Ruling Christian; Neagoe Basarab and the Beginning of ‘Political Proto-Modernity’ in Sixteenth-century Wallachia: a Case Study

Abstract

This article explores the first tendencies of a so-called ‘proto-modernity’ in the Principality of Wallachia, interpreting them as a form of political dynamism of adaptation to a new historical context after the fall of Constantinople and the rise of Ottoman power. Through an analysis of three historical situations during the reign of Prince Neagoe Basarab (1512–21) I have tried to show how modernity always stays in connection with local or regional historical developments and is not an ideological narrative. The main statement is a refinement of the Western-Eurocentric approach to modernity which inclines to ignore regional developments and specific historical contexts. The Wallachian case shows a form of ‘proto-modernity’ which barely includes features such as a radical break with the past, secularisation and individualisation, phenomena which constitute modernity in its classical western understanding.