Editing Isaccea (section)

===Mediaeval history===
Around 950, [[Constantine VII|Constantine Porphyrogenitus]] talks of six desert cities in the area, one being named Saka-katai, which could be the earliest mentioning of the town after it was lost to the migrating people during the Dark Age.

In 971, Isaccea was once again included in the Byzantine Empire and the walls of [[castra|kastron]] were reinforced. In 1036, the [[Pechenegs]] being driven southward by the [[Cumans]], settled in [[Scythia Minor (Roman province)|Scythia Minor]], including in this city, fact backed by archeological evidence, such as leaf-shaped [[pendant]]s, characteristic to them.<ref>[http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/istorie/ideologie/5.htm "Observaţii asupra revoltei din Paradunavon din 1072-1091"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090323071138/http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/istorie/ideologie/5.htm |date=2009-03-23 }}, in ''Istorie și ideologie''. Editura Universității din București, 2002, {{ISBN|973-575-658-7}}, p.34-46.</ref> The Pechenegs traded with the Byzantines, which led to a growth in the economic life of the region, as shown by the number of coins found in Isaccea, reaching 700 coins for the period of 1025–1055.<ref>Paul Stephenson, ''Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204'', Cambridge University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-521-77017-3}}, p. 86</ref> However, the Pechenegs were eventually assimilated and faded from history.

The Byzantines regained control of Isaccea toward the end of the 10th century: a seal of [[Leo Nicerites]], the governor of [[Paristrion]], was found at Isaccea.<ref>Stephenson, p.103</ref> Around 1100, a double-curtain wall was built in Isaccea.<ref>Curta, p.302</ref>
[[Image:Isaac II Angelos Noviodunum.jpg|thumb|Seal of Isaac II Angelos, found in Isaccea]]
In the mid-12th century, Isaccea was devastated by Cuman attacks and it was completely rebuilt. In the second half of the 12th century it became the most important Byzantine military base in the region, suggested by the number of imperial seals found there: a seal of [[Isaac II Angelos]] (1185–1195) and one of [[John Komnenos Vatatzes|John Vatatzes]], the head of the Imperial Guard under [[Manuel I Komnenos]] (1143–1180).<ref>Curta, p.319-320</ref>

According to Arab chronicles, the Nogai Tatars settled in the town in the late 13th century.<ref>Stănciugel et al. p. 45</ref> Between 1280 and 1299, the town was [[Nogai Khan]]'s base of operation in his campaigns against the Bulgarian city of [[Tarnovo]]. At the time, the city was a local Muslim centre and the residence of the famous Turkish dervish [[Sarı Saltuk]], who has been associated with Nogai Khan's conversion to Islam.<ref>Kiel, p. 289</ref>

Arab geographer [[Abulfeda]] mentioned the town, placing it in the territory of the "Al-Ualak" ([[Wallachia|Wallachs]]), having a population mostly Turkic and being ruled by the Byzantines.<ref>Stănciugel et al. p. 55</ref> A Byzantine [[despotate]] existed in Northern Dobruja with Isaccea as its centre, which sometimes between 1332 and 1337 became a [[vassal]] of the [[Golden Horde]] of [[Nogais]] under the name "Saqčï".<ref>Vasary, p.90</ref>

The [[Tatars]] held an important mint in Isaccea, which minted coins marked with Greek and [[Arabic]] letters between the years 1286 and 1351. Various types of silver and copper coins were minted, including coins bearing the mark of the Golden Horde with the names of the khans as well as the names of [[Nogai Khan]] and his son [[Chaka of Bulgaria|Čeke]] (minted between 1296 and 1301).<ref>Vasary, p.89-90</ref>

In the late 14th century it was ruled by [[Mircea cel Bătrân|Mircea the Elder]] of [[Wallachia]] (c. 1355–1418), being held until one year before his death. In 1417, the town was conquered, together with other fortresses on the Danube, by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]],<ref>Colin Imber, ''The Crusade of Varna, 1443-45'', 2006, Ashgate Publishing, {{ISBN|0-7546-0144-7}} p. 4-5</ref> who built a fort defended by a garrison as part of the Danubian frontier established by [[Mehmed I]].<ref>David Turnock, ''The Making of Eastern Europe'', Taylor & Francis, 1988, {{ISBN|0-415-01267-8}}, p. 138</ref>

The town was regained by [[Vlad the Impaler]] of Wallachia in 1462 during his campaigns against the [[Ottoman Empire]], massacring the local Muslim Bulgarian, Tatar and Turkish population (who were expected to side with the Turks), killing 1350 people in Isaccea and Novoselo,<ref>Kurt W. Treptow, ''Dracula: Essays on the Life and Times of Vlad Țepeș'', [[Columbia University Press]], 1991, {{ISBN|0-88033-220-4}}</ref> from a total of more than 23,000 victims in all  of [[Ottoman Bulgaria|Bulgaria]]. In a letter to [[Matthias Corvinus]], dated February 11, 1462, he stated:

{{cquote|I have killed men and women, old and young, who lived at Oblucița [old name of Isaccea] and Novoselo, where the Danube flows into the sea, up to Rahova, which is located near [[Kiliya, Ukraine |Kilia]], from the lower Danube up to such places as {{ill|Samovit|ro|Somovit, Plevna}} and [[Gigen]]. We killed 23,884 Turks and Bulgars without counting those whom we burned in homes or whose heads were not cut by our soldiers....Thus your highness must know that I have broken the peace with him [the Sultan].<ref name = "Dracp134">[[Radu Florescu|Radu R. Florescu]], [[Raymond T. McNally|Raymond McNally]], ''Dracula: Prince of many faces - His life and his times'', [[Little, Brown and Company|Back Bay Books]], 1990, {{ISBN|0-316-28656-7}}, p. 134</ref>}}

In 1484, it was taken again by the Ottomans under [[Mehmed II]], being included in the [[Silistra Province, Ottoman Empire|Silistra (Özi) Province]], which comprised [[Dobruja]], much of present-day [[Bulgaria]], and later also [[Budjak]] and [[Yedisan]].

Țepeș's [[massacre]] and destruction completely changed the ethnic composition and the appearance of Isaccea, which remaining throughout the 16th century a small, largely Christian, village.<ref>according to the Ottoman ''[[defter|tahrir defterleri]]'' (tax registers) of 1528, 1569/1570 and 1597/1598; in Kiel, p. 289</ref> [[Bayazid II]]'s capture of Kilia and [[Akkerman]] removed the danger from the north, as did [[Mehmed II]]'s victories against Wallachia remove the threat from the west, and as such, the Sultan saw no reason to rebuild the fortress of Isaccea, nor for the positioning there of a garrison.<ref>Kiel, p. 289-290</ref>

In 1574, Voivode [[John III the Terrible]] of Moldavia sent [[Burgrave]] [[Ieremia Golia]] with an army to Obluchitza (Isaccea) to prevent the Ottoman army from fording the river. However, Golia betrayed John for a sum of 30 gold bags, thus leading to the defeat of the Moldavian army and the execution of John.<ref>[[Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu]] (1865), [http://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Ioan_Vodă_cel_Cumplit ''Ioan Vodă cel Cumplit'']</ref>

By the beginning of the 16th century, a new danger arose for the Ottoman border on the Lower Danube: the [[Cossacks]] from Ukraine who, in 1603, crossed the Ottoman border, reached Oblucița and set the town on fire.<ref>Nicolae Iorga  (1900), ''Studiĭ istorice asupra Chilieĭ și Cetățiĭ-Albe'', Institutul de arte grafice C. Göbl, p. 217</ref> Sultan [[Osman II]] began a series of campaigns against the Cossacks and, as part of his fortification of the border, in 1620, a new fort was built in Isaccea, but in a different place.<ref>Kiel, p. 291</ref>

On 6 October 1598, [[Michael the Brave]] defeated the Ottoman army at Oblucița, recapturing the town. Following March, the Ottoman army took back the town and started conducting incursions into Wallachia, with Michael's response being to again cross the Danube and attack Oblucița.<ref>Ileana Căzan, Eugen Denize (2001), ''[http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/istorie/mari_puteri/Capitolul%20XI6.htm Marile puteri şi spaţiul românesc în secolele XV-XVI] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728142203/http://ebooks.unibuc.ro/istorie/mari_puteri/Capitolul%20XI6.htm |date=2011-07-28 }}'', Bucharest: Editura Universității, {{ISBN|973-575-597-1}}, p. 276</ref> After Michael's death in 1601, the town was regained by the Ottomans.

In December 1673, at the [[Ottoman Army]] camp in Isaccea, [[Dumitrașcu Cantacuzino]] was chosen [[Prince of Moldavia]].<ref>{{in lang|ro}} Valentin Gheonea, [http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi1997/current12/mi35.htm "Dumitraşcu Cantacuzino - Un fanariot pe tronul Moldovei în secolul XVII"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010050044/http://www.itcnet.ro/history/archive/mi1997/current12/mi35.htm |date=2007-10-10 }}, ''Magazin Istoric'' ({{ISSN|0541-881X}}), December 1997</ref>