John, also Joan or Ioan, was a cneaz (local chieftain or ruler) mentioned in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary

Béla IV of Hungary

Béla IV , King of Hungary and of Croatia , duke of Styria 1254–58. One of the most famous kings of Hungary, he distinguished himself through his policy of strengthening of the royal power following the example of his grandfather Bela III, and by the rebuilding Hungary after the catastrophe of the...

 (1235-1270) on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller

Knights Hospitaller

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...

 in the Banate of Severin

Banate of Severin

-References:*George Popoviciu, Istoria românilor bănăţeni, Lugoj, 1904*Patriciu D., Istoria Banatului Severin, Tipografia Diecezană, Caransebeş, 1899....

 and Cumania

Diocese of Cumania

The Diocese of Cumania was a Roman Catholic diocese in Hungary.The diocese was founded in 1227 with its seat in Milcov, serving the Cumans and the Teutonic Knights in the Burzenland. The diocese was destroyed during the course of the Mongol invasion of Europe in 1241.It was a suffragan of the...

. John held a kenazate which was given to the knights by the king. His kenazate lay in southern Oltenia

Oltenia

Oltenia is a historical province and geographical region of Romania, in western Wallachia. It is situated between the Danube, the Southern Carpathians and the Olt river ....

.

The diploma of Béla IV also refers to the kenazates of Farcaş

Farcaş

Farcaş, also Farkas, Farkaş or Farcas, was a cneaz mentioned in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Cumania. Farcaş held a kenazate which was given to the knights by the king...

 and voivode Litovoi

Litovoi

Litovoi, also Litvoy, was a Vlach voivode in the 13th century whose territory comprised northern Oltenia .He is mentioned for the first time in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary on 2 July 1247...

 and to voivode Seneslau

Seneslau

Seneslau, also Seneslav or Stănislau, was a Vlach voivode mentioned in a diploma issued by king Béla IV of Hungary on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Cumania...

. Seneslau and Litovoi are expressly said to be Vlachs (Olati) in the king's diploma.

The Romanian historian Ioan Aurel Pop suggests that the kenazate of John was one of the incipient Romanian states south 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...

. In the diploma, his name is given in its Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

form (Johannes), and so contains no hint of the nationality of its bearer.

Sources

• Pop, Ioan Aurel: Romanians and Romania: A Brief History; Columbia University Press, 1999, New York; ISBN 0-88033-440-1
• Rady, Martyn: Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary; Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London), 2000, New York; ISBN 0-333-80085-0
• Spinei, Victor: The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century; Brill, 2009, Leiden and Boston; ISBN 978-90-04-17536 5
• Treptow, Kurt W. - Popa, Marcel: Historical Dictionary of Romania (part ‘Historical Chronology’); Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham&Folkestone; ISBN 0-8108-3179-1
• Vásáry, István: Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; ISBN 0-521-83756-1