Radu Negru Vodă în the vision of Romanian historians

On the occasion of 100 years since the "Radu Negru" National College bears the name of the famous voivode, I studied the works of some historians who approached this character from the 13th century. We found that the legend of Radu Negru was very common in the Olt, Câmpulung and Buzău lands in the 17th-19th centuries, and the first Romanian historians, for example Constantin Cantacuzino, claimed that the origin of Wallachia is even Radu Negru. Although the opinion of its existence has become unfavorable during the 19th and 20th centuries, modern historians believe that the voivode existed, but the way of reconstructing its image differs, depending on how historians approach. In the following, I will present the evolution of the opinion of some historians who approached in the 19th and 20th centuries the problematic voivodes of the country, Radu Negru.




Opinion of the 20th century historians


In the context of the achievement of Great Romania in 1918, the image of a Romania organized by a mysterious mysterious character coming from Catholic and Hungarian Transylvania was considered unacceptable and did not allow historians to go beyond the stage of Radu Negru's integration as a simple folk form.

Constantin C. Giurescu in "The History of Romanians" denies the existence of the Radu Negru character from a double perspective: 1. Negru Vodă is Tihomir, father of Basarab, between Tihomir and Negru Voda being unrelated; 2.The Romanian Country was born through the reunion of voivodes between the Danube and the Carpathians, willing or forced, without the existence of the dismantling.

Gheorghe Bratianu in the "Historical Tradition of the Founding of the Romanian States" presents the views of several consecrated historians, of whom only Alexandru Xenopol supports the existence of the voivode.

Alexandru Lapedatu supports the confusion between the Negru Voda character of the popular tradition and what he considers to be the reality represented by Basarab the Founder. It further explains the confusion of the 17th-18th century sources as "a purely scholarly invention." "Negru Vodă" becomes "Radu Negru", according to the historian, because there was a literary substitution between Radu I of the 16th century and the character from the rituals.

Dimitrie Onciul considers that mythical Negru Voda is actually Radu Basarab (1377-1383), the confusion being supported by the title of "Herțeg of Amlaş and Fagaras" owned by the Wallachians.

Nicolae Iorga claims that Negru Voda is an alleged founder of Făgăraş, the real founder being Basarab (Basarab) because Făgăraş could not provide a leader, he was not inhabited and politically organized until the 14th century. However, he excludes his confusion with Radu I, appreciating that the monks' churches referring to the mythical character actually remember Neagoe Basarab.

C. Filitti continues to deny the existence of Radu Negru, which is only a picture of Basarab and his son Alexander. The "Radu" surnames are the result of the same confusion mentioned by Iorga.

Ioan Lupas argues that Negru Voda must be identified with Basarab "whose personal name becomes patronymic and passed on to the offspring". The confusion with Radu I interprets it differently because it, by giving up the feuds of Amlas and Fagaras, created the occasion of the traditions of the dismantling.

Constantine C. Giurescu does not give Radu Negru any significance and does not try to interpret the folk tradition but expresses the certainty of the founding of Wallachia by unifying the prestatal formations on the left and right of the Olt. He says that the tradition of "dismounting" was "a dear theory to historians" because it is linked to the sufferings of the Transylvanians and the reality of the phenomenon in Moldova.

However, there are a number of counter-arguments to the above-mentioned points. For example, Alexandru Lapedatu claims that the tomb of the Fourteenth Century from the Royal Church of Curtea de Arges belonged to Basarab and is chivernisit with the port and Catholic objects without wondering whether they can not be linked to an Orthodox ruler what would have used the Byzantine port. They also claim that Negru Vodă, voivode of Făgăraş, has as a wife a Hungarian princess named Marghita and departed at Câmpulung where he defeated the Tartars and founded Wallachia. This story circulates both in Fagaras, Argeş and Buzău.




Archaeological excavation of Tomb No. 10 at the Curtea de Argeș Monastery At the end of 19th century 


The conclusion of his work is that "we must give up the myth of the dismantling today," and the only historian quoted by him who claims to be dismantled, Xenopol, can not be taken seriously because Bogdan Petriceicu Haşdeu considers him "ultraconservative in science, instinctive enemy of new views "And because the" Chronicle of Bessarabia ", built by him, contains more numerous and varied events than tradition.

Pavel Chihaia, in the work "From Negru Voda to Neagoe Basarab" quotes Dimitrie Onciul which comes with several hypotheses on the idea of ​​the dismantling:

1. Radu I left Transylvania as an independent voivode, keeping Amlas and Fagaras, later confused with Negru Voda.



"Făgăraș Country" (Țara Făgărașului/"Terra Blachorum"), part of Wallachia until mid 15th century 


2. Connections between "Basarabii" (the Basarab family) on the right side of Olt and Negru Voda on the larger background of the relationship between "both Wallachians on the right of the Danube and Asan's empire". He rejects the idea that "Black" is a popular name, considering it to be the "Black Cumania" ("Cumania Neagră").

2. It would be confused with the Tatars invasion of 1241. It could be a popular form, created after Dragoş's "dismount" (term used in popular culture for the foundation of a state) in Moldova.





Opinion of historians of the 21st century


The last historians of the 21st century are, however, declared adepts of Radu Negru, although their reconstruction departs from different premises.

The work of Neagu Djuvara - "Thocomerius-Negru Voda" - is dedicated to the Transylvanian voivode Radu Negru. The arguments it brings for the real existence of the voivode are determined by the analogies to the founding of Moldavia (by the "dismounting" of the Maramures voivodes Dragoş and Bogdan) and by the founding of France. This is not the case in the latter case, but certainly the leadership of a fundamentally Romanized society rests with a group of Germans - Franks - a printing that can be extended to another Romanized society - that of the Vlachs - led by a family of Cumanians. Other arguments come from the modern interpretation of the sources of the 15th-17th centuries and the particular vision of the historians. Of course, Neagu Djuvara also associates the historical context of the 13th century with the legend of the founder of the country and a new vision of the data provided by archeology for the founding of Wallachia. As a result, the story of the Transylvanian voivode Radu Negru, in the view of N.Djuvara, is the story of a cuman leader in Transylvania after the fall of the extra-Carpathian state of Cuman in 1241, with the Tatar-Mongol invasion. This is forced by the complicated circumstances of the end of the Hungarian Arpadian dynasty and the formation of the Nogai innkeeper tattoo to leave Făgăraş to settle in Câmpulung, south of the Carpathians. From there he took over the leadership of Seneslau's political party, which was also certified by the move of the capital to Curtea de Arges. Then, Tochomerius - Radu Negru - succeeds Basarab, who continues the conflict with Hungary, which he cuts through the victory of Posada and then Nicolae Alexandru, whose political and religious actions prove his fledgayan genealogy.

Cornel Bârsan writes an ample work dedicated to Radu Negru Voda, which he suggestively calls "A Stolen History". His interpretations go beyond the historical, oral, written, painted and archaeological sources, as it also addresses the interests of the established Romanian historians, the holders of templates created in various historical contexts: the context of the formation of the modern Romanian state in 1859 or of Great Romania's achievement in 1918. , the pride of Romania, organized by a mysterious mysterious character, coming from Catholic and Hungarian Transylvania, did not allow historians to go beyond the stage of Radu Negru's integration as a mere folk form. Thus, Radu Negru is a Romanian from Fagaras, with a center in the village of Pojorta, where the name Negrea was preserved, with obvious reference to Negru. It was highlighted in the battles with the Tatars of the king of Hungary in 1285, but also in the battles for the throne of the kingdom after the death of Ladislaus IV the Cuman. It later reached the southern Carpathians, a region where it already had political bases, opened a diplomatic communication with the Tatars, and avenged the new king of Hungary, Andrei III who had attacked it in 1290 in Fagaras, a fortress burned by the royal army, in the Assembly of the Alba Iulia states in 1291, when he offered the estates of Fagaras and Amlas to the noble Ugrinus.



Artistic rendering of the person buried in the Tomb No. 10 (possibly Radu Negru or one of his followers) at the Curtea de Argeș Monastery. Image by Radu Olteanu


Ioan-Aurel Pop in the works "<From the hands of the schismatic Wallachians...> The Romanians and the power in the Kingdom of Hungary (XIII-XIVth century)" and "History of Transylvania" consider that in the context of Romanian dissatisfaction in Fagaras, a group of Romanians and Catholics to the south of the Carpathians, guided by a voivode called in the folk tradition "Negru Voda". This was the voivode who revolted in 1290 against the Hungarian king, "resisted for a while under the mountain" (most probably at the Breaza fortress), crossed the mountains around 1290 and gave impetus to the process of state unification. However, the episode can not be tied to the Dynasty of Wallachia, mentioned at the beginning of the 14th century, represented by Togomerius (Tihomir), his son Basarab and his descendants. Basarab is a name of turanic resonance, but it has no direct connection with the character's ethnicity. During the 13th-14th centuries, the political formation east of Olt had as voivodes  Seneslau, probably Negru Voda, probably Tihomir and Basarab. Thus, the link between Seneslau and Negru Voda, between Negru Voda and Tihomir, and between Negru Voda and Basarab "son of Tihomir" is unknown, but it is certain that Basarb was the first true and acknowledged ruler of Wallachia.

In conclusion, the persistence of the legend among the Romanian people on both sides of the Southern Carpathians is based onat too little recorded history. 









Originally created as an article for "Salut Făgăraș" newspaper. Here is the original form of the article salutfagaras.ro/personajul-radu-negru-reflectat-in-operele-istoricilor-romani/