FORGING THE WALLACHIAN MILITARY BORDER, 1769–1772

FĂURIREA GRANIŢEI MILITARE ROMÂNE, 1769–1772

  1. Antal Hegediš, “Josif II o svom putovanju u Banat 1768,” Istraživanja 11 (1986): 249: Die gantze Strecke von dem Adriatischen Meer bis an die letzten Gränitzen der Moldau, ist wirklich durch die Karlstätter, Bannalisten, Sclavonier, Bannatische Gränitzer Invaliden, und druch Siebenbürgischen Gränitzer besetzet, einen kleinen Theil ausgenommen, an der Wallachischen Gränitze, den keine Militares, sondern so genante Playaschen besetzen. ↩︎
  2. Österreichische Staatsarchiv, Kriegsarchiv Wien(KA), HKR, Akten 1769, Kt. 699, 1769 – 45–11. ↩︎
  3. The name Wallachians (for members of the Wallachische Nation) was officially used until the mid–19 th century when it was replaced with the term Romanians. It was only then that the name of the regiment in eastern Banat was changed from Wallachian into the Romanian Banat Regiment (Irina Marin, “The Formation and Allegiance of the Romanian Military Elite Originating from the Banat Military Border,” Ph.D. Thesis, University College London – School of Slavonic and East European Studies 2009, 95, 105). ↩︎
  4. Less detailed information about events and various aspects of militarisation of the Wallachian Military Border in the 1769–1775 is also contained in the monograph: Јелена Илић Мандић, Банатска војна крајина (1764–1800) (Београд: Историјски институт Београд, 2020), 321– 361. ↩︎
  5. KA, HKR, Akten 1769, Kt. 699, 1769 – 45–10. ↩︎
  6. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 745, 1770 – 39–21. ↩︎
  7. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–62. Maximilian Joseph Graf von Mittrovszky (1709–1782), commanding general in Temeswarer Banat 1769–1775. ↩︎
  8. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–77; 1770 – 39–97. ↩︎
  9. Costin Feneşan, “Die zweite Reise Kaisers Josephs II. ins Temeswarer Banat (1770),” Mitteilungen des Österreichischen Staatsarchivs 45 (1997): 238–239. In his travel report, Joseph II expressed satisfaction with progress in the regulation of the German-Banat Regiment, noted somewhat weaker results in the regulation of the Illyrian Border Regiment, and expressed dissatisfaction with the situation in the Wallachian Battalion ↩︎
  10. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–149. ↩︎
  11. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–149. The number 35 was also reached through a separate census of Old Jupalnic and New Jupalnic ↩︎
  12. KA, HKR, Akten 1774, Kt. 1016, 1774 – 39–69/2, folio 4–5. In case of the subsequently militarised 31 settlements in the areas of Almaş, Craina and (Lower) Clisura, fiscal and military obligations were valid from 1 November 1773 ↩︎
  13. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 909, 1772 – 39–182. ↩︎
  14. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–77; 1770 – 39–97. The role of knezes in the representation of Wallachian and Serbian villages in the Habsburg province of Temeswarer Banat was elaborated in Costin Feneşan, Cnezi si obercnezi in Banatul Imperial (1716–1778) (Bucureşti: Editura Academiei Române, 1996); Benjamin Landais, “La réforme cadastrale dans les villages du Banat au XVIIIe siècle,” Historie et sociétés rurales No 37 – 1 er semestre 2012 (2014): 43–116 ↩︎
  15. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–77. Names of villages stated in document, given in German transcription by following order: Ohaba Bistra, Marga, Wallia Mare, Mercul, Mall, Csiglen, Wercserova, Bolwaschniza, Serbestie, Dalcs, Warr, Turnul, Borlova, Illova, Sadova, Armenisch, Fenisch, Russka, Ruen, Terregova, Keressma. ↩︎
  16. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–97. In German transcription by following order: Neu Schupanek, Alt Schupaneck, Doffier, Topliz, Mehadia, Börsa, Pecsinehska, Korabnik, Balwahsniza, Plugova, Globureu, Bogoldin, Cornia-Reva. ↩︎
  17. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–66. ↩︎
  18. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 909, 1772 – 39–182. ↩︎
  19. Ibid. ↩︎
  20. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 745, 1770 – 39–21. ↩︎
  21. The third wave of the colonisation of Germans to Temeswarer Banat was in full swing starting from 1762 (the so-called Teresian colonisation) and covered mainly the civilian territory (Ernst Schimscha, Tehnik und Methoden der Theresianischen Besiedlung des Banats (Wien, 1939)). A part of this wave, however, included the colonisation of veterans in the status of frontiersmen in the environs of Pančevo after 1765, in: Јелена Илић Мандић, “Планско насељавање у Војној крајини: колонисти–ветерани у Немачко-банатској регименти (1764–1788),” in P. Krestić, ed., Држава и политике управљања (18–20. век) (Београд, 2017), 37–56; Erik Roth, Die planmäsigangelegten Siedlungen im Deutsch-Banater Militärbezirk 1765–1821 (München: Oldenbourg Verlag, 1988). ↩︎
  22. KA, HKR, Akten 1769, Kt. 699, 1769 – 45–10. ↩︎
  23. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 745, 1770 – 39–21. ↩︎
  24. KA, HKR, Akten 1769, Kt. 699, 1769 – 45–10. ↩︎
  25. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–164. ↩︎
  26. Marin, “The Formation and Allegiance,” 100. ↩︎
  27. During his stay in Timişoara in May 1770, co-ruler Joseph II noted that the new frontiersmen were not satisfied, about which he seems to have talked to them personally: Wallachen, die neuen, nicht völlig zufrieden. Mit ihnen geredet (Feneşan, “Die zweite Reise Kaisers Josephs II.,” 239, 243). ↩︎
  28. The Russian incursion to the Ottoman vassal Principalities of Moldova and Wallachia took place in autumn 1769. Iaşi was captured on 7 October and Bucharest on 17 November 1769. This wing of the Russian army was under the command of General Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev, and the main conflicts took place in 1770 on the Lower Danube (Karl A. Roider, Jr., Austria’s Eastern Question 1700–1790 (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982), 109–130, 113). ↩︎
  29. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–45. ↩︎
  30. Xénia Havadi–Nagy, Die Slawonische und Banater Militärgrenze. Kriegserfahrungen und räumliche Mobilität (Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg): Romänische Akademie – Zentrum für Siebenbürgische Studien, 2010), 223; Илић Мандић, Банатска војна крајина, 351. ↩︎
  31. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–60. The same document mentions that the purported cause was the fact that a trader from Poieni was held in quarantine as four persons said that he promised, in the status of an officer, to take them to Wallachia, provide them with horses, equipment and weapons, including even a monthly salary of eight forints. ↩︎
  32. Here reference is probably made to the general-in-chief Pyotr Alexandrovich Rumyantsev (Пётр Алекса́ндрович Румя́нцев-Задунайский, 1725–1796). ↩︎
  33. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–60. The same report suggests that captain Duntscha originally came from Banat to join the Russian army as he delivered to the playaschen two letters – one for Petar Vanza, entrusting him to care about his wife, and the second for his wife, advising her to be patient. This put some more light on the origin of some part of Wallachian voluntarees in Russan army. ↩︎
  34. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–127. – … dann das Übel von denen Raubern aus der Wallachey wird sobald kein Ende nehmen, massen allem vernehmen nach die mehrersten Wallachen in der Wallachey Rauber geworden, weilen dasjenige, was ihnen von denen Russen übrig geblieben, die Türcken nebst Weib und Kindern noch dazu hinweggeführet. ↩︎
  35. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–102. ↩︎
  36. Russian General Grigory Aleksandrovich (Григо́рий Алекса́ндрович Потёмкин-Таври́ ческий, 1739–1791) was, no more or less, the future famous Russian prince Potemkin, an associate and lover of Empress Catherine II, who was at the time at the beginning of his career. ↩︎
  37. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–94. ↩︎
  38. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–94. ↩︎
  39. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–111. ↩︎
  40. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–111. ↩︎
  41. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–204. In January 1770, deployed on the Danube cordon were 3,799 infantrymen from the garrison army (14 companies of the First Garrison Regiment, Third Battalion of the Leopold Palffy Regiment and Third Battalion of the Forgarasch Regiment) and 3,487 members of border units in Banat (German-Banat and Illyrian Border Regiments, and 70 playaschen). There were also 744 cavalrymen of the Seventh Squadron of cuirassiers and 235 hussars of the Illyrian Border Regiment. The sector of the border towards Wallachia was the most poorly secured. ↩︎
  42. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–44, folio 375–378. In addition, one company was deployed in the Bozovici village in Almaş, one company in Bela Crkva and Nova Palanka, and other three companies with one squadron in Pančevo. ↩︎
  43. The problem centred on the fact that the exact nature of Russian objectives was not known in Vienna, and there were indications that they were broadly defined. This dissatisfaction brought about a precedent in the history of Habsburg-Ottoman relations, i.e. a short-lived alliance of the two states against Russia, which was concluded on 6 July 1771. Under this secret agreement, the Monarchy secured the Porte’s promise that it would be given Little Wallachia, a monetary compensation and status of a privileged trade partner (Roider, Austria’s Eastern Question, 117, 120, 124) ↩︎
  44. In December 1771, Russia made a secret agreement with Vienna to return Moldova and Wallachia to the Porte, and Vienna decided to join Russia and Prussia in the division of Poland (Ibid., 126) ↩︎
  45. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–74. In early June, 12 of these deserters were captured near Rebenburg (Kaluđerovo); they were interrogated and sent back, and their statements were submitted to the competent authorities (KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 822, 1771 – 39–44, folio 49). Co-ruler Joseph II probably had in mind this group of deserters from the Illyrian Border Regiment under the command of major Seczujacs, when in May 1770 he noted in Timisoara: Ursach deren 41 Mann Desertuers. … Dreyzehn revertiert (Feneşan, “Die zweite Reise Kaisers Josephs II.,” 238, 243). ↩︎
  46. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–102. Correspondence was maintained about that case between the Slavonian and Banat General Command and the question was asked about the grounds on which they should be punished. It was decided that they should not be considered bandits or vagabonds and armed emigrants (and that they should therefore not be punished for such offences), because they were deserters (KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–138). ↩︎
  47. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 822, 1771 – 39–41. ↩︎
  48. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–102. ↩︎
  49. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–94. ↩︎
  50. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 823, 1771 – 39–98; 1771 – 39–102. ↩︎
  51. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–84. ↩︎
  52. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–90. ↩︎
  53. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 908, 1772 – 39–121. ↩︎
  54. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 909, 1772 – 39–182, folio 22–26, folio 28–33. ↩︎
  55. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 908, 1772 – 39–121. ↩︎
  56. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 908, 1772 – 39–146. ↩︎
  57. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 909, 1772 – 39–177. The helpfulness of the Russian side stemmed from a secret agreement between Vienna and St Petersburg of December 1771, according to which the Principalities of Wallachia and Moldova were to be returned to the Ottomans (Roider, Austria’s Eastern Question, 126). ↩︎
  58. KA, HKR, Akten 1773, Kt. 964, 1773 – 39–7, folio 4–8. ↩︎
  59. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–97. ↩︎
  60. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 746, 1770 – 39–97. ↩︎
  61. KA, HKR, Akten 1770, Kt. 747, 1770 – 39–164. ↩︎
  62. In his notes of May 1770, in Timişoara co-ruler Joseph II also mentioned the case of two villages to be exchanged for the village of Teregova (Feneşan, “Die zweite Reise Kaisers Josephs II.,” 239, 243). ↩︎
  63. KA, HKR, Akten 1771, Kt. 1771 – 39–94. ↩︎
  64. Such conclusion relies on the fact that the district administration consisted of a small number of clerks (district administrator and deputy administrator), who by cooperating with knezes communicated with municipalities and collected taxes (Landais, “La réforme cadastrale,” 53–54). ↩︎
  65. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–90. ↩︎
  66. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–84 ↩︎
  67. KA, HKR, Akten 1773, Kt. 964, 1773 – 39–7, folio 4–8. ↩︎
  68. Marin, “The Formation and Allegiance,” 13. ↩︎
  69. Knezes lost the privileged status in old parts of the Military Border back in the mid–18th century. Their role of representatives, tax collectors and intermediaries in communication with the authorities became superfluous with the appearance of military lower and higher officers (Војин С. Дабић, “Кнезови у војној крајини у Хрватској и Славонији до половине XVIII века,” Зборник о Србима у Хрватској 6, 2007: 7–123). ↩︎
  70. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–83. ↩︎
  71. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–83. ↩︎
  72. KA, HKR, Akten 1772, Kt. 907, 1772 – 39–66. ↩︎
  73. Feneşan, “Die zweite Reise Kaisers Josephs II.,” 233–247. ↩︎
  74. Roider, Austria’s Eastern Question, 140, 146. The question of the town and island of Orşova, occupied by the Ottomans back in 1739, was partly resolved only in 1791, when the settlement was given to the Habsburgs, but the island remained in Ottoman hands. The island of New Orşova (Ada Cale) was considered “the key of the Danube” back from Marsigli’s days (1690), when the Habsburg army reached for the first time this Danube section. ↩︎

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