Byzantium After Byzantium? Two Greek Writers in Seventeenth-Century Wallachia
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CHAPTER 11 Byzantium after Byzantium? Two Greek Writers in Seventeenth-century Wallachia Alfred Vincent Byzance après Byzance: the title of Nicolae Iorga’s famous book (1935) neatly embraces the ongoing role of the Byzantine heritage, and of émigrés from the Byzantine lands, in the Romanian-speaking territories of Wallachia and Moldavia, long after the fall of Constantinople.1 The process reaches its ze- nith under the Phanariot regimes of the 18th and early 19th centuries, when ‘princes’ from the Greek-speaking, Orthodox elite of Constantinople ruled these two vassal states on behalf of the sultan, making their respective capitals, Bucharest and Iași, into centres of Greek culture. For centuries before the Phanariot era, Moldavia and Wallachia had been the only parts of the Balkan area to retain some autonomy under Orthodox rul- ers, and they had become magnets for Greek merchants, soldiers, churchmen and scholars. The development of ‘Byzantium after Byzantium’ is chronicled, explicitly or otherwise, not only by local writers but also by Greeks, some of whom played a role in the public life of these Transdanubian territories. This chapter compares the writings of two men from Epirus, resident in Wallachia, who composed verse chronicles in vernacular Greek relating to that country’s affairs. Their works were published together, in 1638. Printed in Venice, the book became a bestseller and was reprinted at intervals until the 19th century.2 Both parts of the volume have value as primary sources on Romanian history, although most of the dramatic events they relate are record- ed independently elsewhere.3 For Byzantinists, their particular interest may lie in their treatment of the Byzantine heritage and of the idea of a restoration of Christian rule in Constantinople. These related topics will be the main focus of this chapter. But first we need a brief account of the background. 1 In this chapter ‘Romanian’ is used as shorthand for ‘Romanian-speaking’, referring to Wallachia, Moldavia and, where relevant, Transylvania. There was no unified Romanian state until the very brief unification under Michael the Brave in 1600. 2 For a detailed treatment of the works, with bibliography, see Vincent 1995 and 1998. More recent studies are referred to in further footnotes. 3 On the chronicler Stavrinos as a source, see now Dinu 2012b. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, ���7 | doi ��.��63/9789004349070_0�3 222 Vincent Historical Evolution of Wallachia up to the 17th Century The Romanian lands had a long history as political units.4 In the 13th century Wallachia had been a frontier region, administered by local governors on be- half of the Hungarian king. Moldavia had been tributary to the Tartar Khanate, though later it too was incorporated into Hungary. In the 14th century, dynam- ic leaders created unified state formations in each region, and asserted their independence. In Wallachia this was achieved mainly under Basarab I, who ruled from 1310 to 1352, while in Moldavia independence came somewhat later. The rulers in both Moldavia and Wallachia held the Slavic title of voivode, ‘general’, inherited from their predecessors before independence.5 In Romanian the term domn, ‘lord’, was widely used, as was its Greek equivalent αυθέντης. The voivode was assisted by a council of great landowners (boyars) and a corps of officials. Rulers were chosen from members of a particular lineage, in the case of Wallachia that of Basarab. Instability at the top was endemic, with voivodes frequently enthroned, deposed or reinstated by rival factions and/or foreign intervention. Well before the fall of Constantinople, Byzantine influence was strong in the two territories. The first ‘Princely Church’ at the old Wallachian capital of Curtea de Argeș was built around 1352 in Byzantine style.6 Orthodox arch- bishoprics were founded, under the auspices of Constantinople, in Wallachia in 1359 and in Moldavia in 1401–1402. From this time on the two regions can be said to form part of what Obolensky (1971) famously called the ‘Byzantine Commonwealth’. Once the Ottomans gained a foothold in the Balkans, they set their sights on Wallachia and Moldavia. In Wallachia two voivodes who resisted Ottoman domination were Vlad II Dracul (1436–1442, 1443–1447), and his son Vlad III Drăculea or Țepeș, the infamous Impaler (principal reign 1456–1465).7 In the long term, however, as the price of preserving internal autonomy, the rul- ers of both countries had to recognise the sultan as their overlord and pay 4 On the historical background Georgescu 1991 can be recommended. Summaries of events are also included in Vincent 1995 and 1998. 5 Voivode is the anglicised spelling used in Georgescu 1991, among others. Cf. Serbian vojvo- da, Romanian voievod. The short form vodă is also used as a title, attached as a suffix (e. g. Mihai-vodă). 6 Illustrations can be found on the internet and in Georgescu 1991, 34. 7 Vlad II received his nickname from the insignia of the crusading Order of the Dragon with which he was invested by the Emperor Sigismund; his son, Vlad III, used the patronymic Drăculea in official documents. Dracul, ‘the Dragon’, has the meaning ‘the Devil’ in modern Romanian..