Institutul de Istorie George Bariţiu al Academiei Române, Cluj-Napoca

Transcription

1 Institutul de Istorie George Bariţiu al Academiei Române, Cluj-Napoca PhD Thesis Summary Premodern Frontiers in the romanian lands. Establishing and defining the border between Transylvania and Moldova in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Supervisor: C.S. I dr. Susana Andea PhD Candidate: Stoian Silviu Cluj-Napoca, 2014

2 Contents Argument I. Historiography 1. Sources II. The frontier and its implications in Europe from the Middle Ages to the Modern Era 1. Principles and cases concerning the establishment and delimitation of borders in Europe (15 th -18 th centuries) 1.1. The Italian border 1.2. The Spanish and French border 1.3. Russian border 1.4. The English border 1.5. The Habsburgo-Ottoman border 2. The development of cartography and its role 2.1 Cartography in Romania III. Tradition and border legislation in Romania 1. Customs and legislative reality 2. The institution of borders 2.1. Procedure for setting borders 2.2. Demarcation of borders 3. Legal protection of borders 4. The Influence of the sovereign power over border disputes and the evolution of the legal status of the two countries IV. The formation and evolution of the border on the Eastern Carpathians in the Middle Ages 1. The evolution of the eastern border of the voivodship of Transylvania

3 1.1. The settlement of the Teutonic Knights 1.2. The colonization and organization of Székely people 1.3. Border fortifications in the Eastern Carpathians 2. The foundation of Moldova and the pre-state units on the eastern slope of the Carpathians 3. Documentary entries about the border between Transylvania and Moldova 4. The border between Moldova and the Romanian Country in the 14 th century V. Conflicts and negotiations between Transylvania and Moldova (16 th and 17 th centuries) 1. Strife s and border violations in the sixteenth century and early seventeenth century 2. The intensifying conflict for the Suhard Mountains and the Dorna region 3. The negotiations in the Joint Commission 4. Conflicts at the border between Transylvania and Moldova in the second half of the seventeenth century VI. Border disputes between the Habsburg Transylvania and Moldova in the first half of the eighteenth century 1. Disputes between Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718) 2. Disputes between Passarowitz and Belgrade (1739) 3. After the Peace of Belgrade and to the first systematic review of the entire course of the border VII. The report of captain Luchsenstein and the first accurate map of the border VIII. The evolution of border disputes after 1750 IX. The organization and guard of the border between Transylvania and Moldova (15 th to 18 th centuries) 1. The organization of border patrol 2. The movement and the control of people 3. Conflicts and border violations. Infractions 4. Sanitary measures at the border to prevent the ingress of epidemics in Transylvania Conclusions

4 Bibliography Appendices KEYWORDS: border, border demarcation, dispute, treaty, joint committee SUMMERY The border issue is a complex one, it involves organizing guards, customs services at the border, the administration of border communities, the status of border communities, permanent or seasonal migration phenomenon. From a military perspective, very important is the defence system of fortifications (watch towers and fortresses). The level of awareness and border control directly affects the trade and diplomatic relations between countries. How a country manages and defends their borders may indicate the degree of cohesion within, the power of the central authorities and the local ones, territorial ambitions and strategic interests. The politico-military and diplomatic context of the region is reflected often onto the borders. The process of establishing borders, both those inside and those outside, requires certain procedures, customs and not at last the marking of them in the field. All of them were guaranteed by a particular law later on. As seen, the subject of this thesis is not dull or purely technical, allowing research into several issues without crossing into the topics of cultural borders or mentalities. I framed the research in the chronological interval between the 16 th and 18 th centuries. As the title of the thesis suggests, I initially wanted to pursue the issue of border disputes between Transylvania and Moldova during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. But during my research I realized that the subject is not feasible to this time only, because based on the documentation, I found that prior to the eighteenth century there was only one major conflict. It is the conflict between Bistriț a and Câmpulung for the Dorna region that peaked in the summer of The Joint Committee did not reach an agreement, but the Transylvanian side prepared an extensive updated topographical report of the border concerning the land in litigation.

5 Another conflict noted in the documents was for a range of mountains near the Oituz region, specifically the Cheşcheş-Jirosu Mountains. They have become a matter of contention after the Moldovan princes starting with Vasile Lupu, leased the mountains, to the inhabitants of Tg. Secuiesc in exchange for an annual fee. After the end of Vasile Lupu s reign, the Transylvanians constantly claimed back the mountains as a territory of Transylvania. Both conflicts remained unresolved and continued throughout the eighteenth century. Otherwise, for the 16 th and 17 th centuries, they kept several clauses referring to minor conflicts at the border, and various requests like this one would be resolved by the Joint Committee. Disputes usually started from the confiscation of animals and products which generated retaliation on both sides of the border. These incidents occurred due to not knowing the precise path of the border. The Moldovans insisted that the border line runs along the lines of waters separation (hydrographical basin) which lied on the highest peaks. These tensions on the border lines fermented until they manifested with intensity in the 18 th century, when on certain occasions, they escalated into armed struggles for the mountains between local populations. The Habsburgs were the ones who due to their constant policy to fix the borders in their favour to have as many strategic advantages as possible (the control of passages), have aroused a more vigorous reaction of Moldovans. In the eighteenth century, in peace treaties appear articles that attempted to regulate the course of the border between the Habsburg Empire and the Romanian countries. The Habsburg dominion over Transylvania produced a large volume of documents gathered at Sibiu, on the issues of borders disputes. On the other hand the eighteenth century, is the period in which it is emphasized the centralization and territorialisation of states which determined a better lining of the borders, as well as the standardization of the negotiations and the procedures for setting the borders on the basis of an early international law. Therefore, if I had followed the chronological interval initially established, it would have resulted in an incomplete research. The theme of the thesis imposed, to some extent, the structure which I developed as follows: first I considered necessary addressing the issue of borders in Europe too,

6 selecting specific cases and border areas based upon the historiography I had access to. The intention was to highlight several European models and their practices on delimiting and setting borders between the late Middle Ages and the eighteenth century. Thus I examined the role that legal science played in the Italian area in the late Middle Ages, in the establishment of borders between Italian communes. Then, how the English kingdom managed the borders with Ireland and Scotland in the sixteenth century, borders that were perceived not as well-defined political boundaries but as large areas where the local nobility had to keep the peace. The Pyrenean Treaty signed in between France and Spain for the Catalan valley delimitation Cerdanya/Cerdagne, adjoining to Andorra, highlighted how the central government, the sovereignty related to the territory, sovereignty not being seen as in the modern sense, but as the territorial jurisdiction of the king. The border commissioners had as ideal the idea of natural borders left by God, a principle that they did not put into practice, fragmenting a culturally and economically unified ethnographic region. Interesting was also the Ottoman-Habsburg frontier in the 17 th century, which relied on fortifications that were in constant fluctuation due to wars and raids made on the one side or the other. In this context manifested the tendency of the Ottoman Empire to not accept firmly fixed and established borders between two equal powers until the peace of Karlowitz (1699). The most interesting case in my opinion was the Russian frontier, which differed in many respects from the rest of Europe. Over a period of three hundred years, between the 16 th and 18 th centuries, the Russians built, against the Tatars and other populations from the steppes, defensive lines hundreds of miles long made of woodwork, dirt and stone fortresses. These lines, which marked the political borders, have gradually advanced until it colonized the steppes, thus coming under Moscow's rule. Unlike the Western European kingdoms, the frontier was already under the direct authority of the Tsar from the 17 th century, because of the constant threat of the plunder expeditions of the Tatars. Another aspect analyzed was the development of cartography as a science, which later became an instrument of power and allowed the sovereigns to better know

7 their territories and initiate actions to secure and unite the borders. These European developments will occur in the eighteenth century in the Carpathians, therefore the Habsburgs are the first to make detailed maps of the borders. For these reasons it would have been inappropriate to discuss the border between Transylvania and Moldova without knowing the realities of the rest of Europe. The issue involves the knowledge of border customs and legislation that led to the emergence and development of borders. Thus, I tried to see what were the legal rules and procedures in Transylvania and Moldova to establish, delimit, mark and legally protect the borders. Here I also considered the internal borders between communities or between neighbours, because they have some procedures that are common to those between countries and there is a mutual influence. I initially analyzed the report between lay customs and law to clarify the differences between these two concepts and when one takes precedence over the other, in the procedure for determining the borders. Then calling upon certain legal sources I described the legal measures applied to where borders were not respected and were violated, not before analyzing the border institution and all its procedures. Other aspects of legal norms refer to the influence of the Ottoman Empire, the sovereign power, that had overview over border disputes between the two countries and if the changes of the legal status of Transylvania and Moldova spilled over into the conflict at the border. I devoted a subchapter to the principle of uti possidetis, which regulated, especially since the eighteenth century, the demarcation of borders between states following a military conflict. This principle involved retaining conquered territories after the war, which Vienna tried to apply to its borders, especially when coming out victorious in a war. In the case of the border with Moldova this meant at least the seizure of areas in the mountains offering control over passes and access roads. Studying the border between Transylvania and Moldova would not be complete without the knowledge of the period when the Oriental Carpathians began to play the role of border and later political border between the medieval Kingdom of Hungary and Moldova. Thus, I made a presentation of historic moments that have helped to

8 define the Eastern Carpathians as frontier, beginning with the colonization by the Kings of Hungary, of populations that had a military role having to secure the border against the Cumans and later on, the Tatars. I am referring here to the Teutonic Knights and the Székelys, established in Eastern Transylvania. Another important milestone was the establishment of Moldova, originally as the border mark in political subordination to the Hungarian Kingdom, which was supposed to be an outpost against the Tatars. Moldova with its role as protection mark probably occupied the whole eastern slope of the Oriental Carpathians, and then once it stretched its authority onto other political territories east of the Carpathians, it exited from under the authority of the king of Hungary. For this period (the 14 th and 15 th centuries), I tried to gather as much as possible, all the evidence that related directly to the border between Transylvania and Moldova. In concluding this chapter it was necessary to clarify were the border was between Moldova and the Romanian Country in the fifteenth century, as there were differing views in historiography, that claimed that only in the time of Stephen the Great, Moldova has ruled the area between Oituz and the river Putna and that until then the Romanian Country and Transylvania controled that segment of the border. The main body of work consists of chapters that examine the border disputes between the two countries between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and is divided chronologically. For most of the sixteenth century there are only a few mentions of the border. Probably due to factors related to demographics or the number and size of animal herds, no major conflicts occurred trying to occupy the mountains during this period. But beginning with the last decade of the century, strives arose due to the abuse of the border, in the area of Dorna, where Bistriț a has gone beyond the watershed and occupied Dorna valley. In this area was born the conflict that has dominated the seventeenth century, the conflict which was reflected in numerous complaints and letters from those involved, to the local authorities as well as to the central government. I tried to follow the causes and how this conflict intensified until they met at the border in 1642, where a joint commission was establish, which had to determine the route of the border. Then I analyzed the negotiations which took place in

9 this committee. After that, I discussed other border quarrels that took place in the second half of the seventeenth century, but have not reached the level of dispute as in the case of the Dorna region. The entry of Transylvania under Austrian control marked a change in relations with Moldova. The Carpathians become the border between two empires, one rising and the other one declining. In the eighteenth century, disputes occur along the entire border with Moldova. Besides the usual conflicts from Bistriț a, also activates or enhances the ones from the Oituz area and from Vrancea. This is due in part to the wars fought between the Ottomans and the Hapsburgs. The peace of Karlowitz (1699) and the peace of Passarowitz (1718) are favourable to Vienna, who tried to impose the principle of uti possidetis to cancel the Moldovan principle of watersheds and occupy all positions of strategic advantage. This led to a strong reaction from the Moldovans, who repeatedly undertook coordinated action to occupy the mountains up to the watersheds. Actions supported by the Phanariot rulers of Moldova. There are a large volume of documents attesting the battles that went on for the disputed territories, field investigations, hearing witnesses, the negotiations of the joint committees. However the two sides could not reach a definitive agreement. An important milestone in the evolution of the border between Moldova and Transylvania, was the annexation of Bukovina in 1775, an event that I have not researched in my study, as it is a chronological limit of my thesis. The most important point that marks the history of the border between the two countries until the annexation of Bukovina, in my opinion, it would be the making of the first maps of the border between Transylvania and Moldova and the preparation of a detailed report by a certain officer, engineer, surveyor, of Saxon origin, Stephan Lutsch von Luchsenstein. Vienna needed a more complete picture of its frontier with Moldova and of the disputes between them, to be able to support their claims before the Ottomans and Moldovans. So in 1750, von Luchsenstein was tasked with this mission that was concluded by the end of Thus the first modern map of the border area was made, of a very good precision, indicating all the areas in dispute and the claims of

10 each party, as well as a report that explained in detail the map and made an analysis and history of the border conflicts between the two countries. These two documents, which I have attached to the thesis, clearly reveal the vision and attitude of the Habsburgs in relation to the border, as well as the territorial claims of Vienna. The history of border disputes that was made by Luchsenstein indicates that there were only a few conflicts in the seventeenth century, and the main one was the one regarding the territories around Dorna. The last chapter of the thesis that complements the topic depicted is dedicated to the organization and surveillance of the border. First I brought some geographical details on roads and passes that cross the Eastern Carpathians, to understand how the customs services were placed and the fortifications that had to guard the access roads. The administrative units at the borders also played an important role, because they had powers and prerogatives of the representatives of these regions to supervise the border. Then I discussed how the border guard was organized and what contributions were made by the communities from near the border. The Transylvanian and Moldovan watchmen had more duties than just to monitor the border, they had to catch the criminals, to stop illegal migration, to defend the customs points and to quarantine. I briefly analysed this last aspect of the health cord and the measures that have been taken at the border to prevent the intrusion of epidemics from the East.