Editing Transylvanian Saxons (section)

== Background ==
[[File:Insignia Germany Order Teutonic.svg|thumb|150px|right|The coat of arms of the [[Teutonic Order]] which helped and defended the Transylvanian Saxons during their early settlement process in Transylvania.]]

The legal foundation of their settlement in southern, southeastern, and northeastern Transylvania was officially stipulated within the [[Diploma Andreanum]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Der Goldene Freibrief der Siebenbürger Sachsen}}, ''The Golden Charter of the Transylvanian Saxons'', {{langx|ro|Bula de aur a sașilor transilvăneni}}) issued by [[King of Hungary|King]] [[Andrew II of Hungary]] which allocated them the royal land ({{langx|ro|Pământul crăiesc or Pământul regal}}) under local autonomy known as ''Königsboden'' or ''Fundus Regius'' in [[Latin]].<ref>{{cite web|lang=ro|url=https://politeia.org.ro/magazin-istoric/sasii-saxonii-transilvaniei/18256/|title=Saşii – Saxonii Transilvaniei|author=Magazin Istoric|work=Politeia|date=5 September 2013}}</ref>

[[File:Deutsche Siedlung im Donauraum.jpg|thumb|right|German-language map depicting areas colonised by ethnic German in the former [[Kingdom of Hungary]], with Transylvanian Saxons depicted in red-burgundy to the east of the former Hungarian kingdom and even a little bit outside its borders, in northern neighbouring [[Moldavia]] (what would later become [[Bukovina]] and present-day [[Suceava County]] respectively).]]

The ancestors of the modern Transylvanian Saxons originally came from the contemporary [[Low Countries]] (more specifically the regions of [[Flanders]], [[County of Hainaut|Hainaut]], [[Landgraviate of Brabant|Brabant]], [[Liège]], or [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]]) as well as the [[Moselle]] and [[Duchy of Lorraine|Lorraine]] river valleys, and [[County of Luxemburg|Luxembourg]] as well, then situated in the north-western territories of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] around the 1140s.<ref>Prof. Jan de Maere: Flandrenses, Milites et Hospites" A History of Transylvania (2013) Link: [https://www.academia.edu/34395591/_FLANDRENSES_MILITES_ET_HOSPITES_A_HISTORY_OF_TRANSYLVANIA?email_work_card=title]</ref> 

Further or subsequent waves of German colonists in Transylvania also stemmed from more southern regions of present-day Germany such as [[Thuringia]] or even [[Bavaria]] (the latter particularly valid for the Saxons in northeastern Transylvania). The initial waves of Transylvanian Saxons were referred to as ''hospites flandrenses et teutonici'' or ''primi hospites regni'' in Latin,<ref>{{cite web|lang=ro|url=https://www.turnulsfatului.ro/2015/01/07/legenda-celor-doua-spade-28675|title=Legenda celor două spade|author=Redacția publicației Turnul Sfatului|work=Turnul Sfatului|date=7 January 2015|accessdate=17 January 2023}}</ref> literally "the Flemish and Teutonic guests" or "the first guests of the kingdom" (i.e. of the former [[Kingdom of Hungary]]).

For centuries, the main tasks of the Transylvanian Saxons during the High Middle Ages were to protect the easternmost frontiers of the former Kingdom of Hungary against certain invading migratory Asiatic peoples, to bring more agriculture to the region, to instil Central European culture, enhance trade, and boost urbanisation and overall economic development. In the process of fortifying the borders of the Kingdom of Hungary to the east, they were early on helped by the [[Teutonic Order|Teutonic Knights]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|lang=en|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Transylvanian-Saxons|title=Transylvanian Saxons|encyclopedia=Britannica|author=Encyclopedia Britannica|accessdate=17 January 2023}}</ref> Later on, they had to further strengthen their hometowns and rural settlements against the expanding [[Ottoman Empire]] which posed a major threat from the south. The rural settlements were more protected with a series of fortified churches known as 'kirchenburgen' in [[standard German]]. An alternative term for them in standard German is also '[[:de:Wehrkirche|wehrkirchen]]' (i.e. fortified churches).

[[File:Biserica_fortificata_din_Seica_Mica.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The plan of the medieval fortified Evangelical Lutheran church in [[Șeica Mare]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Marktschelken}}), [[Sibiu County]] ({{langx|de|link=no|Kreis Hermannstadt}}).]]

During the Modern Age, they favoured more and more the Romanians for the latter to obtain increased and rightful political, social, and cultural rights before the Hungarian nobility, with Transylvanian Saxon intellectuals pleading for the [[Latinity]] of the Romanian language and the Romanian people. They were subsequently allied with the Transylvanian Romanians and thus sided with the [[Austrian Empire]] in the context of the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1848]].

After 1918 and the dissolution of [[Austria-Hungary]], in the wake of the [[Treaty of Trianon]] (signed in 1920), Transylvania united with the [[Kingdom of Romania]], after the Transylvanian Saxons also voted for the union with the Romanian kingdom in February 1919. Consequently, the Transylvanian Saxons, together with other ethnic German sub-groups in then newly enlarged Kingdom of Romania (namely the [[Banat Swabians]], [[Satu Mare Swabians|Sathmar Swabians]], [[Bessarabia Germans]], [[Bukovina Germans]], and [[Zipser Germans]]), became part of [[Germans of Romania|that country's broader German minority]]. Today, relatively few still live in Romania, where the second last official census (carried out in 2011) indicated 36,042 Germans, out of which only 11,400 were of Transylvanian Saxon descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.recensamantromania.ro/rezultate-2|language=ro|title=Table no. 8|work=Recensământ România|accessdate=15 March 2021}}</ref> As per the [[2022 Romanian census|latest Romanian census]] conducted in 2022, they are even fewer, as other sub-groups of the entire German community in Romania as well.