Maria Tolmay or Mara (died in 1420 or 1427) was the wife of

Mircea I of Wallachia Mircea the Elder ( ro, Mircea cel Bătrân, ; c. 1355 – 31 January 1418) was the Voivode of Wallachia from 1386 until his death in 1418. He was the son of Radu I of Wallachia and brother of Dan I of Wallachia, after whose death he inherited ...

. She was the mother of his only legitimate son and co-ruler,

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

. She was born to an unidentified Hungarian noble family and owned present-day

Lesencetomaj Lesencetomaj is a village in Veszprém county, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the no ...

Lake Balaton Lake Balaton () is a freshwater lake in the Transdanubian region of Hungary. It is the largest lake in Central Europe, and one of the region's foremost tourist destinations. The Zala River provides the largest inflow of water to the lake, and ...

in the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...

in the early 15th century.

Family

Her baptismal name has traditionally been reconstructed as Mara. However, only its last two letters ''(..RA)'' have been preserved by an inscription of a picture painted in 1761.

Constantin Gane Constantin Gane (March 27, 1885 – April or May 1962) was a Romanian novelist, amateur historian, biographer and memoirist. Born into the Boyars of Wallachia and Moldavia, boyar aristocracy of Western Moldavia, he worked as a lawyer in Bucharest, ...

proposed that she was a member of the

House of Basarab The House of Basarab (also Bazarab or Bazaraad, ro, Basarab ) was a ruling family of debated Cuman origin, Terterids and Shishmanids) and the Wallachian dynasty (Basarabids). They also played an active role in Byzantium, Hungary and Serbia, wi ...

, stating that she was the first cousin of her husband,

, for which they could only marry with a special permission issued by the

Archbishop of Ohrid The Archbishop of Ohrid is a historic title given to the primate of the Archbishopric of Ohrid. The whole original title of the primate was Archbishop of Justiniana Prima and all Bulgaria ( gr, ἀρχιεπίσκοπὴ τῆς Πρώτης Ἰο� ...

. The source of Gane's theory cannot be identified. Historians Petre P. Panaitescu,

Constantin Rezachevici Constantin is an Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname. For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name). See also * Constantine (name) Constantine ( or ; Latin: ''Cōnstan ...

and Radu Florescu stated that she was closely related to the

Counts of Celje The Counts of Celje ( sl, Celjski grofje) or the Counts of Cilli (german: Grafen von Cilli; hu, cillei grófok) were the most influential late medieval noble dynasty on the territory of present-day Slovenia. Risen as vassals of the Habsburg dukes ...

. According to historian Mihai Florin Hasan, neither her baptismal name nor her family can certainly be identified. Her baptismal name could also be Klara, or even Anna. She owned

near

in 1400. Consequently, she may have been related to any Hungarian noble family which had landed property in the region, including the

, the Szécsis, Bánffys or the nobles who owned the village of Badacsonytomaj.

Life

She gave birth to the only legitimate son of Mircea I of Wallachia,

. Michael was first mentioned as his father's co-ruler in 1391. She certainly visited her estate on Lake Balaton in 1400. On this occasion, Sigismund of Luxembourg,

King of Hungary The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 175 ...

, ordered her to respect the ancient privileges of the inhabitants of ''Ketzel'' and to stop collecting duties from them. Panaitescu proposed that she had built a Roman Catholic church dedicated to the

Holy Virgin Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

Târgoviște Târgoviște (, alternatively spelled ''Tîrgoviște''; german: Tergowisch) is a city and county seat in Dâmbovița County, Romania. It is situated north-west of Bucharest, on the right bank of the Ialomița River. Târgoviște was one of the ...

in 1417. She may have again visited Lesencetomaj in 1419, because a charter refers to her return from Hungary in that year. According to Panaitescu, she survived her husband and son, and died in 1427. Hassan proposes that she died shortly after the murder of her son during an Ottoman campaign against Wallachia in May 1420, because Lesencetomaj was listed among the villages of the royal castle of Rezi on 20 April 1421, showing that her estate had

escheat Escheat is a common law doctrine that transfers the real property of a person who has died without heirs to the crown or state. It serves to ensure that property is not left in "limbo" without recognized ownership. It originally applied to a ...

ed to the Crown.

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tolmay, Maria 1420s deaths House of Basarab Royal consorts of Wallachia 14th-century Hungarian women 15th-century Hungarian women