Negru Vodă (" heBlack Voivode" or " heBlack Prince"), also known as Radu Negru ("Radu heBlack"), is the legendary founder of

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...

Name

'' Radu'' is a name derived from the Slavic word for "joy". In 2009, Radu was the 43rd most popular name among Romanian boys in the modern state of

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 ...

and

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

Traditions

According to

Romanian traditions The culture of Romania is an umbrella term used to encapsulate the ideas, customs and social behaviours of the people of Romania that developed due to the country's distinct geopolitical history and evolution. It is theorized and speculated that ...

, Negru Vodă would have been the founder and ruler of

at a date around 1290. The legend was first mentioned in the 17th-century ''

Cantacuzino The House of Cantacuzino (french: Cantacuzène) is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specifica ...

Annals'', which also state that the prince built large churches in

Câmpulung Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , german: Langenau, Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian)), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'', is a municipality in the Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is situated among t ...

and

Curtea de Argeș Curtea de Argeș () is a municipality in Romania on the left bank of the river Argeș, where it flows through a valley of the Southern Carpathians (the Făgăraș Mountains), on the railway from Pitești to the Turnu Roșu Pass. It is part of ...

, successive capitals of Wallachia. This is probably a confusion with

Radu I of Wallachia Radu I (died 1383) was a Voivode of Wallachia (c. 1377 – c. 1383). His year of birth is unattested in any primary source. He was the son of Nicolae Alexandru and half-brother and successor to Vladislav I. He is identified by many historians a ...

, who reigned 1377–1383. Legends surrounding

Meșterul Manole In Romanian mythology The folklore of Romania is the collection of traditions of the Romanians. A feature of Romanian culture is the special relationship between folklore and the learned culture, determined by two factors. First, the rural c ...

also mention Negru Vodă as the commissioner of the church and blend his image with that of

Neagoe Basarab Neagoe Basarab (; c.1459 – 15 September 1521) was the Voivode (Prince) of Wallachia between 1512 and 1521. Born into the boyar family of the Craioveşti (his reign marks the climax of the family's political influence) as the son of Pârvu Cra ...

, who ruled at a much later date than Radu I. In various folk traditions and legends, Negru Vodă's image blends with that of the following rulers: *

Thocomerius Thocomerius, also Tihomir, was the father of Basarab, who would become the first independent ''voivode'' of Wallachia. Many Romanian historians, such as Vlad Georgescu and Marcel Popa, believe that Thocomerius was a ''voivode'' in Wallachia who su ...

, father of Basarab I *

Basarab I Basarab I (), also known as Basarab the Founder ( ro, Basarab Întemeietorul; c. 1270 – 1351/1352), was a ''voivode'' and later the first independent ruler of Wallachia who lived in the first half of the . Many details of his life are uncerta ...

(c. 1270–1351/52), Great Voivode of Wallachia *

Nicolae Alexandru Nicholas Alexander ( ro, Nicolae Alexandru), (died November 1364) was a Voivode of Wallachia (c. 1352 – November 1364), after having been co-ruler to his father Basarab I. Reign In the year 1359, he founded the Eastern Orthodox Metropoli ...

, Voivode of Wallachia (c. 1352 – 1364) * Radu I, Voivode of Wallachia (c. 1377 – c. 1383) *

, Voivode of Wallachia (1512-1521)

References

* Neagu Djuvara: Thocomerius-Negru Vodă, un voivod de origine cumană la începuturile Țării Românești: cum a purces întemeierea primului stat medieval românesc dinainte de "descălecătoare" și până la așezarea Mitropoliei Ungrovlahiei la Argeș: noi interpretări/Thocomerius - Negru Vodă: a voivode of Cumanian origin at the beginning of Wallachia: how the foundation of the first medieval Romanian state began before "dismounting" and until the settlement of the Metropolitanate of Ungrovlahia in Argeș: new interpretations, Editura Humanitas, București, 2007,

External links

Basarabii: Radu Negru (Black)
(in Romanian) Princes of Wallachia Legendary monarchs Legendary Romanian people Year of death unknown 1269 births {{europe-royal-stub

Name

Traditions

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References

External links