Cu privire la începuturile oraşelor din Ţara de Jos a Moldovei
ON THE EMERGENCE OF TOWNS IN THE MOLDAVIAN LOWER COUNTRY

Summary/Abstract: Political circumstance ascribed specific features to the urbanization of Moldavia, as compared to Wallachia. In the Lower Country (the eastern and the southern lands of Moldavia), the late emergence of towns can be explained by several factors: the area did not present any high density prior to mid-14th century and was under prolonged Mongol domination; the rulers of Moldavia, from Petru and Roman I, to Ştefan the Great, later conquered it gradually. For many towns, we have discovered indications that the rulers brought in settlers to aid in the urbanization, and resources led us to believe that they were mostly Hungarian, rather than Saxons or Armenians; however, in the north-western lands of the country, the last two groups had a more prominent role. Even if these towns emerged only after 1400, they followed a pattern similar to the Moldavian ones in their organization: communities were granted the right to elect the şoltuz, voit and pârgari, documents confirming in some cases tax exemptions, probably granted as an incentive for the economic growth of those settlements (in Bârlad and Vaslui). The towns in the Lower Country conclude the ample urbanization process for Moldavia, which, due to the intervention of the central authority, the involvement of groups of colonists and the way the new communities were organized, shows great resemblance to similar process in Central Europe.

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