Vlachs

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File:Théodore Valerio, Pâtre valaque de Zabalcz, Romanian shepherd from Zăbalț, 1852.jpg

Théodore Valerio, 1852: Pâtre valaque de Zabalcz ("Wallachian Shepherd from Zăbalț")

Vlach (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell), also Wallachian and many other variants,<ref name="Significance">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> is a term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate speakers of Eastern Romance languages living in Southeast Europe—south of the Danube (the Balkan peninsula) and north of the Danube.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Although it has also been used to name present-day Romanians, the term "Vlach" today refers primarily to speakers of the Eastern Romance languages who live south of the Danube, in Albania, Bulgaria, northern Greece, North Macedonia and eastern Serbia. These people include the ethnic groups of the Aromanians, the Megleno-Romanians and, in Serbia, the Timok Romanians.<ref name="britannica">Template:Britannica</ref> The term also became a synonym in the Balkans for the social category of shepherds,<ref name="sugar">Template:Cite book</ref> and was also used for non-Romance-speaking peoples, in recent times in the western Balkans derogatively.Template:Sfn The term is also used to refer to the ethnographic group of Moravian Vlachs who speak a Slavic language but originate from Romanians, as well as for Morlachs and Istro-Romanians.<ref name=":21">Template:Cite book</ref>

Etymology

Template:Further The word Vlach/Wallachian (and other variants such as Vlah, Valah, Valach, Voloh, Blac, Oláh, Vlas, Ilac, Ulah, etc.<ref name="Significance"/>) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a Celtic tribe,Template:Sfn adopted into Proto-Germanic *Walhaz, which meant 'stranger', from *Wolkā-<ref name="Ringe 2009">Ringe, Don. "Inheritance versus lexical borrowing: a case with decisive sound-change evidence." Language Log, January 2009.</ref> (Caesar's Template:Langx, Strabo and Ptolemy's Template:Langx).<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001">Template:Cite book</ref> Via Latin, in Gothic, as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, the ethnonym took on the meaning 'foreigner' or 'Romance-speaker' and later "shepherd', 'nomad'.<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001"/>Template:Sfn The term was adopted into Greek as Vláhoi or Blachoi ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), Albanian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, Slavic as Vlah (Template:Plural abbr) or Voloh, Hungarian as oláh and olasz, etc.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for Wales and Walloon, and in Switzerland for Romansh-speakers (Template:Langx),Template:Sfn and in Poland Włochy or in Hungary olasz became an exonym for Italians.<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001"/><ref name="Significance"/> The Slovenian term Lahi has also been used to designate Italians.<ref name="WilsonDonnan2005">Template:Cite book</ref> The same name is still used in Polish<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Włochy, Włosi, włoskie) and Hungarian<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Olasz, Olaszország) as an exonym for Italy, while in Slovak<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Vlach - pl. Vlasi, Valach - pl. Valasi), Czech<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Vlachy) and Slovenian<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> (Laško,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Láh, Láhinja, laško) it was replaced with the endonym Italia.

File:Bosniangraves bosniska gravar februari 2007 stecak stecci3.jpg

Medieval necropolis in Radimlja, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Other forms which were recognised by linguists to designate the "Vlachs" are: Blaci, Blauen, Blachi found in Western medieval sources, Balachi, Walati found in Western sources derived from medieval German, while the Germanic population from Transylvania used also the variants Woloch, Blôch. French sources used mostly Valaques while the medieval Song of Roland used Blos. In English and in modern German the forms Wallachians, Walachen appear, respectively. In the Balkan Peninsula various names such as Rumer, Tzintzars, Morlachs, Maurovlachs, Armâns, Cincars, Koutzovlachs were used, while Muslim sources speak of Ulak, Ilak, Iflak.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Historical uses

The term 'Vlach' first appeared in medieval sources and was generally used as an exonym for speakers of the Eastern Romance languages.<ref name="britannica"/> But testimonies from the 13th and the 14th centuries show that, although in Europe and beyond, they were called Vlachs or Wallachians (oláh in Hungarian, Vláchoi (Βλάχοι) in Greek, Volóxi (Воло́хи) in Russian, Walachen in German, Valacchi in Italian, Valaques in French, Valacos in Spanish), the Romanians used the endonym {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, from the Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, meaning 'Roman'.<ref name="Significance"/><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Also Aromanians use the endonym {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Plural form: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) or {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Plural form: {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), from {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.<ref name="britannica"/> From Latin {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} are also the Albanian forms {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, 'vlach'.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Megleno-Romanians designate themselves with the Macedonian form Vla (Template:Plural form: Vlaš) in their own language.<ref name="britannica"/>

In historical sources the term "Vlach" could also refer to different peoples: "Slovak, Hungarian, Balkan, Transylvanian, Romanian, or even Albanian".<ref>Jan Gawron; (2020) Locators of the settlements under Wallachian law in the Sambor starosty in XVth and XVIth c. Territorial, ethnic and social origins. p. 274–275; BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA xxVI, [1]</ref> In late Byzantine documents, the Vlachs are sometimes mentioned as Bulgaro-Albano-Vlachs (Bulgaralbanitoblahos), or Serbo-Albano-Bulgaro-Vlachs.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to the Serbian historian Sima Ćirković, the name "Vlach" in medieval sources had the same rank as the name "Greek", "Serb" or "Latin".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

File:RomaniansInBalkans.png

Map depicting the current distribution of Eastern Romance-speaking peoples

In the Western Balkans, during the High Middle Ages, the word also acquired a socio-economic component, being used as an internal name for the pastoral population in the medieval Kingdom of Serbia, one that was also often engaged in the transport of goods, colonisation of empty lands, and military service. It will then expand to local interpretations with religious, ethnic, and social status particularities across the wider region, being employed as a name for Eastern Romance speaking people, Eastern Orthodox population in opposition to Catholic population, for the rural population of the hinterlands, the Christian population in general as opposed to Muslim population, or a combination of these aspects.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> During the early history of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans, there was a military class of Vlachs in Serbia and Ottoman Macedonia, made up of Christians who served as auxiliary forces and were exempted of certain taxes until the beginning of the 17th century.<ref name="sugar" /> In this context, a large part of the Dalmatian hinterland was repopulated by Slavic settlers, both Orthodox and Catholic, speaking the Shtokavian dialect and called Vlach or Morlach by the inhabitants of the Dalmatian coast and islands. In these areas, the term Vlah evolved to Vlaj (Template:Plural abbr) and is still used as a derogatory term to refer to the rural inhabitants of the hinterland, both Croats and Serbs, as "peasants" and "ignorants".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Istria, the ethnonym Vlach is used by the Chakavian-speaking Croatian inhabitants to refer to the Istro-Romanians and the Slavs who settled in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Nowadays, the term Vlachs (also known under other names, such as "Koutsovlachs", "Tsintsars", "Karagouni", "Chobani", "Vlasi", etc.<ref>The Balkan Vlachs: Born to Assimilate? at culturalsurvival.org</ref>) is used in scholarship for the Eastern Romance-speaking communities in the Balkans, especially those in Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In Serbia the term Vlach (Serbian Vlah, plural Vlasi) is also used to refer to Romanian speakers, especially those living in eastern Serbia.<ref name="britannica"/>

In modern Slovak, Valasi, other than denoting people of Vlachian ethnicity or origin, is synonymously and even more prominently used to describe shepherds, more commonly apprentice shepherds. The term originated following Vlachian arrival in mounts and hills of present-day Slovakia in 14th century and coinciding development in sheep herding and dairy industry.<ref name="horváth">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Further west, in Czech Republic, the area of Moravian Wallachia is known as Valašsko and the inhabitants as Valaši, names usually translated in English as Wallachia and Wallachians, respectively.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

History

{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= {{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Ambox }} }} Template:See also

File:Language influence border between Latin and Hellenic.png

The Jireček Line between Latin- and Greek-language Roman inscriptions

According to the theory of Daco-Roman continuity, the ancestors of modern Vlachs and Romanians originated from Dacians.<ref name=":15">Template:Cite book</ref> For proponents of this theory, Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the lower Danube basin during the Migration Period.<ref>According to Cornelia Bodea, Ştefan Pascu, Liviu Constantinescu: "România: Atlas Istorico-geograficTemplate:-", Academia Română 1996, Template:ISBN, chap. II, "Historical landmarks", p. 50 (English text), the survival of the Thraco-Romans in the Lower Danube basin during the Migration Period is an obvious fact: Thraco-Romans haven't vanished in the soil & Vlachs haven't appeared after 1000 years by spontaneous generation.</ref> On the other hand, opponents of this theory say that the Romanians and the Vlachs, including the ancestors of present-day Aromanians, were originally part of the same group of speakers of Eastern Romance languages, and that their origins should be sought in the southern Balkans. Early Romanian-speakers would have then moved northwards from the 12th century onwards.<ref name=":5">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":9" />

7th century

The first likely attestation of Romanian language and implicitly of Vlachs/Romanians comes from Theophylactus Simocatta Histories, written Template:Circa 630, narrating an episode from Maurice's Balkan campaigns:<ref>Al. Rosetti, "Despre torna, torna, fratre" ("About torna, torna, fratre"), Bucharest, 1960, p. 467–468</ref>

A beast of burden had shucked off his load. It happened as his master was marching in front of him. But the ones who were coming from behind and saw the animal dragging his burden after him, had shouted to the master to turn around and straighten the burden. Well, this event was the reason for a great agitation in the army, and started a flight to the rear, because the shout was known to the crowd: the same words were also a signal, and it seemed to mean "run", as if the enemies had appeared nearby more rapidly than could be imagined. There was a great turmoil in the host, and a lot of noise; all were shouting loudly and goading each other to turn back, calling with great unrest in the language of the country "torna, torna", as a battle had suddenly started in the middle of the night.<ref>Theophylacti Simocattae Historiae, II, 15, 6–9, ed. De Boor, Leipzig, 1887; cf. FHDR 1970</ref>{{#if:|{{#if:|}}

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10th century

During the Middle Ages, the term "Magna Vlachia" appears in Byzantine documents. This name was used for Thessaly and present-day North Macedonia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

John Skylitzes mentioned the Vlachs in 976, as guides and guards of Byzantine caravans in the Balkans. Between Prespa and Kastoria, they met and fought with David of Bulgaria. The Vlachs killed David in their first documented battle.<ref>Spinei, V. (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill, p. 152</ref>

Ibn al-Nadīm published in 998 the work Kitāb al-Fihrist mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and Blaghā". According to B. Dodge the ethnonym Blaghā could refer to Wallachians/Romanians.<ref>Ibn al Nadim, al-Fihrist. English translation: The Fihrist of al-Nadim. Editor și traducător: B. Dodge, New York, Columbia University Press, 1970, p. 37 with n.82</ref><ref>Spinei, Victor, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill. 2009, p. 83</ref> It is important to note, however, that the original Arabic text does not contain the word "Blaghā" but rather "البلغار," which translates to "al-Bulghār," the term used in contemporary Arabic texts to refer to Volga Bulgaria.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> The new Arabic edition also features the word "al-Bulghār" ("البلغار") instead of "Blaghā."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Furthermore, the first critical edition edited by Gustav Flügel in 1871, which includes the original Arabic text, likewise uses the designation "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār").<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The word "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") appears instead of "البلغم" ("al-Blagham") in both the 1971/1973/1988 Tehran/Beirut/Cairo critical editions as well.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Thus, Bayard's translation is incorrect, as he mistakenly read "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") as "البلغم" ("al-Blagham"). Therefore, the original Arabic text refers to Volga Bulgaria, not the Vlachs.<ref name=":0" />

A monastic document from Mount Athos mentions that 300 Vlach families live near the mountain, and in their own language they call their settlements "Catuns".<ref name=":17">Template:Cite book</ref>

Byzantine writer Kekaumenos, author of the Strategikon (1078), writes about a leader, Nikulitsa, who is given command by Basil II over the Vlachs in Hellas theme. Nikulitsa switched alliance to Samuel of Bulgaria after the conquest of Larissa by the Bulgarian Tsar.<ref>G. Murnu, Când si unde se ivesc românii întâia dată în istorie, în "Convorbiri Literare", XXX, pp. 97–112</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mutahhar al-Maqdisi, "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, Waladj, Alans, Greeks and many other peoples."<ref>A. Decei, V. Ciocîltan, "La mention des Roumains (Walah) chez Al-Maqdisi", in Romano-arabica I, Bucharest, 1974, pp. 49–54</ref> According to other non-Romanian historians, based on the context, the "Waladj" are not the Vlachs, but a people living around the Volga.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

11th century

Vlachs were present in large numbers, on the Chalcidice peninsula around 1000, according to monastic documents from Mount Athos. On the peninsula, the Vlachs were famous for their cheese and meat products. In these texts sometimes they are called "Vlachorynhinii", which may be a mixture of the name "Vlach" and "Rynhini" a Slavic tribe who settled in the same area in the 7th century.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1013, a Byzantine document mentions the settlement of "Kimbalongu" in the mountains near Strumitsa, which was a Vlach settlement.<ref name=":24">Template:Cite book</ref>

The names Blakumen or Blökumenn is mentioned in Nordic sagas dating between the 11th and 13th centuries, with respect to events that took place in either 1018 or 1019 somewhere at the northwestern part of the Black Sea and believed by some to be related to the Vlachs.<ref>Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, in Drei lygisogur, ed. Å. Lagerholm (Halle/Saale, 1927), p. 29</ref><ref name=": Spinei 1">Template:Cite book</ref> Omeljan Pritsak, however, point out that the texts probably refer to a nomadic Turkic people, since the "Blakumen" in the texts are "non-christian heathens" and nomadic horsemans.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Spinei contrasts Pritsak's view by claiming that there are several mentions of the Blakumen or Blökumen in contexts taking place decades before the earliest appearance of the Cumans in the Pontic steppe, and that translating the name to "Black Cumans" is not concordant with the Varangian ethnic terminology.<ref name=": Spinei 1"/>

In 1020, the Archdiocese of Ohrid was founded, which was responsible for "the spiritual care of all the Vlachs".Template:Sfn

In 1022, Vlach shepherds from Thessaly and the Pindus mountains provided cheese for Constantinople.<ref>David Jacoby, Byzantium, Latin Romania and the Mediterranean, St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 1984, p. 522</ref><ref>Alan Harvey, Economic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 172</ref>

In 1025, the Annales Barenses mentions a people called "Vlach" who live near the river Axios.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The same chronicle the Annales Barenses describes that in 1027 the Byzantine army led by Orestes that tried to recapture Sicily from the Arabs, also included many Vlachs recruited from Macedonia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Kekaumenos writes about the revolt in 1066 in the region of Thessaly led by Nikoulitzas Delphinas, nephew of the homonymous 10th century military commander, and father in law of the writer.<ref name="Madgearu 2001 57–58">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1071, a Byzantine document mentions that the herds of the Vlachs and their household spend the months of April to September beyond Thessaly, in the high mountains of Bulgaria, where it is very cold. (it is clear from the text that we are talking about the mountains of today's North Macedonia). The same text describes that the homeland of the Vlachs is Thessaly, precisely the part of the region divided by the river Pleres.<ref name=":17" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Florin Curta adds that Kekaumenos calls Vlachs "migrants from the northern parts", as Kekaumenos associates them with Dacians or Bessi of Antiquity.<ref name="Florin Curta page 37">Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 37, 2015</ref>

A Byzantine author, Kekaumenos writes about the Vlachs in Greece in connection about their origin and way of life in the Strategikon in 1075–1078.<ref name="Mocsy">Template:Cite journal</ref> According to Kekaumenos, the Vlachs were Dacians and Bessi, who lived near and south from the Danube and the Sava, where the Serbs live now. They feigned loyalty to the Romans while they were constantly attacked and pillaged, therefore, Trajan launched a war, their leader, Decebalus was also killed, and then the Vlachs were scattered in Macedonia, Epirus and Hellas.Template:Sfn<ref name="Elekes">Template:Cite journal</ref>

According to Hungarian historians, Kekaumenos made the Dacians the ancestors of the Vlachs because he knew about the deceitfulness of the Dacians against the Romans, and according to him the Dacians and Vlachs had a perfectly matching nature, treachery and political unreliability, so much that in his opinion they should not be believed even if the Vlachs take an oath.Template:Sfn<ref name="Elekes" /> Kekaumenos arbitrarily identified the Vlachs with the Dacians according to the archaizing efforts of his time, because the tendency to refer to later peoples with classical names was common in Byzantium at the time of Kekaumenos.Template:Sfn<ref name="Mocsy" /><ref name="Elekes" /> Kekaumenos also confused the Roman province Dacia Traiana with Dacia Aureliana, and even he placed it further west where it actually was, that is why he mentioned the Serbian territory as the homeland,<ref name="Mocsy" /><ref name="Elekes" /> the Bessus tribe was a neighbor of the Roman province Macedonia.<ref name="Mocsy" />

Alexius Komnenos mentions that in 1082 he passed through a Vlach settlement called Exeva in Macedonia.<ref name=":17" />

Anna Komnene mentions in her Alexiad that in 1091 Emperor Alexios ordered Nikephoros Melissenos to raise an army against invading Pechenegs. Melissenos recruited, among others, Bulgarians and "the nomadic tribes called Vlachs in popular parlance".<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 39, 2015</ref>

According to the Alexiad, in 1094–1095, Emperor Alexius Komnenos was notified by a Vlach chieftain called Poudila about the crossing of the Danube by a Cuman army, and that to prepare himself for the attack,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn then the Vlachs likewise led the Cumans through the gorges of the Balkan Mountains.Template:Sfn

Also in 1094 the first mention of Vlachs in Moglena region is made, the document is kept in the archive of the monastery Great Lavra on Mount Athos. According to this Emperor Alexios I Komnenos replies to the monks of the monastery complaining that people on their domain are not paying taxes. The document contains some of the first Romanian names, such as Stan, Radu cel Şchiop, and Peducel.<ref>Emil Țîrcomnicu: Historical Aspects Regarding the Megleno-Romanian Groups in Greece, the FY Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Romania page 15</ref>

In 1097, many Vlachs were resettled from the Chalcidice peninsula to the Peloponnese by order of the Byzantine emperor Alexios Komnenos.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1099, crusading armies were attacked by Vlachs, in the mountains along the road from Braničevo to Naissus.Template:Sfn<ref name="Madgearu 2001 57–58"/>

12th century

File:Johann Honterus Septemcastrensis de Corona.jpg

Map of Central-Southern Europe during the late Middle Ages/early Modern period by Transylvanian Saxon humanist Johannes Honterus

The Primary Chronicle, written Template:Circa states that the Slavs settled beside the Danube, then the Volochi people attacked the Slavs, settled among them and did them violence, leading to the Slavs departing and settling around the Vistula under the name of Leshi.<ref name="Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol 1979 pp. 175–187">The Russian Primary Chronicle and the Vlachs of Eastern Europe. Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol. 49 (1979), pp. 175–187, Peeters Publishers.</ref> According to the chronicle the Slavs settled there first, and the Volochi seized the territory of the Slavs; later, the Hungarians drove the Volochi away, took their land and settled among the Slavs.Template:Sfn<ref>C. A. Macartney, The Habsburg Empire: 1790–1918, Faber & Faber, 4 sept. 2014, paragraf.185</ref> The Primary Chronicle thus contains a possible reference to Romanians.Template:Sfn<ref name="Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol 1979 pp. 175–187"/> Other non-Romanian historians consider the Volochi the Franks, as their country is placed west to Baltic Sea and near England by the author of the work, Nestor the Chronicler.<ref name=":10">Kristó, Gyula (2003). Early Transylvania (895–1324).Lucidus Kiadó. Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Frankish Empire stretched from the North Sea to the Danube.

The Byzantine princess and scholar Anna Komnene, in her book Alexiad, mentions a Vlach settlement called Ezeba, which was near Larissa and Androneia. In the same work she also describes the Vlachs as "the nomadic tribes, called Vlachs in popular parlance".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1109, monks on Mount Athos mention the Vlachs in Chalkidiki and that the presence of women disturbed the monachal activities.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Traveler Benjamin of Tudela (1130–1173) of the Kingdom of Navarre was one of the first writers to use the word Vlachs for a Romance-speaking population.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In his work he mentions that these Vlachs live high up in the mountains of Thessaly, and from there they sometimes come down to plunder, which they do quickly, as swift as deers, for which reasons there is no king to rule them.Template:Sfn

In 1167, Vlachs living by the border of the Principality of Halych during the reign of Yaroslav Osmomysl, captured Andronicus and returned him to Emperor Manuel.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Byzantine historian John Kinnamos described Leon Vatatzes' military expedition along the northern Danube, where Vatatzes mentioned the participation of Vlachs in battles with the Magyars (Hungarians) in 1167.<ref>A. Decei, op. cit., p. 25.</ref><ref>V. Spinei, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta From the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2009, p. 132. Template:ISBN.</ref> John Kinnamos says Vlachs were "colonists brought from Italy".<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 40, 2015</ref>

File:Prosek.png

Plan of the fortress Prosek, seat of Dobromir Chrysos

The uprising of brothers Asen and Peter was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire, also known in its early history as the Empire of Bulgarians and Vlachs.<ref name="Florin Curta page 37"/>

According to Niketas Choniates, after the Byzantine Emperor Isaac II Angelos lost his wife, he wanted to marry the daughter of Bela III of Hungary, but there was not enough money for the wedding, so he imposed taxes in the regions and cities of the empire, but he angered the "barbarians who dwelt in the Haemos mountains, who were once called Moesians, but are now called Vlachs".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Mentions of Vlachs in Medieval Bulgaria also come from Niketas Choniates who writes about a Vlach called Dobromir Chrysos who established an autonomous polity in the upper region of Vardar river and Moglena.<ref>Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans page 15</ref> A similar event is recorded by the same author in the area of Philippopolis where a Vlach called Ivanko, formerly a boyar at the Asen brothers' court was given military command by Emperor Isaac and expanded his rule to Smolyan, Mosynopolis, and Xanthi.<ref>Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans page 14</ref>

According to Niketas Choniates, Thessaly and Macedonia is called "Magna Vlachia", Aetolia and Acarnata are called "Little Vlachia" and north-eastern Epirus is called "Upper Vlachia".<ref name="Timaru">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":17" />

According to Niketas Choniates, the Vlachs are the barbarians who live in the Balkan mountains, in Moesia.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1183 Hungarian documents mention, that King Béla III of Hungary, in his campaign against the Byzantine Empire, sacked Sofia, and among the defenders there were many Vlachs. The King used the opportunity and "... took home a number of these valiant mountain soldiers, and settled them in the Szeben County."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

A Byzantine church document mentions that in 1190, "the Cumans and the Vlachs take the relics of Saint Ryli from Sofia to Tirnovo with a great pomp."<ref name=":17" />

According to the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, the authenticity of which is highly disputed by historians, Template:Circa AD the Avars conquered Salona, then, attacking further south, ravaged Macedonia and the "land of the black Latins, now called Morvlachs".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The first mention of Vlachs in Serbian medieval chronicles is dated from the time of Stefan Nemanjić, most probably 1198–1199, and it is related to a donation act towards restoration of Hilandar monastery with aid from the inhabitants of the area of Prizren.<ref>Octavian Ciobanu : The heritage of Western Balkan Vlachs</ref>

The History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick mention the Vlachs as people living in the mountains and forests of the Balkans. The chronicle also describes the Vlachs' homeland as being near Thessaloniki. The chronicle describes how the Crusaders captured several Vlachs who told them that the Vlachs live in Macedonia, Thessaly and Bulgaria, and that because they were heavily taxed, they were rebelling.<ref name=":25">Template:Cite book</ref>

Numerous Serbian documents from the very end of the 12th century speak of Vlach shepherds in the mountains between the Drina and the Morava.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

13th century

In the Nibelungenlied, written around the year 1200, appears a certain Duke Ramunc of Wallachia (Herzog Ramunc aus dem Walachenland) among Attila's guests at his wedding with Kriemhild; in another passage, the Vlachs (Wlâchen) are mentioned as well.Template:Sfn Romanian historians claim the name of this fictional character could be derived from the Romanian ethnonym itself.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> According to Pop, the author's anachronistic view that Vlachs were contemporaries with Attila stems from oral tradition noting that Hungarians encountered Vlachs upon arriving in Pannonia. Since Huns were seen as their ancestors, Vlachs were retrospectively placed as Attila’s contemporaries.Template:Sfn However, the environment described there is from the 9th-12th centuries. The presence of the Russians, Pechenegs, Poles and Hungarians as contemporary with Attila confirms that.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Kaloyan was given the title {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("Emperor Kaloyan, Lord of All Bulgarians and Vlachs") by Patriarch Basil I of Bulgaria<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and the title {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("King of the Bulgarians and the Vlachs") by Pope Innocent II.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1204 and 1205 Raimbaut de Vaqueiras mentions the Vlachs as enemies of Boniface of Montferrat.<ref name="Florin Curta page 27">Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 27, 2015</ref>

After 1207 Geoffrey of Villehardouin mentions twelve times the Vlachs part of the armies of Kaloyan of Bulgaria, either as defenders against Henry of Flanders or among the attackers of Adrianopole.<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 29, 2015</ref>

Around the same time Henry of Valenciennes writes about the country he calls Blasquie ruled by Burile (Borilă). Henry of Flanders conquers this land and awards it to Burile's cousin Esclas (Slav). From there on the country will be known as Blakie la Grant (Great Valachia).<ref name="Florin Curta page 27"/>

Sándor Timaru-Kast alleges that the Venetian Chronicle refers to the land that would become Wallachia as "Black Cumania", "the colony of black Vlachs who migrated northwards".<ref name="Timaru"/>

According to the medieval Hungarian chronicle, the Gesta Hungarorum ("The deeds of the Hungarians"), written in the early 13th century, when the Hungarians of Grand Prince Árpád conquered the Carpathian Basin, at that time Slavs, Bulgarians and Blachij, and also the shepherds of the Romans (sclauij, Bulgarij et Blachij, ac pastores romanorum) inhabited Pannonia.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Most researchers say that the Blachij are the Vlachs,<ref>E.g. Armbruster, Adolf (1972). Romanitatea românilor: Istoria unei idei; Kristó, Gyula (2002). Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon; Spinei, Victor (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth century</ref> some Hungarian scholars claim that they are the Bulaqs, a Turkic people.<ref name=":6">E.g. Györffy, György (1963). Az Árpád-kori Magyarország Történeti Földrajza; Faragó, Imre (2017). Térképészeti földrajz; Rásonyi, László (1979), Bulaqs and Oguzs in Medieval Transylvania</ref> László Makkai writes that "this hypothesis does not bear the test of scholarly scrutiny".<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The chronicle's authenticity is in question in historiography, because it confuses the peoples living in the area in the 12th century and the peoples of the 9th century. Among others, it includes the Cumans in Transylvania, who arrived only centuries later.<ref name=":7">Thoroczkay, Gábor (2009). Írások az Árpád-korról</ref><ref name=":8">Róna-Tas, András (1999)Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History</ref><ref>Gyula, Kristó (2002). Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon</ref><ref name=":9">Macartney, Carlile Aylmer (1953). The Medieval Hungarian Historians: A Critical & Analytical Guide</ref> Romanian historian Ioan-Aurel Pop states that some exaggerations and inaccuracies, typical of a chronicle at the time and mostly in favour of the Royal House, are not a sufficient reason to discredit the entire document as a historical source.Template:Sfn It is important to note, however, that the chronicle mentions many rulers, but none of them is mentioned in any other contemporary chronicle.<ref name=":10" /> According to Romanian historian Florin Curta and leading Romanian medievalist Radu Popa, during the 1960–1989 period, the archaeological evidences were manipulated to meet the demands of the nationalist policies of the Ceaușescu's regime, and Romanian archaeologists made every possible attempt to prove that the Gesta Hungarorum is a reliable source for the Romanian presence in Transylvania prior to the Hungarian conquest, however no archaeological evidence was found to prove the subject. Hungarian archaeologist István Bóna also accused Romanian archaeologists of hiding evidence that did not fit their interpretation regarding the Gesta Hungarorum during the excavation of the early medieval hillfort at Dăbâca as Gelou's capital city.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Whether archeology supports the Gesta or not is disputed among historians.<ref name=":Madgearu">Template:Cite book</ref> British-Romanian historian Dennis Deletant states the analysis of the Gesta Hungarorum shows that is too naive to claim it is an immaculate source, just as it is foolhardy to totally discredit its reliability, and the conclusion, the cases for and against the existence of Gelou and the Vlachs simply cannot be proven.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> British historian Carlile Aylmer Macartney writes in his critical and analytical guide of Anonymus that all Romanian historians refer to Anonymus, but they are not credible in the subject and the chronicle is not evidence for presence of Vlachs in Transylvania.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Madgearu attempts to prove that a Vlach-Slav population existed in Transylvania before the arrival of the Hungarians by recounting place names of Slavic origin he believes weren't adopted to Romanian via Hungarian.<ref name=":Madgearu"/>

In 1213, an army of Vlachs, Saxons and Pechenegs, led by the Count of Sibiu, Joachim Türje, attacked the Second Bulgarian Empire – Bulgarians and Cumans in the fortress of Vidin.<ref>Curta, 2006, p. 385</ref> After this, all Hungarian battles in the Carpathian region were supported by Romance-speaking soldiers from Transylvania.<ref>Papacostea, Șerban, Românii în secolul al XIII-lea între cruciată şi imperiul mongol, București, 1993, 36; A. Lukács, Ţara Făgăraşului, 156; T. Sălăgean, Transilvania în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIII-lea. Afirmarea regimului congregaţional, Cluj-Napoca, 2003, 26-27</ref>

Stefan the First-Crowned donates 200 families of Vlachs from Prokletije and Peći to Žiča monastery.<ref>Zef Mirdita (1995). "Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora". Povijesni Prilozi (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. 14 (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades)</ref>

In 1220, king Stefan the First-Crowned proclaimed that all Vlachs of his kingdom belonged to the Eparchy of Žiča.<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr">Zef Mirdita (1995). "Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora". Povijesni Prilozi (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. 14 (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades).</ref>

A royal chancellery document from 1223, connected to the foundation of the Cistercian abbey at Cârța around 1202,Template:Sfn which was granted land, mentions it was built in the land of the Vlachs/Romanians.Template:Sfn This is also the first mention of the Vlachs in Hungarian documents.<ref name="Anonymus on the Hungarian Conquest of Transylvania">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn

In the Diploma Andreanum issued by King Andrew II of Hungary in 1224, "silva blacorum et bissenorum" was given to the Saxon settlers.<ref>J. DEER, Der Weg zur Goldenen Bulle Andreas II. Von 1222, în Schweizer Beitrage zur Allgemeinen Geschichte, 10, 1952, pp. 104-138</ref>

The Orthodox Vlachs spread further northward along the Carpathians to the present day territory of Poland, Slovakia, and Czech Republic, and were granted autonomy under the ''Vlach law''.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1230 Constantine Akropolites, in his writing about the conquests of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen, notes that the "Magna Vlachia" is next to Albania.<ref name=":19">Template:Cite book</ref>

Pope Gregory IX wrote several letters to the Hungarian king, in which he talks about the conversion of the Cumans who lived in the southern part of Moldavia and eastern Wallachia<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> regions of present-day Romania. In one of his letters he mentions the Vlachs, asking King Béla IV of Hungary to let them into his country: "for the sake of God, give refuge to those poor Vlachs who tried to escape from their Cuman rulers."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine mentions in 1247, when returning from his mission to the Mongol Khan, a "Rus" prince by the name Olaha east of the Carpathian Mountains. Historians Victor Spinei and Nikolai Russev consider it a reference to a Vlach community of Orthodox faith.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

In 1247, Béla IV of Hungary gives the "Land of Severin" to the Knights Hospitallers with two polities (kenezatus of John and Farkas), except kenezatus of voivode Litovoi which was left to the Vlachs as they held it.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The land of Hateg is excepted, while the voivodate of Seneslaus the king keeps for himself.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1252 King Béla IV of Hungary, for his services in various foreign embassies, donates to Vince, Comes of the Szekler of Sebus, the land called Zek between the territory of the Vlachs of Kyrch, the Saxons of Barasu, and the Szeklers of Sebus, which once belonged to a Saxon estate called Fulkun, but has been uninhabited since the Mongol invasion.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1256 King Béla IV of Hungary, upon the complaint of Archbishop Benedict of Esztergom, confirms the right of the archdiocese to tithes from mining wages and from animal taxes collected from the Szeklers and Vlachs to the king or anyone else, among the judicial, accommodation and taxation privileges of the archdiocese, with the exception of land rents from Saxons, but also from Vlachs from everywhere and from anywhere they came.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

King Ottokar II of Bohemia reports to Pope Alexander IV that about the defeated of King Béla IV of Hungary on 12 July 1260, on the border between Hungary and Austria, near the castle and town of Hemburg on the Moraua River. Among the people that fought in Béla's army Vlachs, called Walachorum, are named.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1272, King Ladislaus donates the royal lands or villages of Budula and Tohou, also known as Olahteleky, to Simon's son, Nicholas of Brașov.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

From 1276 King Ladislaus allows the chapter of Alba Iulia to settle 60 Romanian households (mansiones) on the border of his estates called Fülesd and Enyed, separated from the episcopal lands, and to exempt them from all royal taxes, fiftieth and tithes.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In a grant (around 1280) Queen Helena confirmed the grant given by Stefan Vladislav to the Vranjina monastery, the Vlachs are separately mentioned, along with Arbanasi (Albanians), Latins, and Serbs.<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr"/>

In the 1280s, Simon of Kéza in the Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum mentions the Vlachs in his work three times: After the land had been conquered by King Attila, several people left Pannonia, the Vlachs (Blackis) were elected to remain in Pannonia who had been their shepherds and husbandmen. The Székelys were settled with the Vlachs (Blackis) in the border mountains, mingling with them, and adopting their alphabet. After the withdrawal of the Huns, the only people left in Pannonia were immigrants, Slavs, Greeks, Germans, Moravians, and Vlachs (Ulahis) who had been servants of Attila.<ref name="Ryszard 2016">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Sfn Miskolczy points out that the (Ulahis advenis) "Vlach newcomer", the adjective classifying Romanians as immigrants was omitted from the Romanian translation.Template:Sfn Pop on other hand argues that Moravians (Slavs), as well as the Byzantines (Greeks), Germans (Teutons, East Franks), Bulgarians (Messians) and Romanians (Vlachs) are confirmed by other sources as being present in Pannonia or, at least, on its edges in the period preceding the appearance of the Hungarians.Template:Sfn Some Hungarian scholars noted that Simon of Kéza used different spellings for {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, arguing that {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} were actually the Turkic people Bulaqs who were confused with the Vlachs.<ref name="Vásáry2005">Template:Citation</ref> According to Polish historian Ryszard Grzesik, the Vlachs appeared in Transylvania only in the 12th century, therefore Hungarian chroniclers identified the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Vlachs as a distinguishing characteristic. Kézai wrote that the Vlachs gave script to the Székelys, but the reality is different, because Kézai wrote about the Székelys runs, and his opinion was based on the observation that the Vlach shepherds engraved symbols while counting their sheep.<ref name="Ryszard 2016" /> Kézai confused the Székely runs with the Cyrillic script which was used by the Vlachs.Template:Sfn

Several sources cite that the passes of the Carpathians in Transylvania were defended by the Vlachs together with Székelys and Saxons during the Second Mongol invasion of Hungary in 1285.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

According to the old Russian chronicle, Ladislaus IV of Hungary asked for help from Rome and Constantinople because he feared an invasion by the Tartars. Constantinople sent an army of Vlachs from what is now Serbia, but after the victorious battle, the Vlachs refused to go home and settled in the territory of Maramures.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref>

Also in 1285, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos decides to move the Vlachs from Thrace to Asia-Minor, fearing their possible alliance with the Tatars. The same emperor, in 1289, confirms the rights of St. Andrew Monastery from Thessaly over the village Praktikatous or Vlachokatouna.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1288, as external threats from the Tatars, Cumans, Saracens, and other pagans arose (omnino Tartarorum vel Cumanum Saracenum vel Meugarium), the universitas of the Vlachs was called to join the other Estates, including Hungarian nobles, Saxons and Szeklers (universisque nobilibus Ungarorum, Saxonibus, Syculis et Volachis), along with Church representatives from Brașov and Sibiu counties. This assembly was convened to defend the Christian faith, as stated in a letter from Lodomer, Archbishop of Esztergom.<ref name=Gau>Template:Cite journal</ref>

According to a legend, in 1290 Ladislaus the Cuman was assassinated; the new Hungarian king allegedly drove voivode Radu Negru and his people across the Carpathians, where they formed Wallachia along with its first capital Câmpulung, as a Hungarian vassal state.<ref>D. CĂPRĂROIU, ON THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TOWN OF CÂMPULUNG, ″Historia Urbana″, t. XVI, nr. 1-2/2008, pp. 37-64</ref>

In 1291 Andrew III of Hungary presides over a meeting of "Nobles, Saxons, Szeklers, and Vlachs" in Alba Iulia.<ref name="academia.edu">Ioan Aurel Pop: Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I, Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.467</ref><ref name=Kurze>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1292, Andrew III of Hungary allows some Hungarian nobles to invite Vlachs to the country, to their estates called "Ilye", "Szád" and "Fenes".<ref name=":26">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Vague citation

In 1293, Andrew III of Hungary, publishes an "angry" charter to the Transylvanian nobility, mentions that all the Vlachs were supposed to be settled on the royal crown's property called "Székes", not on their own estates.<ref name=":24" />

In November 1293, King Andrew confirms King Ladislaus's earlier concession to the chapter of Alba Iulia to keep the 60 households of Romanians (mansiones Olacorum) free from all taxes and services on the lands of Dalya, Ompaycza, Fylesd and Enugd, separated from the episcopal estates. These Romanians should not be forced by any royal tax collector to pay taxes, dues, or fiftieths. The charter, confirmed by a double seal, is dated by the hand of Theodore, provost of Fehérvár, vice-chancellor.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

14th century

File:Fra Mauro map, sector XXIX.jpg

Fra Mauro's map, sector XXIX, showing Vlachia Piccola in Thessaly and Monte de Murlachi in Dalmatia – Template:Circa CE

Stefan Milutin Serbian king donated 6 katuns to the church of St. Nikita in Bania.<ref name=":25" />

Stefan Milutin, in another medieval Serbian document, mentions that 30 Vlach families live on a church estate near Pristina.<ref name=":25" />

In 1321 on the island of Krk, a priest gave land to the church, and the given land extended to the land of Kneže, where Vlachs lived.<ref name=":22">Template:Cite book</ref>

In a battle, Vlachs fought alongside Mladen Šubić near Trogir in 1322.<ref name=":22" />

King Władysław I Łokietek attacks Brandenburg with neighboring Vlach reinforcements "etiam vicinorum populorum, videlicet Ruthenorum, Walachorum et Lithwanorum stipatusc".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Goods sold by the Vlachs are mentioned in after 1328 by Ragusan documents, among them formaedi vlacheschi, a type of cheese.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

First mention of a Vlach called Radul in 1329, in the Istrian Peninsula.<ref name="Madgearu 2001 59">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1330 Stefan Dečanski gifts to Visoki Dečani monastery the Vlach pastures and katuns along Drim and Lim rivers.<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr"/>

Croatian chronicler Miha de Barbazanis writes that Vlachs from the area of Cetina River fought for Mladen II Šubić of Bribir against Charles I of Hungary and Ban John Babonić.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule, 2017, pages 33-34</ref>

In the list of Papal Tithes from 1332–1337 in the Kingdom of Hungary, one settlement mentioned in the source as Romanian: "Căprioara". This Romanian place-name is the first recorded Romanian toponym in the Kingdom of Hungary, including Transylvania.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=":203">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1335, a royal commissioner, on the orders of the King of Hungary, arranges for a Vlach voivode named Bogdan to move to the Kingdom of Hungary "with his entire household and people". According to the charter, the settlement of the Vlach voivode and his people lasted from 1 November 1334 to 15 August 1335.<ref name=":23">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1341, a Hungarian royal document notes that the Hungarian Czibak noble family can invite and settle more Vlachs to their Mező-Telegd estate, "from the south".<ref name=":14">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Stefan Dušan styles himself "Imperator Raxie et Romanie, dispotus Lartae et Blachie comes" – Emperor of Rascia and Romania, despot of Arta and ispan of Vlachia.<ref name="Timaru"/>

Stefan Dušan donates 320 Vlach families to the Bistrica monastery.<ref name=":25" />

A charter, issued by Stefan Dušan, mentions that, Dobrodoliane is inhabited by Vlachs.<ref name=":19" />

Morlachs are first recorded in 1344, during the struggle between the counts of the Kurjaković and Nelipić families, in the regions near Knin and Krbava, when a region called "Morlacorum" mentioned.<ref name=":21" />

A letter from 1345 from Pope Clement VI to the Hungarian king Louis I, the phrase quod Olachi Romani appears, which can be interpreted as an expression of the papal chancellery's conviction about the Roman origin of the Wallachians.<ref name="Obara-Pawłowska">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1349, another Hungarian royal charter mentions the Vlachs, allowing the Wallachian voivode to send a Vlach priest to Transylvania, thus encouraging more Vlachs to settle in the Hungarian kingdom from the south.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16" />

A Hungarian charter of 1352 states that, the lord lieutenant of Krassó County Szeri Pósa invited Vlachs to Hungary, to populate the area around the Mutnok stream.<ref name=":2" />

Around 1355, Bogdan of Cuhea, former Voivode of Maramureș, but now in conflict with Louis I of Hungary, crosses the mountains with other Vlachs from Maramureș and takes over Moldavia.<ref>Ioan Aurel Pop: Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I, Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.473</ref>

In 1359, the King of Hungary allowed a Vlach noble family and their household to settle in the country, first giving them 13 villages, and then 6 years later another 5 villages in the Banat.<ref name=":23" />

Also in 1359, the village of Lakság "near Várad", reports in a letter to the bishop of Várad that "the first Vlach inhabitants have arrived".<ref name=":14" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1365 Balc, son of Voivode Sas of Moldavia, defeated by Bogdan, moves to the Kingdom of Hungary and is given by Louis I of Hungary the confiscated domains of his opponent. Later, Balc became the head of Szatmár (Sătmar), Ugocsa and Máramaros (Maramureș) counties in the Kingdom of Hungary, and he was also invested with the title of Count of the Székelys.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Vlachs from the domain of Vidčeselo, between Lika and Zrmanja, are rewarded for their military support by the ban of Croatia .<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In June 1366 King Louis I of Hungary grants through the Decree of Turda special privileges to the Transylvanian noblemen to take measures against malefactors belonging to any nation, especially the Vlachs.<ref>I. Dani, K. Gündish et al. (eds.) Documenta Romaniae Historica, vol. XIII, Transilvania (1366-1370), Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 1994, p. 161–162</ref>

In 1370, Louis I of Hungary decreed that only those Vlach settlers who were Catholic could receive royal grants.<ref name=":2" />

The village of Wołodź in Ruthenia was first documented in 1373 as a Vlach settlement.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In a letter dates to 1374, the Cathedral chapter of Várad complains that he has only 9 Vlach villages, and asks for permission "to invite more Vlachs into the country" and to "settle them on his estates". Also in the same letter, he asks the "border nobles" that "if strangers come from Wallachia, do not stop them".<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16">Template:Cite book</ref>

Papal documents from late 14th century reference the conquest of Medieș fortress "from the hands of schismatic Vlachs" by an unnamed King of Hungary. Historian Ioan-Aurel Pop places this event close to the Fourth Council of the Lateran<ref name="academia.edu"/>

In 1374, the Cathedral chapter of Várad complained that the Vlachs living in its territory are not willing to give up their nomadic lifestyle.<ref name=":14" />

In 1374, Bishop László of Várad obliges his successors not to prevent the Vlach knezes from settle further "foreigners" to the border areas of Bónafalva, Királybányatoplica and Keresztényfalva.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16" />

In 1376 the ban of Knin is also called "comes Holachorum".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1381 Croatian documents from Knin mention "universitas Valachorum".<ref name="ReferenceB">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1383 the so-called "Peace convention of Christian" is signed by Saxons and Romanians (Vlachs) from the area of Sibiu, aimed to ensure the peace between the two communities.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Vlachs are a documented presence in Belz region since the rule of Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia, probably as early as 1388.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 14th century, royal charters from the Kingdom of Serbia included segregation policies stating that "a Serb shall not marry a Vlach".<ref name="Ćirković">Sima Ćirković; (2004) The Serbs p. 130; Wiley-Blackwell, Template:ISBN</ref><ref>Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule, 2017, page 31</ref> However, these laws were not successful and intermarriage between Slavs, Vlachs and also Albanians did take place.<ref name="Ćirković" />

15th century

File:The Vlachs-Wallachians.png

Map showing the migrations of the Eastern Romance peoples

In 1412, the captain of Zadar saved 3000 ducats to organise an army against the looting Morlachs, who lived in Ostravica, whose castle has even been taken by them. The leader of the Morlahcs was a person called Sandallor.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The biggest caravan shipment between Podvisoki in Bosnia and Republic of Ragusa was recorded on 9 August 1428, where Vlachs transported 1500 modius of salt with 600 horses.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>„Crainich Miochouich et Stiepanus Glegieuich ad meliustenendem super se et omnia eorum bona se obligando promiserunt ser Тhome de Bona presenti et acceptanti conducere et salauum dare in Souisochi in Bosna Dobrassino Veselcouich nomine dicti ser Тhome modia salis mille quingenta super equis siue salmis sexcentis. Et dicto sale conducto et presentato suprascripto Dobrassino in Souisochi medietatem illius salis dare et mensuratum consignare dicto Dobrassino. Et aliam medietatem pro eorum mercede conducenda dictum salem pro ipsius conductoribus retinere et habere. Promittentes vicissim omnia et singularia suprascripta firma et rata habere et tenere ut supra sub obligatione omnium suorum bonorum. Renuntiando" (09.08. 1428.g.), Div. Canc., XLV, 31v.</ref>

In 1433 Vlach knezes, voievodes, and juzi from Croatia vow to respect the property right of the local St. John church.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Vlachs are mentioned in a document of Grand Duke Švitrigaila, in Kremenets, as part of the local population subject to mayor of Busk legal authority.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Nicholas of Ilok styled himself as "Bosniae and Valachiae Rex".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1450, the Vlachs are granted a privilege in Šibenik, allowing the Vlachs to enter the town if they call themselves Croats.<ref name=":22" />

Italian humanist Poggio Bracciolini claims in 1450 that Trajan left a colony among the Sarmatians which still retains much of the Latin vocabulary, and that its members say: "oculum, digitum, manum, panem, and many other things, from which it appears that the Latins, who remained there as settlers, used the Latin language."<ref>{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Poggio Bracciolini, Historia convivalis, utrum priscis Romanis latina lingua omnibus communis fuerit... in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58</ref>

In 1453, Flavio Biondo notes that "the Dacians or Vlachs claim to have Roman origins and they think this fact is a decoration in itself" and that "when they spoke the language of their common and simple people it scent of a grammatically incorrect peasant Latin".<ref>{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Flavio Biondo, Ad Alphonsum Aragonensem serenissimum regem de expeditione in Turchos Blondus Flavius Forliviensis in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58</ref>

King Matthias confirmed the liberties of the Vlachs in an open letter, issued March 31, 1474 in the town of Ružomberok.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Jan Długosz in his Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae wrote about Vlachs in Medieval Poland – Małopolska region, theorizing their origin as a population that came from Italy or Rome who expelled the Ruthenian (Slavic) population from the Danube settlements, and then they themselves settled in the fertile lands there.<ref name="Obara-Pawłowska"/>

An attested reference to Romanian comes from a Latin title of an oath made in 1485 by the Moldavian Prince Stephen the Great to the Polish King Casimir, in which it is reported that "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}"—"This Inscription was translated from Valachian (Romanian) into Latin, but the King has received it written in the Ruthenian language (Slavic)."<ref name="ErnstGleßgen2008">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Toponymy

In addition to the ethnic groups of Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians who emerged during the Migration Period, other Vlachs could be found as far north as Poland, as far west as Moravia and Dalmatia.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In search of better pasture, they were called Vlasi or Valaši by the Slavs. States mentioned in medieval chronicles were:Template:Citation needed

• Wallachia – between the Southern Carpathians and the Danube (Ţara Românească in Romanian); Bassarab-Wallachia (Bassarab's Wallachia and Ungro-Wallachia or Wallachia Transalpina in administrative sources;Template:Which
• Moldavia – between the Carpathians and the Dniester river (Bogdano-Wallachia; Bogdan's Wallachia,Template:Citation needed Moldo-Wallachia or Maurovlachia; Black Wallachia, Moldovlachia or Rousso-Vlachia in Byzantine sources<ref name=":11">Template:Cite book</ref>);
• Second Bulgarian Empire, between the Carpathians and the Balkan Mountains – Regnum Bulgarorum et Blachorum in documents by Pope Innocent IIITemplate:WhichTemplate:Citation needed
• Terra Prodnicorum (or Terra Brodnici), mentioned by Pope Honorius III in 1222. Vlachs led by Ploskanea supported the Tatars in the 1223 Battle of Kalka. Vlach lands near Galicia in the west, Volhynia in the north, Moldova in the south and the Bolohoveni lands in the east were conquered by Galicia.<ref>A. Boldur, Istoria Basarabiei, Editura Victor Frunza, Bucuresti 1992, pp 98–106</ref>Template:POV statement

Regions and places are:

• White Wallachia in Moesia<ref name="ReferenceA">Since Theophanes Confessor and Kedrenos, in : A.D. Xenopol, Istoria Românilor din Dacia Traiană, Nicolae Iorga, Teodor Capidan, C. Giurescu : Istoria Românilor, Petre Ș. Năsturel Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medie, vol. XVI, 1998</ref>Template:Request quotation
• Great Wallachia (Μεγάλη Βλαχία, Megáli vlahía) in Thessaly<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
• Small Wallachia (Μικρή Βλαχία, Mikrí vlahía) in Aetolia, Acarnania, Dorida and Locrida<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
• Morlachia, in Lika-Dalmatia
• Upper Wallachia (Άνω Βλαχία, Áno Vlahía) in southern Macedonia, Albania and Epirus
• Magna Vlachia in southern Macedonia, Albania and Epirus<ref name="Timaru" />
• Stari Vlah ("the Old Vlach"), a region in southwestern Serbia
• Maior Vlachia, a region in southwestern part of Croatia mentioned in 1373<ref name="Madgearu 2001 59"/>
• Romanija mountain (Romanija planina) in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina<ref>Map of Yugoslavia, file East, sq. B/f, Istituto Geografico de Agostini, Novara, in : Le Million, encyclopédie de tous les pays du monde, vol. IV, ed. Kister, Geneve, Switzerland, 1970, pp. 290–291, and many other maps & old atlases – these names disappear after 1980.</ref>
• Vlașca County, a former county of southern Wallachia (derived from Slavic Vlaška)
• Greater Wallachia, an older name for the region of Muntenia, southeastern Romania
• Lesser Wallachia, an older name for the region of Oltenia, southwestern Romania
• An Italian writer called the Banat Valachia citeriore ("Wallachia on this side") in 1550.<ref name="MușatArdeleanu1985">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Valahia transalpina, including Făgăraș and Hațeg
• Moravian Wallachia (Template:Langx), in the Beskid Mountains (Czech: Beskydy) of the Czech Republic.<ref>Z. Konečný, F. Mainus, Stopami minulosti: Kapitoly z dějin Moravy a Slezska/Traces of the Past: Chapters from the History of Moravia and Silesia, Brno:Blok,1979</ref>

Shepherd culture

As national states appeared in the area of the former Ottoman Empire, new state borders were developed that divided the summer and winter habitats of many of the transhumance groups. During the Middle Ages, many Vlachs were shepherds who drove their flocks through the mountains of Central and Eastern Europe. Vlach shepherds may be found as far north as southern Poland (Podhale) and the eastern Czech Republic (Moravia) by following the Carpathians, the Dinaric Alps in the west, the Pindus Mountains in the south, and the Caucasus Mountains in the east.<ref>Silviu Dragomir: "Vlahii din nordul peninsulei Balcanice în evul mediu"; 1959, p. 172</ref> In Slovak language, the term Valasi became a synonym for apprentice shepherds.<ref name="horváth"/>

Some researchers, such as Bogumil Hrabak and Marian Wenzel, theorized that the origins of Stećci tombstones, which appeared in medieval Bosnia between 12th and 16th century, could be attributed to Vlach burial culture of Bosnia and Herzegovina of that times.<ref>Marian Wenzel, "Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstobes—Who Made Them and Why?" Sudost-Forschungen 21 (1962): 102–143</ref>

Gallery

• Théodore Valerio, Paysans valaques des environs de Lugos, Romanian peasants from around Lugos, 1851.jpg

  Théodore Valerio, Paysans valaques des environs de Lugos. Vlach/Romanian peasants from around Lugoj, 1851.

• Raffet - Berger du Banat.jpg

  Vlach shepherd of Banat (Auguste Raffet, Template:Circa)

• A Morlach couple, Geissler.jpg

  A Morlach couple (Vlachs that live in Croatia), Christian Geissler, before 1844

• Rumanians in America.jpg

  Romanian immigrants in Ellis Island, United States

• Femmes valaques revêtues du costume national - Van Den Brule Alfred - 1907.jpg

  Vlach women in traditional dress, North Macedonia/Greece, Van Den Brule Alfred, 1907

• Vlach revolutionaries from Ber or Veria.jpg

  Vlach revolutionaries in the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization against the Ottoman Empire from Veria (today in northern Greece), between 1900 and 1908

Legacy

According to Ilona Czamańska "for several recent centuries the investigation of the Vlachian ethnogenesis was so much dominated by political issues that any progress in this respect was incredibly difficult". The transhumance of Vlachs, the heirs of Roman citizens, may be a key for solving the problem of ethnogenesis, but the problem is that many migrations were in multiple directions during the same time. These migrations were not just part of the history of the Balkans and the Carpathians, they exist in the Caucasus, the Adriatic islands and possibly over the entire region of the Mediterranean Sea. Because of this, our knowledge concerning primary migrations of the Vlachs and the ethnogenesis is more than modest.<ref>Ilona Czamańska; (2015) The Vlachs – several research problems p. 14; BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA XXII/1 IUS VALACHICUM I, [2]</ref>

Researcher have also raised a concern about cultural appropriation of Vlach heritage in the Balkans, denial of Vlach descent of various groups and personalities, and exclusion from political life.<ref>Octavian Ciobanu: Cultural appropriation of the Vlachs' heritage in Balkans</ref>

See also

• Oláh
• Morlachs
• Romania in the Early Middle Ages
• Statuta Valachorum
• Supplex Libellus Valachorum
• Vlach (Ottoman social class)
• Vlach law
• Vlachs in medieval Serbia
• Vlachs in the history of Croatia
• Vlachs in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina

References

• G. Weigand, Die Aromunen, Bd.Α΄-B΄, J. A. Barth (A.Meiner), Leipzig 1895–1894.
• George Murnu, Istoria românilor din Pind, Vlahia Mare 980–1259 ("History of the Romanians of the Pindus, Greater Vlachia, 980–1259"), Bucharest, 1913
• Ilie Gherghel, Câteva consideraţiuni la cuprinsul noţiunii cuvântului "Vlach". Bucuresti: Convorbiri Literare, (1920).
• Theodor Capidan, Aromânii, dialectul aromân. Studiul lingvistic ("Aromanians, Aromanian dialect, Linguistic Study"), Bucharest, 1932
• A.Hâciu, Aromânii, Comerţ. Industrie. Arte. Expasiune. Civiliytie, tip. Cartea Putnei, Focşani 1936.
• Steriu T. Hagigogu, "Romanus şi valachus sau Ce este romanus, roman, român, aromân, valah şi vlah", Bucharest, 1939
• Template:Cite book (First edition published in 1930. The first 50 pages are a scholarly introduction.)
  • Template:Cite book
• Τ. Winnifrith, The Vlachs. The History of a Balkan People, Duckworth 1987
• A. Koukoudis, Oi mitropoleis kai i diaspora ton Vlachon [Major Cities and Diaspora of the Vlachs], publ. University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1999.
• A. Keramopoulos, Ti einai oi koutsovlachoi [What are the Koutsovlachs?], publ 2 University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 2000.
• Template:Cite book
• Victor A. Friedman, "The Vlah Minority in Macedonia: Language, Identity, Dialectology, and Standardization" in Selected Papers in Slavic, Balkan, and Balkan Studies, ed. Juhani Nuoluoto, et al. Slavica Helsingiensa: 21, Helsinki: University of Helsinki. 2001. 26–50. full text Though focussed on the Vlachs of North Macedonia, has in-depth discussion of many topics, including the origins of the Vlachs, their status as a minority in various countries, their political use in various contexts, and so on.
• Asterios I. Koukoudis, The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora, 2003, Template:ISBN
• Template:Cite book
• Th Capidan, Aromânii, Dialectul Aromân, ed2 Εditură Fundaţiei Culturale Aromâne, București 2005
• Trifon, Nicolas. Les Aroumains, un peuple qui s'en va (Paris, 2005); Cincari, narod koji nestaje (Beograd, 2010)
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Further reading

• The Watchmen, a documentary film by Alastair Kenneil and Tod Sedgwick (US) 1971 describes life in the Vlach village of Samarina in Epiros, Northern Greece.
• John Kennedy Campbell, 'Honour Family and Patronage' A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community, Oxford University Press, 1974.
• Gheorghe Bogdan, Memory, Identity, Typology: An Interdisciplinary Reconstruction of Vlach Ethnohistory, B.A., University of British Columbia, 1992.
• Franck Vogel, a photo-essay on the Valchs published by GEO magazine (France), 2010. Template:Webarchive.
• Adina Berciu-Drăghicescu, Aromâni, meglenoromâni, istroromâni : aspecte identitare şi culturale, Editura Universităţii din București, 2012. Template:ISBN.
• Octavian Ciobanu, "The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils' Expansion in the Balkans.", Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies, Year 4, Issue 7, December 2021, pp. 11–32.
• A.J.B Wace, M.A. & M.S. Thompson, M.A. 'The Nomads of The Balkans' An Account Of Life And Customs Among The Vlachs of Northen Pindus, Methuen & Co. LTD. London, 1914.

External links

• Romănii Balcanici Aromânii Template:SndMaria Magiru about Aromanians Template:In lang
• The Vlach Connection and Further Reflections on Roman History
• Orbis Latinus: Wallachians, Walloons, Welschen
• Vlachs in Greece
• Cultural appropriation of Vlachs' heritage
• French Vlachs Association (in Vlach, EN and FR)
• Studies on the Vlachs Template:Webarchive, by Asterios Koukoudis
• Vlachs' in Greece (in Greek)
• Consiliul A Tinirlor Armanj, Youth Aromanian community and their Projects (in Vlach, EN and RO)
• Old WallachiaTemplate:Snda short Czech film from 1955 depicting life of Vlachs in Czech Moravia
• Western Balkan Vlachs