Orașul de Floci, also ''Cetatea de Floci'' or ''Târgul de Floci'', is a lost city of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

, now in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. ''Floci'', in this context, means "wool"; the name refers to the local sheep and wool market. The city was located at the confluence of

Ialomița River Ialomița may refer to: * Ialomița County, Romania * Ialomița (river) The Ialomița ( ) is a river of Southern Romania. It rises from the Bucegi Mountains in the Carpathians. It discharges into the Borcea branch of the Danube in Giurgeni.

and the

Danube The Danube ( ; see also #Names and etymology, other names) is the List of rivers of Europe#Longest rivers, second-longest river in Europe, after the Volga in Russia. It flows through Central and Southeastern Europe, from the Black Forest sou ...

, on the old riverbed of the Ialomița. The name meant "The Fleece City" in Romanian, as it was an important

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rura ...

. The city is first mentioned in 1431 during the rule of Dan II of Wallachia, but probably existed as trading post in the previous century. It was set on fire by

Stephen III of Moldavia Stephen III, better known as Stephen the Great (; ; died 2 July 1504), was Voivode (or Prince) of Moldavia from 1457 to 1504. He was the son of and co-ruler with Bogdan II, who was murdered in 1451 in a conspiracy organized by his brother an ...

during the wars with Wallachia under the rule of

Radu cel Frumos Radu III of Wallachia, commonly called Radu the Handsome, Radu the Fair, or Radu the Beautiful (; ; January 1475), was the younger brother of Vlad III ( Vlad the Impaler) and prince of the principality of Wallachia. They were both sons of Vla ...

(who was an ally of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

). The city recovered quickly, but it was once again destroyed by the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

and

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

troops of

Simion Movilă Simion Movilă (after 1559 14 September 1607), a boyar of the Movilești family, was twice Prince of Wallachia (November 1600 – June 1601; October 1601 – July 1602) and Prince of Moldavia from July 1606 until his death. Family He was the gra ...

. According to contemporaneous accounts,

Michael the Brave Michael the Brave ( or ; 1558 – 9 August 1601), born as Mihai Pătrașcu, was the Prince of Wallachia (as Michael II, 1593–1601), Prince of Moldavia (1600) and ''de facto'' ruler of Principality of Transylvania (1570–1711), Transylvani ...

, the famous

Voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

, was born in this city; his birthplace is reportedly the top touristic destination in

Ialomița County Ialomița County () is a county () of Romania, in Muntenia, with the capital city at Slobozia. Demographics In 2011, the county had a population of 258,669 and the population density was 58.08/km2. Romanians make up 95.6% of the population, t ...

. The city finally decayed during the

Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

, when most inhabitants fled due to the fighting. In the place of the city was formed the village , which was destroyed, in turn, during the floods of the early 20th century. Currently, the ruins of the city are located on the territory of

Giurgeni Giurgeni is a commune located on the left bank of the Danube, in Ialomița County, Muntenia, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Giurgeni. Giurgeni is linked with Vadu Oii–Hârșova over the Danube via the Giurgeni–Vadu Oii Bridge ...

commune.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orasul de Floci Destroyed populated places Ialomița County Former cities in Romania Michael the Brave