The Fortifications of Nobiliary Residences in Wallachia and Moldavia (14th-16th Centuries)

Abstract

The debate regarding the fortifications of Romanian nobiliary courts was, for a long time, an importance subject of analyses in the Romanian historiography dedicated to this issue. Thus, the postulation of their defensive character represented a strong reason for the further justification of theories without any evidences in the historical reality. The explorations made by medieval archaeologists in the last decades, doubled by the information provided by written sources, offer us a solid argumentative support for reaching to a conclusion which is completely opposite to the above mentioned historiographic postulate. Therefore, we have now arguments which allow us to assert that the absence of fortifications around Romanian nobiliary courts was, during the period of the 14th – 16th centuries, the rule, whereas the existence of fortified residences is just the exception which confirms that rule.