At this point, I have located a fair amount of Moldavian history books, essays and books on Stefan cel Mare, and a plethora of touristy sources for the monasteries (frankly, that's all overwhelming). Now that I know I can find sources and have access to information and all the monasteries that I could want, I'm thinking of a to-do list/overall image.
I'm thinking by the end of October, I would hope to have a solid understanding of Moldavian history (from about 1340-1540 or so) and an understanding of the foreign affairs of Moldavia at the time. While considering that, I will definitely need to strengthen my knowledge of geography (since most battle accounts describe wins and losses in terms of cities taken over or rivers reached, etc).
Into November, I will start getting into religious history of the Romanian Orthodox church. The development of Christianity was one of the things that most interested me about the project. Christianity was introduced to Romanian by the Romans, but after they left, native Romanians continued practicing Christianity for centuries, even while they were occupied by pagan tribes. Not until the 14th century did Moldavia and Wallachia 'officially' declare an affiliation with either the Western or Eastern Church, though they were in close contact with the Eastern and Western church and the Ottomans through the same time period.
I want to hold off a bit until I have all of that information under my belt. It's difficult for me to formulate a thesis quite yet since I don't really know yet what more research will reveal.
I do have a couple of ideas though: How Moldavian church architecture of the late 15th-16th century influenced Transylvanian Orthodox church architecture; the inspirations for the development of Moldavian church architecture; the development of Moldavian church architecture, from the 1488-1530s through the next century.
We'll see how it goes.
1 comment:
You could look at http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/ for some maps that are, well, strange. There are a few in the depths of that site that may be relevant.
As for the monasteries, try looking at the influence of Byzantines who fled west after the fall of Constantinople. Also, remember that the Moldavian crown held various lands in Transylvania in the 15th century (and maybe at other times). There is a church endowed by Stefan cel Mare in Feleac, just south of Cluj.
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