Baia (german: Baja, Stadt Molde, or Moldenmarkt; hu, Moldvabánya; lat, Civitas Moldaviae) is a commune in Suceava County, in the historical region of

Western Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova), also called Western Moldavia or Romanian Moldavia, is the historic and geographical part of the former Principality of Moldavia situated in eastern and north-eastern Romania. Until its union with Wallachia in 1859, the P ...

, northeastern

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

with a population of 6,793 (2002 census).Romanian census data, 2002
; retrieved on May 27, 2010 It is composed of two villages, namely Baia and Bogata. Located on the

Moldova River The Moldova () is a river in Romania, in the historical region of Moldavia. It is a right tributary of the river Siret. The river rises from the Obcina Feredeu Mountains of Bukovina in Suceava County and joins the Siret in Cotu Vameș, east of ...

, it was one of the earliest urban settlements in

Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and for ...

Name

The Romanian ''baia'' and Hungarian ''bánya'' both mean "mine". Archeologists found traces of iron slag and coal, but only for a brief period before 14th century, before the arrival of the colonists.Rădvan, p.464 It is possible that it derives from the term ''Bania'' (from Ban, a political leader). Baia was mentioned for the first time in the

Nestor chronicle The ''Tale of Bygone Years'' ( orv, Повѣсть времѧньныхъ лѣтъ, translit=Pověstĭ vremęnĭnyxŭ lětŭ; ; ; ; ), often known in English as the ''Rus' Primary Chronicle'', the ''Russian Primary Chronicle'', or simply the ...

under the name Bania. Another name of the settlement was ''Târgul Moldovei'' which means "the market of Moldavia", referring to the

. Its Hungarian name was ''Moldvabánya'', "the Moldova mine". It also had a Latin name, ''Civitas Moldaviae'' which was found on an early seal of the city.

History

Historical Baia Suceava CoA 14th century

There has been a settlement in Baia since the 13th century,Rădvan, p.458 but the first written evidence is from the following century. It is possible that a document in Poland mentions the town in 1335, when a certain merchant was mentioned by the name of "Alexa Moldaowicz" (i.e. Alexa from the Town of Moldavia) and the next was in 1345, when Baia is placed on a list of towns of the

Franciscan , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

missionaries. It was through Baia that the army of King Louis I of Hungary went when conquering the region around 1345-1347. There is evidence of a large fire dated mid-14th century discovered by the archeologists and associated with this conquest. The early Moldavian chronicles place the first capital of Moldavia in Baia, but it was only an interim capital. Soon the court was moved to

Siret Siret (; german: Sereth; hu, Szeretvásár; uk, Серет, Seret; yi, סערעט, Seret) is a town, municipality and former Latin bishopric in Suceava County, northeastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Bukovina. Siret is ...

, and Baia was not even a county seat by the time of

Bogdan I of Moldavia Bogdan I, or Bogdan the Founder ( ro, Bogdan Întemeietorul), was the first independent ruler, or voivode, of Moldavia in the 1360s. He had initially been the voivode, or head, of the Vlachs in the Voivodeship of Maramureș in the Kingdom of Hun ...

. After the Hungarian conquest, colonists from

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...

settled in the town, leading to the urbanization of the settlement, which gained a special status.Rădvan, p.459 According to chronicler

Grigore Ureche Grigore Ureche (; 1590–1647) was a Moldavian chronicler who wrote on Moldavian history in his ''Letopisețul Țării Moldovei'' ('' Chronicles of the Land of Moldavia''), covering the period from 1359 to 1594. Biography Grigore Ureche was th ...

, the ''

târg A târg was a medieval Romanian periodic fair or a market town. Originally established on the places where periodic fairs were held, some of them (but not all) became permanent settlements, as craftsmen built their workshops near the place where th ...

'' at Baia was founded by "German potters". The area where the colonists settled was reorganized: they built a wooden church and a central marketplace, surrounding which parcels of land were laid out. By 1400, the inhabitants of the town had a standard of living similar to the urban areas of Transylvania: the houses were heated by

cocklestove A masonry heater (also called a masonry stove) is a device for warming an interior space through radiant heating, by capturing the heat from periodic burning of fuel (usually wood), and then radiating the heat at a fairly constant temperature ...

s and the town's streets paved with river gravel. The town was defended by a wooden palisade which was burnt down in 1467. The exact ethnic makeup of the townfolks is unknown, but several 15th century documents talk of the "

Saxons The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

in Baia".Rădvan, p.460 The town's '' pârgari'' had a collective ownership over the mills, which is unlike in other Moldavian towns, where the mills were privately owned. The ''pârgari'' (local council) and ''

șoltuz Șoltuz is a Romanian-language surname. It is an occupational surname ultimately derived from the German title of "Schultheiß In medieval Germany, the ''Schultheiß'' () was the head of a municipality (akin to today's office of mayor), a ''Vog ...

es'' (mayors) were initially elected among the Germans, but this changed with time and in a 1586 document, only half of the ''pârgari'' had German or Hungarian names, while the other half had Romanian names, including the ''șoltuz''. In 1467,

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several m ...

began an expedition against Ștefan the Great, who had previously conquered the stronghold of Kilia, previously held by Hungary.Rădvan, p.461 During Matthias's campaign, his armies set on fire the Moldavian towns of Trotuș, Bacău, Roman and Neamț, but he spares the town of Baia, in which he settled in a fortified stone house in the center. Ștefan cel Mare attacked and burnt the town on the night of December 15, 1467, in the prelude to the

Battle of Baia The Battle of Baia ( ro, Bătălia de la Baia; hu, moldvabányai csata) was fought on December 15, 1467, between Moldavian prince Stephen the Great and the Hungarian king, Matthias Corvinus. The battle was the last Hungarian attempt to subdue ...

. The town entered a decline after the beginning of the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and ...

and the persecutions of Catholics in 16th century.Rădvan, p.465 The Catholics of Baia switched to Protestantism and the last bishop of Baia is recorded in 1523. The town of

Suceava Suceava () is the largest urban settlement and the seat town ( ro, oraș reședință de județ) of Suceava County, situated in the historical region of Bukovina, northeastern Romania, and at the crossroads of Central and Eastern Europe. Klaus Pet ...

took over Baia's importance in trade and the town of Baia reverted to be a simple village, as it is today.

Notes

References

External links

* Varga Géza: ''A moldvabányai gótikus templom rovásfelirata''
The runic inscriptions of the gothic church in Baia
{{Suceava County Communes in Suceava County Localities in Western Moldavia Former capitals of Romania Market towns in Moldavia