Basarab Laiotă, domn al Ţării Româneşti: preliminarii la o monografie
Basarab Laiotă, lord of Wallachia: preliminary remarks for a biography

Summary/Abstract: The present study consists of some preliminary remarks for a monograph on Basarab Laiotǎ’s life and his reign in Wallachia in the second half of the fifteenth century. The scholarly controversies surrounding Basarab start with the dating of the first reference to him (1454, 1459, 1465 or 1471). Equally controversial has been the role played by Wallachia in the war between the Ottoman Empire and Moldavia, in the years 1474-1476. By analysing a lesser known fragment of Jakob Unrest’s Österreichische Chronik, I suggest a reinterpretation of Basarab’s actions in this crucial period. According to Jakob Unrest, in a battle that took place on the 20th of January 1475, Basarab defeated and killed with “his own hands” a pretender to the Wallachian throne. Most likely, this pretender, backed by the Ottomans, was Radu the Fair, the former ruler of Wallachia. It seems that in this context Basarab introduced in Wallachia the new rank of portar, imitating the Moldavian court. To sum up, it is my contention that Basarab submitted to Mehmed II as late as the spring or summer of 1476, in the context of the Ottoman campaign against Moldavia.

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