Transylvania( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon: Siweberjen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. The region's natural border to the east and south is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west it is the Apuseni Mountains. Broader definitions of Transylvania also include the western and northwestern Romanian regions of Crișana and Maramureș, and occasionally Banat. Historical Transylvania also includes small parts of neighbouring Western Moldavia and a small part of south-western neighbouring Bukovina to its north-east (represented by Suceava County).
Transylvania is known for the scenery of its Carpathian landscape and its rich history, along with its multi-cultural character. It also contains Romania's second-largest city, Cluj-Napoca, and other very well preserved medieval iconic cities and towns such as Brașov, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș, Bistrița, Alba Iulia, Mediaș, and Sighișoara. It is also the home of some of Romania's UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Villages with fortified churches, the Historic Centre of Sighișoara, the Dacian Fortresses of the Orăștie Mountains and the Roșia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape.
It was under the rule of the Agathyrsi, part of the Dacian Kingdom (168 BC – 106 AD), Roman Dacia (106–271), the Goths, the Hunnic Empire (4th–5th centuries), the Kingdom of the Gepids (5th–6th centuries), the Avar Khaganate (6th–9th centuries), the Slavs, and the 9th century First Bulgarian Empire. During the late 9th century, Transylvania was reached and conquered by the Hungarian tribes, and Gyula's family from the seven chieftains of the Hungarians ruled it in the 10th century. King Stephen I of Hungary asserted his claim to rule all lands dominated by Hungarian lords. He personally led his army against his maternal uncle Gyula III and Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1002.
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526 it belonged to the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, from which the Principality of Transylvania emerged in 1570 by the Treaty of Speyer. During most of the 16th and 17th centuries, the principality was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire; however, the principality had dual suzerainty (Ottoman and Habsburg).Dennis P. Hupchick, Conflict and chaos in Eastern Europe, Palgrave Macmillan, 1995, p. 62Peter F. Sugar, Southeastern Europe under Ottoman rule, 1354–1804, University of Washington Press, 1993, pp. 150–154
In 1690, the Habsburg monarchy gained possession of Transylvania through the Hungarian crown.Peter F. Sugar. "Southeastern Europe Under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804" (History of East Central Europe), University of Washington Press, July 1983, p. 163Paul Lendvai, Ann Major. The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2003, p. 146; After the failure of Rákóczi's War of Independence in 1711,"In 1711, after the Peace Treaty of Szatmar, Austrian control was firmly established over all of Hungary and Erdely, and the princes of Transylvania were replaced by Austrian governors." (Google Search) Habsburg control of Transylvania was consolidated, and Hungarian Transylvanian princes were replaced with Habsburg imperial governors."Transylvania" (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 July 2009"Diploma Leopoldinum" (2009). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 7 July 2009 During the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, the Hungarian government proclaimed union with Transylvania in the April Laws of 1848.Laszlo Péter, Hungary's Long Nineteenth Century: Constitutional and Democratic Traditions in a European Perspective, Brill, 2012, p. 56 After the failure of the revolution, the March Constitution of Austria decreed that the Principality of Transylvania be a separate crown land entirely independent of Hungary.Austrian Constitution of 4 March 1849. (Section I, Art. I and Section IX., Art. LXXIV) The separate status of Transylvania ended with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867,John F. Cadzow, Andrew Ludanyi, Louis J. Elteto, Transylvania: The Roots of Ethnic Conflict, Kent State University Press, 1983, p. 79 and it was reincorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary (Transleithania) as part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.James Minahan: One Europe, many nations: an historical dictionary of European national groups, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT It was also during this period that Romanians experienced the awakening of self-consciousness as a nation, manifested in cultural and ideological movements such as Transylvanian School, and drafted political petitions such as Supplex Libellus Valachorum. After World War I, the National Assembly of Romanians from Transylvania proclaimed the Union of Transylvania with Romania on 1 December 1918, and Transylvania became part of the Kingdom of Romania by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. In 1940, Northern Transylvania reverted to Hungary as a result of the Second Vienna Award, but it was returned to Romania after the end of World War II.
In popular culture, Transylvania is commonly associated with vampires because of the influence of Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula and the many subsequent books and films that the story has inspired. Many Transylvanian Saxons were furious with Vlad the Impaler for strengthening the borders of Wallachia, which interfered with their control of trade routes, and his extreme sadism and barbarity, by which a collection of credible historical accounts of diverse origins, most of which were non-Saxon, dealt with his enemies (including Saxons, large Boyars and Ottoman soldiers) by impaling. The victims were often arranged in grotesque displays intended to terrorize various groups, including the Saxons. In retaliation, the Saxons distributed poems of cruelty and other propaganda characterising the sadistic Vlad III Dracula as a drinker of blood.
Etymology
The earliest known reference to Transylvania appears in a Medieval Latin document of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1078 as , meaning "beyond the forest" ( meaning "beyond" or "on the far side of" and the accusative case of () "woods, forest"). Transylvania, with an alternative Latin prepositional prefix, means "on the other side of the woods". The Medieval Latin form , later , was a direct translation from the Hungarian form , later , which has been adopted phonetically into Romanian as .Engel, Pál (2001). Realm of St. Stephen: History of Medieval Hungary, 895–1526 (International Library of Historical Studies), p. 24, London: I.B. Taurus. That also was used as an alternative name in German ("beyond the forest") (13th–14th centuries) and Ukrainian ().
The German name means "seven castles", after the seven (ethnic German) Transylvanian Saxons' cities in the region.Johannes Thuróczy: Chronica Hungarorum http://thuroczykronika.atw.hu/pdf/Thuroczy.pdf This is also the origin of the region's name in many other languages, such as the Croatian , the Bulgarian (), Polish , Yiddish (), and Ukrainian ().
The Hungarian form was first mentioned in the 12th-century as (in modern script ) or .Lucy Mallow, Transylvania, 2nd edn. (Bradt Travel Guides, 2013), 16. The word means forest in Hungarian, and the word denotes a region in connection with this, similarly to the Hungarian name for Muntenia (, or land lying ahead of the snow-capped mountains). , , are derived from Hungarian .
An occurrence of the form Ardeliu in a Church Slavonic document written by a Romanian chancellery is attested in 1432. The Romanian is derived from the Hungarian .
Historical names of Transylvania are: , , (hist.), (), () , ,
(), () , ,
Transylvanian Saxon: Siweberjen
, , , ,
History
The first known civilization to inhabit the territory was the Agathyrsi, of the Scythic cultures. From the 4th century BC, Celtic La Tène culture came to domination. The indigenous Dacian tribes engaged in politics from the 1st century BC and united under King Burebista, forming their kingdom Dacia.Vékony, Gábor (2000): Dacians, Romans, Romanians
The Roman Empire made heavy efforts to seize the territory from King Decebalus, resulting in the formation of Roman Dacia in 106, after Trajan's costly and bloody wars. During Roman rule, the territory, depleted of its indigenous population, was repopulated with Latin colonists and its rich resource stock was systematically exploited. However, the growing threat of East Germanic and Carpic invasions made Emperor Aurelian withdraw his legions and evacuate the citizens south of the Lower Danube in 275, when the province became occupied by the Goths.Tóth, Endre (1994): The Roman Province of Dacia In 376, a powerful nomadic people, the Huns, defeated and shattered the Goths, and settled in the area. After the death of Hun King Attila, their empire disintegrated and the Gepids conquered the region in 455, under King Ardaric.Gündisch, Konrad: Transylvania and the Transylvanian Saxons
Gepids, Franks For two centuries, the Gepids controlled Transylvania. The Ostrogoths systematically pushed the Gepids out of Pannonia. King Elemund, on the other hand, successfully fought battles against the Eastern Roman Empire. They were defeated by the Lombards and Avars in 567.Bóna, István (1994): The Kingdom of the Gepids In the following years, the Avars took full control over Transylvania, heavily settling the area with Slavic tribes who accepted their suzerainty. The expansion of the Frankish Empire, however, constituted a growing threat and the Avar khaganate was crushed in the Avar Wars.Curta, Florin (2006): Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250Bóna, István (1994): The period of Avar rule The Avars and Slavs, although substantially depleted in number, continued to inhabit the Carpathian Basin.Macartney, Carlile Aylmer (1962): Hungary: a short history The First Bulgarian Empire expanded into Southern Transylvania in the 9th century.Bóna, István (1994): Southern Transylvania under Bulgar rule Smaller Slavic polities were also present, nevertheless they could hardly keep their independence.Makkai, László (1975): The origins of the Hungarian people and state
Erdély, as the part of the Hungarian Kingdom