lgarians, Albanians, cavalry as well as infantry.
The whole country was at that time divided into military districts
answering to the present Judeztu or departments, each district being
under the control of a captain who united military, administrative, and
judicial power in his own person. The names of most of the districts
remain unchanged to the present day.

To this account of the state of Moldo-Wallachia it is only necessary to
add that in time of war, and that was the normal condition, the people
were subjected to terrible privations. When an army advanced, the
peasantry were laid under contributions for the troops; when it fled
before the enemy, everything was burned or destroyed in its retreat, so
that the pursuing force might be checked for want of supplies.

Schools for the people there were none, and all the knowledge that
existed was confined within the walls of the monasteries, which were,
however, numerous and well endowed. At no period of its history was
Wallachia in such a deplorable condition as when Michael ascended the
throne. Besides possessing the suzerainty of the principality the Turks
completely occupied the whole southern bank of the Danube, along with
some posts and what is known as Temesvar, on the northern side. The
Transylvanian slopes of the Carpathians and the country beyond were a
fief of the German, or, as it was called, the Roman Empire, over which
at that time Rudolph II. reigned, whilst the territory north of Moldavia
formed part of Poland. But although Wallachia was nominally autonomous,
and was allowed to choose its own rulers, it was in reality an oppressed
province of Turkey. The treaties had been completely set at defiance.
Mosques had been erected and houses built by Turkish residents, contrary
to the stipulations of the Treaty of Nicopolis, with the connivance of
the voivodes, who, as we have said, were raised up and deposed as it
suited the greed or policy of the Porte. Their fortresses and garrisons
on the Danube served as centres from which the Ottomans made raids into
Wallachian territory, spreading desolation far and wide, and in addition
to this scourge the suffering inhabitants had from time to time hostile
visits from the Tartars. Hordes of these savages were in alliance with
the Turks against Hungary, and it was not unusual for them to deviate
from their route, fall into the plains of Wallachia, and renew the
scenes of rapine and outrage which had characterised the pas