Târgșor is a former medieval
market town
A market town is a Human settlement, settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular marketplace, market; this distinguished it from a village or ...
in what is now
Prahova County
Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești.
Demographics
In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/km². It is Romania's third most ...
,
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, a ...
. The town peaked around 1600, after which it declined to become the village of
Târgșoru Vechi, located about southwest of
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commun ...
.
History
Built in a heavily forested area, Târgșor developed thanks to the local fair and its auspicious location at a crossroad of several
trade route
A trade route is a logistical network identified as a series of pathways and stoppages used for the commercial transport of cargo. The term can also be used to refer to trade over bodies of water. Allowing goods to reach distant markets, a sin ...
s.
[Rădvan, p. 303] These roads included
Drumul Brăilei, which linked
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 ...
to the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , ...
port of
Brăila
Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila.
According to the 2011 Romanian census there were 180,302 pe ...
, as well as the roads which linked Târgșor to
Brașov
Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County.
According to the latest Romanian census ( 2011), Brașov has a po ...
and
Bucharest
Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...
.
Târgșor gets its name from the diminutive of ''
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 ...
'' (market, fair) and can be related to the name of Târgoviște, which was the capital 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 s ...
and a much bigger city.
The settlement transformed into a town sometimes between 1368 and 1412, during the rule of
Mircea I
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 th ...
. The first document mentioning his name was a September 1412 document by
Voivode of Transylvania
The Voivode of Transylvania (german: Vojwode von Siebenbürgen;Fallenbüchl 1988, p. 77. hu, erdélyi vajda;Zsoldos 2011, p. 36. la, voivoda Transsylvaniae; ro, voievodul Transilvaniei) was the highest-ranking official in Transylvania wi ...
Stibor of Stiboricz, who granted the people of Brașov the "privileges of yore and worthy liberties".
Soon after, the merchants of Târgșor were granted trade privileges by Wallachia. The town was ruled by a
judeÈ›
A ''judeÈ›'' (, plural ) is an administrative division in Romania, and was also used from 1940 to 1947 in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic and from 1998 to 2003 in Moldova.
''JudeÈ›'' translates into English as "jurisdiction", but is co ...
and 12
pârgari.
[Rădvan, p. 304] Unlike other Wallachian cities at the time, in Târgșor there were no traces of German colonists, nor a Catholic church.
The prince of Wallachia had a residence in Târgșor, which was probably built in the 16th century. While only
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 ...
(ruled 1512–1521) refers to Târgșor as a seat, there are hints that the residence was earlier, as the church in the town, built by
Vladislav II in 1447
was called the Princely Church (''Biserica Domnească'').
(
Vlad the Impaler
Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...
had also built a church inside the royal court.
) The residence decayed by 1600 and nowadays, only its ruined church survives.
Recent archaeological research showed that the ruins thought to be the palace belonged to another church, Church of St. Nicholas, built by
Vlad the Monk, while the palace's location has yet to be established.
The city reached its peak around 1500, when it was one of only three cities in Wallachia (the other two being
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 ...
and Târgoviște) where the Brașov merchants were allowed to sell their wares.
[Rădvan, p. 305] In 1503, the trade of the merchants of Târgșor with Brașov was worth almost 1 million
asprons, second only to Câmpulung.
Some historians argue that
Ștefan IV of Moldavia's 1526 attack led to the demise of the city, but there are records of Târgșor merchants in Brașov long after this moment. The voivode
Mihnea Turcitul
Mihnea II Turcitul ("Mihnea the Turned-Turk"; July 1564 – October 1601) was Prince ( Voivode) of Wallachia between September 1577 and July 1583, and again from April 1585 to May 1591.
The only son of Alexandru II Mircea and Ecaterina Sal ...
built a church in Târgșor in 1589, of which only the southern wall is now preserved.
The decline of the town began in the 17th century, the main reason being that the emergence of a larger nearby city,
Ploiești
Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest.
The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commun ...
.
Demographics
The custom records show that most of the merchants had Romanian names (such as Tudor, Stan, Costea, Oprea), but nevertheless, there were merchants having foreign names (such as Tabutsch, Francilla, and Simon).
In the 16th century, a number of Greeks settled in the city.
Notes
References
* Laurențiu Rădvan, ''At Europe's Borders: Medieval Towns in the Romanian Principalities'',
Brill, 2010,
{{DEFAULTSORT:Targsor
Former cities in Romania
Prahova County
Market towns in Wallachia