10th-11th C. ---  The Byzantine authorities raise a powerful fortress at Garvan-Dinogetia in northern Dobruja on the 4th-6th C. ruins, as well as religious edifices, which are still favouring the penetration of Byzantine influences on the territories of the Lower Danube.

10th C. ---  Towards the end of the third decade of the century, southern Moldavia is invaded by the Pechenegs (a Turkic people coming from the east and chased by the Uzes, allies of the Khazars (A Turko-Tatar group from Asia.)). Till the end of the century, they lay hold of the Danubian plain.

940-965 --- First documentary mention with regard to an urban medieval settlement on the Moldavian terrritory: Cetatea Alba, under the name of Maurokastron (the ancient Greco-Roman walled city Tyras).

943 ---  The fragment of Slavonic inscription discovered at Mircea Voda village, mentions a "jupan Dimitrie" (boyar), the first written testimony of the social stratification on the Lower Danube.

968 (summer) and 969 (summer). ---  The expeditions of the great Prince of Kiev, Svyatoslav Igorevitch (ca. 964-972) to the Lower Danube, where the Russian chronicle The Story of By- Gone Times mentions the existence of an intense economic life (80 walled cities); an area where the great trading routes from Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe converge. Svyatoslav considers the possibility to take residence in Dobruja, at Pereyaslavets, an important trade centre.

971 July. ---   At the end of the month, after a three month siege, the Byzantine armies, led by Emperor John I Tzimisces (969-976) oblige Svyatoslav Igorevitch who was by then in the Dorostolon fortress (Silistra) to surrender; the knyaz of Kiev pledges, among others, to leave Dobruja. The restoration of Byzantine rule over the Lower Danubian territories. After his victory, Emperor Tzimisces receives the messengers of Constantia (prob. Constantiana Daphne) and of other north Danubian cities who submit themselves; Byzantine garrisons are placed in the newly subjected fortresses.

976 ---  The oldest event mentioning the Vlachs of the Balkan Peninsula. The Byzantine chronicler John Skylitzes shows that David, one of the four sons of Count Nicola, was killed by the "Chervanari" Vlach (or carters), on the territory between Castoria and Prespa, at a place called "Stejarii frumosi" (The Beautiful Oaks).

1002-1003 ---   The military conflict between Commander Gyula (Gyla), who "reigned over the whole kingdom of Ultrasylvania", Alba Iulia being probably its center, and the king of Hungary, Stephen I, brought about by Gyula, "who did not return to the Christian law and did not cease to attack the Hungarians". After Gyula's defeat, his territory was submitted to the Hungarian crown.

1018 ---  End of the first Bulgarian Czardom. After several victories, the Byzantine emperor Basil II (963, 976-1025) expanded the Byzantine domination over the entire territory of the former Bulgarian state.

ca. 1045 ---  Byzantine-Pecheneg agreement. Emperor Constantine IX Monomachus (1042-1055) accepts a part of the Pechenegs, led by Kegenes, to settle down in Dobruja where they received land and three fortresses, with the mission to defend the empire's border line from the Danube fords, against the attacks of other Pecheneg tribes, led by Tyrach.

1054 July 16. ---   The Great Schism. Patriarch Michael Cerularius (1043-1058) and Pope Leo IX (1049-1054) excommunicate one another; final separation of the Church of Rome and that of Constantinople. The Romanian people remain among the groups of peoples of Orthodox faith, which is under the canonical authority of the Patriarch of Constantinople.

1064 ---  Invasion of the Uzes - "a Turkic people, nobler and greater than the Pechenegs" to which they are akin. They cross the Danube via the themes of Paristrion and Bulgaria, robbing and pillaging savagely as far as the parts of Thessalonika; after hard battles with the Byzantine armies the Uzes are destroyed, many of them die of the pest, a part of them withdraw to the north of the Danube, and others are colonized in Macedonia or enlisted in the Byzantine army.

1067/71 ---  The penetration of the Kumans, a Turkic people, coming from Dest'i Kipciak (the steppes north of the Black Sea), into the Romanian territories, where they defeat, subdue or drive away the Pechenegs. At the beginning they invade Moldavia, then they spread all over Wallachia and Transylvania, from where they started several campaigns against the Byzantine Empire and Hungary. Gradually, passing to a sedentary life, they were assimilated to the mass of the Romanian people. Their political domination lasted up to the great Tatar invasion.

1070 ---  The Vlachs alongside of the Ruthenians (a people of the Ukraine) and the Pechenegs, are mentioned as allies of prince Wiaceslav of Polotsk, in the battle against the future Polish king Boleslaw II Smialy (1076-1079).

1072/74  ---   The town population of the territories situated on the lower Danube rise against the new policy carried on by the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Ducas (1071-1078), who had cut the annual subventions granted to the population inhabiting those places for their guarding of the frontiers and instituted state monopoly on grain trade; Vestarch Nestor, entrusted with stifling the revolt, goes over on the part of the revolted; it is only under the rule of Nikefor III Botanyates (1078-1081) that order is restored at the lower Danube.

1091 April 29. ---  The Battle of Lebunion. Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118), with the help of the Kumans, defeats the Pecheneg-Paristrian Coalition, restoring the Byzantine domination over the lower Danubian territories.

1111 ---  First documentary mention of a "Prince of Transylvania", namely Mercurius, representative of the king of Hungary in the newly conquered territories.

1141/62 ---  The rule of the Hungarian king Geza II. He starts the colonization of the first German population group (the Saxons) in Transylvania. Coming from Flanders, the Moselle valley and Luxembourg they settled the region of Alba, Sibiu and Bistrita. The colonization continued during the reigns of kings Bela III (1172-1196) and Andrew II (1205-1235), who granted important privileges (Andreanum) to the Transylvanian Saxons.

c.a. 1176 --- First mention about a voivode of Transylvania, namely Leustachius.

1185/86 ---  Uprising led by the Vlach brothers Asan and Petru, against the Byzantine Empire. In their struggle the rebels were succoured by the population from the north of the Danube. Foundation of the Asan Brothers' Empire (Second Bulgarian Empire) with its capital in Trnovo.

13th C. ---  A powerful stone fortress is being built at Drobeta-Turnu-Severin, under its influence a religious center developed, consisting of several churches, to which the beginnings of medieval architecture in Wallachia are linked.

1204 April 13. ---  Conquest of Constantinople by the armies of the Fourth Crusade and the establishment of the Latin Empire of Constantinople, headed by Baldwin of Flanders, crowned at St. Sophia, by the first Latin Patriarch of the East, the Venetian Thomaso Morosini (May 16).

1211 (after May 7). ---  Colonization of the Teutonic Knights in Birsa Land with a view to ensure the defence of the southeastern frontier of Transylvania. The Teutonic Knights got important privileges, such as: exemption from tolls and taxes, the right to appeal to royal judgement, thus falling out of the jurisdiction of the voivode of Transylvania, the right of organizing fairs, markets, of erecting wooden fortresses, and so on.

1227 July 31-1228 March 21. ---  During this period of time, the Kumans and Brodnics are converted to Christianity.
 -  Setting up of the Kuman bishopric, directly subordinated to the Holy See, with its residence in Civitas Milcoviae (the Odobesti of today, near Focsani) having as its first occupant the Dominican Teodoric. Creating this diocese in the southern parts of Moldavia and the eastern parts of Wallachia, as an outpost of the Hungarian expansion, the Hungarian kingdom aimed at expanding its political and religious authority over that population. The diocese will be destroyed by the 1241 Tatar invasion.

ca. 1230 ---  Foundation of the Banat of Severin, northwest of the frontier of the Bulgarian Czardom. It covered a part of western Oltenia and the region between the Semenic and Carpathian mountains, with the charge of defending a part of the southern frontier of the kingdom. The Banat of Severin had a semi-autonomous position within the Hungarian Kingdom. The first documentary mentioning of a Ban of Severin, in the person of Luca, dates back to August 22, 1233.

1241 ---  The Great Tatar Invasion. A part of the Tatar army being at that moment in Poland, divides into three bodies and attacks the Romanian territory; an army corps, led by Kadan and Buri, ravages the north of Moldavia, crosses the Carpathians, takes hold of and destroys the boroughs of Rodna, Bistrita, Dej, Cluj, Zalau, Oradea, etc.; a second one, led by Bochetor, crosses the Siret river and after "defeating the people who came to fight", plunders the south of Moldavia and gets into Transylvania, through the Oituz path, seizing Brasov, Sibiu, Sebes, etc.; a third army corps led by Budjek, pillages Wallachia, defeats the Romanians' opposition and gets into the Banat, via Severin. The Tatar invasion and the establishment of their political rule in Moldavia and Wallachia (as far as the Olt), as well as the numberless predatory incursions in Transylvania, bore a negative impact upon the development of the Romanian society, but, in exchange, stopped the Hungarian expansion towards the Romanian territories, south and east of the Carpathians.

13th C. (second half). ---  An intensified action of Magyarization and Catholicization of the Romanian leaders takes place in Transylvania alongside of the restriction of the rights of the Orthodox Romanians. This policy will make some Romanians leave Transylvania and settle down among the Romanians, on the territories of the future feudal states, Wallachia and Moldavia.

1247 June2 --- The Diploma of the Johannite Knights. Bela IV, king of Hungary (1235-1270), grants to Rembald, preceptor of the Johannite Knights Order, the Land of Severin, together with other territories. On this occasion, the Diploma shows that an intense economic activity was carried on between the Danube and the Carpathians, based on agriculture, animal breeding and fishing, the process of social stratification in land owners (majores terrae) and peasants (rustici) compelled to taxes and duties towards the feudal lords,as well as the existence of the Romanian political structure, led by voivodes Litovoi and Seneslau and the knyazes Ioan and Farcas. The Banat of Severin and the principalities of Ioan and Farcas were to be under the Order's authority, while the knyazates led by Seneslau and Litovoi remained under the Romanians' rule, on the same terms as before. It seems that members of the Order have never actually ruled these territories.

13th C. (second half) --- An intensified action of Magyarization and Catholization of the Romanian leaders takes place in Transylvania alongside the restriction of the rights of the Orthodox Romanians. This policy will make some Romanians leave Transylvania and settle down among the Romanians, on the territories of the future feudal states, Wallachia and Moldavia.

1272/73 ---  Litovoi, a Romanian voivode from the south of the Carpathians, refuses to pay tribute to the Hungarian king and extends his rule, occupying territories over which Laszlo IV (1272-1290) claimed suzerainty, a fact which brought about the conflict between the Hungarian crown and the Romanian voivode.

1276 November 21-1277 May 6. ---  A war takes place between the Wallachians and the Ruthenians, mentioned by chronicler Thomas Tuscus in his Gesta imperatorum et pontificum.

1277 or 1279 (summer or autumn) --- Military conflict between Litovoi and the king of Hungary. The Romanian army headed by Litovoi and by his brother Barbat, was defeated by the Hungarian army, led by Magister Gheorghe and Count Petru. The struggles were fought, probably, in the Hateg Land. Litovoi is killed and Barbat is taken prisoner; after paying an important ransom, Barbat succeeds his brother to the throne, acknowledging the suzerainty of King Laszlo IV; Barbat's succession renders evident the dynastic character of the political authority and proves the consolidation of the institution of voivodeship.

1281 July 1-August 16. ---  The register of the Genoese notary Gabriele of Predono from the Constantinople Pera records commercial transactions concerning Vicina, amounting to about 4,100 golden hyperpers and 40 and a half carats. Cloth, varied tissues, spices, adornments, wines, precious metals and pottery were brought here, while corn, bee-wax, cow-skins, fish, wood, salt, etc. were exported.

ca. 1290-ca. 1310. ---  Tihomir (Togomer), voivode in Oltenia, father of Basarab I, continues the struggle begun by Litovoi and Barbat against the Hungarian crown.

1290 --- The Ottoman Empire that will rule much of the Mediterranean for the next six centuries is founded by the Bithynian king Osman al-Ghazi, who 2 years ago succeeded his father Ertogrul as leader of the Seljuk Turks. Osman establishes the Islamic principality of Osmanli and begins a reign that will continue until 1326.

1291-1342 (intermittently). ---  The voivode of Wallachia holds the Banat of Severin.

1299 ---  The Tatar chief Nogai is defeated and killed near the Don by the army of Tatar Khan Toktai from the Volga. Subsequently, the Tatar domination over the Romanian territories weakens considerably, the struggles and disorders caused by the succession of Nogai made the Genoese give up their old commercial route (the "Tatar" one) and try to come to Transylvania and Poland via Wallachia and Moldavia.

1300 ---  At Poenari (Arges County) there is built a powerful fortress of Byzantine type, with circular towers, the nucleus of one of the principalities which preceded the foundation of Wallachia.

1300 (before) --- First record of Cimpulung (Wallachia) on a tombstone which bears the inscription "Laurencius comes de Longo - Campo."

1307-1308 --- The Rhymed Chronicle (Oesterreichiesche Rheimchronik) of Ottokar of Styria mentions that Otto of Bavaria, pretender to the crown of Hungary, was taken prisoner by the voivode of Transylvania and delivered to be imprisoned to a "Vlach" voivode, who was ruling "beyond the mountains", and held under his lordship all the others, and the Land he ruled was called "Walachia" (the Land of Romanians).

ca. 1310-1352. ---  Reign of Basarab I, son of Tihomir, in Wallachia; the first representative of the national dynasty of the Basarabs; he united the voivodates and the knyazates situated on the right and left banks of the Olt, creating the feudal state Wallachia, with his seat at Cimpulung and then at Arges. During his dominion, the country witnessed an important economic development, and conquered its independence.

1320 --- The oldest mention of Dobruja, as a self-depending political structure; nevertheless, it had been in existence since earlier times.

1323 ---  The Romanians of Wallachia are mentioned by the Byzantine historian John Cantacuzenus under the name of Ungro-Vlachs, together with the Bulgarians, in the battle waged by Mikhail III Shishman (1323-1330) against the Byzantine Emperor, who was besieging the town of Philippopolis.

1324 July 26. ---  Basarab, ruling prince of Wallachia, is called "our Transalpine voivode" by the Hungarian chancellery. Basarab I consents to the Hungarian king's suzerainty, being recognized effective ruler of the Banat of Severin as well.

1325 --- A Romanian army from northern Moldavia participates together with Ruthenians and Lithuanians in the battle waged by the Polish army, led by King Wladyslaw I Lokietek, against the Margrave of Brandenburg.
        --- The Patriarchate of Byzantium, nominates as "Metropolitan of Varna and Carbona" (of the feudal independent state of Dobruja) the archbishop Metodie.

1326 --- The first Ottoman emperor (emir) Osman I dies at age 67 after a 36-year reign. He is succeeded by his 47-year-old son who will reign until 1359 as Orkhan and who begins to extend Ottoman domains from Angora in central Anatolia to Thrace in Europe, taking the title "sultan of the Ghazis" (warriors of the faith).
         - Orkhan strikes the first Ottoman coin.

1330 July 28. ---  The battle of Velbuzhd. The Bulgarian army, led by Czar Mikhail III Shishman, accompanied by an army corps from Wallachia, sent by prince Basarab I, one of the czar's relatives, is defeated by the Serbian army, led by King Stephen Decanski (Stephen III, Uros) (1321-1331).
            September-November. ---   King Charles Robert's campaign against Wallachia, (described in Chronicon Pictum Vindobonense) which countervened, by its policy, the interests of the Hungarian feudal lords and higher Catholic clergy. After conquering the Banat of Severin and declining the peaceful proposals of Basarab I, the king moved forward into the country, through Oltenia, as far as Cetatea Argesului.
            November 9-12. ---  The Battle of Posada. The Hungarian army, retreating to Transylvania, was defeated by Basarab's army, which caused a great number of losses to the invaders; the life of the king himself was in danger. The victory of Posada meant the independence of Wallachia.

1332 October 4 --- A letter issued by the papal chancellery of Avignon, mentions that in the territories of south-western Moldavia "the estates and belongings" of the Catholic diocese of Milcovia have been taken by the "masters of those places."

1334-1335 --- First documantary mention of the town of Baia (Civitas Moldaviae).

1339 or 1341. ---  Naval expedition of the Turkish emir of Aidyn Bahaeddin Umur-Bey on the Black Sea. On this occasion, some battles of the Turks against the "Giaours" (probably Romanians) are mentioned "in Chilia, at the frontier of Wallachia"; after plundering and setting on fire several towns and villages in Dobruja, they defeated the army of the Romanians.

1339 --- Angelino Dulcert's portolano contains the important trade route Black Sea-Lvov-Baltic Sea with directions given for two variants. One branch (the shorter) started from the Genoese colonies Maurokastron, Licostomo and Vicina and, in order to reach Lvov, it crossed Moldavia on the valley of the Siret. That route ("Via Walachiensis"), on which some market towns were marked, will have an intensified traffic, after the fall of Lvov under the Poles (1349).

1345 --- The Ottoman Turks make their first crossing into Europe in response to a call for support by John VI Cantacuzenus as civil war continues in the Byzantine Empire.

1346 ---  Balica, leader of Dobruja, interferes in the internal struggles of the Byzantine Empire. He sends 1,000 soldiers under the command of Dobrotici and his brother Theodor to support Anne of Savoya, mother of John V Paleologus, against John VI Cantacuzenus, pretender to the imperial throne.

1346 --- Serbian king Stephen Dusan, 38, proclaims himself Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgars and Albanians, establishes a court at Skoplye with elaborate Byzantine titles and ceremonies, and prepares to seize Constantinople and replace the Greek dynasty.

1348 ---  Dobrotici becomes the ruler of Dobruja, after Balica's disappearance in unknown circumstances.

1348 --- The Black Death that will devastate Europe reaches Florence in April and spreads to France and England, which it reaches in July or August, although London is spared until November.

1349/50 ---  The Black Death reaches Poland and moves on toward Russia, flourishing on poverty and malnutrition, especially in the larger cities.The plague takes a great number of victims in Transylvania.

ca. 1350 ---  First documentary mention of Braila. Its commercial importance will increase after 1368, being the main import and export gate for the maritime trade of Wallachia.

1351 (before) ---  Basarab I builds a voivodal church in Cimpulung, later the Cimpulung Monastery, where he is buried (in 1352). Conceived as a three-nave basilica, the old edifice disappeared as a result of the recontructions performed in the 17th and 19th centuries.

1351-1352 --- St. Nicholas Princely Church is being built at Curtea de Arges, an important edifice of Greek inscribed cross type, where a valuable set-up of mural paintings has been preserved (about 1364-1366).

1352-1364, November 16. ---  Reign of Nicolae Alexandru in Wallachia, son and successor of Basarab I; he continued the policy of state consolidation and expansion, set up the first Metropolitan Church of Wallachia and carried close relations with the neighbouring sovereigns, becoming related to some of them.

1352/53 ---  Campaign against the Tatars. A powerful Transylvanian army, in the ranks of which there were also Romanians from Maramures, gets into Moldavia and backed up by the local population, defeats and definitely drives away theTatars; on the territory of the former small local formation, situated on the eastern side of the Carpathians, they founded a defensive "mark" (which will be called Moldavia), against the Tatar attacks. Dragos of Maramures is named at the head of Moldavia by the king of Hungary.

1354 March 2. ---  The Ottoman Turks, led by Orchan I (1326-1359) take hold of the important Byzantine fortress of Gallipoli, settling thus in Europe.

1355 February 10. ---  The king of Hungary confirms the agreement with Nicolae Alexandru, who, in return for the acknowledgement of Severin's domination, accepts the Hungarian suzerainty.

1358 June 28. ---  The first known commercial privilege granted to the merchants of Brasov for Wallachia.

1359 --- The voivode Bogdan of Maramures, passes in Moldavia and, supported by the local populace, dissatisfied with the domination of the representatives of the king of Hungary, as well as with the Catholic propaganda, drives away Balc and is recognized as voivode and ruling prince by the local feudal lords (until 1365). The repeated attempts of the Hungarian army to subdue the new state during the next years, fail. The Romanian population which came from Maramures, namely Bogdan's companions, contribute to Moldavia's emancipation out of the Hungarian suzerainty.
        --- During the reing of Bogdan I there has been built up St. Nicholas Church of Radauti, the oldest religious edifice preserved in Moldavia, an original synthesis of Gothic and Byzantine architecture.
        --- The Ottoman sultan Orkhan dies at the age 70 after a 23-year reign and is succeeded by the 40-year-old Murad I who will make the Ottoman Empire the leading power in Anatolia and the Balkans.
        May. ---   Recognition of Wallachia's Metropolitan Church, with its seat in Curtea de Arges, by the Patriarch of Constantinople, Calist I (1355-1363) and by his synod. Iachint from Vicina having been formerly resident by the side of the voivode Nicolae Alexandru, is recognized as Metropolitan of Ungro-Wallachia. He will be a priest to the Romanians of the Hungarian kingdom too, with the title of "Exarch of the entire Ungro-Wallachia and of the upper fields", till 1372; the Church became a powerful supporter of the court.

ca. 1362 ---  The Turkish troops take hold of Adrianople, where Sultan Murad I moves his residence (1365).

1364 November 16-ca. 1377. ---  The reign of Vladislav I (Vlaicu-Voivode), the son of Nicolae Alexandru, in Wallachia; he concerned himself with the country's economic organization and development of the country and kept up close relations with the Bulgarian and Serbian sovereigns, being kindred to some of them.

ca. 1365 ---  Vladislav I mints the first coins (silver) of Wallachia.

1368 January 20. ---  Wallachia's voivode confirms to the population of Brasov their commercial privileges in Wallachia, the oldest known trade privilege granted by a Romanian prince, written in Latin. It attests to the intensification of the trade on the "Braila route".

1368 October 13 (after~). ---  The campaign of Louis I, king of Hungary, near Severin, linked to that of Nicolae Lackfy, voivode of Transylvania (1367-1368), over the Carpathian mountains, against Wallachia. Dragomir, Pircalab (castle captain) of the Dimbovita fortress, defeats the voivode of Transylvania, and the Hungarian king is obliged to retreat from the Severin's walls. The Wallachian army attacks from the neighbourhood of Amlas.
 
1369 February. ---  Vladislav I, at strife with the Hungarian kingdom, subdues Vidin; the prince of Wallachia tolerates (on February 12) the reprisals undertaken by the Orthodox population of the town against the Franciscan missionaries.
         August 29 (after~). ---  Peace treaty concluded between Louis I, king of Hungary and Vladislav I; the latter accepts the Hungarian suzerainty, in exchange of some tenure of land, Fagaras, Amlas and Severin. At the same time, Czar Ivan Srazhimir, brother-in-law of the prince, is re-enthroned in western Bulgaria.
         November-December. ---  The first raid of the Ottoman Turks in Wallachia. Vladislav I, supported by Transylvanian contingents, led by Ladislau of Dabica, defeats and chases the invaders, then crosses the Danube and sets free Vidin from under their domination.

1370 November 5. ---  The election of the Hungarian king Louis I as king of Poland too, the two kingdoms find themselves under the sovereignty of one ruler.

1371 March 9 --- Foundation of a Catholic diocese in Siret, Moldavia's capital. The first occupant of this diocese is the Franciscan monk Andrei Wasilo of Crakow
     September 26. ---  The battle of Cirmen (Cernomen) on the Maritza river. The Serbian army, led by the despots Vukashin and Ugliesha by the side of whom participate Wallachian contingents, is defeated by the army of the Turkish invaders, commanded by Sultan Murad I (1359-1389). Macedonia is turned into a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

1373 ---  Louis I takes by force the city of Severin from Vladislav I. During 1376-1377, Romanians reconquer it, but it seems that this date coincides with the death of the ruling prince of Wallachia. On the occasion of this war, as shown by a chronicle of the time, there is evidence of the way Romanians used to fight, mention even being made of 10,000 knights, dressed in armours bought from Venice.

1373 March 16. ---  Interdiction of the salt import in the Hungarian Kingdom from Wallachia. It is prejudicial to the treasury of Vladislav I.

c.a. 1374 --- Vladislav I endows the Vodita Monastery, built by monk Nicodim and by his team; it is the first monument of tri-conch plane in Oltenia (in ruins today).

c.a. 1375-c.a. 1391 --- Reign of Petru I, during which Moldavia knows a period of economic prosperity. The prince concerned himself with the strengthening of the state's defence capacity (building the fortresses of Neamt and Suceava, the latter becoming the capital) and was on good terms with Poland and Wallachia.
        --- The St. Trinity Church of Siret, the oldest tri-conch-plane edifice of Moldavia, built under Petru I, with her facade bearing an enamelled ceramics ornamentation.

ca 1377 --- Petru I mints the first Moldavian coins (silver).

ca 1377-1388 --- Building of the Cotmeana Monastery, whose church of tri-conch-plane presents on it's facades an enamelled ceramics ornamental work, of Balkan type.

1378 ---  Raising, in its first form, of the Bran castle (Brasov county); a fortified point for the supervision of the commercial route which connected Brasov to Cimpulung.

ca 1380/90. ---  Mention of the Bogomilic heresy from Wallachia. The Patriarch Euthimius of Trnovo writes to Nicodim, Superior Monk of the Tismana Monastery, begging him to hinder the guiding of the believers in this heresy.

ca 1380/90. --- The Itinerary of Bruges. Showing routes of pilgrimage starting from Bruges, this source mentions a way passing through Transylvania and Wallachia, to Constantinople. Some Romanian localities are mentioned on this occasion.

1382/83 ---  Uprising of the Sibiu seat's inhabitants, led by Vladimir (Fladmerus) and by Knyaz Cindea of Sibiu, against the Transylvanian Saxon patriciate and graves, who had invaded their lands. In this uprising participated also the Romanian peasants from the south of the Carpathian mountains.

1382 --- Hungary's Louis the Great dies suddenly at Nagyszombat September 10 after a 56-year reign that also has included nearly 12 years as king of Poland. Louis has gained Dalmatia from Venice and an annual tribute of 7,000 ducats by the peace that last year ended the War of Chioggia. He is succeeded in Hungary by his daughter Maria of Anjou, whose husband Sigismund of Luxembourg will rule Hungary for 50 years beginning in 1387. He is succeeded in Poland by his daughter Jadwiga (Hedwig), who will be married in 1386 to Jagiello, grand Duke of Lithuania, who will rule Poland for 48 years as Vladislav V.

1385 --- The German pilgrims Peter von Sparnau and Ulrich von Tennstadt pass through Wallachia and Transylvania and mention Zimnicea, Rusii de Vede, probably Pitesti, then Arges, Cimpulung, Brasov, Sibiu, Cluj and Oradea.
        October 3 --- First documentary mention of a judet (an administrative territorial unit conventionally called a county), in Wallachia, the Jales County.

1386 September 23-1418 January 31. ---  Reign of Mircea cel Batrin, son of Radu I. During his reign, Wallachia undergoes an important economic (mining, trades and commerce) and political development (increase in Wallachia's prestige and of its influence in the southeast of Europe); it extends its territory, improves its military organization (consolidation of the Danube's line, building up of fortresses). Remarkable military leader and politician, he was on good terms with Hungary, Poland and Moldavia, gained victories over the Turks and after 1402 interfered in the succession fights of the Ottoman Empire.

1386 ---  Dobrotici disappears under unknown circumstances; he is succeeded by his son Ivancu (until 1388), who concludes peace with the Turks.

1387 May 27 --- Conclusion, in the Pera district of Constantinople, of the treaty between the Genoese and the "brilliant and powerful prince Ivanco, son of the shining prince Dobrotici". The treaty stipulated the cease of the hostilities between the two parts as well as some clauses of a commercial nature.
        September 26. ---  Petru I recognizes in Lvov the suzerainty of Wladislaw II Jagiello, king of Poland (1386-1434); on this occasion there were established mutual assistance obligations, while Moldavia joined the alliance system of the Polish-Lithuanian state. This act, which marked for a long time the predominant orientation of Moldavia's foreign policy, started the Hungarian- Polish rivalry for Moldavia.

1387-1392 (1388-1391) --- Mention of the Moldavian market (towns) or walled cities of Iasi, Roman, Tirgu Neamt, Suceava, Siret, Baia, Cernauti, Hotin, etc. in a Russian source, concerning the towns situated far away and near by. All these settlements had been naturally in existence since earlier times, preceding the mentioned source.

1388 January 27 --- Wladislaw II Jagiello borrows, for three years, 4000 silver roubles from Petru I, giving him as warrant the Pocutzia land, which, in case of non-observance of the term is liable to be seized by the Moldavian prince.
         February 10 --- Petru I announces that he sent the amount of 3000 silver roubles to his suzerain.
                              --- Mentioning of the walled city of Suceava as capital of the feudal state Moldavia.
         May 18 --- The building of the big church of the Cozia Monastery, important foundation of Mircea cel Batrin, is completed. Designed on a triconch-plane, with a sophisticated ornamentation of the facades, Cozia will be the main pattern of religious architecture in Wallachia for four centuries on end.

1388 (winter)-1389. ---  Mircea cel Batrin, supported by the population from Dobruja, defeats and chases out of Dobruja the Turks who, in 1388, installed themselves in those places under the command of the Great Vizier Ali-Pasha and, then, near the Danube, he defeats an army sent by the Sultan Murad I to plunder the country. The Romanian prince united Dobruja, Silistra inclusively, with Wallachia.

1389 June 15. ---  The Battle of the Kossovo Plain. The Turkish army, lead by sultan Murad I, defeats the Serbian one, led by knyaz Lazar and allied with the Bosnians, Albanians, Wallachians and the Macedonians. A Serbian noble posing as a traitorous deserter kills the 70-year-old sultan in the battle, Murad is succeeded by his 50-year-old son Bayazid (Bajazet). The new sultan has Lazar captured and put to death, he routs the Balkan troops, and he will reign until 1402 as Bayazid I. The western and southwestern parts of Serbia are subdued to the Ottoman Empire and Lazar is succeeded by his son Stephen Lazarevic.

1389 December 10. --- The negotiations of Radom between the envoys of Mircea cel Batrin and Wladislaw II Jagiello, king of Poland, mediated by Petru I voivode of Moldavia; a treaty is concluded, by which the two sovereigns pledged to help each other, first of all, in case of a possible Hungarian attack. The treaty was ratified in Lublin, 1390, January 20, under fully equal conditions.

ca 1390/91. ---  Turkish campaign north of the Danube. The Wallachian army, commanded by Mircea, together with Srazhimir, the czar chased out of Vidin, defeat the invading Turks commanded by Firuz-Bey, who had plundered terribly, drive them out of the country and reconquer Vidin, where Srazhimir will be re-installed (up to 1396).

1391-1392 --- Unsuccessful mission in Moldavia, sent by Patriarch Antonius IV (1389-1390, 1391-1397) to investigate the canonical character of the appointment of Iosif (formerly anointed by the Metropolitan of Halice) at the head of the Moldavian church hierarchy.

1392 March 30 --- Roman I, voivode of Moldavia (about 1391-about 1394) called himself: "The Great and Only Master, Lord by the Grace of God, voivode, I, Roman voivode, who rules over Moldavia, from the mountains to the sea."
        July 8. ---  Mention of the existence of the coins issued by Wallachia (perperii de Walachia) in the documents of the Constantinople Pera; it attests to the circulation of the Romanian coin in international trade.

1393 (before~) --- Mircea cel Batrin rebuilds the fortress of Turnu (near Turnu Magurele) on the spot of the ancient fortress dating back to the Roman-Byzantine epoch.

1393 July 17. ---  The Ottoman Turks conquer the Trnovo Czardom, dominated by Ivan Shishman, which they turn into a pashalic. The Ottoman Empire takes hold of the possessions of Mircea cel Batrin from the south of the Danube. Thus the Ottoman Empire is now bordering on Wallachia, along the Danube.
 
1394 (spring). ---  Mircea sends an important army to reconquer and strengthen the cities on the right banks of the Danube. He reconquers also Cavarna, taking it back from the Turks, which had been occupied by them in 1393.

1394 ---  The campaign of Sultan Bayazid I Iildirim (1389-1402) in Wallachia; the Ottoman army (about 40,000 men), accompanied by the army corps of the south-Danubian vassals Stefan Lazarevic, Marko Kraljevic and Constantin Dragashevic (about 8,000 men) invade the country.
     - October 10.---  The Battle of Rovine (probably on the Jiu river, near Craiova). The army of Wallachia (about 10,000 men), led by Mircea cel Batrin, defeats the invading armies, gaining a remarkable victory. The numerical inferiority of the Wallachian army did not allow Mircea to take advantage of the victory.
     - A new fight against the invaders waged near the Arges ends unsatisfactorily for Mircea. The Sultan Bayazid I enthrones as ruling prince the boyar Vlad, called the Usurper (1394-1397), supported by a part of the great nobility, while Mircea retreats beyond the mountains toTransylvania; the Turks are likely to have taken hold of Dobruja during the same period.
     - The first Turkish incursion into Transylvania (in Birsa Land).

1395 February --- Hungarian campaign in Moldavia against prince Stefan I, caused by the latter's acceptance of the Polish king's suzerainty (the act of lealty confirmed by Stefan I on January 6, 1395). Between February 2 and 14 the Moldavians defeated, at Hindov (probably Ghindaoani, Neamt County), the invading army which was just retreating.
        February 3 --- First documentary mention of the Neamt fortress of Moldavia, an earlier foundation of Petru I.
        March 7. ---  The Brasov anti-Ottoman treaty between  Mircea cel Batrin and Sigismund of Luxembourg, concluded under conditions of full equality.

1396 September 25. --- The Battle of Nicopolis. The Crusade of Nicopolis advances along the Danube pillaging and killing under the leadership of the Hungarian king Sigismund who is supported by both the Roman and Avignon popes and who has enlisted Balkan princes, French, German and English knights, joined also by Mircea cel Batrin. The 20,000 Crusaders encounter an equal number of Turks four miles south of Nicopolis. The Turks, led by Bayazid I, overwhelm the Crusaders, they take many of the survivors prisoner.

1396 ---  The Turks put an end to the existence of the Bulgarian Czardom of Vidin, and Czar Ivan Srazhimir is taken prisoner by Sultan Bayazid I.
         December. ---  Vlad (the Usurper), whose retreat to the south has been cut off by Mircea cel Batrin, takes refuge in the Dimbovita fortress, where he is besieged by the Transylvanian army, led by voivode Stibor of Stiboricz (1395-1401); finally captured, he is taken to Transylvania. Mircea cel Batrin remains the only ruler of Wallachia.

1397 --- Ottoman forces under Bayazid I lay siege to Constantinople, but the marshal of France Jean Bouciquault defends the city. Tatars led by Tamerlane distract Bayazid from the siege.

1397 September-October. --- Turkish campaign, led by Bayazid I to Wallachia. Mircea cel Batrin comes out again victorious over the Ottoman invaders.

1400 April --- Alexandru, son of Roman I, supported by Mircea cel Batrin enthrones himself voivode of Moldavia.

1400 April 23-1432 January 1 --- The reign of Alexandru cel Bun (Alexander the Kind) in Moldavia. At home, he concerned himself with the development of the country (institutional organization, intensification of commerce, recognition of Moldavia's Metropolitan Church by the Constantinople Patriarchate) and externally, he supported the Poles' fight against the Teutonic Knights and repelled the first attack of the Turks against Moldavia.

15th C. --- At the beginning of this century Monk Filotei (Filos the former Logothete of Mircea cel Batrin) of Wallachia writes Pripealele, diffused in the Slav parts too.

15th C. --- The documents mention the existence of schools belonging to the monasteries of Wallachia and Moldavia as well as schools in the towns of Transylvania and Moldavia.

1401 ---  The Wallachian army defeats and drives away a Turkish army, led by Evrenos-Bey, which had plundered some regions in Transylvania and Wallachia. The invaders have been chased as far as Dobruja.
        July 26 --- Upon the request of Alexandru cel Bun, Matthew I Patriarchate of Constantinople (1397-1410) sends Grigore Tamblac and Manuil to investigate the canonical character of Iosif's ordaining. After this mission, Iosif is rcognized as Metropolitan of Moldavia. The long-lasting conflict with the Oecumenical Patriarchate comes to an end. The Metropolitan Seat is established at Suceava.

1402 -- By order of Alexandru cel Bun, "Grigore the Hermit and Presbyterian of the Great Church of Moldo-Vlachia" writes in the Slavonic language the first original work of the Romanian literature Mucenicia Sfintului si Slavitului mucenic Ioan cel Nou, care a fost matirizat la Cetatea Alba (The Martyrdom of the Holy and Glorious Martyr John the New, who has been martyrized at Cetatea Alba) in Slavic language.

1402 March 12. ---  Alexandru cel Bun acknowledges the suzerainty of Wladislaw II Jagiello, king of Poland, and, on August 1, 1404, in Kamenitz, he takes personally a vassalage oath which is renewed on October 6, 1407, in Lvov.
     July 28. ---  The Battle of Angora (Ankara). The Mongolian army, led by Tamerlane (Timur Lenk) crushes the Turkish army and Bayezid I Iildirim, who is deserted by his Turkish vassals, is taken prisoner. Many of the Turkish emirs are restored by Tamerlane, who advances to Smyrna and Bursa as the Ottoman empire verges on a breakup with Bayazid's sons wrangling over the succession.

1403 --- The Ottoman emperor Bayazid who was captured in 1402 in the Battle of Angora dies in captivity and a 10-year civil war begins as his sons Suleiman in Edirne, Isa in Bursa and Mehmed in Amasia vie for power.

1404-1405 --- Tetraevanghelul lui Nicodim (The Four Gospels of Nicodim), the oldest Slavonic-Romanian manuscript of certain date (a work of calligraphy and miniature painting, beautifully illuminated and gilded in silver) that has come down to us.

1404 ---  Mircea cel Batrin succeeds in reconquering the greater part of the Dobruja and Silistra, taking advantage of the difficulties the Ottoman Empire met with.

1404-1406. ---  Mircea cel Batrin entitles himself  "great Voivode and Prince...ruling and reigning over the entire country of Ungro-Vlachia and on the territories over the mountains, even towards the Tatarian parts, as well as over the Amlas and the Fagaras Land, Prince of the Banat of Severin and of both sides on the entire Padunavia, even down to the Great Sea and Ruler of the fortress Dirstor."

1406 (after November 23). ---  Meeting in Severin between Mircea cel Batrin and Sigismund of Luxembourg, during which the fighting schedule against the Turks is mapped out.

1408 ---  Mircea cel Batrin stops the siege and pillage of Silistra by the Turks.

1408 September 16 --- First documentary mention of a tinut (conventionally called here land) in Moldavia - the Roman Land.
        October 8 --- Alexandru cel Bun grants commercial privileges to the dealers of Lvov; mention of the storage right by which the capital Suceava profited on the cloth brought into the country, - as well as on Moldavia's export goods.

1409 ---  Mircea cel Batrin grants a new commercial privilege to the merchants from Poland and Lithuania; he confirms the provisions of the older privilege and makes specifications concerning the custom charges and the goods brought to Wallachia.

1409 ---  The Romanian knyaz Voicu, father of Iancu of Hunedoara, is ennobled by King Sigismund of Luxembourg, for his feats of arms receiving, together with his brothers, the command of the Hunedoara domain (the fortress and about 40 villages).

1409-1411. --- The ruling prince of Wallachia supports with armed forces Musa, one of Bayezid's sons, who conquers the town of Adrianople, becoming leader of Rumelia, and sultan, on February 17, 1411, after the murder of Suleiman.

1410 --- The Holy Roman Emperor Rupert dies at Landskron near Oppenheim May 18. He is succeeded by the 42 year old Sigismund of Luxembourg, brother of the deposed emperor Wenceslas of Bohemia. Sigismund's rival Jobst of Moravia will die next year. Sigismund will be crowned at Aix-la-Chapelle late in 1414, and will reign until 1437.

1410 July 15 --- The Battle of Grunwald between the Polish-Lithuanian Union and the Teutonic Order, in which by the side of the Poles participate also Moldavian troops, sent by Alexandru cel Bun.

1411 May 25 --- A Moldavian-Polish Treaty concluded in Roman; renewal of the alliance directed against Hungary and the obligation which Wladislaw II Jagiello took upon himself to pay back in two years the amount of money he was still owing since the reign of Petru I or, contrarily, to give up Pocutzia.

1413 July 5. ---  The Battle of Ciamurli (near Sofia); Mohammed, another son of Bayezid, ruling in Asia Minor, supported by the Byzantine and by Serbian contingents, fights Musa, defeats and kills him, remaining sole ruler is thus enthroned Sultan in Adrianople.
        August 6. ---  Commercial privilege granted by Mircea cel Batrin to the people of Brasov; it refers to the great number of goods that made up the object of trade on the territory of Wallachia.

1415 --- Mircea cel Batrin accepts to pay a tribute of 3,000 golden ducats to the Turks; this tribute represented the redeeming of peace, the Sultan assuring that the groups of Azapes and Achinges will no longer plunder the country.

1416 ---  Mircea cel Batrin refuses to pay the barach (tribute) and supports with armed forces Mustafa, pretender to the throne, against Sultan Mohammed I (1413-1421). Mustafa's attempt strands them, as a consequence of his being defeated near Thessolonike.

1417 ---  Mircea cel Batrin supports Sheikh Bedr-ed-Din, leader of a powerful social and religious movement in the Ottoman Empire.
     - Reprisals in Wallachia, made by the Ottoman army; the Turks conquer Giurgiu and probably Turnu and penetrate into Dobruja, which they annex. Mircea is obliged to conclude peace and to pay the tribute.
     - The Turks turn Giurgiu into a raja.

1418 February --- The Orthodox delegation arrives at the proceedings of the Constanta Council; on that occassion, Ulrich von Richenthal, in Conciliumbuch zu Costencz, mentions that these proceedings were attended also by delegates from eight towns from "Walachia Major" (Tara Roma^neasca) and from ten towns from "Walachia Minor" (Lesser Moldavia).

1419 ---  The Turks fail to subdue the fortress of Severin; the invaders are defeated by the Wallachian voivode Mihail I (1418-1420), son and successor of Mircea cel Batrin, supported by Sigismund of Luxembourg. In autumn, the king of Hungary annexes Severin, which, together with Mehadia and Orsova, are put under the command of Filippo de Scolari, who was at his service and was entrusted the defence of the Danubian borderline against Turkish attacks.

ca 1420 --- The oldest information on the existence of writing in Romanian; it is mentioned in a handbook of Cyrillic writing by Constantin Kostenetzki.

1420 ---  Great Ottoman campaign against Wallachia; the Turks defeat and kill voivode Mihail I and devastate the country.
         --- Unsuccessful attack of the Turkish fleet against Cetatea Alba defended by Alexandru cel Bun. The first attack of the Turks against Moldavia.

1421 --- The Ottoman sultan Mohammed I dies at age 34 after an 8 year reign in which he has consolidated the empire. He is succeeded by his 18 year old son who will reign until 1451 as Murad II and who will extend the empire into southeastern Europe.

1422 --- Moldavian horsemen participate at the side of thePoles in the siege of fortress Marienburg, against the Teutonic Knights. The Polish chronicler, Jan Dlugosz, shows that the 400 Moldavian horsemen, "defeated a big army of the enemy and victoriously came back to the camp of the royal army loaded with a huge loot."

1423 February 26 ---  Dan II, ruling prince of Wallachia, defeats the Turks who invaded the country in order to re-enthrone the former prince, Radu Prasnaglava. His whole reign was defined by the fight against the Ottoman Turks and the voivode they supported, Radu Prasnaglava.

1424 --- Omiliile lui Grigore de Nazianz (Grigore Nazianz' Homilies) the oldest dated Slavonic manuscript from Moldavia.

1425 ---  The army of Wallachia, led by Dan II, accompanied by Pippo Spano (Filippo Scolari) and by Bulgarian troops, commanded by the son of the former czar Shishman, attack the Turkish forces in Vidin, where they gain an important victory. The first mention of mercenaries being used in the army of Wallachia.

1427 (spring). ---  Dan II removes for good Radu Prasnaglava, the prince supported by the Turks and by some boyars, taking back the fortress Giurgiu.

1428 June 3. ---  The Battle of Golubac (a Danubian city, in Yugoslavia). The army of Wallachia, led by Dan II, participates by the side of Sigismund, his sovereign, in the struggle waged for the conquest of the fortress,concluded with the defeat of the besiegers.

1429 ---  The Turkish-Hungarian armistice, concluded for three years; it also confirms the peace concluded by Dan II with the Turks, by which the old statute of Wallachia towards the Porte is recognized, in exchange for the payment of the tribute.

1429 --- Monk Gavriil, from the Neamtu monastery (Moldavia), an artist calligrapher and miniaturist, who set up the Moldavian school of Byzantine tradition, bearing nevertheless a powerful original touch, copied for the reigning prince Alexandru cel Bun and Princess Marina, Tetraevanghelul (Four Gospels) with miniatures.

1431 March 5 --- Mention of the Hussites in Moldavia; Ioan of Ryza, Catholic Bishop of Baia, draws the attention of Zbigniew Olesnicki, Bishop of Cracow, to the presence in Bacau of a Hussite nucleus (mostly refugees from Hungary and Poland), with regard to which Voivode Alexandru cel Bun was tolerant. Moldavia was the only place in Europe where the Hussites were tolerated.

1432 --- Constantinople withstands a siege by the Ottoman sultan Murad II who withdraws after a stubborn defense by the Byzantine emperor John VII Palaeologus.

1432 January 1. ---  Death of Alexandru cel Bun. After his reign, Moldavia witnesses a period (1433-1457) of internal fights between the pretenders to the throne, supported by boyar factions, a fact which leads to the weakening of the country's defence capacity. The internal conflicts grow worse because of the Polish and Hungarian intervention.

1433 October --- The Battle of Loloni, Stefan II defeats his brother Ilie (Ilias) and is acknowledged voivode of Moldavia by the boyars. Ilie, son and successor of Alexandru cel Bun, is obliged to retire to Poland.

1435 August 4 --- Ilie (Ilias) penetrates into Moldavia coming from Poland and gains at Podraga an undecided victory over his brother Stefan II; a compromise is made: Ilie is acknowledged as Voivode of Moldavia, taking the northern part of the country, with Suceava and Iasi, while Stefan II gets the southern part, including the towns Vaslui, Birlad, Tecuci, Chilia and Cetatea Alba. The separation line between the two dominations passed northward of Vaslui. Roman, son of Ilie, is acknowledged successor to the throne. Nevertheless, the struggles between the two parties will go on.

1437 --- The epitaph of Siluan from the Neamt Monastery, a masterpiece of Moldavian embroidery.

1438-1439 --- The Coucil of Ferrara-Florence (since January 1439, in the latter); the proceedings are also attended by a delegation of the Orthodox Church of Moldavia, led by Metropolitan Damian.

1438 June-July. ---  Turkish campaign in the south and the centre of Transylvania. Important contingents of the Ottoman imperial army, accompanied by Vlad Dracul (1436-1442 and1443- 1446), voivode of Wallachia (who in the summer of 1437 was obliged to submit to the Porte), have been plundering for several weeks. After having failed to conquer Sibiu and Cetatea de Balta, the invaders, loaded with loot, retreat through the Bran mountain pass.

1439 --- The Ottoman sultan Murad II annexes Serbia and forces the Serbian despot George Brankovic to take refuge in Hungary.

1439 October 27. ---  Death of Albert of Habsburg, king of Hungary (1438-1439). Iancu de Hunedoara imposes in the diet the election (1440) of Wladislaw, king of Poland, who will reign in Hungary, until 1444.

1441 March 7. ---  Iancu de Hunedoara is voivode of Transylavania. He holds this function beside that of Comes of Timisoara and Ban of Severin. In this capacity and, later on, as Governor of Hungary (starting with 1446), the brave commander, supporter of the authoritative central power, carried on a long-lasting fight against the Ottoman expansion, gaining victories of high reputation. He tried to create an anti-Ottoman front of the three Romanian countries.

1442 March 18. --- The Battle of Sintimbru (near Alba Iulia). Iancu of Hunedoara is defeated by the Turkish army, commanded by Mezid, Beg (Osmanli military commander) of Vidin, which penetrated into Transylvania through Wallachia.

1443 (autumn and winter)-1444, January. ---  The Long Campaign. Iancu de Hunedoara's army (about 35,000 soldiers), including also a Wallachian detachment, sent by Vlad Dracul, started from Banat, crossed the Morava valley (September 1443), conquered Nis and Sofia and advanced to the east of Zlatica; in this campaign, the brave commander gained six victories over the Turks, led by the Pashas Turacan, Ishak, Balaban and Mohammed of Brusa, the sultan's nephew.

1444 --- The Codex of the Bistrita Monastery (Wallachia); it consists of Matei Vlastares' Syntagma (Syntagma kata stoicheion), Cartea de Judeacata (Book of Judgement) of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (that contains, among others, some paragraphs from Nomos georgikos) and the Zakonnik of the Serbian sovereign Stephen Dusan from 1349 to 1354.
         September 20. ---  The army of the Crusaders crosses the Danube near Orsova, advancing towards Varna.
         October 27-28. ---  The Turkish troops pass on the European shore of the Bosphorus, supported by the Genoese fleet.
         November 10. ---  The Varna Battle; the Crusader's army, including also the Romanians from Transylvania and Wallachia (about 7,000 men, led by the son of Vlad Dracul) is defeated by the Turks, commanded by Sultan Murad II; Wladislaw, king of Hungary, is murdered during the battle.

1445 ---  The fleet of Burgundy, led by Walerand of Wavrin, in cooperation with a papal fleet, commanded by Cardinal Condolmieri Francesco which has not been able to hinder the passing of the Turks from Anatolia to Europe (October1444), penetrates on the Danube, coordinating their anti-Ottoman activity with that of Vlad Dracul voivode of Wallachia and with Iancu de Hunedoara; the aim of the action was to reconquer the Danubian fortresses subdued by the Turks after the Battle of Varna.
        - First mention of the "bombards" used by the Romanians in the siege of Giurgiu.

1447 ---  Intense diplomatic activity of Iancu de Hunedoara, in order to create a wide anti-Ottoman coalition. Deputations and letters reach the main European courts (Venice, Aragon and France, the Pope, the German emperor, etc.) without arriving at the expected result.

1448 September 28 ---  Iancu de Hunedoara's campaign starts southward of the Danube, namely on the Morava valley, intending to effect a junction with the Albanian forces of Skanderbeg (Gjergj Kastrioti) against the Turks.
          October 17-19 --- The Battle of the Kossovo Plain. While waiting for the junction with the Albanian forces, Iancu de Hunedoara is attacked by the Turks; in spite of its heroism, the Christian army (about 22,000 men) is severely defeated by the Turks, led by Sultan Murad II (1421-1444, 1446-1451). In this battle participated also troops sent from Moldavia (about 3,000 horsemen) and from Wallachia (about 4,000 archers).

1450 September 5-6 --- The battle in the woods close to Crasna village (near Vaslui). Bogdan II, prince of Moldavia (1449-1451), being widely supported by the population, defeats the army of the Polish feudal lords, who tried to re-enthrone Alexandrel, who had taken refuge to Poland after the defeat of Tamaseni (1449 October 12).

1451 ---  By order of Prince Vladislav II, Dragomir the copyist transcribes in Tirgoviste a collection of laws.

1451 October 15 --- Moldavia's prince Bogdan II is killed in Reuseni by Petru Aron, supported by some of the Moldavian boyars.
        November 20 --- Armistice between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, concluded for three years. The state entity of Wallachia was recognized under the protection of the Ottoman Empire and Hungary. The election of the rulers was a right of the country, a right confirmed by the Peace treaty of Adrianople of April 13, 1452.

1452, 1462 and 1475 ---The Romanian merchants are mentioned at Pera, in Crete and Caffa.

1453 --- The Italian historian Flavio Biondo, delivering a speech to king Alphonse of Aragon (1416-1458), stated the Latin character of the Romanian language, as well as the fact that Romanians of his days were conscious and proud of their Roman origin.
        May 29 ---The Turks, led by Sultan Mohammed II (1444-1446, 1451-1481) succeed in breaking through the Byzantine defence and enter Constantinople (after a siege started on April 6); the last Byzantine Emperor, Constantine XII Dragases (1449-1453), falls in battle; the town is pillaged. Downfall of the Byzantine Empire.

1456 March-May --- The Meeting of Vaslui; Petru Aron (1451-1457, intermittently), Metropolitan Teoctist and the boyars of Moldavia agree to the ultimatum given by Mohammed II, to the payment of the yearly tribute of 2000 golden ducates to the Porte.

1456 July 3 ---Iancu de Hunedoara entrusts to Vlad the Impaler (Vlad Tepes) the defence of southern Transylvania, during the absence of the local military contingents directed towards Belgrade.
        August 11 ---  Iancu de Hunedoara dies of the plague in the Zemun camp, near Blegrade.
      August 22 --- Vlad Tepes penetrates into Wallachia, defeats and kills Vladislav II at Tirgsor obtaining the country's throne.

1456, August 22 - 1462, November; 1476, November-December ---  The reign of Vlad Tepes son of Vlad Dracul, in Wallachia. Partisan of an authoritative domination, he concerned himself with the introduction of order in the country, with strengthening the army, with the development of commerce, etc., being merciless with those who did not submit to him. Outside the country, he fought against the Ottoman Empire, scoring prestigious victories.

1457 ---  Vlad Tepes undertakes expeditions of reprisals against the Saxons of the Sibiu and Amlas regions, who supported a pretender to the reign (a "Sacerdos Valachorum").

1457 April --- At the beginning of the month, Stefan, son of Bogdan II the prince killed at Reuseni -, penetrates into Moldavia along the Siret valley, aiming at the elimination of Petru Aron.
        April 12 --- The battle near the village Doljesti (Roman); Stefan, supported by the Moldavians from Tara de Jos (Lower Country) and by a small army from Wallachia, defeats Petru Aron.
        April 14 --- Stefan scores a victory over Petru Aron at Orbic (in the Neamt County). Petru Aron retreats and takes refuge with the Poles and yields the fortress of Hotin. At a place called Direptate, the representatives of the clergy, a part of the boyars and the commanders of the army welcome Stefan as prince, who is "anointed" by Metropolitan Teoctist.

1457 April 14-1504 July 2 --- The reign of Stefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great) in Moldavia. Remarkable army commander and politician, he aimed at the strengthening of the princely authority, concerned himself with the organization and economic prosperity of the country, supporting the development of trades, commerce and of the market towns, strengthened the army and the fortresses, making out of Moldavia a powerful state. Externally, he fought for the defence of the Moldavian state's independence, repelling all the attempts of invasion made by the enemies. In his long-lasting fight to stem the Ottoman expansion he scored a number of prestigious victories, which stopped the advance of the Ottoman domination towards the centre of Europe and struggled to make Wallachia join the anti-Ottoman front. He founded several religious establishments.

1457-ca 1487 --- Stefan cel Mare amplifies and modernizes the Voivodal Seat of Suceava (erected by Petru I), surrounding it with a new belt of reinforced walls and semi-circular towers.

1458 March 13 --- Stefan cel Mare renews "to all the people of Brasov, to all merchants and to the entire Birsa Land" the privilege they had from Alexandru cel Bun. During Stefan's reign, the commerce between Moldavia and Transylvania was much improved; from Transylvania they were bringing especially tissues, all kinds of weapons, iron wares, etc. Moldavians exported animals (sheep, cows, etc.), skins, wax, fish, etc. through three main roads ("The Bistrita road", "The Baia road" and "The Low" or "Brasov road" - the latter having the greater traffic.

1458, May ---  A large Turkish army, commanded by Mohammed-Pasha, penetrates into Wallachia, plundering and taking slaves; it is caught unawares and defeated by Vlad Tepes, who kills a great many of the invaders and sets free those enlsaved by them.

1459 ---  Vlad Tepes refuses to pay the tribute to the Porte.
        April 4 --- The Moldavian-Polish Treaty of Overhelauti, on the Dneister, concluded as a consequence of the attacks of the armies of Stefan cel Mare in the south of Poland. It recorded the ceasing of the state of war between Moldavia and Poland; the voivodes of Lesser Russia and of Podolja obliged themselves not to permit to Petru Aron to approach Moldavia's borders beyond Smotric, while Stefan cel Mare recognized Casimir IV Jagiello, king of Poland (1447-1492), as suzerain; the voivode of Moldavia obliged himself to return the confiscated estates to the boyars who would come back to the country. The treaty stipulated also some clauses of economic nature.
        April 29 (before ~) ---  Reprisals of voivode Vlad Tepes against the Transylvanian Saxon merchants residing in Wallachia, who were not observing his orders; Wallachia's armies invade Transylvania, attacking Sibiu and Birsa Land, plundering and burning down several villages.
        September 20 --- First documentary mention of the walled city of Bucharest in a muniment of Vlad Tepes.

1460, March --- The victory of Vlad Tepes over the pretender Dan, who came from Transylvania, being supported by the Brasov people.
        July 3 --- Stefan cel Mare confirms to the merchants of Lvov the commercial privilege they had from his predecessors; it is reconfirmed on January 25, 1462. It stipulates also some safety measures for the autochthonous merchants.

1460, August ---  Plundering expedition made by Vlad Tepes in the Fagaras Land and Amlas, as reprisals for the support in March by the Transylvanian Saxons of those regions to pretender Dan.

1461 --- Vlad Tepes captures the Turks' detachments, led by Hamza, Beg of Nicopolis, and the Greek Catavolinos, sent by Sultan Mohammed II to catch the ruling voivode by cheating, and he impales them all near Tirgoviste.
        June 5 --- First raid of Stefan cel Mare in Transylvania; the Moldavian voivode plunders the Szeklers' country, as a reprisal, because voivode Sebastian de Rogozny had taken Petru Aron (who left Poland in 1460) to his court.

1461 (winter) - 1462 --- Vlad Tepes sets Giurgiu free from under the Turks, passes to the south of the Danube and annihilates the Turkish troops from the right bank of the river near Zimnicea down to the river mouths, putting to the edge of the sword 23,883 Turkish subjects, as the voivode confessed on February 11, 1462. Vlad retreats then to the north of the Danube, taking along with him a lot of Christians desirous to escape from under the Ottoman yoke.

1462, April 26 ---  Beginning of the great canpaign of Sultan Mohammed II against Wallachia, aiming at submitting the country be replacing Vlad Tepes with his brother Radu, called Cel Frumos (Radu the Handsome). As the story goes, it seems that the huge army had an effective strength of about 200,000 men (but the figures are exaggerated): a fleet consisting of 25 triremes and 150 small vessels coming through the Delta, burned Braila down.
        May ---  Vlad destroys an Ottoman front ranking army, led by the Great Vizier Mahmud-Pasha, and chases the remainder of the invading troops as far as the Danube.
        June 16-17 ---  Vlad performs a night attack against the Turkish camp, causing a big rout and important losses to the enemy.
        June 22 --- Stefan cel Mare makes an unsuccessful attempt at besieging the fortress of Chilia, defended by a Hungarian fortress.
        July ---  Vlad retreats to the North, without starting a decisive battle against Sultan Mohammed II, who retreats, leaving in the country Radu cel Frumos (1462-1472, intermittently), who supported by a Turkish contingent, is recognized as ruling prince by the boyars.
        November ---  By the middle of November, Vlad Tepes, who had withdrawn to Transylvania, makes his way towards king Mathias Corvinus, from whom he hoped to obtain support, but in the neighbourhood of Piatra Craiului he is captured by the Hungarians and imprisoned, for 12 years, in Vishegrad (then in Pest); Vlad had been a victim of the defamatory actions of the Saxon merchants.

1462 (end) --- The oldest manuscript in German, comprising the story disseminated by the Court of Buda concerning the deeds of Vlad Tepes; the text of this manuscript has been integrated in the chronicle of the Austrian Thomas Ebendorfer. During the Middle Ages, there was a wide circulation describing in an erroneous and hostile way the personality of Vlad Tepes, who was also called Draculea (Dracula); it means: son of Dracul.

1464 April 28 --- Before this date Hotin, yielded to Poland by Petru Aron, re-enters under Moldavian domination.

1465 January 23-25 --- After a one-day siege (January 24), Stefan cel Mare conquers the fortress Chilia, dominated by the Hungarians; the Castle Captain Isaia, brother-in-law of the voivode, is appointed head of the fortress.

1466-1469 --- Stefan cel Mare founded the Putna Monastery (rebuilt in the 17th century).

1467 (summer) --- The nobility and the towns from Transylvania rose up against the king of Hungary. The Hungarian nobility, the Saxon and Szekler chieftains, led by voivodes Ioan and Sigismund of Szentgyorgy, Bertold Ellerbach, as well as by the Magyar Noble Benedict Veres, opposed the Royal authority, being dissatisfied with the increase in obligations towards the state and with the fiscal taxes imposed to a part of the nobility. On August 18, the leaders of the movement issue a proclamation and voivode Ioan of Szentgyorgy is elected king. Being not supported by the people's masses, the uprising has been quickly suppressed (September) by the military intervention of the king of Hungary. It seems that Stefan cel mare has been also involved in the organization of this resistance movement.
        November-December --- The campaign of king Matthias Corvinus against Moldavia.
        November 11 --- The army led by the Hungarian king, amounting to about 40,000 men, leaves Brasov heading for Moldavia. After some clashes taking place at the Oituz mountain pass, the invading armies conquer, plunder and set fire to the fortress of Trotus (November 19) and advance along the Siret valley, taking hold of Bacau, Roman (November 29-December 7), setting fire to the latter, then of Tirgu-Neamt and Baia (which they seized on December 14).

1467 December 14-15 --- The Battle of Baia. That night, the Moldavian army (about 12,000 men) commanded by Stefan cel Mare, sets the town of Baia on fire and attacks the invaders. Out of three Moldavian army corps, only two bore the attack; the third, led by the Vornic (Supreme Judge) Crasnas, did not attack, giving the possibility to a part of the Hungarian army, headed by the king, severely wounded, to retreat. The Hungarian campaign, ended in a total failure, constituted the last great attempt of the Hungarian crown to re-establish by force of arms the suzerainty on Moldavia.

1469 (or 1470) August 20 --- The battle close to the village of Lipnic (Lipinti). The Moldavian troops, led by Stefan cel Mare, chasing the Tatr invaders, surprise them in the old oak forest of Lipnic and gain a brilliant victory. The slaves captured by the Tatars are set free and the loot taken by the invaders is regained.

1471 January 16 --- In Moldavia takes place the execution of the great boyars, Isaia, Negrila and Alexa, who, as it seemed, had conspired against Stefan cel Mare.

1472 January 3 --- Commercial privilege granted to the merchants of Brasov by Moldavia's voivode. They were granted full commercial freedom throughout the country and the guarantee that they will be safe in their activities. Since July 10, 1475, all merchants from Hungary were "free to come on their will and desire and without delay with all their goods, to sell and buy freely and as they like it, without any impediments or damages, either at time of peace or in war."
        July --- Stefan cel Mare establishes relations with the Turkoman Khan Uzun Hasan, for their common anti-Ottoman struggle; Ishakbeg, Uzun Hasan's envoy comes at the court of the prince of Vaslui; the anti-Ottoman coalition included also Poland, Hungary, Venice and Pope Sixtus IV (1471-1484).
        September 14 --- Stefan cel Mare marries Princess Maria de Mangop.
 
 

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