Phanariot ambition. There was still a higher honour to aim at; and the Hospodariats of Wallachia and Moldavia, which in the commencement of the last century were thrown open to the Greeks, afforded a more distinguished field for that political aspiring and restless intrigue, which, in the brief space of less than fifty years, succeeded in elevating them from slaves to princes. These two provinces, which with Transylvania, and the Bannat of Temeswar, composed the kingdom of Ancient Dacia, were originally peopled by a Sarmatian race, whose incursions into the Roman territory were a source of frequent annoyance to the early emperors. Domitian, instead of reducing them to subjection, was compelled, after a fruitless war, to sue for peace, which he obtained on the terms of becoming tributary to their King Decebalus; and his successors down to Trajan submitted to the degrading impost. That active prince, however, refusing to continue a custom derogatory to the honour of the Romans, the Dacians promptly crossed the Danube, and attacked the northern provinces of his empire. A war of five years' continuance ensued, and terminated in the final and absolute submission of the barbarians,* whose country be "The remains of his bridge yet mark the spot where he came thenceforth a province of Rome:* thirtythousand colonists were transported to it by the victorious emperor, and in the modern language and costume of Wallachia, may still be traced the characteristics of their early settlers.† Dacia continued from this period to be governed by Roman Prefects, till Aurelian, in his politic treaty with the Goths,‡ in the third century, ceded it to them as a conquest whose hostile tenure was a source of weakness, but whose amicable independence rendered it a bulwark against foreign aggression. The subsequent expulsion of the Goths by the Huns, and their wars with the Emperors Valens and Theodosius, I have alluded to elsewhere ;§ Dacia, from their defeat, was occupied by its invaders, till conquered, after the death of (Trajan) crossed, considerably higher up the Danube: some piles, when the water is low, project three feet above the surface, and impede the navigation of the river."-Walsh, p. 266. Gibbon, vol. i. ch. i. p. 6. + Dr. Walsh, in his voyage from Constantinople to England, has given numerous specimens of the language of Modern Dacia. See p. 267 and Appendix No. 5. A. D. 274. The Goths, in A. D. 361, introduced Christianity, which has since continued the national religion of Wallachia. § Vol. i. p. 35. Alaric, by the Gepidæ ;* and they being in turn routed by Alboin King of the Lombards, he, in a. D. 550, appropriated the province to himself. To the Lombards succeeded the Avars, or white Huns, who never recovering from their signal defeat by Heraclius before Constantinople in A. D. 626, were an easy spoil to a fresh horde of invaders, the Sclavi and Bulgarians, who, towards the close of the same century seized upon the territory of the Dacians, where their descendants to the present day are distinguished by the name of Wallachs.† Various petty dynasties now arose, from the migrations of the native inhabitants, or the independent settlements of their invaders; and during the subsequent incursion of the Scythian and Tartar tribes who supplanted the Sclavi, parties of these fugitives crossing the Carpathian mountains, established themselves in Hungary, and amongst other colonies founded those of Fagaras and Maramoroch. On the departure of the Tartars, after an occupation of two centuries, they left the province a desert, nor did it recover its prosperity till about the * Gibbon, c. xlii. + For some speculations on the origin of this name, see Walsh, chap. xiii. and Wilkinson, p. 10. ་ middle of the thirteenth century,* when Wallachia Proper was re-occupied by an expedition from Fagaras, headed by Rhaddo Negro, or Rhodolph the Swarthy; and Moldavia was seized by a similar body returning from Maramoroch, under their leader Bogdan.† The two chiefs assumed the title of Vaivodes, and did homage to the Kings of Hungary, who held a nominal authority over their principalities till the 14th century, when their independence was finally acknowledged.§ The Vaivodes, who succeeded to Rhaddo, contributed gradually to the furtherance of their national prosperity; and so rapid was their advancement in arms and resources, that in 1391 they led a powerful force to the relief of the adjoining provinces, which had been occupied by the Turks under Bajazet. The attempt was futile, and Mirza the Vaivode, who had undertaken it, was defeated by the Sultan, and his dominions subjected to a tribute of 3000 piastres.|| • About the year 1241. + Moldavia derives its popular name from the river Moldau, which intersects it. By the natives it is called Bogdania, probably from the name of him who founded the new dynasty. § Crayova was shortly after surrendered by its Ban, to Rhaddo, and has since formed a portion of Wallachia. Wilkinson, p. 15. Thornton, vol. ii. p. 311. Knolles' Hist. of the Turks, p. 204. Wilkinson, p. 17. When in 1444 Pope Eugene IV. urged on the youthful monarch of Hungary to a dishonourable war, and sent him in arms against Amurath II.,* Dracula,† the Vaivode of Wallachia, despatched his son with four thousand troops to join the standard of Vladislaf. The disastrous field of Varna terminated the imprudent enterprise,§ and the life of its leader; and his general, Hunniades, preparing to return to his kingdom, was seized by Dracula, who was anxious to again ingratiate himself with the Sultan, and detained for twelve months a prisoner in Wallachia. For this act of double treachery, John, on his release, exacted ample vengeance; he invaded the Vaivodalic, dethroned its ruler, and placed another in his stead, who being subsequently routed at the battle of Cassova,|| Wallachia again became tributary to the Ottomans. Still impatient of restraint, its hardy natives did not long preserve their allegiance, and ere a dozen years had elapsed, their Vaivode, (a second Dracula,) was again in arms against Mahomet II.** His efforts had, however, no better success than those of his predecessor; he was pursued by the Sultan to his own do * See vol. i. p. 128. Knolles, p. 296. Wilkinson, p. 19. + A name signifying "Devil." Gibbon, c. lxvii. || Gibbon, ib. ** A.D. 1460. |