Given the fact that I am likely to obtain materials in Romania with difficulty (or find that little or no research exists on my topic at all!) I am going to have to extrapolate most of information from less direct sources. Given this, I have come up with some questions that I’ll need to consider which may help me in my quest…
With what areas were the Saxon cities in most contact? What were major routes of travel? Did Moldavia and Wallachia have any ties with the Transylvanian area of Hungary? TRADE ROUTES – who would have seen what in their travels? What was a typical budget for Moldavian monastery and how does this compare to the budgets of Western churches.
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Having thought about this a bit more, you should start with Dacian trade routes. There will be some information on these, given Romanian fascination with their "Dacian ancestors". These routes would have evolved organically through the Roman area and afterwards. They may have been dislocated somewhat when Moldavia and Wallachia became Ottoman vassal states, and when Transylvania became cut off by Ottoman advance after Mohac. However, the Ottomans traded too, even as they severed old political links. It may be that, after the Ausgleich, more nationalistic Hungarian policies reduced trade with Moldavia and Wallachia, however I am speculating. Of course, Bucovina was Austrian back then. You also need to look at the resources that existed in Moldavia and Wallachia. The former produced livestock and associated products, and timber (which was floated down to the Black Sea). There were some minerals in the Bucovina, which began to be exploited in the 1700s (if I recall correctly). Wallachia produced maize (shipped on the Danube) and livestock. I suspect that manufactured goods came in, and agricultural products (and some minerals) went out.
Have a look into the medieval Moldavian land holdings in Transylvania (Cetatea din Balta - I'm not quite sure if this is spelled correctly - near Blaj comes to mind) and where the customs posts were located (Rodna comes to mind, obviously there would have been more, Bran Castle was in effect another customs post).
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