Mănăstiri și orașe în țările române: evoluții în secolele XIV–XVII
Monasteries and Towns in the Romanian Principalities: Developments in the 14th-17th Centuries

Summary/Abstract: The present study intends to highlight the role played by monasteries in towns. We would also suggest that interested parties could initiate a research program that would provide insight into how the relations between monasteries and towns evolved, and into their effect on those who lived in them. This also refers to those bound by a certain code and a way of life (the monks), as well as to those with different pursuits and mindsets (the townspeople). By enjoying considerable privileges, some monasteries became no less than towns within towns, with markets within their own walls, as well as without, on the lands obtained from generous donors. The economic pursuits (meant to provide nourishment for the monks) turned many monasteries in competitors for the inhabitants of those towns. On the other hand, the reputation that monks and their superiors enjoyed in the community would often lead them to participate or testify in town assemblies or various transactions they were involved in. A complex system of relations would develop over time between the two parties, and it will change as we advance further into modern times. The study contains a list of the monasteries in the main Wallachian and Moldavian towns, as well as an analysis of the origins of their founders.

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