New considerations on the administration, law, and relations with the ruler in medieval Moldavian towns
New considerations on the administration, law, and relations with the ruler in medieval Moldavian towns

Summary/Abstract: The present study focuses on new standpoints regarding the way medieval towns in Moldavia were organized, and on their rights, duties and relations with the ruler. A close analysis of the sources reveals that the distance between the towns of Moldavia and those in Transylvania and in the Galician Rus’ was not as vast as it was previously suggested. The connections between these urban centers stem from the fact that the towns beyond the mountains or in the north were actually models for those east of the Carpathians, similar to the towns in Transylvania which acted as models for Wallachian towns. However, local features also generated many differences. In the 14th - 15th centuries, there was a balance in the relations between the towns and the rulers, with the latter group not encroaching on their rights. We have no evidence to show that the central authority interfered in towns prior to 1500. This tends to change from the 16th century on, and especially over the next two centuries, as Eastern elements find their way into towns. The number of Greeks and Armenians from south of the Danube increases, while Saxons and Hungarians dwindle and begin to blend in, after converting to Lutheranism or after mixed marriages. Political changes in the area also take their toll. By controlling the Danube and the Black Sea, the Ottoman Empire gradually brought the Principalities under its political and economic scope. Towns in the 1600s are largely different from those in the 1400.

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