Early Modern Romania - Fall of The Byzantine Empire

Fall of The Byzantine Empire

From the 14th century, the Ottoman Empire expanded at the expense of the Byzantine Empire. Following the victories at the Battle of Kosovo (1389) and Battle of Nikopol (1396), Bulgaria came under Ottoman rule, and in 1453, Constantinople fell, bringing an end to the Eastern Roman Empire which had survived its predecessor in the West by nearly a thousand years. After the Battle of Mohács (1526), the major part of Hungary was also absorbed by the Ottoman Empire.

By the late 16th century, the three independent principalities in the area, Moldavia, Transylvania and Wallachia were surrounded by the Islamic Ottomans and Tartars, and Catholic Poland, which although Christian, proved itself to be as dangerous as the Ottomans. Although sometimes forced to pay a tribute to the Porte, these principalities never fully fell under Ottoman rule. Formally, the three principalities were never part of Dar al-Islam, remaining in Dar al-Harb and then Dar al'Ahd.

After 1453, the notion of "Byzantium" as a cultural and ideological reference continued to influence the remaining autonomous states in the Empire's sphere of influence. Many Orthodox states claimed the title of "the Third Rome", even before Constantinople's fall. Stephen the Great of Moldavia married one of the last Byzantine princesses, Maria of the Principality of Theodoro in 1472. The Romanian principalities never explicitly claimed this legacy, but they offered opportunities to Orthodox Christians from occupied countries. In this way they too assumed some of the character idea of the Orthodox Christian, multi-ethnic Byzantine Empire. Seen from a partisan Romanian standpoint, Wallachia and Moldavia were also the heirs of the Orthodox Byzantium. In this period of relative calm, the monastic and cultural life flourished undisturbed. Nicolae Iorga wrote: "There was a time when it appeared that the entire Byzantine, Balkan legacy would be inherited by the Romanian princes who, as the only ones who remained standing among the Christians, showed that they wanted to preserve it and that they were capable of sacrificing themselves for it".