The “Central European Urban Model” and the Emergence of Towns in Wallachia from the Fourteenth to the Sixteenth Century

Abstract

AbstractThe present study addresses the issue of how the Central European urban model was embraced in areas south of the Carpathians, namely Wallachia. The Saxon and Hungarian colonists arriving from Transylvania, who settled in these regions, were key in the adoption of certain elements of urban institutional organization. The local rulers granted them privileges, which acknowledged their right of ownership in settlements in which they dwelled, the right to use plots, as well as tax exemptions. The study also inquires into the way these colonists have arrived, and documents local urban terminology.