Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 2. szám)
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264 Marius Diaconescu enthusiastic about it, he set preparations for an intervention in case Hungarian authority should be imperiled. Another much debated historiographical issue is whether there was a Turkish campaign against Wallachia in 1397. The issue became confuse because of the information taken from chronicles written after the event (the narratives of Leunclavius and Chalcocondil) and most historians claim that Vlad the Usurper's banishment brought about Bâyezîd I's retaliation campaign, which is supposed to have been stopped by Mircea in September-October 1397101. Due to the chroniclers' chronological errors102, the existence of this campaign has been denied. The absence of any mention of the sultan’s personal defeat in Serbian and Bulgarian chronicles seems to have induced, understandably, a feeling of mistrust in any attempt of validating the uncertain data on this campaign103. The presence of the king and of his royal army in the southern region of Transylvania, at the Romanian borders, in November-December 1397, after the Assembly of Timişoara104, seems to point at a probable Turkish campaign. Imminent peril was the only thing that could justify the presence of the king in this region. This he mentioned later during early 1399, adding also the measures he had taken personally in order to give his vassal the necessary support105 106. The king's letter indicates that, in response to a rumour, he had approached the borders accompanied by an army he had succeeded in mobilizing. Therefore, we can assume that it was no more than a Turkish plundering incursion on the line of the Danube, which determined Mircea to ask the King’s, help. Mircea's diplomatic ability did not exclude the possibility of a duplicitous attitude. He sent an alarm signal to the king, directing his attention to the fact that, if he were not to receive enough support against the Turks, he would pledge fidelity to the sultan. In 1399, when the Romanian voivode announced Bâyezîd I's arrival at Adrianople, accompanied by a powerful army, he asked for urgent help, "otherwise,... he would have to find a remedy contrary to his desire"m. The king himself emphasized the strategic importance of Wallachia as a buffer state when he drew his barons' attention to the fact that if the Wallachians should pledge fealty to the Turks, Hungary would be in great danger107 *. 101 A. D. Xenopol, op. cit. (see note 4), III, p. 85; N. Iorga, Istoria Românilor (see note 7), III, p. 307; I. Minea, op. cit. (see note 10), pp. 76-77; B. Câmpina, op. cit. (see note 18), p. 280. 102 Among the historians who denied the existence of the campaign: I. Bogdan, Luptele Românilor cu turcii, Bucureşti, 1898, pp. 15, 86-87; P. P. Panaitescu, Mircea cel Bătrân (see note 15), pp. 274-275. 103 P. P. Panaitescu, Mircea cel Bătrân, p. 275. T. Gemil, Românii şi otomanii (see note 47), p. 85, claimed that the incursion was led by Turkish officers and not by the sultan himself. 104 J. K. Hoensch (ed.), Itinerar (see note 36), p. 64; P. Engel, Királyitineráriumok (see note 36), p. 63. The king was present in the south of Transylvania in Făgăraş and Cârţa 105 DRH, D, I, pp. 172-173: „Similiter, anno proxime preterito, dum fama esset Turkos ipsos ad Volahiam venturos, apropinquimus ad illas partes personaliter, ut Volahys auxilium debitum preberemus...“. 106 „alioquin......oporteret enim p reter mentem suam de remedio cogitare“, DRH, D, I, p. 172. 107 „quod Olachy, videntes sese nostro auxilio destitutos, in fide non permaneant, ita nec constantes existant, sed Tureorum iugo brevi tempore submittantur, quod si accideret, quod pius deus avertat, non est vobis incognitum in quanto postea periculo et discrimine existeret regnum nostrum." DRH, D., I, p. 172.
