Speaking of War: Moldavian and Wallachian Perceptions of the Ottoman Threat during the 14th–16th Centuries
When you find yourself in the path of the territorial expansion of a military power such as the Ottoman Empire, you prepare for war. However, the need to defend one’s very existence is not the only reason for a state to go to war, especially when the enemy you are about to face on the battlefield has an entirely different religion and culture. This was the case with Moldavia and Wallachia. They were not fighting merely to defend themselves, but to defend all of Christendom. Moreover, their enemy was no ordinary foe. By the time the Danubian Principalities had to face them, the Turks were already considered enemies of Christ and of the Christian faith.

This project investigates the motivation and the religious means of legitimization behind the wars that the Danubian Principalities—Moldavia and Wallachia—waged against the Ottoman Empire during the 14th and 16th centuries. The aim is to identify the religious arguments that shaped the Danubian Principalities’ conception of war during the period under consideration. A key aspect of this topic that requires further examination is the image of the Turkish “Other”—both religious and cultural—and the role it played in shaping their war ideology. Given that religion plays a major role in their mutual perceptions, how is this religious difference incorporated into their ideological discourse? Did the Moldavians or Wallachians ever describe their anti-Ottoman wars as just wars or some sort of crusade? Can motifs such as “fighting the enemies of God,” “martyrdom,” or “salvation of the soul” for those who fell in battle against the Turks, as well as “antemurale Christianitatis,” be identified? Did the fall of Constantinople in 1453 influence their discourse and bring about a change?

In an effort to uncover the correlation between representations of the “Turkish Other” and the conception of war for the two states in question, various types of sources—such as chronicles, private letters, and diplomatic correspondence—will shed light on both the official and personal perspectives, while diptychs and monumental inscriptions will provide insight into attitudes toward those who fell in battle against the Turks.

In order to shed light on the ideology of war against the Ottomans and its religious patterns, an interesting approach would be to compare it with the ideology of war against Christians. During the 14th–16th centuries, Moldavia and Wallachia found themselves at war on numerous occasions with neighboring kingdoms, and even against one another. Why and how was waging war against the Ottoman Empire different from waging war against other enemies? What are the religious justifications for fighting and killing other Christians—or are there none? Such studies already exist for the Byzantine Empire and for some European kingdoms of the time that faced similar situations. However, for the Romanian Principalities, this topic has so far been addressed only fragmentarily or tangentially.