Transylvania

TRANSYLVANIA, a former principality (Grossfiirsten tum) occupying, until 1918, the extreme eastern portion of the kingdom of Hungary, but then added to Rumania, since when the Rumanian name Ardeal has become the official one. It has an area of 22,312 sq.m. and a population of 3,217,149.

Transylvania has the form of an irregular circle, and is a high plateau of a mean altitude of 1,000-1,600 ft. above sea-level, surrounded on all sides by the Transylvanian mountains (q.v.), the south-eastern continuation of the Carpathian system. On the west side there are easy passes, but on the east and south frontiers the lofty mountains give Transylvania the aspect of a huge natu ral fortress.

The Latin name appears first after the 12th century, and signifies "beyond the woods," i.e., from Hungary; the Hungarian and Rumanian names both mean "forest land." The German name is usually derived from the seven principal fortified towns or "burgs," founded by the German colonists, though some authori ties prefer to connect it with the Cibin mountains on the south frontier. Until 1848 political rights belonged only to the Hunga rian and the closely-related Szekler and the Saxon inhabitants, the Rumanian majority having no recognition. These privileged . elements formed rather more than 4o% of the population, the Hungarians being Roman Catholics or Unitarians and the Germans Protestants. A gipsy element has long been important. The chief town is Cluj (Kolozsvo.r). (For further geographical details see After A.D. 103 Transylvania formed part of the Roman province of Dacia (q.v.), and long supported a large Roman or Ro manized population. After Aurelian withdrew his legions (A.D. 271) its history remains a blank for many centuries. It was oc cupied or overrun by various Germanic (Goths, Gepidae), Ural Altaic (Huns, Avars, perhaps Bulgars, Petchenegs), and probably also Slavonic tribes. The debated question whether a Roman population survived these storms is discussed elsewhere (see VLACHS). The very few early documents on Transylvania men tion Vlachs first in 1222, and then as shepherds; but they appear soon after as settled peasants; Vlach "nobles" are specifically mentioned in the 13th and 14th centuries, after which they ap parently became Magyarized ; and at this period the Vlach popu lation in Transylvania, the Banat and Maramures, was certainly considerable and increasing.

Hungarian Conquest.

In 1003 King Stephen of Hungary incorporated Transylvania in his domains under a voivode, also granting fiefs to certain nobles. The early Hungarian administra tion was probably somewhat shadowy; but it was consolidated at an early date by settlements of the Szeklers (q.v.) in the south east, probably as a frontier guard, and of the "Saxons" (Germans from Luxembourg and the Rhine) for the same purpose in the 12th and 13th centuries. Both Saxons and Szeklers were free, self-governing communities under the king. The Saxons espe cially, who founded numerous cities, were a great civilizing in fluence. The chief of their many privileges was the charter granted them in 1224 by Andrew II. As organized in the 14th century, they formed the communities of the "Sieben Stiihle" round Her mannstadt (Sibiu), the "Zwei Stiihle" (Medias), the Burzenland (Kronstadt, Rum. Brass6), and the Nosnerland (Bistritz, Rum. Bistrita).

In

spite of various invasions, the chief being the Mongol of 1241, the early prosperity of Transylvania was considerable and its communal life active. Its diet met at least as early as 1229; and when the power of Hungary began to decline, and Turkish invasions harassed the frontiers, the dominant classes took steps to defend their own position. A rising of the Magyar and Vlach peasants in 1437 caused the Saxons, Szeklers, and nobles to meet at Kapolna on Sept. 14 of that year and conclude a "Brotherly Union," by which they swore fealty to the king of Hungary, prom ised to support each other against the peasants and the Turks, and agreed to settle disputes between themselves by arbitration. This union was renewed in 1438 and 1459, and in 1506 a supreme court of justice was established for all three communities, then referred to as "nations." This third union formed henceforward the basis of the Transylvanian local constitution, relations with the serfs being regulated by the "codex tripartitum" introduced in Hungary in 1515, after the peasant rising of the previous year.