Brodnici

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The Brodnici (or Brodniks) were a 13th-century Romanian, Slavic,^[1] mixed Romanian-Jassic^[2] or Romanian-Slavic^[1] population, probably vassals of Galicia for a period. The territory of Brodnici consisted of the southwestern part of today's Ukraine Budjak and the southern part of today's Vrancea and Galaţi counties of Romania, and probably the coastline between the Dniester and the Dnieper.^[1]

The name, as used by foreign chronicles, means a person in charge of a ford (water crossing) in Romanian (cf. Slavic brod - "ford"). The probable reason for the name is that the territory of the Brodniks constituted the link between the mountain passes in the Carpathians and the mouths of the Danube, having a major economical importance, assuring the access to the Genovese colonies.^[3]. According to other opinions, their name is related to Slavic бродить ("to wander"), probably referring to the nomadic way of life of this population.^[1]

They were the neighbours of another mediæval Romanian population of what was to become the Principality of Moldavia, namely the Vlachs, situated to the north.

In 1216 they were in the service of the knyaz of Suzdal.

In 1222, the Hungarian king Andrew II gave the "Burzenland" to the Teutonic Knights, delimiting it by the land of the Brodnici. A Papal bull of Pope Honorius III confirmed the charter in the same year; however, in the copy approved by the Vatican, "Brodnicorum" was replaced by "Blacorum". While some historians believe that this shows that the terms were equivalent, others claim that this was just an error.^[1] The latter base their claim on the fact that the two terms were used together in several Hungarian documents, very unusual if referring to the same population.

In 1223, the Brodnici, commanded by Ploskinya, took part in the Battle of Kalka, initially on the side of Mstislav the Bold, then rallying with the Mongols. After this date, they disappeared from Russian sources.

[edit] References

Inline

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Victor Spinei, Moldavia in the 11th–14th centuries, Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România 1986.
^ O. B. Bubenok, Iasy i brodniki v stepiakh Vostochnoi Evropy (VI-nachalo XIII v.), Kiev, 1997.
^ Binder Pál: "Antecedente şi consecinţe sud-transilvănene ale formării voievodatului Munteniei (sec. XIII-XIV.) II.",