Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 1. szám)
Relaţii internaţionale
The Political Relations between Wallachia and Hungary 9 the Kingdom of Hungary and the Bulgarian Czardom from the first half of the 13th century, for a short interval, a certain form of Hungarian domination was established in the Severin region. In 1233, the existence of a bonus of Severin is certified27. As for the following years, there is doubt whether a Banate of Severin really functioned due to the laconic character of the information28. At the same time, one cannot almost entirely deny the existence of a Hungarian domination, before the devastating invasion of the Mongolians. As a result of the conflicts with the Bulgarians, the Hungarians were not able to take over that territory and to organise it integrally. However, after 1233, it became a permanent aim to achieve. The initial reason for occupying this territory was to establish a defence position and an offensive base against the Bulgarians. Actually, the organisation form of Banate was characteristic to these marginal territories, which were assigned a strategic role. The fact that the bonus of Severin were mentioned three times, in 1233, 1240 and 1243 states the strategic option of the Hungarian authority. The fact that, in the Knights Hospitalers’ Diploma Írom 1247, no Banate of Severin is mentioned, but a land of Severin also demonstrate the complete failure of the action. Nevertheless, we stress that the territory appears to be under Hungarian domination in 1247, even though it was only a formal one! The region of Severin also presents an interdependence of the military campaigns, based on force, and the missionary ones, aiming at converting the population to Catholicism29, similar to the situation of the Eastern region of the Southern Carpathian territories. The substantial missionary activity of the Dominican friars in the land of Severin indicates its position within Hungary's influential area30. Since it is certified that the Hungarian kingship title included those of king of Bulgaria and of Cumania after the conflicts with the Bulgarians in 1230, one can take into consideration a new modified political reality, south of the Carpathians, undergone within the domination area of the Hungarian kingdom. The intensification of the actions initiated by the papacy in the region acknowledges the fact that it derived from a political change, on the basis created by Hungary's expansion31. The installation of the Hungarian authority was also enabled by the intervention, with the papal mandate, in the conflict between the Latin Empire of Constantinople and the Romanian-Bulgarian Czardom before the Mongolian invasion32. During the 13th century, the Romanian communities were already organised in territorial-state formations of small dimensions. In Assertion on the St. Demetrios’ Wonders, John Stavrakios, in his account of the battles between the Byzantins and the Bulgarians, mentions the part played by some Northern 27 Hurmuzaki, Documente privitoare to istoria românilor (following up: Documente). 1/1. p. 126. The international context: Ş. Papacostea, Românii în secolul al XIII-lea. pp. 41-42. "8 Maria Holban's discussion op. cit., pp. 49-89 is subjective. The author emphasizes too much the internal context of the Hungarian kingdom. 29 Hurmuzaki, Documente, 1/1, pp. 153, 154-155, 182-184. 30 Ş. Papacostea, Rotnânii în secolul al XlII-lea, p. 42. 31 Ibidem, loc. cit. 32 Ibidem, pp. 43-48.
