An anonymous work about ottoman-austrıa controversy relatıng to wallachıa and moldavıa ın the fırst part of 18TH century: vakāyiʻ-i eflak

Wallachia and Moldavia which also called “memleketeyn” came under the rule of the Ottoman State between the end of 14th century and the early of 15th century. Wallachia and Moldavia which were independent in the region beforehand, came under the rule of the Ottoman government by paying land taxes and became privileged principalities. Ottoman State which didn’t interfere in those religious, political and social structures, put into power the voivodes selected from noble families in the region. Ottoman State began to apoint the executives picked from Romans who live in the Fener district of Istanbul by adopting a new strategy because they occasionally made attemps to seperate from Ottomans and become an ally of some European states. The said administiration system lasted from 1711 to 1821. This article will analyze the manuscript named Vakāyiʻ-i Eflak which its author is not known. It is told Moldavia’s Mihal Bey’s struggle together with Constantine Ypsilantis who was sent from Istanbul to help Moldavia’s Bey against the enemy because Austria and Hungary forces held Wallachia’s Bey captive and tried to capture Moldavia’s Bey in the work. The manuscript is a significant work since it contains an incident which wasn’t told in Ottoman history books and enlighten history of the period During the Ottoman period, Wallachia was located between theCarpathian Mountains and the Danube River in the south of today’sRomania, and the Moldavia was located between the Danube and theBlack Sea.When the Ottoman Empire conquered Hungary in the 16h century(1526), the sovereignty claims of the Hungarians on Wallachia andMoldavia became ineffective, and at the same time, the Ottoman Empireincreased its influence on Wallachia and Moldavia. Throughout the 17thcentury, Wallachia and Moldavia were governed by native dynasties asthe subject of the Ottoman State. However, together with being tied to theOttoman government, they were also in touch with neighbouring princesand kings and helping them.After the treaty of Karlowitz, Poland’s losing its former influenceand the Russians coming up to the borders of the Moldavia and at thesame time the Russians taking a protector role on the OrthodoxChristians, the dynasties of Wallachia and Moldavia leaned the Russians.During the period of the Ahmed III (1703-1730), to rule theWallachia and the Moldavia better, it was decided that the RumGovernors, which would be under the control of the Ottoman Empire,should be appointed to these principalities against the danger of Russiaand Austria in the region. This process, which started in 1711 andcontinued until 1821, was called period of Fenerian Rum Governors.In our study, the events of the year 1617 are mentioned which isaccepted as the beginning years of the Fenerian Rum Governors’ being appointed to Memleketeyn. During the period of Sultan Ahmed III,Constantin İbsilanti in Istanbul was commissioned by the Ottoman Stateas a side to the Moldavia Voivode Mihal Bey. The subject of this textcontains the heroism of the two of them together in the face of Austria.In 1717 (1129), the Austrian forces captured the Temesvar Castle,invaded of Black Wallachia and hold Iskerletoglu Nikola captive with hisfamily and took him to Erdel. Then a number of Austrian soldiers, movingtogether Brasov fortress guards and Hungarian catasters entered theKasin Monastery near Hungarian and Bulgarian border and hurt thepeople living in the area. At the same time, they captured voivode ofWallachia and were tried to capture Bulgarian Voivode Mihal Bey. Whenthey demanded tribute via the letter they wrote to Mihal Bey, Mihal Beyand his deputy, Hatman Constantin, consulted and decided that it wouldbe more appropriate not to respond to the letter. Thereupon, theenemy forces moving together with Captain France who was in charge ofthe Nemce palace, captured Mihal Bey and Hatman Constantin. MihalBey, who had found a chance to get rid of their hands, asked for help bysending news to the Tatars in Bucak. Thereupon, the Austrian forceswere defeated in a battle that began with the aid of a number of Tatartroops.General Tipe, knowing that his power would not be enough tocapture the country of the Moldavia, was demanding tribute from thepeople of the Moldavia. On the other side, with the help of CaptainFrance, he managed to capture the sister of the Moldavia Governor.However, after a short time, this prisoned lady managed to escape fromthe prison that she was held to the brothers’ side. She told her brotherthat everyday a bazaar was built in castle and the variety of goods andthe animals there were supplied by the people of Hungary and Moldavia.As a result of this Moldavia governor acted to punish these people andeliminate the problem. Initially, it was necessary to remove the Austrianand katana soldiers from the Kasin Monastery in the Moldavia lands.Then he sent a message to the people of Tatar and the people of Moldavia,who lives on the other side of the Siret River, asked for help.Moldavia people didn't take care of the letter that came from thegovernor. But the Tatars came with ten thousand soldiers against thedemand of two thousand soldiers. The Moldavia governor who wasdisturbed by such a large number of soldiers, informed them that theycould harm the people of Moldavia, and the Tatar miracles gave writtenassurances that they never had such intentions. On February 13, theMoldavia governor and the Tatar soldiers moved together into the town ofYas. After taking some of the katans that he had captured on the roadand killing some of them, while they were encircling the Kasin Monastery,the Moldavia governor noticed the lack of Tatars. After making a littleresearch he learned that they were also about to plunder the Moldaviacountry and capture whom they took on the roads.In this case, Mihal Bey, who had to remove the siege, requestedhelp