Farcaș, also Farkas, Farkaș or Farcas, was a ''

cneaz A ''knez'' or ''kenez'' ( ro, cnez or ; hu, kenéz; la, kenezius) was the hereditary leader of the Vlach ( Romanian) communities, primarily in the medieval Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that exi ...

'' (local chieftain or ruler) mentioned in the

Diploma of the Joannites The Diploma of the Joannites, or Diploma of the Knights of St. John, was a grant issued in 1247 by King Béla IV of Hungary, to Master Rembald of the Knights Hospitaller. It allowed the Knights to settle in Severin, in what is today Romania, where ...

issued by king

Béla IV of Hungary Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270) was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. As the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his fath ...

(1235–1270) on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the

Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

in the

Banate of Severin The Banate of Severin or Banate of Szörény ( hu, Szörényi bánság; ro, Banatul Severinului; la, Banatus Zewrinensis; bg, Северинско банство, ; sr, Северинска бановина, ) was a Hungarian political, mili ...

and ''

Cumania The name Cumania originated as the Latin exonym for the Cuman–Kipchak confederation, which was a tribal confederation in the western part of the Eurasian Steppe, between the 10th and 13th centuries. The confederation was dominated by two Tu ...

''. Farcaş held a '' kenazate'' which was given to the knights by the king. His ''kenazate'' lay in the northeast of modern

Oltenia Oltenia (, also called Lesser Wallachia in antiquated versions, with the alternative Latin names ''Wallachia Minor'', ''Wallachia Alutana'', ''Wallachia Caesarea'' between 1718 and 1739) is a historical province and geographical region of Romania ...

(in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

). The diploma of Béla IV also refers to the ''kenazate''s of

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Secon ...

and ''voivode'' Litovoi and to ''voivode''

Seneslau Seneslau, also Seneslav or Stănislau, was a Vlach ''voivode'' mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites issued by king Béla IV of Hungary (1235–1270) on 2 July 1247. The diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Sev ...

. Seneslau and Litovoi are expressly said to be Vlachs ''(Olati)'' in the king's diploma. Farcaş ''(Farkas)'' is a typical Hungarian name meaning ‘

wolf The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

’. The Romanian historian Ioan Aurel Pop suggests that his name is mentioned in Hungarian translation in the diploma, and Farcaş's ''kenazate'' was one of the incipient Romanian states south of the Carpathian Mountains. According to the Hungarian historian István Vásáry, Farcaş was either Hungarian or Romanian with Hungarian name, but the latter supposition is less probable, since ''Lupu'', the Romanian equivalent of Hungarian ''Farkas'', was used by the Romanians. László Makkai proposes that the name of

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county (județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is Râ ...

could indicate the land of Farcaş ( Slavic ''vlk'' (‘wolf’) > Vâlcea).

References

Sources

*Georgescu, Vlad ''(Author)'' – Calinescu, Matei ''(Editor)'' – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra ''(Translator)'': ''The Romanians – A History''; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus; *Klepper, Nicolae: ''Romania: An Illustrated History''; Hippocrene Books, 2005, New York; *Makkai, László: ''From the Hungarian conquest to the Mongol invasion''; ''in:'' Köpeczi, Béla ''(General Editor)'' – Makkai, László; Mócsy, András; Szász, Zoltán ''(Editors)'' – Barta, Gábor ''(Assistant Editor)'': ''History of Transylvania - Volume I: From the beginnings to 1606''; Akadémiai Kiadó, 1994, Budapest; *Pop, Ioan Aurel: ''Romanians and Romania: A Brief History''; Columbia University Press, 1999, New York; *Rady, Martyn: ''Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary''; Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London), 2000, New York; *Spinei, Victor: ''The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century''; Brill, 2009, Leiden and Boston; *Vásáry, István: ''Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365''; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; {{DEFAULTSORT:Farcas Medieval Romanian nobility Medieval Hungarian nobility 13th-century Romanian people

See also

References

Sources