the Romanian language, along with a few such words of Slavic origin. The indigenous valley populations and Slavic communities merged in time, so that by the ninth century a.d., Romanian or Romanian-Slavic communities already existed, their natural progress interrupted only by the extension to the north of the first Bulgarian tzarate under Krum and Omurtag (Comşa, M. 1960, 395–422). The Bulgarians instituted a kind of suzerainty where taxes (in the form of natural products) were paid by the local chieftains to the Bulgarian Chans. On some ceramic vessels dating back to the ninth and tenth centuries, names of “jupani,” or chieftains, were inscribed; for example, at Sânnicolau Mare in Banat, pots contained the names Bouilla and Boutaul, and at Mircea Vodă, a mid-tenth-century a.d. vessel was inscribed Dimitrie and another one at Basarabi was inscribed Gheorghe; both were found in Dobroudja.

At the end of the ninth century, the Hungarian migration into Romania began. These semi-nomadic shepherds, along with a few farmers and artisans, were resisted by the Bulgarians and they moved on to the northwest and crossed the northern Carpathian mountains over Verecke Pass, spreading into the Tisa Valley, which was inhabited by Bulgarians, Slavs, and “Vlachs,” or Romanians. After that, the Hungarians started gradually to conquer neighboring territories (Pascu 1972, 28–36). They attacked the dukedoms under the rules of Menumoruth in Crişana and of Glad in Banat. Both these rulers, under conditional capitulation, managed to maintain autonomy from Arpad, the Hungarian chieftain, for themselves as well as for their descendants. A third dukedom existed in Transylvania and was ruled by Gelu, “the duke of Valachians.” Led by Tuhutum, the Hungarians attacked him as well and, after several battles, Gelu was defeated and killed. At the same time, in the first half of the tenth century, the Pechenegs came from the east to the steppes of Moldavia and Muntenia (Pascu 1972, 81–88), and in the eleventh century the Ouzs and the Cumans followed. Some crossed the Danube while others settled in southern Transylvania. In 1241 and 1242 a.d., the great Tartar invasion took place through two routes into Romania: one across the plains (resisted by the Miscelau in Muntenia and Berezem-ban in Oltenia), and also through Transylvania (Constantinescu, Daicoviciu, and Pascu 1969, 125). The Hungarians continued their migration into Transylvania between the tenth and the thirteenth centuries, despite resistance from the local population.

In certain mountainous and forested regions, difficult to access, Romanian populations continued to live under autonomous political leadership, keeping their traditional customs. Thus, during the thirteenth century in Transylvania, several important Romanian centers, which are now of intense interest to archaeologists, existed, such as Breaza (Făgăraş County, thirteenth to fourteenth centuries); Strei Sângeorz (Hunedoara County, twelfth to fourteenth centuries); Voievozi (Bihor County, thirteenth century); and Giuleşti and Cuhea (Maramureş, thirteenth to fourteenth centuries), among others. Similar political entities existed also south of the Carpathians in southern and northern Moldavia (for example, Slon in Prahova County). In the first half of the thirteenth century, Romanian chieftainships were led by Litovoi in the region of the Upper Jiu and Haţeg Land, Seneslau in northwestern Muntenia, Farcaş in Vâlcea,and Ioan in southeastern Oltenia (Giurescu 1981, 104–120). In the same period, a settlement called “Banat” was ruled by Oslu and located in parts of present-day Banat and western Oltenia. Archaeologists have also found evidence of a similar political formation in Moldavia near the town of Piatra Neamţ.

By the first half of the fourteenth century, many chieftains had joined together to form the Romanian feudal states of Moldavia and Valachia. The unification of the populations south of the Carpathians was done under the reign of Basarab I, who ruled over Banat, Muntenia, and Oltenia. In 1330, after defeating the Hungarians at Posada under the leadership of Carol Robert of Anjou, Basarab I obtained the independence of Valachia from the kingdom of Hungary. The unification of Moldavian populations was achieved between 1343 and 1353 by Dragoş, and in 1359, under Bogdan, they obtained independence from Hungary. Their descendants during the fourteenth century managed