Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction

POLAND

Transylvania (Siedmigrod or Transylvania), a highland, is an historical region in Rumania. In 106 A.D. the formerly Dacian possession became the Roman province of Dacia. Beginning with the 6th century, Slav influence was exerted there. At the beginning of the 11th century the area in question became a part of Hungary. From the end of the 12th century German colonists (Saxons) made their mark there.

After the fall of Hungary to the Turks (1526), Transylvania became an independent principality (1541) under Turkish suzerainty. Over the territory of Transylvania the political interest of the Turks, Poles and Austrians clashed. Also it became a centre for the Reformation. The more prominent rulers of Transylvania, such as István Bocskai and Gábor Bethlen, using the Turks, aimed to take away Hungary from the Habsburgs and unify it with Transylvania. Others were planning to take part in anti-Turkish coalitions (e.g., István Báthori). During the Liberation Wars (1684-99) Prince Mihály Apaffy agreed that Transylvania become a protectorate under the Habsburgs. With the issuance of the Diploma Leopoldinum (1691) Transylvania became administratively separated from the rest of Hungary.

Wallachia (Woloszcyzna or Walachia) - The area in question was a part of the Roman province of Dacia. After its abandonment, various peoples followed one after another. In the 5th century Slavs arrived and settled there. In course of time a predominant majority of Rumanian people, called Wallachians, moved in from the SE and from Transylvania. Around the middle of the 13th century independent principalities arose and slipped under the protectorate of Hungary. In the 14th century the principalities of the territory of later Wallachia united. Subsequently they became vassals of the Turks.

N.B. The writers of the above articles attempted to be factual. A few corrections are necessary. The area of later Transylvania became a part of Hungarian possessions around 895, not as late as the 11th century. In connection with the arrival of the Wallachians in later Wallachia partly from Transylvania, it is only right to state that a part of the people in question, mainly shepherding Wallachians, moved in and out of the border regions of Transylvania from the late 12th century on as the seasons and local conditions suited them. Transylvania was certainly not the homeland of even a branch of the Wallachians. Their homelands, i.e., Wallachia/Vlachia Magna and Wallachia/Vlachia lay in the south of the Balkan Peninsula.

Their next homeland, the one lying between the Lower Danube and the Southern Carpathian Mountains, was known for centuries as Ungro-Vlachia ,,Hungarian Wallachia,,, because it came into being on formerly Cuman territory in vassalage to the Kingdom of Hungary.

Lajos Kazar: Facts against fiction