Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 2. szám)
Relaţii internaţionale
The Relations of Vassalage 271 3. Sigismund's Suzerainty over Mircea the Old - Theory and Practice Sigismund of Luxemburg ascended the throne in 1387. The first years of his rule were dedicated to the strengthening of his power and its acknowledgement by different internal factions. He had inherited the throne of Hungary by virtue of his matrimonial contract with Mary, Louis I' daughter. His claims were not restricted to the kingdom only but also to the acknowledgement of his suzerain rights over the rulers from the neighbouring states and even over the crown of Poland. The anterior relations of Louis with the Romanian voivodes were known at the Hungarian royal court. The tradition of inheriting the right of suzerain had been consecrated during the reign of the deceased king. Johannes of Küküllö, the chronicler of the court, had just finished his work in which special chapters were dedicated to the homage paid by the Wallachian voivode150. A document on the king's claims on Moldavia, another vassal "inherited" from his Angevine predecessors, but currently disputed with the Polish king, shows the opinion as well as the conception of suzerainty held by the King and his court: "de recuperacione possessionis reális terre Moldwane vestro auxilio concurrente ad obedienciam eiusdem domini regis [Sigismund - our note] et s(acre) corone regni Hungarie reducende”15' . The king's claims were based on the "rights" the Hungarian crown held over the respective country. The same principle was applied in the case of Wallachia. After he managed to impose himself on the throne of Hungary, Sigismund decided to recuperate the external inheritance as well, a part of which were the rights of suzerainty over Wallachia. Sigismund of Luxemburg's conception of vassalage is close to that of his predecessor, Louis I152. We can find more details on this concept in a document concerning Steven (Ştefan I), the Moldavian voivode. As we have mentioned, there is little difference to be noticed between his conception and that of his predecessors: the vassal voivode had to pay regular tribute to the royal treasury as a formal acknowledgement of Sigismund’s suzerainty. The pledge of fealty and the submission were sanctioned in a written deed and the homage was rendered together with the boyards153. At least theoretically, the same claims - tribute, homage, and submission - were made to Mircea the Old. According to the official documents issued by king Sigismund's chancery, the same Angevine denomination was used both for Wallachia and Transylvania, i.e. they were not dealt as separate countries but as parts of the Kingdom: "ad 150 See M. Diaconescu, op. cit. (see note 35), pp. 22-26. 151 Quotation from a letter on the Hungarian-Polish negotiations of Bartfa which prepared the Lublau treaty: H. Heimpel, Aus der Kanzlei Kaiser Sigismunds (über den Cod. Pal. 701 der Vatikanischen Bibliothek), in Archiv für Urkundenforschung, Berlin-Leipzig, XII, 1931, l,p. 137-138. 152 See M. Diaconescu, op. cit. (see note 35), pp. 25-26. 153 DRH, D, I, pp. 176-177: “et annotatus Stephanus waywoda cum suis complicibus et Olahis universis ad nostra servitia venia prius et gratia de inobedientia et negligentia suis a nostro culmine postulatis, propitius et obtentis iugiter fideliterque explenda donaque solita nostro fisco regio, in recognocionem dominii naturalis temporibus congruis persolvendo humiliter se ipsum inclinavit et subdere studuit effective litteris vigorosis iuramentoque exinde prestito, valans se ipsum cum suis complicibus in omni fidelitati et obedientia propensius obligantes in premissis nostre maiestati“.
