Europe · High and late Middle Ages
Principality of Wallachia
1330–1859
c. 1330–1859. A Romanian (Vlach) principality between the Carpathians and the Danube. Basarab I secured independence from Hungary by his victory at the Battle of Posada (9–12 November 1330) over Charles I of Hungary, founding the Basarab dynasty.
- Existed
- 1330–1859
- Shown on the map
- 1314–1599, 1602–1771, 1775–1790, 1792–1806, 1812–1827, 1834–1848, 1857–1858 (7 periods)
- Peak area
- 75k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
c. 1330–1859. A Romanian (Vlach) principality between the Carpathians and the Danube. Basarab I secured independence from Hungary by his victory at the Battle of Posada (9–12 November 1330) over Charles I of Hungary, founding the Basarab dynasty. Rulers (voivodes) were elected by the boyars from the dynasty. Mircea the Elder (r. 1386–1418) resisted the Ottomans (Rovine, 1395) and joined the Nicopolis crusade; Wallachia accepted Ottoman suzerainty (tribute) from 1417. Vlad III the Impaler (Țepeș) (born 1428–31; reigns 1448, 1456–1462, 1475–1476/77), of the Drăculești branch, became infamous for his brutal impaling of enemies and his defiance of Mehmed II. Ottoman suzerainty persisted, with the 18th-century Phanariot period bringing Greek governors appointed from Constantinople. Wallachia united with Moldavia in 1859 under Alexandru Ioan Cuza, forming the nucleus of modern Romania.
Common questions
- What was the Principality of Wallachia?
- c. 1330–1859. A Romanian (Vlach) principality between the Carpathians and the Danube. Basarab I secured independence from Hungary by his victory at the Battle of Posada (9–12 November 1330) over Charles I of Hungary, founding the Basarab dynasty.
- When did the Principality of Wallachia exist?
- The Principality of Wallachia existed 1330–1859. On this map it is drawn 1314–1599, 1602–1771, 1775–1790, 1792–1806, 1812–1827, 1834–1848, 1857–1858.
- How large was the Principality of Wallachia?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Principality of Wallachia covered about 75,000 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 — Wallachia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wallachia
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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