Founder of the House of Basarab

Basarab I, also known as Basarab the Founder, was a voivode and later the first independent ruler of Wallachia who lived in the first half of the 14th century. Many details of his life are uncertain. According to two popular theories, Basarab either came into power between 1304 and 1324 by dethroning or peacefully succeeding the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru, or in 1310 by succeeding his father, Thocomerius.

A royal charter issued on 26 July 1324 is the first document to reference Basarab. According to the charter, he was subject to Charles I of Hungary as the voivode of Wallachia. Basarab became "disloyal to the Holy Crown of Hungary" in 1325. He seized the Banate of Severin and raided the southern regions of the Kingdom of Hungary. Basarab supported Michael Shishman of Bulgaria's attack against the Kingdom of Serbia, but their united armies were defeated in the Battle of Velbazhd on 28 July 1330. Soon after, Charles I of Hungary invaded Wallachia, but the Wallachians ambushed the royal troops in the Battle of Posada, between the 9 and 12 November 1330, nearly annihilating the entire force, subsequently ending Hungarian suzerainty in Wallachia, allowing the foundation of the first independent Romanian principality. Basarab's descendants ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries. The region of Bessarabia, situated between the rivers Dniester and Prut, was named for the Basarab dynasty.

Origins

Basarab was the son of Thocomerius, according to a charter written by Charles I of Hungary in 1332. Thocomerius' social position cannot be determined. A scholarly hypothesis states that he was descended from Seneslau, a mid-13th-century Vlach (Romanian) lord. Historian Vlad Georgescu writes that Thocomerius was the probable successor to Barbat, the late 13th-century ruler of Oltenia. Historian Tudor Salagean says that Thocomerius was "a local potentate."

Basarab's name is of Turkic origin. Its first part is the present participle for the verb bas- ("press, rule, govern"); the second part matches the Turkic honorific title aba or oba ("father, elder kinsman"), which can be recognized in Cuman names, such as Terteroba, Arslanapa and Ursoba. Basarab's name implies that he was of Cuman or Pecheneg ancestry, but this hypothesis has not been proven. At least four royal charters from the 14th century refer to Basarab as a Vlach. Charles I of Hungary referred to him as "Basarab, our disloyal Vlach" in 1332.

Pope John XXII addressed Basarab as a "devout Catholic prince" in a letter written on 1 February 1327. On the same day, the pope sent similar letters to Charles I of Hungary and his high officials, including Thomas Szécsényi, the voivode of Transylvania, and Mikcs Ákos, the ban of Slavonia, asking them to support the Dominicans' actions against the "heretics". According to scholar Neagu Djuvara, this correspondence with the Holy See proves that Basarab was a Catholic, which also testifies to Basarab's Cuman origin, because the Cumans had been baptized according to Catholic rite. Historians Matei Cazacu and Dan Mureșan reject Djuvara's theory, saying that all other sources prove that Basarab was an Eastern Orthodox. For instance, the Illuminated Chronicle, completed in the late 1350s, referred to Basarab as a "perfidious schismatic."

Reign

The details of Basarab's accession are obscure. Early Romanian chronicles attribute the establishment of Wallachia to the legendary Radu Negru. According to 17th-century Wallachian chronicles, Radu Negru, after departing from F&acaron;g&acaron;raș, arrived in Wallachia in either 1290 or 1292, accompanied by "many peoples". One of those chronicles, Istoria Țarii Românești, states that "Basarab" was the surname of an Oltenian boyar family, who accepted Radu Negru's suzerainty following his "dismounting". Historian Neagu Djuvara tentatively associates Basarab (or, alternatively, Basarab's father) with Radu Negru; Laurențiu Radvan writes that Basarab either dethroned or peacefully succeeded Radu Negru between 1304 and 1324. Other historians, such as Vlad Georgescu, state that Basarab succeeded his father, Thocomerius, around 1310.

Family

A diptych from Câmpulung contains a reference to "Io Basarab voivode and his wife, Marghita". Although the diptych (which was revised and renewed in 1710) may contain a scribal error, historians tend to accept that Basarab's wife was named Marghita (from Margarete). According to Wallachian folklore, Marghita was the Catholic wife of the legendary founder of Wallachia, Radu Negru. She was told to have erected a Catholic church in Cámpulung, and committed suicide after the church was destroyed on her husband's order.

In his letter concerning the Battle of Velbazhd, Stephen Dušan mentioned that Basarab was "the father-in-law of Tsar Alexander of Bulgaria", showing that Basarab's daughter, Theodora, was Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria's wife. Historian Vásáry states that Basarab married her to Ivan Alexander around 1323 to strengthen his alliance with Bulgaria. She gave birth to children, but Ivan Alexander abandoned her and married a converted Jew, Sarah-Theodora, in the 1350s. Basarab's son and successor, Nicholas Alexander, discontinued Basarab's alliance with Bulgaria.

Legacy

Basarab's victory at the Battle of Posada was a turning point in the history of Wallachia. Salagean writes that the victory "sanctioned the independence of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown" and altered its international status. Georgescu describes Wallachia as the "first independent Romanian principality." Although the kings of Hungary continued to demand loyalty from the voivodes of Wallachia, Basarab and his successors yielded to them only temporarily in the 14th century.

The descendants of Basarab ruled Wallachia for at least two centuries. Examples of his descendants include Mircea the Old and Vlad Dracula. Neagoe Basarab, a member of the Craiovești boyar family, forged a genealogy to prove that he was a descendant of Basarab, and adopted "Basarab" as his family name after his accession in 1512.

From the middle of the 14th century, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Moldavian and Serbian chronicles used the name "Basarab" when referring to Wallachia. From the next century onward, the southern region of the land between the Dniester and Prut rivers was named Basarabia. After the Russian Empire annexed Basarabia in 1812, the region was renamed to Bessarabia. The region is now part of the Republic of Moldova.