Editing Unio Trium Nationum (section)

==Founding of the Union of Three Nations==
After the successful campaign, the alliance of Hungarian nobles, Székelys, and Saxon elite was codified in the ''Unio Trium Nationum'' ("Union of Three Nations") on February 2, 1438. Like the Brotherly Union, the new Union provided mutual aid against peasant revolts and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] attacks. The Union ensured that the (Hungarian and Romanian) serfs continued to be excluded from the political life of [[Transylvania]], although they were the majority of the population in the Noble Counties ([[Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)|''Comitates'']]). The Romanians adhered to [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Eastern Orthodoxy]], which in predominantly [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] Hungary was considered heretical.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jean W. Sedlar|title=East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4NYTCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA404|date=1 March 2013|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-80064-6|pages=404–}}</ref>

The alliance of the three privileged estates was effective for centuries and provided the framework of  internal and international relations of Transylvania. After the 18th century, when the danger of Ottoman or [[Tatars|Tatar]] attacks was over, the Union became an alliance of the three estates to protect their vested rights from those who were not represented in the [[Transylvanian Diet]]. In the 19th century, the term "three nations" became charged with ethnic considerations, because Romanians were consequently excluded from Transylvanian government.

In 1711, the [[Bulgarians in Romania|Bulgarians]] of [[Vințu de Jos|Alvinc]] and [[Deva, Romania|Déva]] (led by church leader Balázs Marinovics) and the [[Armenians of Romania|Armenians]] also claimed the privileges of a fourth and fifth ''natio'', but their demands were not met with the elevation of their communities to that privileged status.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The legal status of the Bulgarian colonies of Transylvania (1690-1848) |last=Trócsányi |first=Zs. |journal=Études historiques hongroises |year=1985 }}</ref>