Martin Gruneweg prin Moldova, Ţara Românească şi Dobrogea
Martin Gruneweg’s Travels to Moldavia, Wallachia and Dobroudja

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents Martin Gruneweg’s travels to the Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, and to the Ottoman province of Dobroudja, in 1582-1586. Gruneweg, a German born in Danzig, came into the service of some Armenian tradesmen from Lwòw in 1582, and accompanied them on six voyages to the Ottoman Empire. In 1588 he renounced Lutheranism to convert to Catholicism, and joined the Dominican Order at Lwòw. He lived as a monk in several Dominican convents in Poland, and died around 1618. His notes, based on his travel journal, were written in German in 1601-1606. After a short biography of Gruneweg, the paper presents the itinerary and commerce in Moldavia, Wallachia, and Dobroudja, based on the author’s travel notes. Focus is laid on historical geography issues, with an attempt to identify and locate various toponyms mentioned by the German author. Gruneweg also provides information on natural calamities affecting these territories, on commodities exported to the Ottoman Empire and from the Ottoman Empire to Poland, on the customs system, and on monetary circulation. A distinct section in the present paper is devoted to Gruneweg’s description of Moldavia, Wallachia, and Dobroudja, including the towns, villages and monuments visited by the author. Quite valuable are the ethnographical descriptions of the Romanians and the Tatars. The final section presents the relations between Moldavia and the Dominican Order.

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