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BASSARAB

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 491 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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BASSARAB or BASSARABA, the name of a See also:

dynasty in See also:Rumania, which ruled See also:Walachia from the See also:dawn of its See also:history until 1658. The origin of the name and See also:family has not yet been explained. It undoubtedly stands in dose connexion with the name of the See also:province of See also:Bessarabia, which See also:oriental chroniclers gave in olden times to the whole of Walachia. The heraldic sign, three heads of negroes in the Bassarab See also:shield, seems to be of See also:late western origin and to See also:rest on a popular See also:etymology connecting the second See also:half of the word with See also:Arabs, who were taken to signify See also:Moors (blacks). The other heraldic signs, the See also:crescent and the See also:star, have evidently been added on the same supposition of an oriental origin of the family. The Servian chroniclers connect its origin with their own See also:nationality, basing this view upon the See also:identification of Sarah with Sorb or Serbia. All this is See also:mere conjecture. It is, however, a fact that the first See also:appearance of the Bassarabs as rulers (knyaz, See also:ban or voivod) is in the western See also:part of Rumania (originally called Little Walachia), and also in the See also:southern parts of Transylvania—the old dukedoms of Fogarash and Almash, which are situated on the right See also:bank of the Olt (Aluta) and extend See also:south to Severin and See also:Craiova. Whatever the origin of the Bassarabs may be, the See also:foundation of the Walachian principality is undoubtedly connected with a member of that family, who, according to tradition, came from Transylvania and settled first in See also:Campulung and See also:Tirgovishtea. It is equally certain that almost every one of the See also:long See also:line of princes and voivods See also:bore a See also:Slavonic surname, perhaps due to the See also:influence of the Slavonic See also:Church, to which the Rumanians belonged. Starting from the 13th See also:century the Bassarabs soon split into two See also:rival factions, known in history as the descendants of the two See also:brothers See also:Dan and Drakul. The See also:form Drakul—devil—by which this line is known in history is no doubt a See also:nickname given by the rival line.

- It has fastened on the family on See also:

account of the cruelties perpetrated by Vlad Drakul (1433-1446) and Vlad Tsepesh (1456-1476), who figure in popular See also:legend as representatives of the most fiendish See also:cruelty. The See also:feud between the rival dynasties lasted from the beginning of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th. The most prominent members of the family were Mircea (1386-1418), who accepted See also:Turkish See also:suzerainty; Neagoe, the founder of the famous See also:cathedral at Curtea de Argesh (q.v.); See also:Michael, surnamed the Brave (1592-1601); and Petru Cercel, famous for his profound learning, who spoke twelve See also:languages and carried on friendly See also:correspondence with the greater scholars and poets of See also:Italy. He was drowned by the See also:Turks in See also:Constantinople in 1590 through the intrigues of Mihnea, who succeeded him on the See also:throne of Walachia. The See also:British Museum possesses the See also:oldest See also:MSS. of the Rumanian Gospels, once owned by this Petru Cercel, and containing his autograph See also:signature. The See also:text was published by Dr M. Gaster at the expense of the Rumanian See also:government. Mateiu Bassarab (1633-1654) established the first See also:printing-See also:press in Rumania, and under his influence the first See also:code of See also:laws was compiled and published in See also:Bucharest in 1654. The Bassarab dynasty became See also:extinct with See also:Constantine Sherban in 1658. See RUMANIA: See also:Language and Literature. (M.

End of Article: BASSARAB

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