Europe · High and late Middle Ages
Principality of Moldavia
1346/1359–1859
c. 1346/1359–1859. A Romanian principality east of the Carpathians. Its foundation is linked to Dragoș (a Vlach voivode from Maramureș, established as a Hungarian march) and to Bogdan I, who led a revolt (c. 1359–1365) establishing independence from Hungary.
- Existed
- 1346/1359–1859
- Shown on the map
- 1363–1768, 1775–1790, 1792–1806, 1814–1827, 1834–1848, 1857–1858 (6 periods)
- Peak area
- 256k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
c. 1346/1359–1859. A Romanian principality east of the Carpathians. Its foundation is linked to Dragoș (a Vlach voivode from Maramureș, established as a Hungarian march) and to Bogdan I, who led a revolt (c. 1359–1365) establishing independence from Hungary. Its greatest ruler, Stephen the Great (Ștefan cel Mare) (r. 1457–1504), won a celebrated victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui (10 January 1475), after which he called the Romanian principalities the "gateway to Christendom"; the pope named him "Athlete of Christ." Moldavia accepted Ottoman suzerainty (tribute) from 1456. Like Wallachia it endured the Phanariot period and united with Wallachia in 1859 to form Romania. (The northeastern half, Bessarabia, had been annexed by Russia in 1812.)
Common questions
- What was the Principality of Moldavia?
- c. 1346/1359–1859. A Romanian principality east of the Carpathians. Its foundation is linked to Dragoș (a Vlach voivode from Maramureș, established as a Hungarian march) and to Bogdan I, who led a revolt (c. 1359–1365) establishing independence from Hungary.
- When did the Principality of Moldavia exist?
- The Principality of Moldavia existed 1346/1359–1859. On this map it is drawn 1363–1768, 1775–1790, 1792–1806, 1814–1827, 1834–1848, 1857–1858.
- How large was the Principality of Moldavia?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Principality of Moldavia covered about 256,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each territory as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, academic works (John Fine on the Balkans, Halperin and Martin on Muscovy, Rady and Veszprémy on Hungary) and, for a few entries, the medieval Livonian Chronicle of Henry itself. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Moldavia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moldavia
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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