View source for Vlachs

{{Short description|Romance-speaking populations in the Balkans}}

[[File:Théodore Valerio, Pâtre valaque de Zabalcz, Romanian shepherd from Zăbalț, 1852.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Théodore Valerio]], 1852: ''Pâtre valaque de Zabalcz'' ("Wallachian Shepherd from [[Zăbalț]]")]]
'''Vlach''' ({{IPAc-en|v|l|ɑː|k|,_|v|l|æ|k}} {{respell|VLA(H)K}}), also '''Wallachian''' and many other variants,<ref name="Significance">{{cite web|url=http://dspace.bcucluj.ro/bitstream/123456789/48209/1/Pop%2bIoan%2bAurel-Despre%2bsemnificatia%2bunor%2bnume-2009.pdf|title=On the Significance of Certain Names: Romanian/Wallachian and Romania/Wallachia|author=Ioan-Aurel Pop|access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref> is a term and [[exonym]] used from the [[Middle Ages]] until the [[Modern Era]] to designate speakers of [[Eastern Romance languages]] living in [[Southeast Europe]]—south of the Danube (the [[Balkan peninsula]]) and north of the [[Danube]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://dexonline.ro/definitie/valah|publisher=dexonline.ro|title=Valah|work=Dicționare ale limbii române|access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref>

Although it has also been used to name present-day [[Romanians]], the term "Vlach" today refers primarily to speakers of the [[Eastern Romance languages]] who live south of the Danube, in [[Albania]], [[Bulgaria]], northern [[Greece]], [[North Macedonia]] and eastern [[Serbia]]. These people include the ethnic groups of the [[Aromanians]], the [[Megleno-Romanians]] and, in Serbia, the [[Romanians of Serbia|Timok Romanians]].<ref name="britannica">{{Britannica|631511|Vlach}}</ref> The term also became a synonym in the [[Balkans]] for the social category of shepherds,<ref name="sugar">{{Cite book |last=Sugar |first=Peter F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gYsVCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA39 |title=Southeastern Europe under Ottoman Rule, 1354–1804 |date=1996 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=0-295-96033-7 |page=39}}</ref> and was also used for non-Romance-speaking peoples, in recent times in the [[Balkans#Western Balkans|western Balkans]] derogatively.{{sfn|Tanner|2004|p=203}} The term is also used to refer to the ethnographic group of [[Moravian Wallachia|Moravian Vlachs]] who speak a Slavic language but originate from Romanians, as well as for [[Morlachs]] and [[Istro-Romanians]].<ref name=":21">{{cite book| url=http://www.muzic-ivan.info/hrvatska_kronika.pdf| title=Hrvatska kronika u Ljetopisu pop Dukljanina| author=Ivan Mužić| publisher=Muzej hrvatski arheoloških spomenika| location=Split| year=2011| page=66 (''Crni Latini''), 260 (''qui illo tempore Romani vocabantur, modo vero Moroulachi, hoc est Nigri Latini vocantur.'')| quote=In some Croatian and Latin redactions of the [[Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja]], from 16th century.}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
{{further|Walhaz}} The word ''Vlach''/''Wallachian'' (and other variants such as ''Vlah'', ''Valah'', ''Valach'', ''Voloh'', ''Blac'', ''Oláh'', ''Vlas'', ''Ilac'', ''Ulah'', etc.<ref name="Significance"/>) is etymologically derived from the ethnonym of a [[Celts|Celtic]] tribe,{{sfn|Tanner|2004|p=203}} adopted into Proto-[[Germanic languages|Germanic]] ''*[[Walhaz]]'', which meant 'stranger', from ''*Wolkā-''<ref name="Ringe 2009">Ringe, Don. "[http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1012 Inheritance versus lexical borrowing: a case with decisive sound-change evidence]." ''Language Log,'' January 2009.</ref> ([[Caesar]]'s {{langx|la|Volcae}}, [[Strabo]] and [[Ptolemy]]'s {{langx |el|Ouolkai}}).<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001">{{cite book|author1= Juhani Nuorluoto |author2= Martti Leiwo |author3= Jussi Halla-aho| title= Papers in Slavic, Baltic, and Balkan studies |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=HGsXAQAAIAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Dept. of Slavonic and Baltic Languages and Literatures, University of Helsinki|isbn=978-952-10-0246-5|quote=<!--It is recorded by Caesar as Volcae, by Strabo and Ptolemy as Ouolkai, and it was in the transfer to Gothic (as *walhs) via Latin that the ethnonym took on the meaning 'foreigner' or 'those folks over there' or 'Romance speaker' (and, later, also 'transhumant shepherd' and other meanings). The use of Vlah as a derogatory word for Serb among Croatians as well as the association of the ethnonym with Italians in Poland {Wlochy 'Italy') and French-speakers in Switzerland (Welsch) is part ...-->}}</ref> Via [[Latin language|Latin]], in [[Gothic language|Gothic]], as {{lang|got|*walhs}}, the [[ethnonym]] took on the meaning 'foreigner' or 'Romance-speaker' and later "shepherd', 'nomad'.<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001"/>{{sfn|Tanner|2004|p=203}} The term was adopted into Greek as ''Vláhoi'' or ''Blachoi'' ({{lang|el|Βλάχοι}}), [[Albanian language|Albanian]] {{lang|sq|vllah}}, [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] as ''Vlah'' ({{Plural abbr|''Vlasi''}}) or ''Voloh'', [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]] as ''oláh'' and ''olasz'', etc.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Decadence, Rome and Romania, the Emperors Who Weren't, and Other Reflections on Roman History|journal=The Proceedings of the Friesian School |author= Kelley L. Ross|year=2003 |quote=Note: The Vlach Connection |url=http://www.friesian.com/decdenc2.htm |access-date=2008-01-13}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Entangled Histories of the Balkans: Volume One: National Ideologies and Language Policies |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FGmJqMflYgoC&pg=PA42|year=2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-25076-5 |pages=42–}}</ref>{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=32}} The root word was notably adopted in Germanic for [[Wales]] and [[Walloons|Walloon]], and in Switzerland for [[Romansh language|Romansh]]-speakers ({{langx|de|Welsch}}),{{sfn|Tanner|2004|p=203}} and in Poland ''Włochy'' or in Hungary ''olasz'' became an exonym for Italians.<ref name="NuorluotoLeiwo2001"/><ref name="Significance"/> The Slovenian term ''Lahi'' has also been used to designate Italians.<ref name="WilsonDonnan2005">{{cite book |author1=Thomas M. Wilson |author2=Hastings Donnan |title=Culture and Power at the Edges of the State: National Support and Subversion in European Border Regions |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MS25xxY2LKQC&pg=PA122 |year=2005 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-8258-7569-5 |pages=122–}}</ref> The same name is still used in [[Wlochy|Polish]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=Włochy – profil kraju członkowskiego UE {{!}} Unia Europejska |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles/italy_pl |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=european-union.europa.eu |language=pl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-05-21 |title=Dlaczego mówimy "Włochy", a nie "Italia"? – Nasz Swiat |url=http://www.naszswiat.net/magazyn/magazyn/cos-wam-powiem/dlaczego-mowimy-wlochy-a-nie-italia.html |access-date=2023-07-16 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220521230211/http://www.naszswiat.net/magazyn/magazyn/cos-wam-powiem/dlaczego-mowimy-wlochy-a-nie-italia.html |archive-date=21 May 2022 }}</ref> (''Włochy, Włosi, włoskie'') and Hungarian<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nyelvek, többnyelvűség, nyelvhasználati szabályok {{!}} Európai Unió |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/languages_hu |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=european-union.europa.eu |language=hu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Olaszország – Az uniós tagország bemutatása {{!}} Európai Unió |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/country-profiles/italy_hu |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=european-union.europa.eu |language=hu}}</ref> (''Olasz, Olaszország'') as an [[Endonym and exonym|exonym]] for Italy, while in Slovak<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slovenské slovníky |url=https://slovnik.juls.savba.sk/?w=Vlach&s=exact&c=W1b8&cs=&d=peciar# |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=slovnik.juls.savba.sk}}</ref> (''Vlach'' - pl. ''Vlasi'', ''Valach'' - pl. ''Valasi''), Czech<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-02 |title=Italians in Malá Strana / English – Open House Praha : Open House Praha |url=https://www.openhousepraha.cz/en/2022/11/02/italians-in-mala-strana/ |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=www.openhousepraha.cz |language=en-GB}}</ref> (''Vlachy'') and Slovenian<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fran/iskanje/laški |url=https://fran.si/iskanje?View=1&Query=la%C5%A1ki&hs=12 |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=Fran |language=sl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Fran/Pravopis |url=https://fran.si/134/slovenski-pravopis/3756610/lasko?View=1&Query=La%C5%A1ko |access-date=2023-07-16 |website=Fran |language=sl}}</ref> (''Laško'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Snoj |first=Marko |title=Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen |date=2009 |publisher=Modrijan Založba ZRC |isbn=978-961-241-360-6 |location=Ljubljana |pages=106, 227}}</ref> ''Láh, Láhinja,'' ''laško'') it was replaced with the endonym ''Italia''.

[[File:Bosniangraves bosniska gravar februari 2007 stecak stecci3.jpg|thumb|250px|Medieval necropolis in [[Stećak necropolis Radimlja|Radimlja]], Bosnia and Herzegovina]]

Other forms which were recognised by linguists to designate the "Vlachs" are: ''Blaci'', ''Blauen'', ''Blachi'' found in Western medieval sources, ''Balachi, Walati'' found in Western sources derived from medieval German, while the Germanic population from Transylvania used also the variants ''Woloch'', ''Blôch''. French sources used mostly ''Valaques'' while the medieval [[Song of Roland]] used ''Blos''. In English and in modern German the forms ''Wallachians'', ''Walachen'' appear, respectively. In the Balkan Peninsula various names such as ''Rumer'', ''Tzintzars'', ''Morlachs'', ''Maurovlachs'', ''Armâns'', ''Cincars'', ''Koutzovlachs'' were used, while Muslim sources speak of ''Ulak'', ''Ilak'', ''Iflak''.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pintescu |first=Florin |date=April 2020 |title=Vlachs and Scandinavians in the Early Middle Ages |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340580493 |access-date=9 August 2023 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>

== Historical uses ==

The term 'Vlach' first appeared in medieval sources and was generally used as an exonym for speakers of the [[Eastern Romance languages]].<ref name="britannica"/> Although later associated with transhumance across most Southeastern Europe, the early medieval Vlachs were agriculturists and pastoralists, and the practice of transhumant pastoralism only took hold between the 14th and the 19th centuries.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2025-03-11 |title=Medieval Vlach transhumance: re-assessing the evidence |url=https://www.academia.edu/128139921/Medieval_Vlach_transhumance_re_assessing_the_evidence |journal=Națiuni, naționalism și perspective interetnice în Transilvania. In honorem Sorin Mitu la 60 de ani|p=92}}</ref> Testimonies from the 13th and the 14th centuries show that, although in Europe and beyond, they were called ''Vlachs'' or ''Wallachians'' (''oláh'' in Hungarian, ''Vláchoi'' (Βλάχοι) in Greek, ''Volóxi'' (Воло́хи) in Russian, ''Walachen'' in German, ''Valacchi'' in Italian, ''Valaques'' in French, ''Valacos'' in Spanish), the Romanians used the [[endonym]] {{lang|ro|rumân}} or {{lang|ro|român}}, from the Latin {{lang|la|romānus}}, meaning '[[Ancient Rome|Roman]]'.<ref name="Significance"/><ref>{{cite book|author=H. C. Darby|chapter=The face of Europe on the eve of the great discoveries|title=The New Cambridge Modern History|volume=1|year=1957|page=34}}</ref> Aromanians use the endonym {{lang|rup|armãn}} ({{plural form}}: {{lang|rup|armãni}}) or {{lang|rup|rãmãn}} ({{plural form}}: {{lang|rup|rãmãni}}), from {{lang|la|romānus}}.<ref name="britannica"/> From Latin {{lang|la|romānus}} are also the Albanian forms {{lang|aln|rëmen}} and {{lang|als|rëmër}}, 'vlach'.<ref>{{cite book|last=Orel|first=Vladimir|title=A Concise Historical Grammar of the Albanian Language: Reconstruction of Proto-Albanian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xvKH56aT5mEC|year=2000|publisher=Brill|isbn=90-04-11647-8|page=58}}</ref> Megleno-Romanians designate themselves with the [[Macedonian (language)|Macedonian]] form ''Vla'' ({{plural form}}: ''Vlaš'') in their own language.<ref name="britannica"/>

In historical sources the term "Vlach" could also refer to different peoples: "''Slovak, Hungarian, Balkan, Transylvanian, Romanian, or even Albanian''".<ref>Jan Gawron; (2020) ''Locators of the settlements under Wallachian law in the Sambor starosty in XVth and XVIth c. Territorial, ethnic and social origins''. p. 274–275; BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA xxVI, [https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/bp/article/view/19800]</ref> In late Byzantine documents, the Vlachs are sometimes mentioned as Bulgaro-Albano-Vlachs (''Bulgaralbanitoblahos''), or Serbo-Albano-Bulgaro-Vlachs.<ref>{{cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |title=Bosnia. A Short History |year=1996 |orig-year=1st pub. 1994 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York |isbn=0814755615 |page=74}}</ref> According to the Serbian historian [[Sima Ćirković]], the name "Vlach" in medieval sources had the same rank as the name "[[Greeks|Greek]]", "[[Serbs|Serb]]" or "Latin".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ćirković|first=Sima|title=Živeti sa istorijom|publisher=Helsinški odbor za ljudska prava u Srbiji|year=2020|location=Belgrade|page=309}}</ref>

[[File:RomaniansInBalkans.png|200px|thumb|Map depicting the current distribution of [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance-speaking]] peoples]]
In the [[Western Balkans]], during the [[High Middle Ages]], the word also acquired a socio-economic component, being used as an internal name for the pastoral population in the [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|medieval Kingdom of Serbia]], one that was also often engaged in the transport of goods, colonisation of empty lands, and military service.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pijović |first=Marko |date=2021-01-01 |title=Pijović, M. (2021) “Late Medieval Vlachs in the Western Balkans, 13th to 15th Centuries: Orality, Society and the Limits of Collective Identities”, Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et studia, 28(1), pp. 65-92. |url=https://www.academia.edu/51410853/Pijovi%C4%87_M_2021_Late_Medieval_Vlachs_in_the_Western_Balkans_13th_to_15th_Centuries_Orality_Society_and_the_Limits_of_Collective_Identities_Balcanica_Posnaniensia_Acta_et_studia_28_1_pp_65_92 |journal=Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta Et Studia |doi=10.14746/BP.2021.28.4|p=69}}</ref> It will then expand to local interpretations with religious, ethnic, and social status particularities across the wider region, being employed as a name for [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]] speaking people, [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Eastern Orthodox]] population in opposition to Catholic population, for the rural population of the hinterlands, the Christian population in general as opposed to Muslim population, or a combination of these aspects.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kursar |first=Vjeran |date=2013 |title=Being an Ottoman Vlach: On Vlach Identity(ies), Role and Status in Western Parts of the Ottoman Balkans (15th–18th Centuries) |url=https://www.academia.edu/7453833 |access-date=14 March 2024 |website=Academia.edu |pages=116–118}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Škegro |first=Ante |date=2004-01-01 |title=Zef Mirdita, Vlasi u historiografiji [Vlachs in historiography], &quot;Hrvatski institut za povijest&quot;, Zagreb 2004., 562 str. |url=https://www.academia.edu/73544097 | page= 506 |journal=Časopis za suvremenu povijest}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Gavrilović|first=Danijela|title=Elements of Ethnic Identification of the Serbs|journal=Facta Universitatis. Series: Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology|year=2003|volume=2|issue=10|pages=717–730|url=http://facta.junis.ni.ac.rs/pas/pas2003/pas2003-02.pdf}}</ref> During the early history of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in the Balkans, there was a military class of [[Vlachs (social class)|Vlachs]] in Serbia and [[Macedonia (region)|Ottoman Macedonia]], made up of Christians who served as auxiliary forces and were exempted of certain taxes until the beginning of the 17th century.<ref name="sugar" /> In this context, a large part of the [[Dalmatian Hinterland|Dalmatian hinterland]] was repopulated by Slavic settlers, both Orthodox and Catholic, speaking the [[Shtokavian]] dialect and called Vlach or [[Morlachs|Morlach]] by the inhabitants of the Dalmatian coast and islands. In these areas, the term ''Vlah'' evolved to ''Vlaj'' ({{Plural abbr|''Vlaji''}}) and is still used as a derogatory term to refer to the rural inhabitants of the hinterland, both Croats and Serbs, as "peasants" and "ignorants".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Stjepanović |first=Dejan |title=Multiethnic regionalisms in Southeastern Europe: statehood alternatives |date=2018 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |isbn=978-1-137-58585-1 |location=London |oclc=1004716379 |page=110}}</ref> In [[Istria]], the ethnonym Vlach is used by the [[Chakavian|Chakavian-speaking]] Croatian inhabitants to refer to the Istro-Romanians and the Slavs who settled in the 15th and 16th centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Spicijarić Paškvan |first=Nina |chapter=Vlasi i krčki Vlasi u literaturi i povijesnim izvorima |trans-chapter=Vlachs from the Island Krk in the Primary Historical and Literature Sources |year=2014 |page=348 |title=Studii şi cercetări. Actele Simpozionului "Banat – istorie şi multiculturalitate". Zrenianin – 2012, Reşiţa – 2013 |publisher=Editura Fundaţiei |location=Novi Sad, Zrenjanin |chapter-url=https://bib.irb.hr/datoteka/926881.studii_si_cercetari_2014.pdf |language=hr}}</ref>

Nowadays, the term ''Vlachs'' (also known under other names, such as "Koutsovlachs", "Tsintsars", "Karagouni", "Chobani", "Vlasi", etc.<ref>[https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/balkan-vlachs-born-assimilate The Balkan Vlachs: Born to Assimilate?] at culturalsurvival.org</ref>) is used in scholarship for the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance]]-speaking communities in the Balkans, especially those in Greece, Albania and North Macedonia.{{sfn|Demirtaş-Coşkun|2001}}{{sfn|Tanner|2004}} In Serbia the term ''Vlach'' (Serbian ''Vlah'', plural ''Vlasi'') is also used to refer to Romanian speakers, especially those living in eastern Serbia.<ref name="britannica"/>

In modern [[Slovak language|Slovak]], ''Valasi'', other than denoting people of Vlachian ethnicity or origin, is synonymously and even more prominently used to describe [[shepherd]]s, more commonly apprentice shepherds. The term originated following Vlachian arrival in mounts and hills of present-day Slovakia in 14th century and coinciding development in sheep herding and dairy industry.<ref name="horváth">{{Cite web |last=Horváth |first=Stanislav |title=Valasi |url=https://www.ludovakultura.sk/polozka-encyklopedie/valasi/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230529152407/https://www.ludovakultura.sk/polozka-encyklopedie/valasi/ |archive-date=29 May 2023 |access-date=29 May 2023 |website=Centrum pre tradičnú ľudovú kultúru |date=9 October 2017 |language=sk}}</ref> Further west, in [[Czech Republic]], the area of Moravian Wallachia is known as [[Moravian Wallachia|Valašsko]] and the inhabitants as Valaši, names usually translated in English as Wallachia and Wallachians, respectively.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Košťálová |first=Petra |date=2022 |title=Contested Landscape: Moravian Wallachia and Moravian Slovakia |url=https://journals.openedition.org/res/5138 |access-date=9 August 2023 |journal=Revue des Études Slaves|volume=93 |pages=99–124 |doi=10.4000/res.5138 |s2cid=249359362 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== History ==
{{POV section|talk= Order of entries |date=December 2024}}
{{See also|History of Romania|Origin of the Romanians|History of the Aromanians}}
[[File:Language influence border between Latin and Hellenic.png|thumb|right|alt=Map of southeastern Europe, delineating Roman and Greek influence|The [[Jireček Line]] between Latin- and Greek-language Roman inscriptions]]

According to the [[Origin of the Romanians|theory of Daco-Roman continuity]], the ancestors of modern Vlachs and Romanians originated from [[Dacians]].<ref name=":15">{{cite book |last=Fine |first=John V. A. Jr. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C |title=The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1991 |isbn=0-472-08149-7 |location=Ann Arbor |page=10 |quote= |author-link=John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. |orig-year=1983}}</ref> For proponents of this theory, Eastern Romance languages prove the survival of the [[Thraco-Roman]]s in the lower Danube basin during the [[Migration Period]].<ref>According to Cornelia Bodea, Ştefan Pascu, Liviu Constantinescu: "''România: Atlas Istorico-geografic''{{-"}}, Academia Română 1996, {{ISBN|973-27-0500-0}}, chap. II, "Historical landmarks", p. 50 (English text), the survival of the [[Thraco-Roman]]s in the Lower [[Danube]] basin during the [[Migration Period]] is an obvious fact: Thraco-Romans haven't vanished in the soil & Vlachs haven't appeared after 1000 years by spontaneous generation.</ref> On the other hand, opponents of this theory say that the Romanians and the Vlachs, including the ancestors of present-day Aromanians, were originally part of the same group of speakers of Eastern Romance languages, and that their origins should be sought in the southern Balkans. Early Romanian-speakers would have then moved northwards from the 12th century onwards.<ref name=":5">{{Cite book |last=Malcolm |first=Noel |url=http://macedonia.kroraina.com/en/nm/kosovo.html |title=Kosovo, a short history |publisher=Macmilan |year=1998 |location=London |pages=22–40 |quote=The name 'Vlach' was a word used by the Slavs for those they encountered who spoke a strange, usually Latinate, language; the Vlachs' own name for themselves is 'Aromanians' (Aromani). As this name suggests, the Vlachs are closely linked to the Romanians: their two languages (which, with a little practice, are mutually intelligible) diverged only in the ninth or tenth century. While Romanian historians have tried to argue that the Romanian-speakers have always lived in the territory of Romania (originating, it is claimed, from Romanized Dacian tribes and/or Roman legionaries), there is compelling evidence to show that the Romanian-speakers were originally part of the same population as the Vlachs, whose language and way of life were developed somewhere to the south of the Danube. Only in the twelfth century did the early Romanian-speakers move northwards into Romanian territory.}}</ref><ref name=":9" />

=== 10th century ===
During the Middle Ages, the term "Magna Vlachia" appears in Byzantine documents. This name was used for [[Thessaly]] and present-day North Macedonia.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blagojević |first=Miloš |title=Lexikon des Mittelalters |year=1997 |pages=8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Schramm |first=Gottfried |title=Eroberer und Eingesessene. Geographische Lehnnamen Sùdosteuropas im 1. Jahrtausend n. Chr. |year=1981 |location=Stuttgart}}</ref>

[[John Skylitzes]] mentioned that in 976 Vlachs fought with and killed [[David of Bulgaria]], somewhere between [[Prespa]] and [[Kastoria]].<ref>Spinei, V. (2009). The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill, p. 152</ref> A latter addition to the text by Skylitzes Continuatus names the Vlachs as "hoditōn", a word that was associated by historians with the Serbian "kjelatori": guides and guards of caravans in the Balkans.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2025-03-11 |title=Medieval Vlach transhumance: re-assessing the evidence |url=https://www.academia.edu/128139921/Medieval_Vlach_transhumance_re_assessing_the_evidence |journal=Națiuni, naționalism și perspective interetnice în Transilvania. In honorem Sorin Mitu la 60 de ani}}</ref>

[[Ibn al-Nadīm]] published in 998 the work ''[[Kitāb al-Fihrist]]'' mentioning "Turks, Bulgars and ''Blaghā''". According to B. Dodge the ethnonym ''Blaghā'' could refer to Wallachians/Romanians.<ref>Ibn al Nadim, al-Fihrist. English translation: The Fihrist of al-Nadim. Editor și traducător: B. Dodge, New York, Columbia University Press, 1970, p. 37 with n.82</ref><ref>Spinei, Victor, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century. Brill. 2009, p. 83</ref> It is important to note, however, that the original Arabic text does not contain the word "Blaghā" but rather "البلغار," which translates to "'''al-Bulghār'''," the term used in contemporary Arabic texts to refer to [[Volga Bulgaria]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=István |first=Zimonyi |title=The Origins of the Volga Bulgars |publisher=Soros Foundation |year=1989 |pages=90}}</ref> The new Arabic edition also features the word "al-Bulghār" ("البلغار") instead of "Blaghā."<ref>{{Cite book |last=محمد بن إسحاق |first=أبو الفرج |title=الفهرست |pages=12 |language=arabic |quote=الكلام على الترك وما جانسهم فأما الترك والبلغر والبلغار والبرغز والخزر واللان وأجناس الصغار الأعين المفرطي البياض فلا قلم لهم يعرف سوى البلغر والتبت فإنهم يكتبون بالصينية والمنانية والحزر تكتب بالعبرانية والذي تادى إلى من أمر الترك ما حدثني به أبو الحسن محمد بن الحسن بن أشناس قال حدثني حمود حرار التركي المكلي وكان من التوزونية ممن خرج عن بلده على كبر وتنفط أن ملك الترك الأعظم إذا أراد أن يكتب إلى ملك من الأصاغر وزيره وأمر بشق نشابه ونقش الوزير عليها نقوشا يعرفها أفاضل الأتراك تدل على المعاني التي يريدها الملك ويعرفها المرسل إليه وزعم أن النقش اليسير يحتمل المعاني الكثيرة وإنما يفعلون ذلك عند مهادناتهم ومسالماتهم وفي أوقات حروبهم أيضا وذكر أن ذلك النشاب المكتوب عليه يحتفظون به ويفون من أجله والله أعلم }}</ref> Furthermore, the first critical edition edited by [[Gustav Flügel]] in 1871, which includes the original Arabic text, likewise uses the designation "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār").<ref>{{Cite book |last=Johannes Roediger |first=Gustav Flügel, August Müller |title=Kitab al-Fihrist |publisher=Leipzig: F. C. W. Vogel, German Oriental Society |year=1872 |edition=II. |pages=702 |editor-first2= |editor-first3=}}</ref> The word "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") appears instead of "البلغم" ("al-Blagham") in both the 1971/1973/1988 [[Tehran]]/[[Beirut]]/[[Cairo]] critical editions as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ibn |first=al-Nadim |title=al-Fihrist |year=1971 |editor-mask=Riḍā Taǧaddud and Mojtaba Minovi |edition=Tehran, Beirut, Cairo |pages=20}}</ref> Thus, Bayard's translation is incorrect, as he mistakenly read "البلغار" ("al-Bulghār") as "البلغم" ("al-Blagham"). Therefore, the original Arabic text refers to Volga Bulgaria, not the Vlachs.<ref name=":0" />

Mutahhar al-Maqdisi, "They say that in the Turkic neighbourhood there are the Khazars, Russians, Slavs, ''Waladj'', Alans, Greeks and many other peoples."<ref>A. Decei, V. Ciocîltan, "La mention des Roumains (Walah) chez Al-Maqdisi", in Romano-arabica I, Bucharest, 1974, pp. 49–54</ref> According to other non-Romanian historians, based on the context, the "Waladj" are not the Vlachs, but a people living around the [[Volga]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=al-Maqdisi |first=Mutahhar |title=Le Livre de la Création et de l'Histoire |publisher=Ernest Leroux |page=254 |language=French |translator-last=Huart |translator-first=Clément |trans-title=The Book of Creation and History |quote=Original: Waladj, peuples du Volga, English: Waladj, peoples of the Volga |display-authors=}}</ref>

=== 11th century ===

Vlachs were present in large numbers, on the [[Chalkidiki|Chalcidice peninsula]] around 1000, according to monastic documents from [[Monastic community of Mount Athos|Mount Athos]]. On the peninsula, the Vlachs were famous for their cheese and meat products. In these texts sometimes they are called "''Vlachorynhinii''", which may be a mixture of the name "Vlach" and "[[Rhynchinoi|Rynhini]]" a Slavic tribe who settled in the same area in the 7th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bujduveanu |first=Tănase |title=Aromâni si Muntele Athos |publisher=Societatea Académica Moscopolitană |year=2002}}</ref>

In 1013, a Byzantine document mentions the settlement of "Kimbalongu" in the mountains near [[Strumitsa]], which was a Vlach settlement.<ref name=":24">{{Cite book |last=Pál |first=Hunfalvy |title=Hogyan csinálódik némely história? |publisher=Magyar Tudományos Akadémia |pages=60–71 |language=Hungarian|year=1885}}</ref>

The names ''[[Blakumen]]'' or ''Blökumenn'' is mentioned in Nordic sagas dating between the 11th and 13th centuries, with respect to events that took place in either 1018 or 1019 somewhere at the northwestern part of the [[Black Sea]] and believed by some to be related to the ''Vlachs''.<ref>Egils saga einhenda ok Ásmundar berserkjabana, in Drei lygisogur, ed. Å. Lagerholm (Halle/Saale, 1927), p. 29</ref><ref name=": Spinei 1">{{Cite book |last=Spinei |first=Victor |title=The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century|publisher=Brill |year=2009 |isbn=9-789-04742880-0|pages=106–107}}</ref> [[Omeljan Pritsak]], however, point out that the texts probably refer to a nomadic [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] people, since the "Blakumen" in the texts are "non-christian heathens" and nomadic horsemans.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pritsak |first=Omeljan |title=The Origin of Rus': Old Scandinavian Sources Other than the Sagas. |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1981 |isbn=0-674-64465-4}}</ref> Spinei contrasts Pritsak's view by claiming that there are several mentions of the ''Blakumen'' or ''Blökumen'' in contexts taking place decades before the earliest appearance of the Cumans in the Pontic steppe, and that translating the name to "Black Cumans" is not concordant with the Varangian ethnic terminology.<ref name=": Spinei 1"/>

In 1020, the Archdiocese of [[Ohrid]] was founded, which was responsible for "the spiritual care of all the Vlachs".{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=96–97}}

In 1022, Vlach shepherds from Thessaly and the Pindus mountains provided cheese for Constantinople.<ref>David Jacoby, Byzantium, Latin Romania and the Mediterranean, St Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, 1984, p. 522</ref><ref>Alan Harvey, Economic Expansion in the Byzantine Empire, 900-1200, Cambridge University Press, 2003, p. 172</ref>

In 1025, the [[Annales Barenses]] mentions a people called "Vlach" who live near the river [[Vardar|Axios]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sándor |first=Bíró |title=A román nép története |publisher=ELTE BTK |year=1977 |location=Budapest}}</ref>

The same chronicle the Annales Barenses describes that in 1027 the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] army led by Orestes that tried to recapture [[Sicily]] from the [[Arabs]], also included many Vlachs recruited from [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Olajos |first=Terézia |title=A felhasználhatatlan Bizánci forrás a Román nép történetéhez |publisher=Magyar Tudományos Akadémia |year=1988 |page=514 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

[[Kekaumenos]] writes in his [[Strategikon of Kekaumenos|''Strategikon'']] (1075–1078) about the revolt in 1066 in the region of [[Thessaly]] under the protospatharios [[Nikoulitzas Delphinas]], nephew of the homonymous 10th century military commander, and father in law of the writer.<ref name="Madgearu 2001 57–58">{{Cite book|last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |trans-title=The Medieval Origin of Conflict Centers in the Balkan Peninsula |title=Originea medievală a focarelor de conflict din peninsula Balcanică] |publisher=Editura Corint |year=2001 |isbn=973-653-191-0  |pages=57–58 }}</ref> He writes about a leader, [[Nikulitsa]], who is given command by [[Basil II]] over the Vlachs in [[Hellas (theme)|Hellas theme]]. Nikulitsa switched alliance to [[Samuel of Bulgaria]] after the conquest of [[Larissa]] by the Bulgarian Tsar.<ref>G. Murnu, Când si unde se ivesc românii întâia dată în istorie, în "Convorbiri Literare", XXX, pp. 97–112</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |title=Originea medievală a focarelor de conflict din peninsula Balcanică] |publisher=Editura Corint |year=2001 |isbn=973-653-191-0 |page=52 |trans-title=The Medieval Origin of Conflict Centers in the Balkan Peninsula}}</ref> The Vlachs of Larissa met with Nikoulitzas Delphinas in the house of one of their leaders named Beriboes to discuss their decision to revolt. The Vlachs already sent their families (women and children) and livestock to the mountains of Bulgaria. Delphinas convinced them to postpone their actions until they harvest the fields.<ref name= "Florin">{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2025-03-11 |title=Medieval Vlach transhumance: re-assessing the evidence |url=https://www.academia.edu/128139921/Medieval_Vlach_transhumance_re_assessing_the_evidence |journal=Națiuni, naționalism și perspective interetnice în Transilvania. In honorem Sorin Mitu la 60 de ani|p=84-85}}</ref> Kekaumenos mentions the herds of the Vlachs and their household spend the months of April to September beyond [[Thessaly]], in the high mountains of Bulgaria, where it is very cold. (it is clear from the text that we are talking about the mountains of today's [[North Macedonia]]). The same text describes that the homeland of the Vlachs is Thessaly, precisely the part of the region divided by the river Pleres.<ref name=":172">{{Cite book |last=Földes |first=János |title=Az Oláh erdei pásztornépről |publisher=Székely és Illés |year=1907 |pages=4–7 |language=Hungarian}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kekaumenos |title=DAS "STRATEGIKON" |year=1964 |language=german |translator-last=Hans Georg Beck}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kekaumenos |title=Consilia et Narrationes |year=2000 |language=Spanish |translator-last=J. Signes Codoner}}</ref> According to Kekaumenos, the Vlachs were [[Dacians]] and [[Bessi]], who lived near and south from the [[Danube]] and the [[Sava]], where the [[Serbs]] live now. They feigned loyalty to the Romans while they were constantly attacked and pillaged, therefore, [[Trajan]] launched a war, their leader, [[Decebalus]] was also killed, and then the Vlachs were scattered in [[Macedonia (Roman province)|Macedonia]], [[Epirus (Roman province)|Epirus]] and [[Hellas (theme)|Hellas]].{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=97–98}}<ref name="Elekes">{{Cite journal |last=Elekes |first=Lajos |title=Gyóni Mátyás: A legrégibb vélemény a román nép eredetéről. Kekaumenos művei, mint a román történet forrásai |trans-title=Mátyás Gyóni: The oldest opinion about the origin of the Romanian people. Kekaumenos' works as sources of Romanian history |url=http://real-j.mtak.hu/13695/1/Szazadok_1944.pdf |journal=Századok – A magyar történelmi társulat közlönye [Bulletin of the Hungarian Historical Society] |pages=310–312}}</ref> According to Hungarian historians, Kekaumenos made the Dacians the ancestors of the Vlachs because he knew about the deceitfulness of the Dacians against the Romans, and according to him the Dacians and Vlachs had a perfectly matching nature, treachery and political unreliability, so much that in his opinion they should not be believed even if the Vlachs take an oath.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=97–98}}<ref name="Elekes" /> Kekaumenos arbitrarily identified the Vlachs with the Dacians according to the archaizing efforts of his time, because the tendency to refer to later peoples with classical names was common in Byzantium at the time of Kekaumenos.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=97–98}}<ref name="Mocsy">{{Cite journal |last=Mócsy |first=András |date=1987 |title=A dunai-balkáni térség romanizációja |trans-title=Romanization of the Danube-Balkan region |url=https://epa.oszk.hu/03500/03576/00054/pdf/EPA03576_vilagtortenet_1987_03_003-017.pdf |journal=Világtörténet |language=Hungarian |volume=3 |issue=9}}</ref><ref name="Elekes" /> Kekaumenos also confused the Roman province [[Roman Dacia|Dacia Traiana]] with [[Dacia Aureliana]], and even he placed it further west where it actually was, that is why he mentioned the Serbian territory as the homeland,<ref name="Mocsy" /><ref name="Elekes" /> the Bessus tribe was a neighbor of the Roman province Macedonia.<ref name="Mocsy" /> According to [[Florin Curta]], the interpretation of Vlachs being nomadic shepherds by Hungarian and/or Neo-Roeslerian historians is due to the desire to demonstrate that [[Origin of the Romanians|Romanian ethnogenesis]] took place south of the Danube, that Vlachs and Romanians are (or were at least) the same people, and their current distribution is the result of nomadic movement to Transylvania and the surrounding regions after the establishment of the Kingdom of Hungary. Curta adds that the mention in Strategikon cannot be used to support the idea of transhumant pastoralism, the closer analogy for the agricultural practice of Vlachs being [[Alpine transhumance]]: Vlach men going to the mountain pastures with the herds in the summer while the rest of their families remained in their lowland villages.<ref name= "Florin"/>

Alexius Komnenos mentions that in 1082 he passed through a Vlach settlement called Exeva in Macedonia.<ref name=":17">{{Cite book |last=Földes |first=János |title=Az Oláh erdei pásztornépről |publisher=Székely és Illés |pages=4–7 |language=Hungarian|year=1907}}</ref>

[[Anna Komnene]] mentions in her [[Alexiad]] that in 1091 [[Alexios I Komnenos|Emperor Alexios]] ordered [[Nikephoros Melissenos]] to raise an army against invading [[Pechenegs]]. Melissenos recruited, among others, Bulgarians and "the nomadic tribes called Vlachs in popular parlance".<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 39, 2015</ref>

According to the Alexiad, in 1094–1095, Emperor Alexius Komnenos was notified by a Vlach chieftain called Poudila about the crossing of the Danube by a [[Cumans|Cuman]] army, and that to prepare himself for the attack,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |title=Archeologia Moldovei XXXVIII |publisher=Romanian Academy |year=2015 |location=București/Suceava |pages=38 |language=Romanian |chapter=Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii Cruciadei a IV-a. Până unde răzbate ecoul discuțiilor intelectuale de la Constantinopol? |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/20297336}}</ref>{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=98}} then the Vlachs likewise led the Cumans through the gorges of the Balkan Mountains.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=98}}

In 1099, [[First Crusade|crusading armies]] were attacked by Vlachs, in the mountains along the road from [[Braničevo District|Braničevo]] to [[Niš|Naissus]].{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=98}}<ref name="Madgearu 2001 57–58"/>

=== 12th century ===
[[File:Johann Honterus Septemcastrensis de Corona.jpg|thumb|right|Map of Central-Southern Europe during the late Middle Ages/early Modern period by [[Transylvanian Saxons|Transylvanian Saxon]] humanist [[Johannes Honterus]]]]

300 Vlach families are mentioned as servants of the [[Monastic community of Mount Athos]] in a correspondence between Emperor [[Alexios I Komnenos]] and Patriarch [[Nicholas III Kyrdiniates]], sometime between 1105 and 1109. The patriarch complained that use of the mountains as pasture and the habit of employing women also as shepherds went against the rules of the monastic community. As a consequence, the Vlachs were expelled from their villages and from the area.<ref name= "Florin"/> According to Földes János, the Vlachs were re-settled in the [[Peloponnese]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=János |first=Földes |date=2022-09-06 |title=Az oláh erdei pásztornépről |url=https://mek.oszk.hu/23300/23352/ |access-date=2025-08-15 |website=mek.oszk.hu}}</ref>

The ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', written {{circa|1113}} states that the [[Slavs]] settled beside the [[Danube]], then the ''Volochi'' people attacked the Slavs, settled among them and did them violence, leading to the Slavs departing and settling around the [[Vistula]] under the name of ''Leshi''.<ref name="Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol 1979 pp. 175–187">''The Russian Primary Chronicle and the Vlachs of Eastern Europe''. Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol. 49 (1979), pp. 175–187, Peeters Publishers.</ref> According to the chronicle the Slavs settled there first, and the ''Volochi'' seized the territory of the Slavs; later, the [[Hungarians]] drove the ''Volochi'' away, took their land and settled among the Slavs.{{sfn|Cross|Sherbowitz-Wetzor|2013|pp=2, 8}}<ref>C. A. Macartney, The Habsburg Empire: 1790–1918, Faber & Faber, 4 sept. 2014, paragraf.185</ref> The Primary Chronicle thus contains a possible reference to Romanians.{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=32}}<ref name="Demetrius Dvoichenko-Markov Byzantion Vol 1979 pp. 175–187"/> Other non-Romanian historians consider the ''Volochi'' the [[Franks]], as their country is placed west to [[Baltic Sea]] and near [[England]] by the author of the work, [[Nestor the Chronicler]].<ref name=":10">Kristó, Gyula (2003). ''Early Transylvania (895–1324)''.Lucidus Kiadó. {{ISBN|963-9465-12-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Deletant |first=Dennis |title=Historians and the History of Transylvania |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0880332298 |volume=East European Monographs |location=New York |chapter=Ethnos and Mythos in the History of Transylvania: the case of the chronicler Anonymus |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/20351101}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ferincz |first1=István |url=http://publicatio.bibl.u-szeged.hu/6261/1/MOK_30_nyomda_beliv.pdf |title=Régmúlt idők elbeszélése - A Kijevi Rusz első krónikája |last2=Balogh |first2=László |last3=Font |first3=Márta |last4=Kovács |first4=Szilvia |last5=Polgár |first5=Szabolcs |last6=Zimonyi |first6=István |publisher=Balassi Kiadó, Szegedi Tudományegyetem - Középkori Egyetemes Történeti Tanszék (University of Szeged - Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences - Department of Medieval History) |year=2015 |isbn=978-963-506-970-5 |editor1-last=Zimonyi |editor1-first=István |location=Budapest |pages=18–20 |language=Hungarian |trans-title=The first chronicle of Kievan Rus |issn=1215-4024 |editor2-last=Balogh |editor2-first=László |editor3-last=Kovács |editor3-first=Szilvia}}</ref> The [[Francia|Frankish Empire]] stretched from the [[North Sea]] to the [[Danube]].

The Byzantine princess and scholar [[Anna Komnene]], in her book [[Alexiad]], mentions a Vlach settlement called Ezeba, which was near [[Larissa]] and Androneia. In the same work she also describes the Vlachs as "the nomadic tribes, called Vlachs in popular parlance".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Comnena |first=Anna |title=The Alexiad |publisher=In parentheses Publications Byzantine Series Cambridge |year=2000 |location=Ontario |pages=90,141 |translator-last=A. S. Dawes |translator-first=Elizabeth}}</ref>

Traveler [[Benjamin of Tudela]] (1130–1173) of the [[Kingdom of Navarre]] was one of the first writers to use the word ''Vlachs'' for a Romance-speaking population.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://users.clas.ufl.edu/fcurta/tudela.html|title=Tudela}}</ref> In his work he mentions that these Vlachs live high up in the mountains of [[Thessaly]], and from there they sometimes come down to plunder, which they do quickly, as swift as deers, for which reasons there is no king to rule them.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=96}}

In 1167, Vlachs living by the border of the [[Principality of Halych]] during the reign of [[Yaroslav Osmomysl]], captured Andronicus and returned him to [[Manuel I Komnenos|Emperor Manuel]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2022-01-01 |title=Aging levee. On the 25th anniversary of Gottfried Schramm's Ein Damm Bricht |url=https://www.academia.edu/91856550 |journal=Historical Studies on Central Europe|page=193}}</ref>

Byzantine historian [[John Kinnamos]] described Leon Vatatzes' military expedition along the northern Danube, where Vatatzes mentioned the participation of Vlachs in battles with the Magyars (Hungarians) in 1167.<ref>A. Decei, op. cit., p. 25.</ref><ref>V. Spinei, The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta From the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth Century, Brill, 2009, p. 132. {{ISBN|9789004175365}}.</ref> [[John Kinnamos]] says Vlachs were "colonists brought from Italy".<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 40, 2015</ref> Historian Florin Curta hypothesizes that the Italian origin of Vlachs was an editorial addition of Kinnamos aimed to justify the claim of taking back the old Roman lands north of the Danube, part of the [[Kingdom of Hungary]].<ref name="Curta 2016" />
[[File:Prosek.png|right|thumb|200px|Plan of the fortress [[Prosek, North Macedonia|Prosek]], seat of Dobromir Chrysos]]
The uprising of brothers Asen and Peter was a [[Uprising of Asen and Peter|revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs]] living in the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax increase. It began on 26 October 1185, the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki, and ended with the creation of the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]], also known in its early history as the Empire of Bulgarians and Vlachs.<ref name="Florin Curta page 37">Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 37, 2015</ref> 

According to [[Niketas Choniates]], after the Byzantine [[Isaac II Angelos|Emperor Isaac II Angelos]] lost his wife, he wanted to marry the daughter of Bela III of Hungary, but there was not enough money for the wedding, so he imposed taxes in the regions and cities of the [[Byzantine Empire|empire]], but he angered the "barbarians who dwelt in the [[Balkan Mountains|Haemos]] mountains, who were once called [[Moesia]]ns, but are now called Vlachs".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunfalvy |first=Pál |title=Az Oláhok Története [History of the Romanians] |publisher=Magyar Tudományos Akadémia [Hungarian Academy of Sciences] |edition=I. |location=Budapest |pages=274 |language=Hungarian|year=1894}}</ref>

Mentions of Vlachs in [[History of Bulgaria|Medieval Bulgaria]] also come from [[Niketas Choniates]] who writes about a Vlach called [[Dobromir Chrysos]] who established an autonomous polity in the upper region of [[Vardar|Vardar river]] and [[Almopia|Moglena]].<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/66866040/The%20Role%20of%20the%20Vlachs%20in%20the%20Bogomils%20Expansion%20in%20the%20Balkans Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans] page 15</ref> A similar event is recorded by the same author in the area of [[Plovdiv|Philippopolis]] where a Vlach called [[Ivanko (boyar)|Ivanko]], formerly a boyar at the [[Asen dynasty|Asen]] brothers' court was given military command by Emperor Isaac and expanded his rule to [[Smolyan]], [[Mosynopolis]], and [[Xanthi]].<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/66866040/The%20Role%20of%20the%20Vlachs%20in%20the%20Bogomils%20Expansion%20in%20the%20Balkans Octavian Ciobanu: The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils’ Expansion in the Balkans] page 14</ref>

According to [[Niketas Choniates]], Thessaly and Macedonia is called "Magna Vlachia", [[Aetolia]] and Acarnata are called "Little Vlachia" and north-eastern [[Epirus]] is called "Upper Vlachia".<ref name="Timaru">{{Cite book |last=Sándor |first=Timaru - Kast |url=https://epa.oszk.hu/01400/01445/00056/pdf/EPA01445_acta_hungarica_2019_02_326-355.pdf |title=A románok eredetéről, Magna Vlachiától Ungrovlachiáig. A Kárpát -régió magyar földrajza |pages=334 |language=Hungarian}}</ref><ref name=":17" />

In 1183 Hungarian documents mention, that [[Béla III of Hungary|King Béla III of Hungary]], in his campaign against the [[Byzantine Empire]], sacked [[Sofia]], and among the defenders there were many Vlachs. The King used the opportunity and "... took home a number of these valiant mountain soldiers, and settled them in the [[Szeben County]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Árpád |first=Kosztin |title=Magyar Térvesztés Román Térnyerés Erdélyben |publisher= |year=2003 |isbn=9639289604 |location=Budapest}}</ref>

Sometime between 1183 and 1185 the first mention of Vlachs living in the theme of [[Almopia|Moglena]], in a charter kept in the archive of the monastery Great Lavra on Mount Athos. According to this, Emperor [[Andronikos I Komnenos]] replies to the monks of the monastery's complaint that Vlachs on their domain are not paying taxes and are inciting other inhabitants of [[Moglena]] region, such as Bulgarians and Cumans, to rebel and declare themselves independent from the Great Lavra.<ref name= "Florin"/> The document contains some of the first Romanian names, such as Stan, Radu cel Şchiop, and Peducel.<ref>Emil Țîrcomnicu: [https://docslib.org/doc/6914758/emil-%C5%A3%C3%AErcomnicu1-rom%C3%A2nia-aspecte Historical Aspects Regarding the Megleno-Romanian Groups in Greece, the FY Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Romania] page 15</ref>

A Byzantine church document mentions that in 1190, "the [[Cumans]] and the Vlachs take the relics of [[Saint Ryli]] from [[Sofia]] to [[Veliko Tarnovo|Tirnovo]] with a great pomp."<ref name=":17" />

According to the ''[[Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja]]'', the authenticity of which is highly disputed by historians, {{circa|600}} AD the [[Pannonian Avars|Avars]] conquered [[Salona]], then, attacking further south, ravaged [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] and the "land of the black Latins, now called [[Morlachs|Morvlachs]]".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja |url=https://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus6/Dukljanin/frametext.htm |website=Medieval Historical Sources East and West}}</ref>

The first mention of Vlachs in Serbian medieval chronicles is dated from the time of [[Stefan the First-Crowned|Stefan Nemanjić]], most probably 1198–1199, and it is related to a donation act towards restoration of [[Hilandar|Hilandar monastery]] with aid from the inhabitants of the area of [[Prizren]].<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/36939351/The%20heritage%20of%20Western%20Balkan%20Vlachs Octavian Ciobanu : The heritage of Western Balkan Vlachs]</ref>

The ''[[History of the Expedition of the Emperor Frederick]]'' mention the Vlachs as people living in the mountains and forests of the Balkans. The chronicle also describes the Vlachs' homeland as being near [[Thessaloniki]]. The chronicle describes how the Crusaders captured several Vlachs who told them that the Vlachs live in Macedonia, Thessaly and Bulgaria, and that because they were heavily taxed, they were rebelling.<ref name=":25">{{Cite book |last=Jancsó |first=Benedek |title=A román nemzetiségi törekvések története és jelenlegi állapota 1. |pages=126–129|year=1899}}</ref>

Numerous [[Serbs|Serbian]] documents from the very end of the 12th century speak of Vlach shepherds in the mountains between the [[Drina]] and the [[Morava Valley|Morava]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023 |title=A "ROMÁNOK FÖLDJE" |url=https://www.arcanum.com/hu/online-kiadvanyok/ErdelyHun-erdely-tortenete-harom-kotetben-1/elso-kotet-a-kezdetektol-1606-ig-6/iii-erdely-a-kozepkori-magyar-kiralysagban-8961526-323/2-a-magyar-honfoglalastol-a-tatarjarasig-362/a-romanok-foldje-3CB/ |website=Arcanum.com}}</ref>

=== 13th century ===
In the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'', written around the year 1200, appears a certain Duke Ramunc of Wallachia (''Herzog Ramunc aus dem Walachenland'') among [[Attila]]'s guests at his wedding with Kriemhild; in another passage, the Vlachs (''Wlâchen'') are mentioned as well.{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=75}} Romanian historians claim the name of this fictional character could be derived from the Romanian ethnonym itself.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://www.bjmures.ro/bdPublicatii/CarteStudenti/A/AdolfArmbruster-Romanitatea_Romanilor.pdf|access-date=4 March 2025|title=Romanitatea românilor: istoria unei idei|first=Adolf|last=Armbruster|edition=2|editor=Editura Enciclopedică|year=1993|language=ro}}</ref> According to Pop, the author's anachronistic view that Vlachs were contemporaries with Attila stems from oral tradition noting that Hungarians encountered Vlachs upon arriving in Pannonia. Since Huns were seen as their ancestors, Vlachs were retrospectively placed as Attila’s contemporaries.{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=76}} However, the environment described there is from the 9th-12th centuries. The presence of the Russians, Pechenegs, Poles and Hungarians as contemporary with Attila confirms that.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Wallachians in the Nibelungenlied and their connection with the Eastern Romance population in the Early Middle Ages|first=Șerban George Paul|last=Drugaș|journal=Hiperboreea Journal|volume=3|page=86|year=2016}}</ref> 

According to the medieval Hungarian chronicle, the ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]'' ("The deeds of the Hungarians"), written in the early 13th century, when the [[Hungarians]] of [[Árpád|Grand Prince Árpád]] [[Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin|conquered]] the [[Carpathian Basin]], at that time [[Slavs]], [[Bulgarians]] and ''Blachij'', and also the [[shepherds of the Romans]] (''sclauij, Bulgarij et Blachij, ac pastores romanorum'') inhabited Pannonia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rady |first=Martyn |date=October 2009 |title=The Gesta Hungarorum of Anonymus, the Anonymous Notary of King Béla |url=https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/18975/1/18975.pdf |journal=Slavonic and East European Review |publisher=Modern Humanities Research Association |volume=87 |issue=4 |pages=|doi=10.1353/see.2009.0062 |s2cid=141192138 }}</ref> Most researchers say that the ''Blachij'' are the Vlachs,<ref>E.g. Armbruster, Adolf (1972). ''Romanitatea românilor: Istoria unei idei''; Kristó, Gyula (2002). ''Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon''; Spinei, Victor (2009). ''The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth century''</ref> some Hungarian scholars claim that they are the [[Bulaqs]], a Turkic people.<ref name=":6">E.g. Györffy, György (1963). ''Az Árpád-kori Magyarország Történeti Földrajza;'' Faragó, Imre (2017). ''Térképészeti földrajz''; Rásonyi, László (1979), Bulaqs and Oguzs in Medieval Transylvania</ref> László Makkai writes that "this hypothesis does not bear the test of scholarly scrutiny".<ref>{{citation|chapter-url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/59.html|title=History of Transylvania: From the Beginnings to 1606|year=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|place=New York|chapter=Anonymus on the Hungarian Conquest of Transylvania|author=László Makkai|volume=1|isbn=0-88033-479-7}}</ref> The chronicle's authenticity is in question in [[historiography]], because it confuses the peoples living in the area in the 12th century and the peoples of the 9th century. Among others, it includes the [[Cumans]] in [[Transylvania]], who arrived only centuries later.<ref name=":7">Thoroczkay, Gábor (2009). ''Írások az Árpád-korról''</ref><ref name=":8">Róna-Tas, András (1999)''Hungarians and Europe in the Early Middle Ages: An Introduction to Early Hungarian History''</ref><ref>Gyula, Kristó (2002). ''Magyar historiográfia I.: Történetírás a középkori Magyarországon''</ref><ref name=":9">Macartney, Carlile Aylmer (1953). ''The Medieval Hungarian Historians: A Critical & Analytical Guide''</ref> Romanian historian [[Ioan-Aurel Pop]] states that some exaggerations and inaccuracies, typical of a chronicle at the time and mostly in favour of the [[Árpád dynasty|Royal House]], are not a sufficient reason to discredit the entire document as a historical source.{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=84-85}} It is important to note, however, that the chronicle mentions many rulers, but none of them is mentioned in any other contemporary chronicle.<ref name=":10" /> According to Romanian historian [[Florin Curta]] and leading Romanian medievalist Radu Popa, during the 1960–1989 period, the archaeological evidences were manipulated to meet the demands of the nationalist policies of the [[Nicolae Ceaușescu|Ceaușescu's]] regime, and Romanian archaeologists made every possible attempt to prove that the ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]'' is a reliable source for the Romanian presence in Transylvania prior to the [[Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin|Hungarian conquest]], however no archaeological evidence was found to prove the subject. Hungarian archaeologist István Bóna also accused Romanian archaeologists of hiding evidence that did not fit their interpretation regarding the ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]'' during the excavation of the early medieval hillfort at [[Dăbâca]] as [[Gelou|Gelou's]] capital city.''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Curta |first=Florin |url= |title=Europe around the year 1000 |publisher=Wydawn. DiG |year=2001 |isbn=978-83-7181-211-8 |edition=Urbańczyk, Przemysław |location=Warsaw |pages=141–165 |chapter=Transylvania around A.D. 1000 |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/229524}}</ref>'' Whether archeology supports the ''Gesta'' or not is disputed among historians.<ref name=":Madgearu">{{Cite book |last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru|title=Expansiunea maghiară în Transilvania|date=2019|pages=42, 43, 78, 150–151|publisher=Cetatea de Scaun|language=ro|isbn=978-606-537-443-0}}</ref> British-Romanian historian [[Dennis Deletant]] states the analysis of the ''[[Gesta Hungarorum]]'' shows that is too naive to claim it is an immaculate source, just as it is foolhardy to totally discredit its reliability, and the conclusion, the cases for and against the existence of [[Gelou]] and the Vlachs simply cannot be proven.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Deletant |first=Dennis |title=Historians and the History of Transylvania |publisher=Columbia University Press |year=1992 |isbn=0880332298 |volume=East European Monographs |location=New York |pages=71, 85|chapter=Ethnos and Mythos in the History of Transylvania: the case of the chronicler Anonymus |chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/20351101}}</ref> British historian [[Carlile Aylmer Macartney]] writes in his critical and analytical guide of Anonymus that all Romanian historians refer to [[Anonymus (notary of Béla III)|Anonymus]], but they are not credible in the subject and the chronicle is not evidence for presence of Vlachs in Transylvania.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Macartney |first=Carlile Aylmer |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Shk9AAAAIAAJ |title=The medieval Hungarian historians: a critical and analytical guide |date=2 January 1953 |pages=61, 75}}</ref>  Madgearu attempts to prove that a Vlach-Slav population existed in Transylvania before the arrival of the Hungarians by recounting place names of Slavic origin he believes weren't adopted to Romanian via Hungarian.<ref name=":Madgearu"/>

[[Kaloyan of Bulgaria|Kaloyan]] was given the title {{lang|la|imperator Caloihannes dominus omnium Bulgarorum atque Blachorum}} ("Emperor Kaloyan, Lord of All Bulgarians and Vlachs") by [[Patriarch of All Bulgaria|Patriarch]] [[Basil I of Bulgaria|Basil&nbsp;I of Bulgaria]]<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=S9nzDQAAQBAJ|title=The Asanids: the political and military history of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1280)|first=Alexandru|last=Madgearu|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|year=2016|isbn=978-90-04-33319-2}}</ref> and the title {{lang|la|Rex Bulgarorum et Blachorum}} ("King of the Bulgarians and the Vlachs") by [[Pope Innocent II|Pope Innocent&nbsp;II]].<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=266056|title=Ideas of federation and personal union with regard to Bulgaria and Romania|first=Blagovest|last=Nyagulov|journal=Bulgarian Historical Review|issue=3–4|pages=36–61|year=2012|issn=0204-8906}}</ref>

In 1204 and 1205 [[Raimbaut de Vaqueiras]] mentions the Vlachs as enemies of [[Boniface I, Marquis of Montferrat|Boniface of Montferrat]].<ref name="Florin Curta page 27">Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 27, 2015</ref>

After 1207 [[Geoffrey of Villehardouin]] mentions twelve times the Vlachs part of the armies of [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria]], either as defenders against [[Henry of Flanders]] or among the [[Battle of Adrianople (1205)|attackers of Adrianopole]].<ref>Florin Curta: Imaginea vlahilor la cronicarii cruciadei a IV-a, page 29, 2015</ref>

Around the same time [[Henry of Valenciennes]] writes in his ''History of Emperor Henry of Constantinople'' about the country he calls ''Blaquie'' ruled by ''Burile'' (Borilă).<ref name= "Curta 2016">{{Cite journal |last=Curta |first=Florin |date=2016 |title=Constantinople and the Echo Chamber: The Vlachs in the French Crusade Chronicles |url=https://www.academia.edu/28202191/Constantinople_and_the_echo_chamber_the_Vlachs_in_the_French_crusade_chronicles |journal=Medieval Encounters |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=427 |doi=10.1163/15700674-12342232 |issn=1380-7854}}</ref> [[Henry of Flanders]] conquers this land and awards it to ''Burile's'' cousin ''Esclas'' (Slav). From there on the country will be known as ''Blakie la Grant'' (Great Valachia).<ref name="Florin Curta page 27"/>

Sándor Timaru-Kast alleges that the Venetian Chronicle refers to the land that would become Wallachia as "Black Cumania", "the colony of black Vlachs who migrated northwards".<ref name="Timaru"/>

In 1213, an army of Vlachs, [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxons]] and [[Pechenegs]], led by the [[Count of Hermannstadt|Count of Sibiu]], [[Joachim Türje]], attacked the [[Second Bulgarian Empire]] – [[Bulgarians]] and [[Cumans]] in the [[Baba Vida|fortress]] of [[Vidin]].<ref>Curta, 2006, p. 385</ref> After this, all Hungarian battles in the Carpathian region were supported by Romance-speaking soldiers from Transylvania.<ref>[[Șerban Papacostea|Papacostea, Șerban]], Românii în secolul al XIII-lea între cruciată şi imperiul mongol, București, 1993, 36; A. Lukács, Ţara Făgăraşului, 156; T. Sălăgean, Transilvania în a doua jumătate a secolului al XIII-lea. Afirmarea regimului congregaţional, Cluj-Napoca, 2003, 26-27</ref>

[[Robert de Clari]] narrates in his ''Conquest of Constantinople'', written sometime after [[Henry, Latin Emperor|Henry I]]'s death, about the Emperor's conflict with [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria]] - named ''Jehans li Blakis'' in his work, and calls Kaloyan's country ''Blakie''.<ref name= "Curta 2016"/>

[[Stefan the First-Crowned]] donates 200 families of Vlachs from [[Prokletije]] and [[Peja|Peći]] to [[Žiča]] monastery.<ref>Zef Mirdita (1995). "[https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/157940 Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora]". ''Povijesni Prilozi'' (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. '''14''' (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades)</ref>

In 1220, king [[Stefan the First-Crowned]] proclaimed that all Vlachs of his kingdom belonged to the [[Eparchy of Žiča]].<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr">Zef Mirdita (1995). "[https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/157940 Balkanski Vlasi u svijetlu podataka Bizantskih autora]". Povijesni Prilozi (in Serbo-Croatian). Zagreb: Croatian History Institute. 14 (14): 27-31 (Serbian), 31-33 (Crusades).</ref>

A royal chancellery document from 1223, connected to the foundation of the [[Cistercians|Cistercian]] [[Cârța Monastery|abbey at Cârța]] around 1202,{{sfn|Curta|2006|p=354}} which was granted land, mentions it was built in the land of the Vlachs/Romanians.{{sfn|Makkai|1994|p=189}} This is also the first mention of the Vlachs in Hungarian documents.<ref name="Anonymus on the Hungarian Conquest of Transylvania">{{Cite book |last=Makkai |first=László |title=History of Transylvania Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606 – III. Transylvania in the Medieval Hungarian Kingdom (896–1526) – 1. Transylvania's Indigenous Population at the Time of the Hungarian Conquest |publisher=Columbia University Press, (The Hungarian original by Institute of History Of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |year=2001 |isbn=0-88033-479-7 |language=English |chapter=Anonymus on the Hungarian Conquest of Transylvania |chapter-url=http://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/59.html}}</ref>{{sfn|Kristó|2003|p=140–141}}

In the ''[[Diploma Andreanum]]'' issued by King [[Andrew II of Hungary]] in 1224, "''silva blacorum et bissenorum''" was given to the [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxon]] settlers.<ref>J. DEER, Der Weg zur Goldenen Bulle Andreas II. Von 1222, în Schweizer Beitrage zur Allgemeinen Geschichte, 10, 1952, pp. 104-138</ref>

The Orthodox Vlachs spread further northward along the Carpathians to the present day territory of [[Poland]], [[Slovakia]], and [[Czech Republic]], and were granted autonomy under the <nowiki>''</nowiki>[[Vlach law]]<nowiki>''</nowiki>.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Oczko |first=Anna |date=2016 |title=Traces of Vlach Migrations in the Toponymy of Polish Podtatrze Region|url=https://www.academia.edu/33346009 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>

In 1230 [[Constantine Akropolites]], in his writing about the conquests of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Asen, notes that the "Magna Vlachia" is next to [[Albania]].<ref name=":19">{{Cite book |last=Lóránt |first=Ballai |title=Szkenderbég, a történelmi és irodalmi hős |year=1990 |pages=79 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

[[Pope Gregory IX]] wrote several letters to the [[Béla IV of Hungary|Hungarian king]], in which he talks about the conversion of the [[Cumans]] who lived in the southern part of [[Moldavia]] and eastern [[Wallachia]]<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Uzelac |first=Aleksandar |title=An Empire within an Empire? Ethnic and Religious Realities in the Lands of Nogai (c. 1270-1300)|journal=  Annual of the Institute of History, University of Szeged 18 (2018)|page= 276 |url=https://www.academia.edu/39647544}}</ref> regions of present-day Romania. In one of his letters he mentions the Vlachs, asking [[Béla IV of Hungary|King Béla IV of Hungary]] to let them into his country: "for the sake of God, give refuge to those poor Vlachs who tried to escape from their Cuman rulers."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dr. Balogh |first=Sándor |title=Separating Myths and Facts In the History of Transylvania |year=2010 |pages=7}}</ref>

[[Giovanni da Pian del Carpine]] mentions in 1247, when returning from his mission to the [[Mongol Khan]], a "Rus" prince by the name Olaha east of the [[Carpathian Mountains]]. Historians [[Victor Spinei]] and Nikolai Russev consider it a reference to a Vlach community of Orthodox faith.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Uzelac |first=Aleksandar |title=The Establishment of Bulgaria's Vassalage to the Mongols: Timing and Context |journal= Annual of the Faculty of History of "St. Cyril and St. Methodius" University of Veliko Tarnovo |url=https://www.academia.edu/128824399|page= 218}}</ref>

In 1247, [[Béla IV of Hungary]] gives the "[[Banate of Severin|Land of Severin]]" to the [[Knights Hospitallers]] with two polities (''kenezatus'' of [[John (knez)|John]] and [[Farcaș|Farkas]]), except ''kenezatus'' of [[Voivode (Vlach leader)|voivode]] [[Litovoi]] which was left to the Vlachs as they held it.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Roller |first=Mihail |trans-title=Documents Regarding Romanian History  |title=Documente privind istoria românilor] |publisher=Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Române |year=1951   |pages=329–333 }}</ref> The land of [[Țara Hațegului|Hateg]] is excepted, while the voivodate of Seneslaus the king keeps for himself.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=193&layout=s |page=191 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

In 1252  King [[Béla IV of Hungary]], for his services in various foreign embassies, donates to Vince, Comes of the Szekler of Sebus, the land called Zek between the territory of the Vlachs of Kyrch, the Saxons of Barasu, and the Szeklers of Sebus, which once belonged to a Saxon estate called Fulkun, but has been uninhabited since the Mongol invasion.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=193&layout=s |page=196 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

In 1256 King [[Béla IV of Hungary]], upon the complaint of Archbishop [[Benedict II (archbishop of Esztergom)|Benedict]] of [[Esztergom]], confirms the right of the archdiocese to tithes from mining wages and from animal taxes collected from the Szeklers and Vlachs to the king or anyone else, among the judicial, accommodation and taxation privileges of the archdiocese, with the exception of land rents from Saxons, but also from Vlachs from everywhere and from anywhere they came.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=193&layout=s |page=197 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

King [[Ottokar II of Bohemia]] reports to [[Pope Alexander IV]] that about [[Battle of Kressenbrunn|the defeated]] of King [[Béla IV of Hungary]] on 12 July 1260, on the border between Hungary and Austria, near the castle and town of Hemburg on the Moraua River. Among the people that fought in Béla's army Vlachs, called ''Walachorum'', are named.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=193&layout=s |page=203 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

In 1272, King [[Ladislaus IV of Hungary|Ladislaus]] donates the royal lands or villages of Budula and Tohou, also known as Olahteleky, to Simon's son, Nicholas of Brașov.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=193&layout=s |page=231 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

From 1276 King Ladislaus allows the chapter of Alba Iulia to settle 60 Romanian households (mansiones) on the border of his estates called Fülesd and Enyed, separated from the episcopal lands, and to exempt them from all royal taxes, fiftieth and tithes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=240&layout=s |page=238 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

In a grant (around 1280) Queen Helena confirmed the grant given by [[Stefan Vladislav]] to the [[Vranjina Monastery|Vranjina monastery]], the Vlachs are separately mentioned, along with [[Names of the Albanians and Albania#Arbanasi|Arbanasi]] (Albanians), Latins, and Serbs.<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr"/>

In the 1280s, [[Simon of Kéza]] in the ''[[Gesta Hunnorum et Hungarorum]]'' mentions the Vlachs in his work three times: After the land had been conquered by King [[Attila]], several people left [[Pannonia]], the Vlachs (''Blackis'') were elected to remain in Pannonia who had been their shepherds and husbandmen. The [[Székelys]] were settled with the Vlachs (''Blackis'') in the border mountains, mingling with them, and adopting their alphabet. After the withdrawal of the [[Huns]], the only people left in Pannonia were immigrants, Slavs, Greeks, Germans, Moravians, and Vlachs (''Ulahis'') who had been servants of Attila.<ref name="Ryszard 2016">{{Cite journal |last=Grzesik |first=Ryszard |date=2016 |title=IUS VALACHICUM – The Valachian Way of Life in Stories About Domestic Origins in the Hungarian Medieval Chronicles |url=https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/bp/article/view/6320 |journal=Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et studia |location=Poznań |volume=23}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Simon |first=of Kéza |title=The Deeds of the Hungarians |publisher=Central European University |year=1999 |isbn=978-963-9116-31-3 |editor-last=Veszprémy |editor-first=László |editor-last2=Schaer |editor-first2=Frank}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Szabó |first=Károly |url=https://mek.oszk.hu/02200/02249/02249.htm |title=Kézai Simon mester Magyar Krónikája |language=Hungarian}}</ref>{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=127, 155–156}} Miskolczy points out that the (''Ulahis advenis'') "Vlach newcomer", the adjective classifying Romanians as immigrants was omitted from the Romanian translation.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=127, 155–156}} Pop on other hand argues that Moravians (Slavs), as well as the Byzantines (Greeks), Germans (Teutons, East Franks), Bulgarians (Messians) and Romanians (Vlachs) are confirmed by other sources as being present in Pannonia or, at least, on its edges in the period preceding the appearance of the Hungarians.{{sfn|Pop|1996|p=75}} Some Hungarian scholars noted that Simon of Kéza used different spellings for ''{{Lang|la|Blackis}}'' and ''{{Lang|la|Ulahis}}'', arguing that ''{{Lang|la|Blackis}}'' were actually the Turkic people [[Bulaqs]] who were confused with the Vlachs.<ref name="Vásáry2005">{{citation |last=Vásáry |first=István |title=Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7DJWyg97IggC |page=29 |year=2005 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-44408-8}}</ref> According to Polish historian Ryszard Grzesik, the Vlachs appeared in [[Transylvania]] only in the 12th century, therefore Hungarian chroniclers identified the semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Vlachs as a distinguishing characteristic. Kézai wrote that the Vlachs gave script to the Székelys, but the reality is different, because Kézai wrote about the [[Old Hungarian script|Székelys runs]], and his opinion was based on the observation that the Vlach shepherds engraved symbols while counting their sheep.<ref name="Ryszard 2016" /> Kézai confused the Székely runs with the Cyrillic script which was used by the Vlachs.{{sfn|Miskolczy|2021|p=127, 155–156}}

Ragusan medieval notary records mention Vlachs in the vicinity of the city were attacked and robbed by several Ragusans in 1284.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pijović |first=Marko |date=2021-01-01 |title=Pijović, M. (2021) “Late Medieval Vlachs in the Western Balkans, 13th to 15th Centuries: Orality, Society and the Limits of Collective Identities”, Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et studia, 28(1), pp. 65-92. |url=https://www.academia.edu/51410853/Pijovi%C4%87_M_2021_Late_Medieval_Vlachs_in_the_Western_Balkans_13th_to_15th_Centuries_Orality_Society_and_the_Limits_of_Collective_Identities_Balcanica_Posnaniensia_Acta_et_studia_28_1_pp_65_92 |journal=Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta Et Studia |doi=10.14746/BP.2021.28.4|p=78}}</ref>

Several sources cite that the passes of the Carpathians in [[Transylvania]] were defended by the Vlachs together with [[Székelys]] and [[Transylvanian Saxons|Saxons]] during the [[Second Mongol invasion of Hungary]] in 1285.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |date=2018 |title=The Mongol domination and the detachment of the Romanians of Wallachia from the domination of the Hungarian Kingdom |url=https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/DMAE/article/download/76013/4564456556992 |journal=De Medio Aevo |pages=219–220 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Sófalvi |first=András |url=https://www.academia.edu/6209609 |title=A székelység szerepe a középkori és fejedelemség kori határvédelemben |publisher=Erdélyi Múzeum-Egyesület (Transylvanian Museum Association) |year=2012 |location=Kolozsvár |language=Hungarian |trans-title=The role of Székelys in border defense during the Middle Ages and the age of Principality |quote=sed siculi, olachi et Saxones omnes vias ipsorum cum indaginibus stipaverunt sive giraverunt et sic (de vita ipsorum omnino sunt de) necessitate cogente ibidem castra eorum sunt metati}}</ref>

According to the old Russian chronicle, [[Ladislaus IV of Hungary]] asked for help from [[Rome]] and [[Constantinople]] because he feared an invasion by the [[Mongol Empire|Tartars]]. Constantinople sent an army of Vlachs from what is now [[Serbia]], but after the victorious battle, the Vlachs refused to go home and settled in the territory of [[Maramureș|Maramures]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Dr. Jancsó |first=Benedek |title=Erdély Története |pages=61–66 |language=Hungarian|year= 1922}}</ref>

Also in 1285, [[Andronikos II Palaiologos|Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos]] decides to move the Vlachs from [[Thrace]] to [[Asia-Minor]], fearing their possible alliance with the [[Tatars]]. The same emperor, in 1289, confirms the rights of St. Andrew Monastery from [[Thessaly]] over the village Praktikatous or Vlachokatouna.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Tanașoca |first1=Anca |last2=Tanașoca |first2=Nicolae-Șerban |date=2004 |title=Unitate romanică și diversitate balcanică |url=https://www.academia.edu/10219111 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu |page=33}}</ref>

In 1288, as external threats from the Tatars, Cumans, Saracens, and other pagans arose (''omnino Tartarorum vel Cumanum Saracenum vel Meugarium''), the universitas of the Vlachs was called to join the other Estates, including Hungarian nobles, Saxons and Szeklers (universisque nobilibus Ungarorum, Saxonibus, Syculis et Volachis), along with Church representatives from Brașov and Sibiu counties. This assembly was convened to defend the Christian faith, as stated in a letter from Lodomer, Archbishop of Esztergom.<ref name=Gau>{{cite journal |last= Müller |first= Friedrich |title= Haben 1288 im Hermannstädter Gau und im Burzenland neben den Sachsen auch ungarische Adlige, Szekler und Rumänen gewohnt? |pages= 281–296 |journal= Siebenbürgische Vierteljahrschrift |publisher= Verein für Siebenbürgische Landeskunde [Association for Transylvanian Studies] |location= Hermannstadt ([[Sibiu]]) |volume= 58 |number= 4 |year= 1935 |via= footnote in Binder, Pál. ''Antecedente și consecințe sud-transilvănene ale formării voievodatului Munteniei (sec. XIII-XIV.), II.''|url= https://www.cosys.ro/siculica/acta96/cikkek/ro/binder.htm |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080127214848/https://www.cosys.ro/siculica/acta96/cikkek/ro/binder.htm |access-date= 22 July 2021|archive-date= 2008-01-27 }}</ref>

According to a legend, in 1290 [[Ladislaus IV of Hungary|Ladislaus the Cuman]] was assassinated; the new Hungarian king allegedly drove [[voivode]] [[Radu Negru]] and his people across the Carpathians, where they formed [[Wallachia]] along with its first capital [[Câmpulung]], as a Hungarian vassal state.<ref>D. CĂPRĂROIU, ON THE BEGINNINGS OF THE TOWN OF CÂMPULUNG, ″Historia Urbana″, t. XVI, nr. 1-2/2008, pp. 37-64</ref>

In 1291 [[Andrew III of Hungary]] presides over a meeting of "Nobles, Saxons, Szeklers, and Vlachs" in [[Alba Iulia]].<ref name="academia.edu">Ioan Aurel Pop: [https://www.academia.edu/6547960/Capitolul_IV_VOIEVODATUL_TRANSILVANIEI_%C5%9EI_P%C4%82R%C5%A2ILE_VESTICE_%C3%8EN_SEC_XII_1541 Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I], Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.467</ref><ref name=Kurze>{{cite book |editor-last= Köpeczi |editor-first= Béla |editor-link= Béla Köpeczi |title= Kurze Geschichte Siebenbürgens |page= 195 |publisher= Akadémiai Kiadó ["Academic Publishing"] |location= Budapest |via= Hungarian Electronic Library/Hungarian National Library |year= 1990 |isbn= 978-963-05-5667-5 |url= http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02113/html/57.html#62 |access-date= 21 July 2021}}</ref>

In 1292, Andrew III of Hungary allows some Hungarian nobles to invite Vlachs to the country, to their estates called "Ilye", "Szád" and "Fenes".<ref name=":26">{{Cite book |last=Tamás |first=Lajos |title=Románok |publisher=Magyar Történelmi Társulat |pages=7}}</ref>{{Vague citation|date=March 2025}}

In 1293, [[Andrew III of Hungary]], publishes an "angry" charter to the Transylvanian nobility, mentions that all the Vlachs were supposed to be settled on the royal crown's property called "Székes", not on their own estates.<ref name=":24" />

[[Andronikos III Palaiologos]] grants in 1293 to Leo Koteanitzis an estate called Preasnitza, presumably near [[Ograzhden (mountain)]] which he took from various Vlachs.<ref name= "Florin"/>

In November 1293, King Andrew confirms King Ladislaus's earlier concession to the chapter of [[Alba Iulia]] to keep the 60 households of Romanians (mansiones Olacorum) free from all taxes and services on the lands of Dalya, Ompaycza, Fylesd and Enugd, separated from the episcopal estates. These Romanians should not be forced by any royal tax collector to pay taxes, dues, or fiftieths. The charter, confirmed by a double seal, is dated by the hand of [[Theodore Tengerdi|Theodore]], provost of Fehérvár, vice-chancellor.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Erdélyi okmánytár I. (1023-1300) (Magyar Országos Levéltár kiadványai, II. Forráskiadványok 26. Budapest, 1997) {{!}} Könyvtár {{!}} Hungaricana |url=https://library.hungaricana.hu/hu/view/MolDigiLib_MOLkiadv2_26/?pg=301&layout=s |page=300 |access-date=2023-08-18 |website=library.hungaricana.hu}}</ref>

=== 14th century ===
[[File:Fra Mauro map, sector XXIX.jpg|thumb|270x270px|right|Fra Mauro's map, sector XXIX, showing Vlachia Piccola in [[Thessaly]] and Monte de Murlachi in [[Dalmatia]] – {{circa|1450}} CE]]
[[Stefan Milutin]] Serbian king donated 6 [[Katun (community)|katuns]] to the church of St. Nikita in Bania.<ref name=":25" />

Stefan Milutin, in another medieval Serbian document, mentions that 30 Vlach families live on a church estate near [[Pristina]].<ref name=":25" />

In 1321 on the island of [[Krk]], a priest gave land to the church, and the given land extended to the land of Kneže, where Vlachs lived.<ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Mužić |first=Ivan |title=Vlasi u starijoj hrvatskoj historiografiji |year=2010 |pages=10–11}}</ref>

In a battle, Vlachs fought alongside [[Mladen II Šubić of Bribir|Mladen Šubić]] near [[Trogir]] in 1322.<ref name=":22" />

King [[Władysław I Łokietek]] attacks Brandenburg with neighboring Vlach reinforcements "''etiam vicinorum populorum, videlicet Ruthenorum, Walachorum et Lithwanorum stipatusc''".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Obara-Pawłowska |first=Anna |date=20 February 2018 |title=Obraz Wołochów w piśmiennictwie Jana Długosza |url=https://core.ac.uk/display/154436910 |page=209 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=Core.ac.uk}}</ref>

Goods sold by the Vlachs are mentioned in after 1328 by Ragusan documents, among them ''formaedi vlacheschi'', a type of cheese.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Caciur |first=Dana |date=August 4, 2023 |title=In the Name of the Morlachs. The Memory of an Identity Along Centuries: Some working Hypotheses |url=https://www.academia.edu/52303751 |access-date=August 4, 2023 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>

First mention of a Vlach called ''Radul'' in 1329, in the [[Istria|Istrian Peninsula]].<ref name="Madgearu 2001 59">{{Cite book|last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |trans-title=The Medieval Origin of Conflict Centers in the Balkan Peninsula |title=Originea medievală a focarelor de conflict din peninsula Balcanică] |publisher=Editura Corint |year=2001 |isbn=973-653-191-0  |page=59 }}</ref>

In 1330 [[Stefan Dečanski]] gifts to [[Visoki Dečani]] monastery the Vlach pastures and katuns along Drim and Lim rivers.<ref name="hrcak.srce.hr"/>

Croatian chronicler Miha de Barbazanis writes that Vlachs from the area of [[Cetina|Cetina River]] fought for [[Mladen II Šubić of Bribir]] against [[Charles I of Hungary]] and Ban [[John Babonić]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dragomir |first=Silviu |trans-title= Origin of Romanian Colonies in Istria |title=Originea coloniilor române din Istria] |publisher=Cultura Națională |year=1924 |pages=3–4 }}</ref><ref>Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: [https://www.academia.edu/35270955/State%20and%20Society%20in%20the%20Balkans%20before%20and%20after%20Establisment%20of%20Ottoman%20Rule%20full%20text State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule], 2017, pages 33-34</ref>

In the [[List of Papal Tithes from 1332–1337 in the Kingdom of Hungary|list of Papal Tithes from 1332–1337]] in the Kingdom of Hungary, one settlement mentioned in the source as Romanian: "''Căprioara''". This Romanian place-name is the first recorded Romanian toponym in the [[Kingdom of Hungary]], including [[Transylvania]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Makkai |first=László |url= |title=History of Transylvania Volume I. From the Beginnings to 1606 - III. Transylvania in the Medieval Hungarian Kingdom (896–1526) - 2. From the Hungarian Conquest to the Mongol Invasion |publisher=Columbia University Press, (The Hungarian original by Institute of History Of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences) |year=2001 |isbn=0-88033-479-7 |location=New York |language=English |chapter=The Cumanian Country and the Province of Severin |chapter-url=https://mek.oszk.hu/03400/03407/html/74.html}}</ref><ref name=":203">{{Cite book |last=Kristó |first=Gyula |url=https://ojs.bibl.u-szeged.hu/index.php/acthist/article/view/10195 |title=Acta Historica |publisher=University of Szeged, Magyar Medievisztikai Kutatócsoport (Hungarian Medieval Research Group) |year=1986 |location=Szeged |language=Hungarian |trans-title= |chapter=Az 1332-1337. évi pápai tizedjegyzék és az erdélyi románság létszáma |volume=83 |pages=41–51 |trans-chapter=The list of papal tithes from 1332–1337 and the number of Romanians in Transylvania |issn=0324-6965 |chapter-url=https://ojs.bibl.u-szeged.hu/index.php/acthist/article/view/10195/10087}}</ref>

In 1335, a royal commissioner, on the orders of the King of Hungary, arranges for a Vlach voivode named Bogdan to move to the Kingdom of Hungary "with his entire household and people". According to the charter, the settlement of the Vlach voivode and his people lasted from 1 November 1334 to 15 August 1335.<ref name=":23">{{Cite book |last=Dr. Makkai |first=László |title=Az erdélyi Románok a középkori Magyar oklevelekben [The Romanians of Transylvania in medieval Hungarian documents] |publisher=Minerva Nyomda |pages=7–15 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

In 1341, a Hungarian royal document notes that the Hungarian Czibak noble family can invite and settle more Vlachs to their [[Tileagd|Mező-Telegd]] estate, "from the south".<ref name=":14">{{Cite book |last=Vincze |first=Bunyitay |title=Biharvármegye Oláhjai |publisher=Magyar Tudományos Akadémia |location=Budapest |pages=287–298 |language=Hungarian|year=1892}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=István |first=Nagy |title=Anjou-kor |publisher=Magyar Tudományos Akadémia |edition=IV. |location=Budapest |pages=79 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

[[Stefan Dušan]] styles himself "Imperator Raxie et Romanie, dispotus Lartae et Blachie comes" – Emperor of Rascia and Romania, despot of Arta and [[Ispán|ispan]] of Vlachia.<ref name="Timaru"/>

[[Stefan Dušan]] donates 320 Vlach families to the [[Bistrica (Leskovac)|Bistrica]] monastery.<ref name=":25" />

A charter, issued by [[Stefan Dušan]], mentions that, Dobrodoliane is inhabited by Vlachs.<ref name=":19" />

Morlachs are first recorded in 1344, during the struggle between the counts of the [[Kurjaković noble family|Kurjaković]] and [[Nelipić]] families, in the regions near [[Knin]] and [[Krbava]], when a region called "Morlacorum" mentioned.<ref name=":21" />

A letter from 1345 from Pope Clement VI to the Hungarian king Louis I, the phrase ''quod Olachi Romani'' appears, which can be interpreted as an expression of the papal chancellery's conviction about the Roman origin of the Wallachians.<ref name="Obara-Pawłowska">{{Cite web |last=Obara-Pawłowska |first=Anna |date=20 February 2018 |title=Obraz Wołochów w piśmiennictwie Jana Długosza |url=https://core.ac.uk/display/154436910 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=Core.ac.uk}}</ref>

In 1349, another Hungarian royal charter mentions the Vlachs, allowing the [[Wallachia]]n voivode to send a Vlach priest to [[Transylvania]], thus encouraging more Vlachs to settle in the [[Kingdom of Hungary|Hungarian kingdom]] from the south.<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16" />

A Hungarian charter of 1352 states that, the lord lieutenant of [[Krassó-Szörény County|Krassó County]] Szeri Pósa invited Vlachs to Hungary, to populate the area around the Mutnok stream.<ref name=":2" />

Around 1355, [[Bogdan I of Moldavia|Bogdan of Cuhea]], former [[Voivodeship of Maramureș|Voivode of Maramureș]], but now in conflict with [[Louis I of Hungary]], crosses the mountains with other Vlachs from [[Maramureș]] and takes over [[Moldavia]].<ref>Ioan Aurel Pop: [https://www.academia.edu/6547960/Capitolul_IV_VOIEVODATUL_TRANSILVANIEI_%C5%9EI_P%C4%82R%C5%A2ILE_VESTICE_%C3%8EN_SEC_XII_1541 Istoria României. Transilvania, Volumul I], Edit. „George Barițiu”, Cluj-Napoca, 1997, p.473</ref>

In 1359, the King of Hungary allowed a Vlach noble family and their household to settle in the country, first giving them 13 villages, and then 6 years later another 5 villages in the [[Banat]].<ref name=":23" />

Also in 1359, the village of Lakság "near [[Oradea|Várad]]", reports in a letter to the bishop of [[Oradea|Várad]] that "the first Vlach inhabitants have arrived".<ref name=":14" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Dr. Karácsonyi |first=János |title=Történelmi hazugságok |publisher=Szent István Társulat |location=Budapest |pages=729 |year= 1890}}</ref>

In 1365 [[Balc of Moldavia|Balc]], son of Voivode [[Sas of Moldavia]], defeated by [[Bogdan I of Moldavia|Bogdan]], moves to the Kingdom of Hungary and is given by [[Louis I of Hungary]] the confiscated domains of his opponent. Later, Balc became the head of [[Szatmár County|Szatmár]] ''(Sătmar)'', [[Ugocsa County|Ugocsa]] and [[Máramaros County|Máramaros]] ''(Maramureș)'' counties in the Kingdom of Hungary, and he was also invested with the title of [[Count of the Székelys]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Engel | first = Pál | title = Magyarország világi archontológiája (1301-1457)}}</ref>

Vlachs from the domain of Vidčeselo, between [[Lika]] and [[Zrmanja]], are rewarded for their military support by the [[ban of Croatia]] .<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Tanașoca |first1=Anca |last2=Tanașoca |first2=Nicolae-Șerban |date=2004 |title=Unitate romanică și diversitate balcanică |url=https://www.academia.edu/10219111 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu |page=36}}</ref>

In June 1366  King Louis I of Hungary grants through the [[Decree of Turda]] special privileges to the Transylvanian noblemen to take measures against malefactors belonging to any nation, especially the Vlachs.<ref>I. Dani, K. Gündish ''et al''. (eds.) ''Documenta Romaniae Historica, vol. XIII, Transilvania (1366-1370)'', Editura Academiei Române, Bucharest 1994, p. 161–162</ref>

In 1370, [[Louis I of Hungary]] decreed that only those Vlach settlers who were [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] could receive royal grants.<ref name=":2" />

The village of [[Wołodź]] in [[Ruthenian Voivodeship|Ruthenia]] was first documented in 1373 as a Vlach settlement.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jawor |first=Grzegorz |date=2016 |title=Seasonal pastoral exploitation of forests in the area of Subcarpathia in the 15th and 16th century |url=https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=4bc9dce469527940JmltdHM9MTY5MTYyNTYwMCZpZ3VpZD0zMjliYTU1ZS0wNzIwLTZjNzAtMDUwZS1iNjQ0MDY0MzZkNDEmaW5zaWQ9NTIzNA&ptn=3&hsh=3&fclid=329ba55e-0720-6c70-050e-b64406436d41&psq=vlachs+in+slovakia&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9iaWJsaW90ZWthbmF1a2kucGwvYXJ0aWNsZXMvOTA5OTk1LnBkZg&ntb=1 |access-date=10 August 2023 |website=bibliotekanauki.pl}}</ref>

In a letter dates to 1374, the [[Cathedral chapter]] of [[Oradea|Várad]] complains that he has only 9 Vlach villages, and asks for permission "to invite more Vlachs into [[Kingdom of Hungary|the country]]" and to "settle them on his estates". Also in the same letter, he asks the "border nobles" that "if strangers come from Wallachia, do not stop them".<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16">{{Cite book |last=István |first=Lipovniczky |title=A Váradi Püspökség Története [History of the Bishopric of Varad] |pages=192 |language=Hungarian}}</ref>

Papal documents from late 14th century reference the conquest of Medieș fortress "from the hands of schismatic Vlachs" by an unnamed King of Hungary. Historian [[Ioan-Aurel Pop]] places this event close to the [[Fourth Council of the Lateran]]<ref name="academia.edu"/>

In 1374, the Cathedral chapter of [[Oradea|Várad]] complained that the Vlachs living in its territory are not willing to give up their nomadic lifestyle.<ref name=":14" />

In 1374, Bishop László of [[Oradea|Várad]] obliges his successors not to prevent the Vlach [[Knez (Vlach leader)|knezes]] from settle further "foreigners" to the border areas of Bónafalva, [[Toplița, Hunedoara|Királybányatoplica]] and [[Cristian, Brașov|Keresztényfalva]].<ref name=":14" /><ref name=":16" />

In 1376 the ban of Knin is also called "comes Holachorum".<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Tanașoca |first1=Anca |last2=Tanașoca |first2=Nicolae-Șerban |date=2004 |title=Unitate romanică și diversitate balcanică |url=https://www.academia.edu/10219111 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu |page=283}}</ref>

In 1381 Croatian documents from [[Knin]] mention "universitas Valachorum".<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite web |last1=Tanașoca |first1=Anca |last2=Tanașoca |first2=Nicolae-Șerban |date=2004 |title=Unitate romanică și diversitate balcanică |url=https://www.academia.edu/10219111 |access-date=21 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu |pages=282–283}}</ref>

In 1383 the so-called "Peace convention of Christian" is signed by Saxons and Romanians (Vlachs) from the area of Sibiu, aimed to ensure the peace between the two communities.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Cosma |first=Ela |date=September 2022 |title=Enacted "Jus Valachicum" in South Transylvania (14th-18th Centuries) |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/364054329 |access-date=31 August 2023 |website=ResearchGate |page=4}}</ref>

Vlachs are a documented presence in [[Belz|Belz region]] since the rule of [[Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia]], probably as early as 1388.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jawor |first=Grzegorz |date=2016 |title=Northern Extent of Settlements on the Wallachian Law in Medieval Poland |url=https://www.academia.edu/98988253 |page=44 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>

In the 14th century, royal charters from the [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|Kingdom of Serbia]] included segregation policies stating that "a Serb shall not marry a Vlach".<ref name="Ćirković">Sima Ćirković; (2004) ''The Serbs'' p. 130; Wiley-Blackwell, {{ISBN|0631204717}}</ref><ref>Srđan Rudić, Selim Aslantaş: [https://www.academia.edu/35270955/State%20and%20Society%20in%20the%20Balkans%20before%20and%20after%20Establisment%20of%20Ottoman%20Rule%20full%20text State and Society in the Balkans Before and After Establishment of Ottoman Rule], 2017, page 31</ref> However, these laws were not successful and intermarriage between Slavs, Vlachs and also Albanians did take place.<ref name="Ćirković" />

=== 15th century ===
[[File:The Vlachs-Wallachians.png|thumb|Map showing the migrations of the [[Eastern Romance languages|Eastern Romance peoples]]]]
In 1412, the captain of [[Zadar]] saved 3000 ducats to organise an army against the looting [[Morlachs]], who lived in Ostravica, whose castle has even been taken by them. The leader of the [[Morlachs|Morlahcs]] was a person called Sandallor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caciur |first=Dana |title=The Morlachs of Dalmatia during the 15th and 16th century. |year=2021 |isbn=978-83-66355-68-2 |location=Poznań |pages=154}}</ref>

The biggest caravan shipment between [[Podvisoki]] in [[Visoko during the Middle Ages|Bosnia]] and [[Republic of Ragusa]] was recorded on 9 August 1428, where Vlachs transported 1500 [[Ancient Roman units of measurement#Dry measure|modius]] of [[salt]] with 600 horses.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kurtović|first=Esad|title=Esad Kurtović, Konj u srednjovjekovnoj Bosni, Filozofski fakultet, Sarajevo 2014.|journal=Filozofski Fakultet, Sarajevo| date=January 2014 |url=https://www.academia.edu/31875091|language=en|pages=205}}</ref><ref>„Crainich Miochouich et Stiepanus Glegieuich ad meliustenendem super se et omnia eorum bona se obligando promiserunt ser Тhome de Bona presenti et acceptanti conducere et salauum dare in Souisochi in Bosna Dobrassino Veselcouich nomine dicti ser Тhome modia salis mille quingenta super equis siue salmis sexcentis. Et dicto sale conducto et presentato suprascripto Dobrassino in Souisochi medietatem illius salis dare et mensuratum consignare dicto Dobrassino. Et aliam medietatem pro eorum mercede conducenda dictum salem pro ipsius conductoribus retinere et habere. Promittentes vicissim omnia et singularia suprascripta firma et rata habere et tenere ut supra sub obligatione omnium suorum bonorum. Renuntiando" (09.08. 1428.g.), Div. Canc., XLV, 31v.</ref>

In 1433 Vlach [[Knez (Vlach leader)|knezes]], [[Voivode (Vlach leader)|voievodes]], and juzi from Croatia vow to respect the property right of the local St. John church.<ref name="ReferenceB"/>

Vlachs are mentioned in a document of Grand Duke [[Švitrigaila]], in [[Kremenets]], as part of the local population subject to mayor of Busk legal authority.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Jawor |first=Grzegorz |date=April 2023 |title=Kolonizacja wołoska na obszarach Wołynia w XV i XVI wieku |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369850426 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>

[[Nicholas of Ilok]] styled himself as "''Bosniae and Valachiae Rex''".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Madgearu |first=Alexandru |trans-title=The Medieval Origin of Conflict Centers in the Balkan Peninsula |title=Originea medievală a focarelor de conflict din peninsula Balcanică] |publisher=Editura Corint |year=2001 |isbn=973-653-191-0  |page=58 }}</ref>

In 1450, the Vlachs are granted a privilege in [[Šibenik]], allowing the Vlachs to enter the town if they call themselves [[Croats]].<ref name=":22" />

Italian [[Renaissance humanism|humanist]] [[Poggio Bracciolini]] claims in 1450 that [[Trajan]] left a colony among the [[Sarmatians]] which still retains much of the Latin vocabulary, and that its members say: "''oculum, digitum, manum, panem,'' and many other things, from which it appears that the Latins, who remained there as settlers, used the Latin language."<ref>{{lang|la|"Apud superiores Sarmatas colonia est ab Traiano, ut aiunt, derelicta, quae nunc etiam inter tantam barbariem multa retinet latina vocabula, ab Italis, qui eo profecti sunt, notata. Oculum dicunt, digitum, manum, panem multaque alia quibus apparet ab Latinis, qui coloni ibidem relicti fureant manasse, eamque coloniam fuisse latino sermone usam."}} Poggio Bracciolini, ''Historia convivalis, utrum priscis Romanis latina lingua omnibus communis fuerit...'' in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58</ref>

In 1453, [[Flavio Biondo]] notes that "the Dacians or Vlachs claim to have Roman origins and they think this fact is a decoration in itself" and that "when they spoke the language of their common and simple people it scent of a grammatically incorrect peasant Latin".<ref>{{lang|la|"Et qui e regione Danubio item adiacent Ripenses Daci, sive Valachi, originem, quam ad decus prae se ferunt praedicantque Romanam, loquela ostendunt, quos catholice christianos Romam quotannis et Apostolorum limina invisentes aliquando gavisi sumus ita loquentes audire, ut, quae vulgari communique gentis suae more dicunt, rusticam male grammaticam redoleant latinitatem."}} Flavio Biondo, ''Ad Alphonsum Aragonensem serenissimum regem de expeditione in Turchos Blondus Flavius Forliviensis'' in: Mirko Tavoni, Latino, grammatica, volgare: storia di una questione umanistica, 1984, p. 58</ref>

King [[Matthias Corvinus|Matthias]] confirmed the liberties of the Vlachs in an open letter, issued March 31, 1474 in the town of [[Ružomberok]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Diaconescu |first=Marius |date=2015 |title=Census Valachorum in mid 16th century Upper Hungary |url=https://www.academia.edu/30713382 |access-date=8 August 2023 |website=Academia.edu}}</ref>

[[Jan Długosz]] in his ''Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae'' wrote about Vlachs in Medieval Poland – Małopolska region, theorizing their origin as a population that came from Italy or [[Rome]] who  expelled the [[Ruthenians|Ruthenian]] (Slavic) population from the Danube settlements, and then they themselves settled in the fertile lands there.<ref name="Obara-Pawłowska"/>

An attested reference to Romanian comes from a Latin title of an oath made in 1485 by the Moldavian Prince [[Stephen the Great]] to the Polish King [[Casimir IV Jagiellon|Casimir]], in which it is reported that "{{lang|la|Haec Inscriptio ex Valachico in Latinam versa est sed Rex Ruthenica Lingua scriptam accepta}}"—"This Inscription was translated from Valachian (Romanian) into Latin, but the King has received it written in the Ruthenian language (Slavic)."<ref name="ErnstGleßgen2008">{{Cite book |last=Dahmen |first=Wolfgang |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9FzgmKbTN70C&pg=PA738 |title=Romanische Sprachgeschichte: Ein internationales Handbuch zur Geschichte der romanischen Sprachen |date=2008 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-014694-3 |editor-last=Ernst |editor-first=Gerhard |volume=1 |location=Berlin |pages=738<!-- 727–746 --> |language=de |chapter=Externe Sprachgeschichte des Rumänischen |editor-last2=Gleßgen |editor-first2=Martin-Dietrich |editor-last3=Schmitt |editor-first3=Christian |editor-last4=Schweickard |editor-first4=Wolfgang}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tomescu |first=Mircea |title=Istoria cărții românești de la începuturi până la 1918 |date=1968 |publisher=Editura Științifică |location=[[Bucharest|București]] |pages=40 |language=ro}}</ref>

== Toponymy ==
In addition to the ethnic groups of Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians and Istro-Romanians who emerged during the Migration Period, other Vlachs could be found as far north as Poland, as far west as Moravia and Dalmatia.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Slavonian Census of 1698. Part I: Structure and Meaning, European Journal of Population|author=Hammel, E. A. and Kenneth W. Wachter|publisher=University of California|url=http://www.demog.berkeley.edu/~gene/hammel_1-fmt.html}}</ref> In search of better pasture, they were called ''Vlasi'' or ''Valaši'' by the Slavs.
States mentioned in medieval chronicles were:{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
* ''[[Wallachia]]'' – between the [[Southern Carpathians]] and the [[Danube]] (''[[Tara Romaneasca|Ţara Românească]]'' in Romanian); Bassarab-Wallachia ([[Basarab I of Wallachia|Bassarab's Wallachia]] and [[Ungro-Wallachia]] or Wallachia Transalpina in administrative sources;{{which|date=March 2021}}
* ''[[Moldavia]]'' – between the [[Carpathians]] and the [[Dniester]] river (''Bogdano-Wallachia''; Bogdan's Wallachia,{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} Moldo-Wallachia or ''Maurovlachia''; Black Wallachia, ''Moldovlachia'' or ''Rousso-Vlachia'' in Byzantine sources<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Vásáry |first=István |year=2005 |title=Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365|pages=142–143|publisher= Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-83756-9}}</ref>);
*''[[Second Bulgarian Empire]]'', between the Carpathians and the [[Balkan Mountains]] – ''Regnum Bulgarorum et Blachorum'' in documents by [[Pope Innocent III]]{{which|date=March 2021}}{{citation needed|date=March 2021}}
*''Terra Prodnicorum'' (or Terra [[Brodnici]]), mentioned by Pope Honorius III in 1222. Vlachs led by Ploskanea supported the Tatars in the 1223 Battle of Kalka. Vlach lands near [[Galicia (Eastern Europe)|Galicia]] in the west, [[Volhynia]] in the north, Moldova in the south and the Bolohoveni lands in the east were conquered by Galicia.<ref>A. Boldur, Istoria Basarabiei, Editura Victor Frunza, Bucuresti 1992, pp 98–106</ref>{{POV statement|date=March 2021}}

Regions and places are:
*[[White Wallachia]] in [[Moesia]]<ref name="ReferenceA">Since Theophanes Confessor and Kedrenos, in : A.D. Xenopol, ''Istoria Românilor din Dacia Traiană'', Nicolae Iorga, Teodor Capidan, C. Giurescu : ''Istoria Românilor'', Petre Ș. Năsturel ''Studii și Materiale de Istorie Medie'', vol. XVI, 1998</ref>{{request quotation|date=April 2016}}
*[[Great Wallachia]] (Μεγάλη Βλαχία, ''Megáli vlahía'') in [[Thessaly]]<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
*Small Wallachia (Μικρή Βλαχία, ''Mikrí vlahía'') in [[Aetolia]], [[Acarnania]], [[Dorida]] and [[Locrida]]<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
*[[Morlachia]], in [[Lika]]-[[Dalmatia]]
*Upper Wallachia (Άνω Βλαχία, ''Áno Vlahía'') in southern [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Albania]] and [[Epirus]]
*Magna Vlachia in southern [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]], [[Albania]] and [[Epirus]]<ref name="Timaru" />
*''Stari Vlah'' ("the Old Vlach"), a region in southwestern [[Serbia]]
*''Maior Vlachia'', a region in southwestern part of Croatia mentioned in 1373<ref name="Madgearu 2001 59"/>
*[[Romanija]] mountain (''Romanija planina'') in eastern [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]<ref>Map of Yugoslavia, file East, sq. B/f, Istituto Geografico de Agostini, Novara, in : ''Le Million, encyclopédie de tous les pays du monde'', vol. IV, ed. Kister, Geneve, Switzerland, 1970, pp. 290–291, and many other maps & old atlases – these names disappear after 1980.</ref>
*[[Vlașca County]], a former county of southern Wallachia (derived from Slavic ''Vlaška'')
*[[Greater Wallachia]], an older name for the region of Muntenia, southeastern Romania
*[[Lesser Wallachia]], an older name for the region of Oltenia, southwestern Romania
*An Italian writer called the [[Banat]] ''Valachia citeriore'' ("Wallachia on this side") in 1550.<ref name="MușatArdeleanu1985">{{cite book|author1=Mircea Mușat|author2=Ion Ardeleanu|title=From Ancient Dacia to Modern Romania|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPsJAQAAIAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Editura Științifică și Enciclopedică|quote=that in 1550 a foreign writer, the Italian Gromo, called the Banat "Valachia citeriore" (the Wallachia that stands on this side).}}</ref>
*''Valahia transalpina'', including [[Făgăraș]] and [[Hațeg]]
*[[Moravian Wallachia]] ({{langx|cs|Moravské Valašsko}}), in the [[Beskid Mountains]] (Czech: Beskydy) of the [[Czech Republic]].<ref>Z. Konečný, F. Mainus, Stopami minulosti: Kapitoly z dějin Moravy a Slezska/Traces of the Past: Chapters from the History of Moravia and Silesia, Brno:Blok,1979</ref>

== Shepherd culture ==
As national states appeared in the area of the former [[Ottoman Empire]], new state borders were developed that divided the summer and winter habitats of many of the [[transhumance]] groups. During the Middle Ages, many Vlachs were shepherds who drove their flocks through the mountains of Central and Eastern Europe. Vlach shepherds may be found as far north as southern Poland ([[Podhale]]) and the eastern Czech Republic ([[Moravia]]) by following the Carpathians, the [[Dinaric Alps]] in the west, the [[Pindus Mountains]] in the south, and the [[Caucasus Mountains]] in the east.<ref>Silviu Dragomir: "Vlahii din nordul peninsulei Balcanice în evul mediu"; 1959, p. 172</ref> In [[Slovak language]], the term ''Valasi'' became a synonym for apprentice shepherds.<ref name="horváth"/>

Some researchers, such as [[Bogumil Hrabak]] and [[Marian Wenzel]], theorized that the origins of [[Stećci]] tombstones, which appeared in [[medieval Bosnia]] between 12th and 16th century, could be attributed to Vlach [[Burial|burial culture]] of Bosnia and Herzegovina of that times.<ref>Marian Wenzel, "Bosnian and Herzegovinian Tombstobes—Who Made Them and Why?" ''Sudost-Forschungen'' 21 (1962): 102–143</ref>

== Gallery ==
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Théodore Valerio, Paysans valaques des environs de Lugos, Romanian peasants from around Lugos, 1851.jpg|Théodore Valerio, Paysans valaques des environs de Lugos. Vlach/Romanian peasants from around [[Lugoj]], 1851.
File:Raffet - Berger du Banat.jpg|alt=|Vlach shepherd of [[Banat]] ([[Auguste Raffet]], {{circa|1837}})
File:A Morlach couple, Geissler.jpg|A [[Morlach]] couple ([[Vlachs in the history of Croatia|Vlachs that live in Croatia]]), Christian Geissler, before 1844
File:Rumanians in America.jpg|alt=|Romanian immigrants in [[Ellis Island]], United States
File:Femmes valaques revêtues du costume national - Van Den Brule Alfred - 1907.jpg|Vlach women in traditional dress, North Macedonia/Greece, Van Den Brule Alfred, 1907
File:Vlach revolutionaries from Ber or Veria.jpg|Vlach revolutionaries in the [[Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization]] against the Ottoman Empire from [[Veria]] (today in northern Greece), between 1900 and 1908
</gallery>

== Legacy ==
According to Ilona Czamańska "''for several recent centuries the investigation of the Vlachian ethnogenesis was so much dominated by political issues that any progress in this respect was incredibly difficult''". The transhumance of Vlachs, the heirs of Roman citizens, may be a key for solving the problem of [[ethnogenesis]], but the problem is that many migrations were in multiple directions during the same time. These migrations were not just part of the history of the Balkans and the Carpathians, they exist in the Caucasus, the [[Adriatic islands]] and possibly over the entire region of the [[Mediterranean Sea]]. Because of this, our knowledge concerning primary migrations of the Vlachs and the ethnogenesis is more than modest.<ref>Ilona Czamańska; (2015) ''The Vlachs – several research problems'' p. 14; BALCANICA POSNANIENSIA XXII/1 IUS VALACHICUM I, [https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/bp/article/view/3895/0]</ref>

Researcher have also raised a concern about [[cultural appropriation]] of Vlach heritage in the Balkans, denial of Vlach descent of various groups and personalities, and exclusion from political life.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/41875863/Cultural%20appropriation%20of%20the%20Vlachs%20heritage%20in%20Balkans Octavian Ciobanu: Cultural appropriation of the Vlachs' heritage in Balkans]</ref>

== See also ==
{{Div col|colwidth=3}}
* [[Oláh (surname)|Oláh]]
* [[Morlachs]]
* [[Romania in the Early Middle Ages]]
* [[Statuta Valachorum]]
* [[Supplex Libellus Valachorum]]
* [[Vlach (Ottoman social class)]]
* [[Vlach law]]
* [[Vlachs in medieval Serbia]]
* [[Vlachs in the history of Croatia]]
* [[Vlachs in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
{{div col end}}

== Notes ==
{{reflist|30em}}

== References ==
* G. Weigand, Die Aromunen, Bd.Α΄-B΄, J. A. Barth (A.Meiner), Leipzig 1895–1894.
* [[George Murnu]], ''Istoria românilor din Pind, Vlahia Mare 980–1259'' ("History of the Romanians of the Pindus, Greater Vlachia, 980–1259"), Bucharest, 1913
* Ilie Gherghel, Câteva consideraţiuni la cuprinsul noţiunii cuvântului "Vlach". Bucuresti: Convorbiri Literare, (1920).
* [[Theodor Capidan]], ''Aromânii, dialectul aromân. Studiul lingvistic'' ("Aromanians, Aromanian dialect, Linguistic Study"), Bucharest, 1932
* A.Hâciu, Aromânii, Comerţ. Industrie. Arte. Expasiune. Civiliytie, tip. Cartea Putnei, Focşani 1936.
* Steriu T. Hagigogu, "''Romanus şi valachus sau Ce este romanus, roman, român, aromân, valah şi vlah''", Bucharest, 1939
* {{Cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Samuel Hazzard |last2=Sherbowitz-Wetzor |first2=Olgerd P. |date=1953 |title=The Russian Primary Chronicle, Laurentian Text. Translated and edited by Samuel Hazzard Cross and Olgerd P. Sherbowitz-Wetzor |url=https://www.mgh-bibliothek.de/dokumente/a/a011458.pdf |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=The Mediaeval Academy of America |pages=325 |isbn= |access-date=26 January 2023}} (First edition published in 1930. The first 50 pages are a scholarly introduction.)
** {{Cite book |last1=Cross |first1=Samuel Hazzard |last2=Sherbowitz-Wetzor |first2=Olgerd P. |orig-year=1953 |title=SLA 218. Ukrainian Literature and Culture. Excerpts from The Rus' Primary Chronicle (Povest vremennykh let, PVL) |publisher=Electronic Library of Ukrainian Literature, University of Toronto |date=2013 |url=http://sites.utoronto.ca/elul/English/218/PVL-selections.pdf |location=Toronto |pages=16 |access-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140530225833/http://www.utoronto.ca/elul/English/218/PVL-selections.pdf |archive-date=30 May 2014}}
* Τ. Winnifrith, The Vlachs. The History of a Balkan People, Duckworth 1987
* A. Koukoudis, Oi mitropoleis kai i diaspora ton Vlachon [Major Cities and Diaspora of the Vlachs], publ. University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1999.
* A. Keramopoulos, Ti einai oi koutsovlachoi [What are the Koutsovlachs?], publ 2 University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 2000.
* {{cite book|author1=Birgül Demirtaş-Coşkun|author2=Ankara University. Center for Eurasian Strategic Studies|title=The Vlachs: a forgotten minority in the Balkans|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mYYvAQAAMAAJ|year=2001|publisher=Frank Cass|ref={{harvid|Demirtaş-Coşkun|2001}}}}
* Victor A. Friedman, "The Vlah Minority in Macedonia: Language, Identity, Dialectology, and Standardization" in ''Selected Papers in Slavic, Balkan, and Balkan Studies'', ed. Juhani Nuoluoto, ''et al.'' ''Slavica Helsingiensa'': '''21''', Helsinki: University of Helsinki. 2001. 26–50. [http://www.farsarotul.org/The%20Vlah%20Minority%20in%20Macedonia.pdf full text] Though focussed on the Vlachs of North Macedonia, has in-depth discussion of many topics, including the origins of the Vlachs, their status as a minority in various countries, their political use in various contexts, and so on.
* Asterios I. Koukoudis, ''The Vlachs: Metropolis and Diaspora'', 2003, {{ISBN|960-7760-86-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Tanner|first=Arno |title=The Forgotten Minorities of Eastern Europe: The History and Today of Selected Ethnic Groups in Five Countries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EQtCPAo1XU8C&pg=PA203|year=2004|publisher=East-West Books|isbn=978-952-91-6808-8|pages=203–}}
* Th Capidan, Aromânii, Dialectul Aromân, ed2 Εditură Fundaţiei Culturale Aromâne, București 2005
* [[Nicolas Trifon|Trifon, Nicolas]]. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110210081132/http://balkans.courriers.info/article16636.html Les Aroumains, un peuple qui s'en va (Paris, 2005); Cincari, narod koji nestaje (Beograd, 2010)]
* {{Cite book |last=Kristó |first=Gyula |title=Early Transylvania (895–1324) |publisher=Lucidus |year=2003 |isbn=963-9465-12-7 |location=Budapest}}
*{{Cite book |last=Miskolczy |first=Ambrus |url=https://mek.oszk.hu/22600/22639/22639.pdf |title=A román középkor időszerű kérdései |publisher=Magyarságkutató Intézet |year=2021 |isbn=978-615-6117-41-0 |location=Budapest |language=Hungarian |trans-title=Timely questions of the Romanian Middle Ages |issn=2677-0261}}
* {{Cite book |last=Pop |first=Ioan-Aurel |title=Românii și maghiarii în secolele IX-XIV. Geneza statului medieval în Transilvania] [Romanians and Hungarians from the 9th to the 14th Century. The Genesis of the Transylvanian Medieval State]. |publisher=Center for Transylvanian Studies |year=1996 |isbn=978-973-5770-04-4|language=ro}}

== Further reading ==
* ''The Watchmen'', a documentary film by Alastair Kenneil and Tod Sedgwick (US) 1971 describes life in the Vlach village of Samarina in Epiros, Northern Greece.
* John Kennedy Campbell, 'Honour Family and Patronage' A Study of Institutions and Moral Values in a Greek Mountain Community, [[Oxford University Press]], 1974.
* Gheorghe Bogdan, ''Memory, Identity, Typology: An Interdisciplinary Reconstruction of Vlach Ethnohistory'', B.A., University of British Columbia, 1992.
* [[Franck Vogel]], [http://www.geo.fr/photos/reportages-geo/les-valaques-le-peuple-le-plus-discret-des-balkans a photo-essay on the Valchs published by GEO magazine (France), 2010.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714231000/http://www.geo.fr/photos/reportages-geo/les-valaques-le-peuple-le-plus-discret-des-balkans |date=14 July 2014 }}.
* Adina Berciu-Drăghicescu, Aromâni, meglenoromâni, istroromâni : aspecte identitare şi culturale, Editura Universităţii din București, 2012. {{ISBN|978-606-16-0148-6}}.
* Octavian Ciobanu, "The Role of the Vlachs in the Bogomils' Expansion in the Balkans.", Journal of Balkan and Black Sea Studies, Year 4, Issue 7, December 2021, pp.&nbsp;11–32.
* A.J.B Wace, M.A. & M.S. Thompson, M.A. 'The Nomads of The Balkans' An Account Of Life And Customs Among The Vlachs of Northen Pindus, Methuen & Co. LTD. London, 1914.

== External links ==
{{wiktionary|Vlach}}
{{commons category|Vlachs}}
{{EB1911 poster|Vlachs}}
* [http://www.proiectavdhela.ro/pdf/maria_magiru_romanii_balcanici_aromanii.pdf Romănii Balcanici Aromânii ]{{snd}}Maria Magiru about Aromanians {{in lang|Ro}}
* [http://www.friesian.com/decdenc2.htm The Vlach Connection and Further Reflections on Roman History]
* [http://www.orbilat.com/General_Survey/Terms--Wallachians_Walloons_Welschen_etc.html Orbis Latinus: Wallachians, Walloons, Welschen]
* [http://www.farsarotul.org/nl27_1.htm Vlachs in Greece]
* [https://www.academia.edu/40985166/CULTURAL_APPROPRIATION_OF_THE_VLACHS_HERITAGE_IN_BALKANS. Cultural appropriation of Vlachs' heritage]
* [http://www.armanami.org/index.php French Vlachs Association (in Vlach, EN and FR)]
* [http://www.vlachs.gr/uk/index-uk.htm Studies on the Vlachs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070813180023/http://www.vlachs.gr/uk/index-uk.htm |date=13 August 2007 }}, by Asterios Koukoudis
* [http://www.vlahoi.net Vlachs' in Greece] (in Greek)
* [http://www.CTArm.org Consiliul A Tinirlor Armanj, Youth Aromanian community and their Projects] (in Vlach, EN and RO)
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRsOwn5V59c ''Old Wallachia'']{{snd}}a short Czech film from 1955 depicting life of Vlachs in Czech Moravia
* [https://www.academia.edu/36939351/The_heritage_of_Western_Balkan_Vlachs Western Balkan Vlachs]

[[Category:Eastern Romance people]]
[[Category:Transhumant ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Exonyms]]