Seneslau, also Seneslav or Stănislau, was a

Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Easter ...

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

'' 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 father ...

(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 Church, Catholic Military ord ...

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 ...

''. According to the diploma, the king gave the territories east of the

Olt River The Olt (Romanian and Hungarian; german: Alt; la, Aluta or ', tr, Oltu, grc, Ἄλυτος ''Alytos'') is a river in Romania. It is long, and its basin area is . It is the longest river flowing exclusively through Romania. Its average discha ...

to the knights, with the exception of the territory of ''voivode'' Seneslau. The name of Seneslav is of Slavic origin. Seneslau held central and southern

Muntenia Muntenia (, also known in English as Greater Wallachia) is a historical region of Romania, part of Wallachia (also, sometimes considered Wallachia proper, as ''Muntenia'', ''Țara Românească'', and the seldom used ''Valahia'' are synonyms in R ...

(''i.e.'', the territories along the rivers Argeş and Dâmboviţa). The Romanian historian Ioan Aurel Pop suggests that Seneslau was quasi independent of the king of Hungary. According to the Hungarian historian István Vásáry, his title ''(voivode)'' suggests that he had a territorial unit under his jurisdiction. 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 ...

, Farcaş and ''voivode'' Litovoi. Although the names of Seneslau and Litovoi are of Slavic origin, they are expressly said to be Vlachs ''(Olati)'' in the king's diploma.

References

Sources

*Georgescu, Vlad ''(Author)'' – Calinescu, Matei ''(Editor)'' – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra ''(Translator)'': ''The Romanians – A History''; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus; *Pop, Ioan Aurel: ''Romanians and Romania: A Brief History''; Columbia University Press, 1999, New York; *Treptow, Kurt W. - Popa, Marcel: ''Historical Dictionary of Romania'' (part Historical Chronology); Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham & Folkestone; *Vásáry, István: ''Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365''; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; {{ISBN, 0-521-83756-1
Златарски, Васил. История на българската държава през средните векове. Том III. Второ българско царство. България при Асеневци (1187—1280), София 1940
* Коледаров, Петър. Политическа география на средновековната българска държава, Втора част (1186–1396), София 1989 Medieval Hungarian nobility Medieval Romanian nobility People of medieval Wallachia 13th-century Hungarian people 13th-century Romanian people Muntenia

See also

References

Sources