Thocomerius,
also Tihomir,
was the father 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 ...
, who would become the first independent ''
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 ...
'' 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 ...
.
Many
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
historians, such as
Vlad Georgescu
Vlad Georgescu (October 20, 1937–November 13, 1988), was a Romanian historian and the director of the Romanian-language department of Radio Free Europe between 1983 and 1988.
Biography
Born in Bucharest, Georgescu studied history at the Univers ...
and Marcel Popa, believe that Thocomerius was a ''voivode'' in Wallachia who succeeded
Bărbat, who ruled around 1278;
others, such as Tudor Sălăgean, refer to him as a local potentate whose status cannot be specified.
Name
Thocomerius' name is only known from a diploma issued by King
Charles I of Hungary
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert ( hu, Károly Róbert; hr, Karlo Robert; sk, Karol Róbert; 128816 July 1342) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1308 to his death. He was a member of the Capetian House of Anjou and the only son of ...
on 26 November 1332.
The diploma refers to "the
schismatic Basarab, son of Thocomerius, our disloyal Vlach." (''"Basarab, filium Thocomerii'', ''scismaticum, infidelis Olahus Nostris").''
The
Hungarian László Rásonyi
László () is a Hungarian male given name and surname after the King-Knight Saint Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095). It derives from Ladislav, a variant of Vladislav. Other versions are Lessl or Laszly. The name has a history of being freque ...
derives the name from a
Cuman
The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...
and
Tatar
The Tatars ()[Tatar]
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different name, ''Toq-tämir'' (‘hardened steel’),
and refers to a
Chingisid prince, ''Toktomer'', mentioned in the Russian annals in 1295 as abiding in the
Crimea
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
.
According to István Vásáry, even if Basarab’s father bore a
Turkic name, this person can by no means be identified with a Chingisid prince, because being descended from
Genghis Khan
''Chinggis Khaan'' ͡ʃʰiŋɡɪs xaːŋbr />Mongol script: ''Chinggis Qa(gh)an/ Chinggis Khagan''
, birth_name = Temüjin
, successor = Tolui (as regent)Ögedei Khan
, spouse =
, issue =
, house = Borjigin
, ...
was a matter of such significance that no one could, or would have wanted, to conceal it.
References
Sources
*Djuvara, Neagu: ''Thocomerius – Negru Vodă. Un voivod de origine cumană la începuturile Țării Românești'' / Thocomerius – Negru Vodă: A Voivode of Cuman Origin at the Beginnings of Wallachia, Humanitas, 2007
*Georgescu, Vlad ''(Author)'' – Călinescu, Matei ''(Editor)'' – Bley-Vroman, Alexandra ''(Translator)'': ''The Romanians – A History''; Ohio State University Press, 1991, Columbus;
*Sălăgean, Tudor: ''Romanian Society in the Early Middle Ages (9th-10th Centuries)''; ''in:'' Ioan-Aurel Pop – Ioan Bolovan ''(Editors)'': ''History of Romania: Compendium''; Romanian Cultural Institute (Center for Transylvanian Studies), 2006, Cluj-Napoca;
*Treptow, Kurt W. – Popa, Marcel: ''Historical Dictionary of Romania'' (table ''‘Rulers of Romania - Wallachia’''); The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham (Maryland, USA) & Folkestone (UK);
*Vásáry, István: ''Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365''; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge;
{{authority control
Rulers of Wallachia
14th-century Hungarian people
14th-century Romanian people
Medieval Romanian nobility
Medieval Hungarian nobility