramureş is a document issued on 14 May 1353 which fixed the estates of Ştefan and Ioan, the sons of Iuga, showing that their estates were marginal to the lands of Bogdan (their uncle).

Voivode of Moldavia

The immediate cause of Bogdan’s crossing the Carpathian Mountains
Carpathian Mountains
The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...

 into Moldavia is difficult to define. According to Vlad Georgescu, the local boyars, disgruntled perhaps by the presence of Hungarians and Catholics, rose up against the Romanian voivodes appointed by the king of Hungary
King of Hungary
The King of Hungary was the head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 to 1918.The style of title "Apostolic King" was confirmed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 and used afterwards by all the Kings of Hungary, so after this date the kings are referred to as "Apostolic King of...

. Tudor Sălăgean suggests that Bogdan, having failed to get rid of the Hungarian hegemony in Maramureş, left the province with his supporters and crossed the mountain into Moldavia where he started a rebellion against the Hungarian Kingdom.

In his history, the chronicler of King Louis I, John of Küküllő states:
Bogdan may have gone to Moldavia immediately after the death of Sas
Sas of Moldavia
Sas was, according to the Slavo-Romanian chronicles, the second voivode of Moldavia . He followed Dragoş who had been sent to Moldavia as a representative of the king of Hungary...

 (the successor of Dragoş
Dragos
Dragonș, also Dragoş Vodă or Dragoş of Bedeu, was a Romanian voivode in Maramureş who has traditionally been considered as the first ruler or prince of Moldavia...

 who is traditionally considered as the first prince of Moldavia). The brunt of the fighting was born by Balc
Bâlc of Moldavia
Balc, also Bâlc and Balk, was, according to many historians , the third voivode of Moldavia , but the sequence of the voivodes listed in the Slavo-Romanian chronicles does not refer to him...

, the son of Sas. Balc, who fought valiantly at the head of his men against Bogdan, was severely wounded and lost several members of his family and retinue. Bogdan seized Balc’s throne and declared himself independent ruler of Moldavia.

None of the military campaigns undertaken by King Louis I – and John of Küküllő’s chronicle says that “he made war (…) against the Moldavians almost every year” – could force Bogdan’s allegiance. Nevertheless, the domains around Cuhea belonging to Bogdan and his sons in Maramureş were confiscated by the king and given to Balc and his brothers.

John of Küküllő sustains that the king’s suzerainty was restored in Moldavia and Bogdan was obliged to pay homage to the king as a vassal. But, according to Victor Spinei, the obvious prejudice of Louis I’s biographer inspires little evidence; the formal recognition of vassalage probably occurred only under Laţcu
Latcu of Moldavia
Laţcu was the Voivode of Moldavia between circa 1365 and 1373. He was the son of Bogdan I. His name is a diminutive form of Vladislav , often used in that period in Hungary due the deep rooted cult to Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary....

, after Louis I became king of Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 in 1370.

Bogdan was buried in the church founded by him at Rădăuţi.

Sources

  • Bogdan, Ioan (1968). Scrieri Alese, Editura Academiei, Bucureşti.
  • Crăciun, Maria (2005). Apud ecclesia: church burial and the development of funerary rooms in Moldavia. In: Coster, Will; Spicer, Andrew (2005); Sacred Space in Early Medieval Europe; Cambridge University Press; ISBN 978-0-521-82487-3.
  • Decei, Aurel (1939). Une opinion tendencieuse de l'historiographie hongroise: les origines de Bogdan I, fondateur de la Moldavie. In: Revue de Transylvanie V (1939), p. 289—312.
  • Georgescu, Vlad; Calinescu, Matei; Bley-Vroman, Alexandra (1991). The Romanians: A History. Ohio State University Press. ISBN 0-8142-0511-9.
  • Györffy, György (1998). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország történeti földrajza, IV: Liptó, Máramaros, Moson, Nagysziget, Nógrád, Nyitra, Pest és Pilis megye (The Historical Geography of Hungary in the Árpáds’ Age, Volume IV: Liptó, Máramaros, Moson, Nagysziget, Nógrád, Nyitra, Pest és Pilis Counties). Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-7504-3.
  • Holban, Maria (1965). Contacts balkaniques et réalités roumaines aux confins danubiens du Royaume de Hongrie. A propos de la publication de nouvelles sources concernant Basarab. In: Revue des études sud-est européennes III (1965), 3–4, p. 385–417.
  • Lukinics Imre, Gáldi László (1941). Documenta historiam Valachorum in Hungaria illustrantia usque ad annum 1400 p. Christum.
  • Pascu Ştefan (1986). Voievodatul Transilvaniei, Volume III.
  • Sălăgean, Tudor (2006). Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th–10th Centuries). In: Pop, Ioan-Aurel; Bolovan, Ioan (2006); History of Romania: Compendium; Romanian Cultural Institute – Center for Transylvanian Studies; ISBN 978-973-7784-12-4.
  • Spinei, Victor (1986). Moldavia in the 11th–14th Centuries. Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste Româna.
  • Treptow, Kurt W.; Popa, Marcel (1996). Historical Dictionary of Romania. The Scarecrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-3179-1
  • Vásáry, István (2005). Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-83756-1.
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