Românii și sașii din Mediaș până la 1848. Între revigorarea conștiinței de sine și comuniunea de vecinătat

Abstract:

From the point of view of the local historian captivated by archive records, the study reflects aspects regarding economic collaboration and neighbourhood relations between Romanians and Transylvanian Saxons living in the town Mediaş and in the villages of the so-called Saxon Two Seats (Zwei Stühle). After a short history of the area, from the Saxon colonization to the Middle Ages, the article presents and analyses several documents, that are significant for the investigated issue: 1. the contract (1688) between the Council (Magistrat) of the town Mediaş and a deputation of 8 Romanians from the village Beneşti (Bägendorf), in the overpopulated seat Nocrich, asking for permission to move in the free homesteads of the seat Mediaş; 2. a few poor Saxons’ petition (1699), to get allowance from the same town council in order to move to Velţ (Wölz), in the empty houses abandoned by Romanian runaways; 3. a document (1786) regarding a loan of 27 guldens, approved by the Mediaş Magistrat to 9 supplicants from Velţ, among which 6 Romanians and 3 Saxons; 4. „the oldest monument of Romanian language known” in Mediaş (30 April 1705), a funny story in Romanian, inserted in the German chronicle of the town, that recounted however dramatical moments during the Kurutz siege of Mediaş; 5. an impressive episode (1726) happened during the epidemic of plague, related in Simonis Leichendräger’s consignatio (report of Simon the Cadaver Bearer); and finally, 6. the Romanian elegy (1780) of the Evangelical priest Samuel Knall of Rusciori (Reußdörfchen), entitled Saele ale Pokurarilor en Ardialu Lunge Szicriu Maitsi Therezii (The Griefs of the Shepherds in Transylvania, Near the Coffin of Mother [Maria] Theresia). The appendix comprises some of the above-mentioned German originals and their Romanian translations.

Keywords:

Mediaş, Romanians, Saxons, self-consciousness, neighbourhood communion