The Eighth Tribe, 1980 (7. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1980-10-01 / 10. szám

FACTS AND FIGURES

(Reprinted from the book “Documented Facts and Figures on Transylvania”, Danubian Press, 1978)

J. Slavici, Rumanian historian, writes in his book “Ardealul, Studiu Istoric”, published in 1893: “The only cultural nstitution of the Rumanians..(meaning Vlachs, since in the 17th and 18th centuries the word RUMANIAN had not yet been created) .. was the Greek Orthodox Church, which stood under complete Balkan-Slavic influence. Even its official language was Slavic. Thus, the era of national consciousness began only when half of the Transylvanian Vlachs converted into the Greek Catholic religion, and our priests were able to study in Rome and Vienna.” (Pages 95-96)

Eugene M. Osterhaven writes on the same subject in his book “Transylvania, The Pathos of Reformation Tradition” (Western Theological Seminary, Holland, Michigan, 1968) on page 18: “However, two thirds of the Transylvanian Rumanians resumed Orthodoxy by the mid-eighteenth century in spite of Habsburg attempts to keep them in the Roman fold.”

C. A. Macartney states in “Hungary and Her Successors” (Oxford University Press, 1937) page 261: “The Vlach masses lived with one foot in Hungary. Most of them were shepherds, whose periodical migration on the high mountains took them regularly across the frontiers. Most of the Transylvanian Vlachs saw Wallachia and Moldova as their real homeland, and even the agriculturalists decamped readily across the Carpathians if times were hard — just as they immigrated, as casually, when conditions were severe in Wallachia or Moldova.”

In 1703, under the leadership of Ferenc Rákóczy, the Hungarian people revolted against Habsburg oppression. During this famous liberty war, which lasted for eight years, many of the Vlach settlements, instigated by Habsburg agents, turned against their Hungarian hosts and neighbours, looting, burning, and massacring defenseless women and children.

In 1711, the liberty war ended in defeat. Thousands of Hungarians who fought for liberty were executed, imprisoned or deported to forced labor. Those who proved to be loyal to the Habsburg throne were rewarded by royal grants to the properties of those who were found in “treason”. Considerable landholdings were given this way, mostly in the central parts of Transylvania, to Vlachs (Rumanians) who led the bloody raids against defenseless Hungarian towns and villages.

In 1717 the last strip of Hungary, the Banat, was freed from the Turks. According to contemporary reports, in the entire territory which supports today

THE TRANSYLVANIAN QUARTERLY

nearly one-million people, there were no more than about 700 persons to be found alive.

In 1719, from Wallachia (called also Vlachia) still under Turk domination, a steady stream of refugees began to migrate into the devastated Banat, as well as into other parts of Transylvania, where they were settled by special “Imperial Decree” of Emperor Charles III, on lands confiscated from Hungarians for their participation in the liberty war.

In 1729 Inocentius Micu Klein, Greek Catholic bishop, demanded for the Transylvanian Vlachs equal rights with other nationalities under the Crown. Emperor Charles III refused the demand on the grounds that “the Crown recognizes only subjects of different tongues and different religious denominations, not nationalities.”

Bishop Micu Klein was the first to use the word “RUMUN” instead of Vlach, and to claim LATIN origin. Until then the popular concept accepted the Slavic origin of the Vlachs, based on the use of the Slavic language in their churches, as well as on the fact, established by several linguists, including Prof. Cihac, Rumanian linguist of the 20th century, that 48% of the Rumanian language consisted of Slavic words and only 31% of the Latin.

In 1784 the Transylvanian Hungarian Assembly in Kolozsvár petitioned Emperor Joseph II to recognize the Vlachs as a “nation”. Instead, the Emperor abolished even the rest of the Transylvanian constitution, dissolving the “three nation” concept. Two months later the “Vlach rebellion,” led by Horia, Closka and Crisan, ignited the Central Mountain districts and the lower Maros valley.

Hugh Seton-Watson writes about it in his book “Eastern Europe” (Archon Books, England, 1962) on pages 59-60: “Rumanian historians are inclined today to treat this as a nationalist rising. But the movement was essentially a social revolt of the peasant masses against the stucture of the fuedalistic Monarchy. The rebellion brought unprecedented horror to Hungarian towns and villages. Drunk Vlachs ruthlessly tortured, maimed, and murdered thousands of men, women and children. Well informed sources claimed that Horia, the master-mind of the rebellion, received instructions in Vienna from the Emperor himself, who wanted to punish the “rebellious Hungarians” for demanding the re-establishment of the Constitution and the Congress. Though the leaders of the rebellion were finally executed by the Austrian troops, the villages where the Hungarian population was wiped out was donated by special decree to the same Vlachs who did the killing. Another example of the Habsburg methods of playing one nationality group against the other.”

VU