Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 1. szám)
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10 Marius Diaconescu Danubian political organisms called "little reigns" or "governments"33. The existence of certain political forms is suggested in a document issued by Pope Gregory IX in which measures are recommended to be taken for the conversion of some "peoples" called "walati" (Romanians) in the area of the Cuman bishopric34. The term populus, used in plural, does not have an ethnic meaning, for which the Pope used the term natio, but that of a human community as part of a political organism35. The same meaning must be conveyed for the "ulagh" peoples, certified in the universal chronicle of Raşid od-din, which were defeated by the Mongolians during the invasion from 124136. The Knights Hospitalers’ Diploma issued in 1247, but which refers to circumstances prior to the Mongolian invasion certifies the existence of such Romanian political forms37. The great Mongolian invasion from 1240 - 1241 reversed the power balance in the region38. The reorganisation of the devastated regions required several years as well as a new strategy to design, one that could have been appropriate for the new context39. The danger of a new Mongolian aggression seemed impending40. A quite valuable source concerning the nature of the relations between Hungary and the south-Carpathian territories after the Mongolian invasion is the document known in historiography under the title of "Knights Hospitalers' Diploma". Willing to restore the defensive ability of the kingdom in the parts threatened by the Mongolians, the King of Hungary, Béla IV, settled Knights Hospitalers in the south of the Carpathians. The political situation at the half of the 13th century results clearly enough from the privileges granted in 124741. The king gave the Knights Hospitalers the following territories and benefits: the entire land of Severin, with its mountains and all the belongings, together with loan's and Farcaş's principalities (knezates) up to the river Olt, except Voivode Litovoi's land. Litovoi's land was going to remain a Romanian territory as it had been before42. At the first sight, all the territorial formations listed above may 33 Apud ibidem, pp. 58-59, and the note 3. 34 DRH, D., I, p. 20: „In Cumanorum episcopatu, sicut accepimus, quidam populi qui Walati vocantur, existunt...“. 35 Ş. Papacostea, Românii în secolul al XlII-lea, pp. 62-64. 36 Ibidem, p. 64. For another interpretation, according to which the term would mean the multitude of the Romanians: A. Decei, L invasion des Tatars de 1241/1242 dans nos région selon la Djami ot Tevarikh de Fäzl ol-lah Rasid od-Din, in RRH, XU, 1973, 1, p. 103. 37 Ş. Papacostea, Românii în secolul al XlII-lea, p. 61. 38 About the Mongolian invasion and its consequences in the Carpathian space: ibidem, pp. 90-124; Gy. Kristó, Az Árpád-kor háborúi (following up: A?, Árpádékor), Budapest, 1986, p. 111-131. 39 For the dimensions of the disaster brought about by the Mongolian invasion, as well as for the subsequent measures, see J. Szűcs, Az utolsó Árpádok, Budapest, 1993, pp. 3-74. 40 About the regional context after 1241: Maria Hóiban, op. cit., pp. 74-78. 4‘ DRH, D„ I, pp. 21-27. 42 Jotam terram de Zeurino cum alpibus ad ipsam pertinentibus et aliis attinentiis omnibus, pariter cum kenezatibus Joannis et Farcasii usque ad fluvium Olth, excepta terra kenezatus Lytuoy woiauode, quam Olatis relinquimus, prout iidem hactenus tenuerunt...“, DRH, D., I, p. 22.
