First a few words about the name "Transilvania", in German "Siebenbuergen". There exists an abundant literature about this subject. "Transilvania" is the Latin for "the land beyond the forest". Its earliest reading was "Ultrasilvania", which expresses basically the same, except that it has the connotation of "land, territory (not only) beyond the forest", but also "not (yet) in the Hungarians' possession", while "Transilvania" implies the existence of communication (politcal, economical, military) with the Transilvanian territory as fully integrated into the Hungarian reign. "Siebenbuergen" means explicitly "Seven Towns" or "Seven Castles". Still this etimology is too explicit to be true. It seems rather to originate in the dialectical tradition of the first, mainly Low German, Flemish and Dutch settlers, in whose homelands there are hilly regions called "Zevenbergen" (in southern Holland) and "Sevenbergen" (east of the town of Hameln on the river Weser, Germany).
As to the generic name "Saxons", it is attested for the first time in 1206 in a document of the Hungarian court (1). Until then the western colonists were either called hospites (i.e.guests), or Flandrenses (Flemish). There were also many Wallonian and Latin (French speaking) elements among the colonists who came under king Geisa II (1141-1162). They settled especially to the South of Hermannstadt. It seems that because of the heterogeneous origin of the settlers the royal chancellery adopted since Andrew II (1204-1235) the denomination "Saxons" for all colonized "guests", although they had little to do with Saxony proper.
The Transilvanian colonists are mentioned for the first time in 1186 by king Bela III (1172-1196), who presents his revenues to the French king Louis VII, whose daughter Maria Capet he wanted to marry. From the alienis hospitibus regis de Ultrasylvas he raised an annual tax of 15,000 silver marks (2). This is a considerable sum and proves the economic power which the Transilvanian Saxons had already acquired.
1) Urkundenbuch zur Geschichte der Deutschen
in Siebenbürgen (Ub) (Documents Concerning the History of Transilvanian
Germans), Vol.1, Hermannstadt 1892, no.17, p.9sq.
2) The document is discussed by Paul
Binder, Ein dokumentarischer Hinweis auf die "hospites" in Siebenbürgen
(A Documentary Reference to the "hospites" in Transilvania), in: Forschungen
zur Volks- und Landeskunde (FVLk), vol.19/no.2,1976, pp. 37-39. The document
is included in the collection of Georgius Fejér, Codex diplomaticus
Hungariae religiosus ac civilis, Tomus II, p.217.
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The colonization process in Transilvania seems to have started in the middle
of the 11th century under the rule of Andrew I (1046-1060). The first region
colonized was the so called "Unterwald" with the towns of Broos (Orastie,
Szászváros), Muehlbach (Sebes-Alba, Szász-Sebes) and
Weissenburg (Alba Iulia, Gyulafehérvár). The Noesner Gau
(capital Bistritz (Bistrita, Beszterce)), the Zwischenkokelgebiet (the
territory between the two Kokel (Tîrnava, Küküllö)-rivers
was colonized under Ladislaus I (1077-1095). Massive, well organized and
properly planned settlement was performed under
Geisa II (1141-1162),
whom oral tradition attributes the first colonization (therefore in 1992-1993
there was celebrated the 850th anniversary of Transilvanian Saxon presence
in Siebenbürgen). He was the first king who allocated the settlers
that territory in southern and southeastern Transilvania of strategic importance
known under the name of desertum (wasteland). The political status
of the deserta has controversially been discussed. The Transilvanian deserta
were
not merely border regions devoid of population or emptied of population
by the Hungarian conquerors, but vast crown-lands where no land property
had been confered. Consequently the territories of the later Stuehle (judicial
districts) of Hermannstadt, Leschkirch, Schenk, Reps and Burzenland were
confered by Geisa II and his followers (Stefan III (1162-1172); Bela III
(1172-1196)) to foreign colonists, who governed themselves in selfrule
in all respects: craft, trade, low jurisdiction, communal and religious
life. Having had these privileges the different territorial communities
of colonists formed in later centuries a strong alliance, which gave birth
to the so called "Nationsuniversität" (the National University) (3).
3) "National" in its original meaning of being born within one and the same political entity; "University" also in its original meaning of a representative body (here political in nature). Literature on the subject: Gruppenautonomie in Siebenbueren. 500 Jahre siebenbuergisch-saechsische Nationsuniversität (Group-Autonomy in Transilvania), edited by Wolfgang Kessler (Siebenbürgisches Archiv, vol. 24), Köln Wien, 1990.
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The "desertum" of Geisa II formed the nucleus of Sieben Stuehle (Seven
Judicial Districts), the heartland of the Transilvanian Germans, with the
capital Hermannstadt. The foundations of later unity were laid in ecclesiastical
jurisdiction under Geisa's follower Bela III. The king had decided that
the colonists of the desertum should be independent of the Tansilvanian
diocesis whose head resided in Weissenburg (Alba Iulia, Gyulafehérvár).
This decision is a direct consequence of the privileged political status
of the desertum and of its inhabitants. In 1188-89 was founded the provostry
of Hermannstadt subordinated to the Primate in Gran (Esztergom). The new
provost tried to incorporate to his provostry those Flandrenses
who had settled outside the desertum of Geisa II. A papal envoy confirmed
the provostry within the boundaries of Geisa's desertum, explicitly mentioning
the desire of king Bela III in this respect. The envoy's confirmation was
then acknowledged by the new pope Coelestinus III (4).
The colonization of Burzenland ( Tara Bîrsei, Barcaság) (Terra Barcensis), my home-province, situated in the south-eastern corner of Transilvania, was done in the most peculiar way and certainly determined its special evolution and status throughout its history within the Hungarian realm. One should also bear in mind its delicate geopolitical position: five mountain crossings (Oituz, Oitoz; Bosau (Buzau, Bodza), Schanz-Pass (Predelut); Tömösch (Predeal, Tömös), Toerzburg (Bran, Törcs) permitted invaders to repeatedly visit the province. At the turn of the 12th to the 13th century the Cumans (5) repeatedly invaded Transilvania. So Burzenland was in this context of utmost strategic importance for the Hungarian crown. The Hungarians had conquered it shortly before the end of the12th century. But besides the Hungarian authorities Rome had an outspoken interest in this province, due to the fact that it could be used as a bridgehead to the Balkanic and Near Eastern crusader states. Thus the decision of Andrew II (1204-1235) to donate the Burzenland to the Teutonic Order was welcomed by Rome and the Teutonic party but strongly disapproved by the Latin party. The Hungarian establishment had been split for a while between these two conflicting parties, who were also disputing positions gained by the crusaders on Byzantine territory and in the Holy Land.
4) The respective documents are to be found
in: Ub. (Vid.1), no.1 and no.2. They are discussed by Karl Reinerth,
Die freie koenigliche St.Ladislaus-Propstei zu Hermannstadt und ihre Kapitel
(The Free Royal Provostry of St. Ladislaus in Hermannstadt and its Chapters),
in: Deutsche Forschungen im Suedosten, I, 1942, pp.1-43; 567-597. See also
Klaus (Nicolae) Popa, Kreuzzuege als Quelle einer Ansiedlung
in Siebenbuergen (The censored title was: Zur Frage der Verbindung der
Kreuzzuege mit der Ansiedlung der Siebenbuerger Sachsen (On the Question
of a Connection between the Crusades and the Colonization of the Transilvanian
Saxons)) in: FVLk Vol.32, no.1, Bucharest-Hermannstadt 1989, pp. 111-116,
especially p. 113sq. Further works on the German mediaeval colonization
of Transilvania: Karl Kurt Klein, Saxonica Septemcastrensia (collection
of studies), Marburg 1971; Idem, Transsylvanica (collection of studies),
München 1963. Thomas Naegler, Die Ansiedlung der Siebenbuerger
Sachsen (The Colonization of the Transilvanian Saxons), Bukarest 1979.
Recently: Harald Zimmermann, Die deutsch-ungarischen Beziehungen
in der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts und die Berufung der Siebenbuerger Sachsen
(The German-Hungarian Relations in the Middle of the 12th Century and the
Calling of the Transilvanian Saxons), in: Von Schwaben bis Jerusalem. Facetten
staufischer Geschichte (From Suabia to Jerusalem. Facets of Stauffian History),
edited by Soenke Lorenz and Ulrich Schmidt, Jan Thorbecke Verlag, Sigmaringen
1995, p. 151-165. See also the review of the latter title by Klaus Popa,
Wann und wie kamen die Hospites? (When and how did the Hospites Come?)
, in: Siebenbuergische Zeitung, 15. March 1996, p..10 (also on this homepage,
p. 6: "Publication in honour of ...").
5) The Cumans were a nomad people from
central Asia, who had invaded and subdued Moldavia and Walachia, the neighbour
states on the eastern and southern borders of Transilvania. Their threat
would cease only in the second half of the14th century, when king Louis
the Great (1342-1382) ultimately defeated them.
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The success of the Teutonic Order to gain Burzenland was mainly due to
the close marital links of Andrew II to the Teutonic nobility: Gertrud,
his first wife, was a member of the influent family of the counts of Andechs-Meran.
Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew II and Gertrud, was taken as a child
to the court of the landgraves of Thuringia (Thueüringen), where she
married 1221 the young landgrave Louis IV. Elizabeth became later famous
for her caritative and ascetic life and was canonized as St. Elizabeth
in 1235 (5a).
Opposition against the Teutonic party culminated in the assassination of queen Gertrud in 1213. Thus the Latin party, whose most prominent representative was the junior rex Bela (king between 1235 and 1270) increased its pressure and succeeded to organize the miltary expulsion of the Teutonic Order in 1225. The Order was partly responsible for this evolution, because they didn't fully comply with the regulations of the diploma of donation, issued around May 7 1211 (6). The Teutonic Order colonised the Burzenland, according to our research, with people coming mainly from Germany proper. Because the Order granted the Burzenland settlers absolute communal autonomy, which most of the previously colonized people in the territories outside the desertum of Geisa II had lost, there was a certain migration from there to Burzenland, which king Andrew II explicitly prohibited in his rebestowal document issued around 7 May 1222 (7). The Order had a clear colonizasion concept. Thus Kronstadt (Brasov, Brassó) had been planned to be the town in Burzenland with a population of craftsmen and traders. The other locations should be rural, with the exception of Marienburg (Feldioara, Földvár), where the Order was seated. Thus Burzenland had an ecclesiastical and administrative capital, Marienburg , and a trade-capital, Kronstadt (8). The Order was very successful in his fight against the Cuman-Mongol power in southern Moldavia and in eastern Walachia, as the re-bestowal document attests: the borders of the Burzenland are described as reaching from the crests of the Carpathian mountains up to the Danube in the South and up to the the mouth of the Siret and Danube. Coin discoveries are a proof of this development (9). They also indicate that the Order and his protégés, the traders of Kronstadt, had gained considerable economic influence in the region of the lower Danube, wich was possible only due to the military presence of the knights. They had thus accomplished the main objective of the Burzenland-donation, the protection against the Cumans. But they had become too dangerous in the view of their rivals, the Latin party, to whose diplomatic efforts we must ascribe the issue of the document of privileges for the Saxons living "from Broos to Draas" (10) by Andrew II at the end of 1224 (11), exactly six months before the Teutonic Order was expelled.
5a) At the 750th anniversary of Elizabeth's
death (1981) there was published a volume with abundant literature on her
personality and cultural impact: Sankt Elisabeth. Fuerstin Dienerin Heilige.
(St. Elizabeth. Princess (Woman)Servant Saint), Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen
1981; recently: Gábor Klaniczay, Koenigliche und dynastische
Heiligkeit in Ungarn (Royal and Dynastic Sanctity in Hungary) and
Matthias
Werner, Mater Hassiae - Flos Ungariae - Gloria Teutoniae. Politik und
Heiligenverehrung im Nachleben der hl. Elisabeth von Thueringen (St. Elizabeth
of Thüringen in Politics and and Worship), both in: Politik und Heiligenverehrung
im Hochmittelalter (Politics and Saint-Worship in the High Middle Ages)
(Vortraege und Forschungen XLII), Jan Thorbecke Verlag Sigmaringen 1994.
pp. 343-361 and 449-540. See also the reviews of Klaus Popa on the
latter studies in "Ungarn-Jahrbuch. Zeitschrift für die Geschichte
Ungarns und verwandte Gebiete" 1995-96 (Hungary-Annual. Magazine for the
History of Hungary and Related Domains), Muenchen, due to be published.
6) Ub. I, no.19, p.11sq. On the history
of the Teutonic Order in Burzenland see: Harald Zimmermann, Der
deutsche Ritterorden in Siebenbuergen (The Teutonic Order in Transilvania),
in: Die geistlichen Ritterorden Europas (The Religious Orders of Knighthood
in Europe) (Vortraege und Forschungen XXVI), Sigmaringen 1980. 7) Ub.I,
no. 31,p.18-20.
8) About the colonization-concept of the
Teutonic Order in Burzenland see: Klaus Popa, Siedlungsgeschichtliche
Auslotung der Burzenlaender Sprachlandschaft (Dialectical Facts of Burzenland
with Respect to the History of Colonization), in: Zeitschrift für
Siebenbuergische Landeskunde (ZfSL), Vol.1/1993, p.1-11.
9) Which were discussed by Klaus Popa
in the review of the book "Rascoala si statul Asanestilor" (The Revolt
and State of the Assenides), in: ZfSL Vol.1/1990, p.106-107.
10) Broos (Oastie, Szászváros)
is the westernmost Transilvanian Saxon town and Draas (Drauseni, Homoróddaróc)
was at the eastern border of Geisa's desertum (in the district of Reps-Rupea,
Köhalom).
11) Ub.I, no.43, p.34sq. The document
is also called "The Golden Charter".
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The military obligations of the Saxons between the borders from Broos to
Draas seem to have been layed down for the immediate purpose of expelling
the Order from Burzenland: curiously enough the colonists had to provide
500 soldiers within the kingdom but outside, when the king was present,
only 100 soldiers, and only 50 in his absence (12). There is another important
regulation of military nature, which also points towards the intended elimination
of the Teutonic order: all existing counties (comitatus) in the
privileged territory (13) with the exception of that of Hermannstadt ceased
to exist. Thus the colonists from Broos up to Draas formed one military
and jurisdictional district, which existed until the middle of the 19th
century. By issuing his diploma, also called ANDREANUM, the king and his
Latin counsellors (14) intended to considerably narrow the sphere of influence
of the Order, by using the military, political and economic counterweight
of the newly united Saxon counties. We may thus conclude that the episode
of the Teutonic order in Burzenland accelerated the unification of the
now completely colonised Desertum with the other Saxon inhabited territories
to the west: the judicial districts of Reussmarkt (Miercurea Sibiului,
Szerdahely), Muehlbach (Sebes Alba, Szász-Sebes) and Broos (Orastie,
Szászváros). But it also forced Burzenland and Kronstadt
into political and later economic isolation, which persisted until the
Austrians took over in the second half of the 17th century.
12) Ibid., p.34.
13) This territorial unit was led by a
comes, a military leader, who also functioned as supreme territorial judge.
14) After the assassination of his first wife Gertrud in 1213 Andrew II
married the French Yolanthe de Courtenay, whose family had strong interests
in the crusader states of the Balkan peninsula and in the Near East.