Keresztény vazallusok az Oszmán Birodalom észak-nyugati határainál. Diplomatikai vizsgálat a román vajdák szultáni ‘ahdnàméi körül
Christian vassals at the north-western borders of the Ottoman Empire

Summary/Abstract: The different regions of the Ottoman Empire employed different administrative mechanisms. Besides the sancak-vilayet system, regarded as classic, there were vassal states along the frontiers of the empire. Although different from one another, they all had one common strait in that they had their own domestic self-governments. The paper discusses primarily the political relations of Moldva and Wallachia, the two Rumanian voivodates. Rumania today has three great historical regions: Moldva (Boġdan) and Wallachia (Eflak) are mostly populated by Rumanians of Orthodox religion. Transylvania (Erdel), on the other hand, was part of the Hungarian Kingdom throughout the Middle Ages, its political elite consisting of the three political nations of the Seklers, Hungarians and Saxons, its established religions being Catholicism, Lutheranism, Calvinism, and Unitarianism. Rumanians were present, naturally, in that country, too, but they could play a political role only after being integrated into the above groups. From this it follows that the present paper analyses mostly the relations at the Porte of the two Rumanian voivodates, and Transylvania is mentioned occasionally only, as an example. I am trying to find out what the relationships were like between the Ottoman Empire and the two Rumanian voivodates. The question has abundant Rumanian literature. Recent studies rely mostly on the diplomatic sources of Turkish archives. It is a question of great importance for Rumanian historiography to find out on what level of subjection the Rumanian states stood.[...] Having compared the investiture mechanisms of the voivodes of Moldva and Wallachia to the confirmations of the ruling princes of Transylvania, I have found many similarities. Rumanian historiography does not describe in detail the process of the investiture of the voivodes of Moldva and Wallachia, which differs in the 16th century from that of the Transylvanian only in that in the latter after the confirmation by the Sultan’s letter of order (hükm-i hümâyun) and the presentation of the flag (sancak), the berât, the final letter of investiture was written, and after it was handed over, the Sultan’s ‛ahdnâme was also written, in accordance with the conditions submitted by the Transylvanian envoys. After the flag and the Sultan’s letter of confirmation (nâme-i hümâyun) had been handed over, either both the berât and the ‛ahdnâme were written, or, in some cases, a charter was made at the Ottoman chancery, which contained the characteristics of both document types.[...]

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