ent chieftains, too, are becoming clearer in the
obscurity of the period. In or about 1285 a Prince Liteanu conquered and
united three Wallachian principalities, and declared himself independent
of the crown of Hungary, which claimed suzerainty over the western part
of Wallachia. He was attacked by the Magyars under George Sowar, and
slain in battle, while his brother was taken prisoner and executed. Some
of the successors of this prince were more fortunate, and one of them,
Tugomir, succeeded for a time in securing his independence. The clan
_Bassarab_ was mentioned at even an earlier period, a ban of that name
having resisted the Tartars. Much confusion exists as to the origin of
this clan, and whilst some writers call Tugomir (just referred to) by
that name, others confound him with the Negru Voda of tradition.
Whatever may be the obscurity, however, in which their rise is buried,
it is certain that the Bassarab family gave many princes and rulers to
Wallachia, and, after intermarrying with other members of the ruling
classes, only became extinct about the year 1685.

In the mountains the state of affairs was somewhat different. There, no
doubt from their greater proximity to the centre of Magyar rule, the tie
between the petty princes and the Hungarian crown seems to have been
closer, and whilst some writers affirm that the Wallachs (or Roumanians,
as their countrymen like to call them) enjoyed privileges amounting to a
quasi-independence, the Austrian chroniclers maintain that they were
mere vassal retainers of the Court of Hungary. So, for example, they say
that Bogdan, ruler of Marmaros, broke his allegiance to the King Louis
of Hungary, and about 1359 descended, with a largo body of Wallachian
followers, amongst whom were his sons, into the lower lands of what was
already called Moldavia, and took possession of the country.[128]

Shaking ourselves free as far as possible from controversial questions,
we may state with safety, in regard to Wallachia, that for more than a
century after the wave of barbarian immigration had ceased to flow over
it, it resembled the condition of Independent Tartary of to-day; that
the number of its petty princes gradually diminished, one of them,
Vladislav Bassarab, having at length secured a great portion of the
country under his rule, and almost, if not completely, shaken off the
Hungarian yoke (1350-1376), until, under the reign of Mircea the Old
(1386-1418), a new enemy, the Turk