John,[1] also Joan[2] or Ioan,[3] was a cneaz (local chieftain or ruler)[2][4] mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites issued by King Béla IV of Hungary (1235–1270) on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Cumania.[5] John held a kenazate which was given to the knights by the king.[5] His kenazate lay in southern Oltenia.[2]

The diploma of Béla IV also refers to the kenazates of Farcaş and voivode Litovoi and to voivode Seneslau.[5] Seneslau and Litovoi are expressly said to be Vlachs (Olati) in the king's diploma.[5]

The Romanian historian Ioan-Aurel Pop suggests that the kenazate of John was one of the incipient Romanian states south of the Carpathian Mountains.[2] In the diploma, his name is given in its Latin form (Johannes), and so contains no hint of the nationality of its bearer.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Spinei, Victor. The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century.
  2. ^ a b c d Pop, Ioan Aurel. Romanians and Romania: A Brief History.
  3. ^ Treptow, Kurt W.; Popa, Marcel. Historical Dictionary of Romania.
  4. ^ Rady, Martyn. Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary.
  5. ^ a b c d e Vásáry, István. Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365.

Sources

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  • Pop, Ioan Aurel: Romanians and Romania: A Brief History; Columbia University Press, 1999, New York; ISBN 0-88033-440-1
  • Rady, Martyn: Nobility, Land and Service in Medieval Hungary; Palgrave (in association with School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London), 2000, New York; ISBN 0-333-80085-0
  • Spinei, Victor: The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century; Brill, 2009, Leiden and Boston; ISBN 978-90-04-17536-5
  • Treptow, Kurt W. - Popa, Marcel: Historical Dictionary of Romania (part ‘Historical Chronology’); Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1996, Lanham and Folkestone; ISBN 0-8108-3179-1
  • Vásáry, István: Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365; Cambridge University Press, 2005, Cambridge; ISBN 0-521-83756-1