was pacific, and whose energies
were directed to the promotion of civilising influences. Concerning
these, too, we have the trustworthy records already cited in our
description of the cathedral of Curtea d'Ardges. One of them was Neagu
Bassarab,[136] the other John Radul, known as Radul d'Affumati, and both
were voivodes of Wallachia.

The first-named, Neagu, came to the throne either in 1511 or 1513, and
died a natural death in 1520, a rare event in those days. He was
conspicuously a man of peace in a country and age of war and bloodshed,
and was eminently pious and benevolent. He repaired several churches,
restored the cathedral of Tirgovistea, roofed other churches with lead,
both in and out of Wallachia, and built the beautiful cathedral of
Curtea d'Ardges, the erection of which, as we have heard, was attributed
by tradition to Radu Negru, the reputed founder of Wallachia. The tablet
in his memory has already been referred to elsewhere. In war he never
took any personal part, and, as we have already remarked, he died
peacefully in his bed.

He was followed on the throne by 'Radu the Monk,' who met with the usual
fate, having been slain by the Turks; and this prince was succeeded by
the Radu d'Affumati above named, a nephew of Nyagu (1522), who occupied
the throne for seven years.

War, war was still the cry; he had numerous vicissitudes during his
short reign; participated in the defeat of the Hungarians and Poles in
the battle of Mohacs, 'which witnessed the slaughter of a king, seven
bishops, five hundred nobles, and twenty thousand soldiers; not only
laid open the whole country to the inroads of the Turks and established
them for nearly a century and a half in its capital, but changed the
reigning dynasty of Hungary and introduced for the first time a German
sovereign to the Hungarian throne.'[137] Radu was dethroned, and in his
attempt to leave the country he was seized by two of his nobles and
decapitated. During part of his reign, however, Wallachia enjoyed some
tranquillity, and Radu continued the works begun by his uncle; amongst
others, as we know, he completed the cathedral of Ardges.

After the battle of Mohacs the Turks began to encroach more openly upon
Roumanian (Moldo-Wallachian) territory. They occupied and fortified
Braila, Giurgevo, and Galatz; interfered in the election of the princes,
in one or two instances securing the appointment for men whose sole
claim to the crown was their willingness