Hotarul Țării Moldovei cu Transilvania și specificul frontierelor montane medievale [Articol]

Abstract

The border of Moldova with Transylvania and the specifics of medieval mountain borders. The present study brings to attention the evolution of the border between the Principality of Moldavia and Transylvania in the 14th - 17th centuries, comparing it with other similar cases of mountain borders from the Middle Ages. This border area possessed the typical qualities of a medieval mountain frontier, which was difficult to monitor outside the limits of the main passes. Initially, the Moldavian-Transylvanian frontier followed the watershed of the major rivers in this area, but the increasingly intensive economic exploitation of the Eastern Carpathians between the 16th and 17th centuries provoked first documented conflicts between the Moldavian rulers and the inhabitants of Bistrița, in which the Saxon representatives advocated for the principle of fixing the common boundary along the course of the disputed rivers. At the same time, the western borders of Moldavia were heavily influenced by the old traditions of mountain frontier management in the Kingdom of Hungary.