ABSTRACT

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the two Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia were placed under a new legal-political order for over 100 years (1711–1821), generically referred to as the Phanariot regime. The establishment of that regime was the result of a gradual but steady decline in the status of the two Principalities within the Ottoman legal system. As it is well known, soon after their establishment, Wallachia (1420) and Moldavia (1456) fell under Ottoman suzerainty but enjoyed a special status, as one of the “well-protected dominions” under tributary protection. Under the Islamic Law of Peace, Moldavia and Wallachia were treated as tribute-paying states in the Dar al-’ahd (the House of Peace), a legal space between the Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam) and the Dar al-Harb (the House of War). According to the terms of the agreements signed between the Sultan and native princes, the Principalities were forced to pay an annual tribute (haraç) to the Sublime Porte and to renounce attributes of formal sovereignty, including the right to conduct an independent foreign policy. In exchange, the Principalities were granted Ottoman military protection. They were allowed to choose their own native princes but with the Sultan’s express approval and to enjoy domestic legal, administrative, and religious autonomy. The Principalities thus had a distinct, somewhat privileged, status in comparison to “regular” Ottoman territories in Central Europe and the Balkans. They avoided direct Ottoman military occupation and preserved their traditional sociopolitical organization. Their major state institutions, such as the office of the princedom, the Orthodox Church, and administration at all levels remained under the control of the local aristocracy. In addition, unlike other Ottoman Balkan provinces, the Principalities retained control of their borders and were not subjected to Muslim ethnic or military colonization.