Why Poiana Mucenicului?

At first glance, if we were to address the subject superficially, we might be tempted to confidently answer – SIMPLY, because both in the property deed, the role of the Arefu Town Hall, and in the cadastral documentation, it is written as the outskirts of Arefu commune, DN7C, at the point of Poiana Mucenicului, Argeș County.

Discontent with this response, we dug into the origins:

martyr, martyrs (masculine noun):

1. Christian martyr from the early centuries after Christ;
2. someone who dies for their faith;
3. a person who suffers or sacrifices for their ideas, beliefs.
4. martyr;
5. a sort of small pastry (braided in the shape of an 8) made from baked or boiled dough, with nuts and either sugar or honey;
6. rye pie (mučnik from Slavic/Russian).

Since the Arefu area, being a mountainous region, is not conducive to cereal crops, I have excluded from the definition anything related to the “culinary” aspect. As such, we were compelled to follow the historical thread, and thus, we pieced together various stories and historical sources that might provide us with an answer.

1. Basarab the Founder (circa 1269 – 1352)

Our search begins with Basarab 1st, also known as The Founder, to whom the founding of Poenari Fortress is attributed. This place reminds us of the battle referred to by Nicolae Iorga “The Battle of Posada“, which took place from November 9th to 12th, 1330, marking the emancipation of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown’s influence. In the autumn of 1330, King Charles Robert of Anjou from Hungary embarked on an expedition to punish his former vassal, Basarab 1st of Wallachia (also known as the Land of Ungrovlahia, referring to the land of Vlachs from Hungary), who had refused to pay tribute since 1327.

“Only return in peace and beware of dangers, for if you come here, you will not escape from them“- The peace offer made by Basarab 1st, which promised compensation of 7,000 silver marks, the giving of Severin Citadel, an annual tribute, and sending one of his sons to the Hungarian court as a guarantee, is rejected by the king.”

“In a fit of arrogance, disregarding the advice of some Hungarian nobles who believed that the king should accept Basarab’s peace proposals, Charles Robert of Anjou rejects the offer, saying “Basarab is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will know how to drag him out of the lair where he has hidden.”“. But where could Basarab hide, given that King Charles Robert finds Curtea de Argeș deserted and sets it on fire?!?

The most important written source regarding the Battle of Posada isThe painted chronicle from Vienna. Written for King Louis 1st of Hungary, it describes the history of the Hungarians from their beginnings to King Charles Robert, the first of the Angevin dynasty. In its pages, the Battle of Posada is also narrated: “The king came along a path with his entire army, but this path was winding and closed on both sides by very high cliffs all around, and where this path was wider, the Vlachs had reinforced it with palisades in several places. And the king and all his men, not expecting such a thing, the countless crowd of Vlachs, up on the cliffs, rushed from all sides and showered arrows upon the king’s army, which was at the bottom of a deep path, which could not even be called a path, but rather a narrow boat, where, because of the crowding, the swiftest horses and soldiers fell from all sides into battle. For, due to the steep ascent in that treacherous path, they could not climb against the Vlachs, on any of the cliffs on both sides of the road; neither could they move forward, nor did they have a place to flee, as palisades had been set up there. The king’s soldiers were completely trapped, like fish in a weir or a net..” (Popa-Lisseanu, G., 1937, The Sources of Romanian History, Bucharest: “Bucovina” Printing House).

In this battle, the Hungarian army was decimated, and Charles Robert of Anjou barely escaped, exchanging his clothes with those of a soldier to avoid being recognized.

„Young and old, princes and nobles alike, were falling without any distinction. “For this sad event lasted a long time, from the sixth day of the week to the second day of the following week, during which days the chosen soldiers clashed with each other as babies are rocked and shaken in a cradle, or as reeds swaying in the wind.” And here a terrible disaster occurred, for a multitude of soldiers, princes, and nobles fell, and their number cannot be counted.” (Popa-Lisseanu, G., 1937, The Sources of Romanian History, Bucharest: “Bucovina” Printing House).

The account of the capture of the soldiers „like fish in a weir”, in a gorge „like a narrow boat”, where they collided with each other „as reeds sway in the wind” could correspond to a valley with a watercourse, such as the Argeș River, where reeds grow in some places.

Ion Conea and Andrei Pandrea argue that, in fact, ‘castro Argias’ from the Painted Chronicle of Vienna would refer to Poenari Fortress, not to the fortifications in Curtea de Argeș, while archaeologist Sergiu Iosipescu believes that the Battle of Posada took place at the foot of the fortress, in the Argeș Gorge. In fact, the name of the village of Căpățineni would come, according to tradition, from the remains (chieftains with helmets) that the villagers settled there found when digging the ground.

Another written source belongs to Sigismund of Luxembourg, who describes the location of the battle in a document from 1395 as being “on the mountain ridges, called in common speech [locală] Posada, through narrow passes and narrow paths, squeezed between large bushes“.

Taking into consideration historical sources, the first martyrs can be considered the soldiers who fell on the battlefield at Posada, near Poenari Fortress.

2. Vlad Țepeș (cca. 1431 – 1476)

The second name associated with the history of the area is that of Vlad the Impaler, who reconstructed Poenari Fortress, adding towers, walls, and dependencies. These works are described in the Cantacuzino Chronicle (1290–1690). Here it is reported that “They built the fortress at Poenari and founded the holy monastery at Snagov. They also did something with the townsmen of Târgoviște, for a great offense that was committed against a brother of Vlad-Voivode. When they were on the day of Easter, all the townspeople were at the feast, and the young people were at the choir, so without news they all came upon them. So, all the adults and the elderly, they stabbed them all, and circled the entire town with them. And as for the young men with their wives and grown-up daughters, just as they were adorned on Easter day, they took them all to Poenari, where they worked on the fortress until all their clothes were worn out and they all remained naked in their bare skins.”.

Member of the Drăculești Dynasty, a branch of the Basarab Dynasty, Vlad the Impaler (not to be confused with Bram Stoker’s character, Dracula, associated with the Bran area) chose Poenari Fortress as his secondary residence. In 1462, at the end of his second reign, he also retreated to Poenari, where he was cornered by the Turks who were besieging the fortress, bombarding it from the neighboring mountain (Platoul Tunurilor – today, Poiana Pleaşa) and tearing down its walls. This was recorded by Metropolitan Neofit the Cretan in the year 1747: “and there is a fortress of Vlad voda Tepes, which is separated from the village, higher up, under the foothills of the mountains. And from the fortress downwards, there is a very large ravine, where the waters of the Argeș River flow. And the fortress is built on the estate of Vierăș.of the Vieroș Monastery.), in the village called Cheia (Cheeni, disappeared village, located near Căpățâneni Pămăteni, com. Arefu), between two mountains, and the water flows between the mountains. […] And in the days of this lord Vlad Vodă, the Tartars and the Turks came and beat the fortress with cannons from another mountain to the east where the plains guard, which is called Posada. And after they struck the fortress, they found no one inside because the lord had shod his horses backward and fled to another land in the Hungarian Country.”

Indeed, the historical sources show us that until the Turks went down the slope they were on and climbed the other one to the fortress, Ţepeş managed to escape on the ridge, through the forest, to the village of Arefu. Here, at the urging of a Gypsy woman, Dobra Harasoaica, he changes the horses’ horseshoes, putting them on backward with the help of the seven blacksmith brothers from the Dobrin family. Thus, Ţepeş manages to save himself and flee to Transylvania, following the route Arefu – Sălătrucu – Perişani – Câineni (a route that our team intends to include, at least partially, in the cycling tourism offer 🙂 )

One thing is certain that with the siege of the fortress in 1462, other martyrs appeared on Argeş down, the result of Vlad Ţepes’ political program aimed at emancipating the country from the Ottoman Empire, which he succeeded in his short and tumultuous reign.

3. Radu de la Afumați

Although not widely publicized, he is considered the most “warlike” ruler in the history of Wallachia. In the approximately 5 years of his reign, in four stages, during the period 1522–1529, he led no less than 20 battles, as indicated by the inscription on his tomb in Curtea de Argeș Monastery. One of the battles took place in 1522, under Poenari Fortress, with the peasants and Craiovești boyars supported by Mehmet Beg, the Pasha of Nicopolis, who wanted Vladislav III to be the ruler. The number and significance of the wars he waged during his reign identify him as a major factor in preserving the Romanian national identity.

The inscription on the tombstone describes his life as follows:

„Here lies the servant of God and merciful Ioan Radul, grand voivode and ruler of all the land of Ungro-Wallachia and the Danubian regions, son of the great and benevolent Radul Voivode, in the year 7037, month of January, 4 days, the sun’s circuit 7, indication… 3. Let you know the wars I want to tell you, what I have fought : 1. The Battle with the Agarians[2]; 2. at Glu(bavi); 3. At the village of Ștefeni on the Neajlov River 4. at C(lejani); 5. at Ciocăneşti; 6. at the Bucharest citadel; 7. at Târgovişte; 8. at Argeşel River; 9. at (Plata Village); 10. at (A)limăneşti on the Teleorman River; 11. And the fastest and most fierce of all the wars at Grumazi (with seven bloodsheds) ; 12. at Nicopole; 13. at Siştov; 14. under (the Poenari Fortress) with the peasants.; 15. at Gher(ghiţa) ; 16. at Bucharest again; 17. At the town of Slatina; 18. At (Bucharest Citadel) with Voivode Vladislav; 19. (at Rucăr); 20. at Didrih. Then I was gifted (by God with empire and scepter), they girded me again with a belt and with purple (and with a crown they crowned me and with honor) wealth and with great grace, and surrounded by the multitude of the army, I stretched out my helping hand to many, spread mercy to all, and now I lie in a single grave alone, awaiting the voice of the Archangel, the very last trumpet, the resurrection of the entire world, the transformation of elements, and I pray that those whom God wills to come after us will preserve this small resting place and the house of my bones to remain unshaken”.

The rule of Radu of Afumați represented one of the most convincing lessons of dignity in the struggle of the Romanians against the Ottoman Empire, contributing, in his short reign, to the increase in the number of “martyrs,” among whom, unfortunately, he was also counted.

After “wearying” ourselves browsing through the medieval history of Wallachia and, implicitly, of Poenari Fortress, our thoughts turned to the human lives lost both during the period 1960–1966 in the construction of the Vidraru Dam, and during the period 1970–1974 of the Transfăgărășan Road.

4. Vidraru Dam andTransfăgărășan Road.

Regarding the construction of the Vidraru Dam it is very possible that some grumblers might say: “the totalitarian regime, with its means of repression, managed to concentrate on the construction site a workforce that it compelled to work day and night” , but the testimonies of those who actually worked on the construction site and settled in our area permanently (engineers, foremen, workers) speak of an…”general enthusiasm in which the construction site workers, who came in search of a better life, worked with dedication, being willing to sacrifice themselves to achieve an exceptional goal, useful for the country and its inhabitants ” Although an exact number of people who lost their lives during the works has not been reported, upon completion, the Vidraru Dam ranked approximately 8th in height in Europe and 20th in the world. In the nearly 6 years, impressive volumes of work were completed: 42 km of underground galleries were drilled, approximately 1,400,000 cubic meters of rock were excavated, of which 820,000 cubic meters were underground, 1,040,000 cubic meters of concrete were poured, of which 560,000 cubic meters were underground, and 6,300 tons of electromechanical equipment were installed.

As for the construction of the Transfăgărășan, which at the time was unjustly labeled as a costly ambition of the former communist leader but is now welcomed in the current context, its realization was based on military calculations. Nicolae Ceaușescu lived in fear that Romania would be the next target of the USSR, following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. He wanted to be strategically prepared for the rapid advancement of Romanian military troops through the northern region. This was because, until the completion of the Transfăgărășan Road, crossing the Făgăraș Mountains in that area was not possible, even on horseback.

The construction works took place between March 1970 and September 1974, with the constructed road reaching near the tunnel next to Balea Lake, at an altitude of 2,042 meters. The road passed over 830 bridges and 27 viaducts. For its construction, it was necessary to displace three million tons of rock, requiring the use of 6520 tons of dynamite. Of this amount, 20 tons were used solely for the Capra – Bâlea tunnel.

In conclusion, confident that we have thoroughly researched and unraveled the mystery of Poiana Mucenicului, the name of the area is believed to originate either from the martyrdom of Romanian soldiers fallen in battles fought in the Arges Gorge, or from the human sacrifice associated with the construction of the Vidraru Dam and Transfăgărășan Road (our location being a former construction site organization that hosted engineers during the execution of the works).

5. Mucenic Dinescu

We thought we had cleared up the legends and stories about the martyrs in the area until Ducu, an old friend and collaborator of the “Poiana Mucenicului” project, a secret collector of old postcards, “enlightened” us with a view printed in Dresden, Germany, between 1895 and 1898 under the title “The Household of Mucenic Dinescu (former Deputy of Argeș) from Suhatul Tunurilor, Corbeni commune, Argeș county. We have identified the location in the photograph, which is located 1 km downstream from ‘Poiana Mucenicului’, the term ‘suhat’ [pășune (pe lângă ape sau pe lângă locuri mocirloase)] Reinforcing our reasoning significantly, as such portions still exist along the banks of the Arges River, despite the riverbed having been regulated in the meantime. The addition of the term “tunuri” refers to the place where the “Turk’s Road” began, specifically the ascent to the plateau from where the Poenari Fortress was bombarded in 1462. The Turks were compelled to transport the cannons on the opposite slope of the fortress.

It was the spark that set us on the trail of our “politician” from the Făgăraș vulture’s nest, and we found out that his main “profession” was, to quote “landowner in Argeș“. Nevertheless, he was an active political activist, a supporter of the Program for the emancipation of villagers, and a close collaborator of Constantin Dobrescu–Argeș, with whom he organized the first Peasant Committee in Romania (Mică) in 1880 and the first Peasants’ Congress in Corbeni in 1881. He later succeeded in becoming a deputy representing the Peasants’ Movement.

The Official Gazette from 19.08.1892 presents Mucenic Dinescu as a “relentless” creditor, having executed a fellow villager, Stoica G. Toader, for a debt of 1280 old lei, depriving him of three real estate properties.

The publication “Bobârnacul – Humorous-Satirical Sheet” from 13.02.1886 satirizes Deputy Mucenic Dinescu (for wearing traditional attire in the Chamber of Deputies) in the anecdote “Masquerade Ball,” as follows: “Păcală presents himself dressed in traditional attire at the chamber (of Deputies) and insists on entering, even though the ushers are quite impudent.

• Do you have a ticket, sir?

• I don’t, but I noticed that people in costumes enter without tickets; I just saw Schileru and Mucenic Dinescu entering in traditional attire a moment ago, so why shouldn’t I enter? “

On the occasion of the re-consecration of the Episcopal Church of Curtea de Argeș Monastery in 1886, we find Mucenic Dinescu, as follows:In short, almost the entire population of the town and nearby villages gathered here to welcome the Sovereign Augusts and to line their path with flowers as they were to walk. Here also came Deputy Mucenic Dinescu, on horseback, together with villagers from the Corbeni and Arefu communes, Mr. C. Dobrescu, a teacher, leading several villagers on horseback, mayors with sashes and tricolor flags; in total, more than 500 villagers on horseback.” (The Episcopal Church of Curtea de Argeș Monastery, restored during the Days of His Majesty King Carol 1st and re-consecrated on October 12, 1886).

Unfortunately, typical of the Romanian politician, under the pressures of Ion C. Brătianu and the Liberal government, which “establishes” a so-called “Peasants’ Committee” within the party, Mucenic Dinescu betrays the leader of the Peasants’ Movement, Constantin Dobrescu–Argeș, by leaving the organization and joining the National Liberal Party.

Later, probably troubled by his conscience, in 1898, Mucenic Dinescu intervenes vigorously with the Liberal Gheorghe Palade, the Minister of Justice at that time, to secure the release of his former comrade Dobrescu–Argeș, who had been arrested preventively in a maneuver aimed at compromise and intimidation. Despite being political adversaries at this point, he still valued the ability and integrity of the former leader. However, the Minister cynically responds to Mucenic Dinescu: “We must smash the head of the hydra. We are determined to keep him in the countryside, to prevent him from interfering in the country’s politics anymore. He will not even be allowed to hold the position of a lawyer’s secretary, despite having a doctoral degree in law“. (Constantin Dobrescu – Argeş, Gheorghe I. Deaconu’s attempt at reconsideration)

We do not know if remorse led Mucenic Dinescu to withdraw from public life, just as we do not know when he passed away and where he found eternal rest. However, we have found with certainty, after conducting our study, that his glade witnessed the sufferings and joys through which the Romanian people, as we find them today, were molded.

Basarab 1st Intemeietorul, fought for the emancipation of Wallachia from the Hungarian crown. Vlad Tepes and Radu de la Afumați fought for the emancipation of Wallachia from the Ottoman Empire. The construction of the Vidraru Dam and the Transfăgărășan Road was undertaken for the energy and military emancipation of Romania from the Soviet Union. Mucenic Dinescu, on the other hand, fought for the emancipation of the peasantry. I invite you to Poiana Mucenicului (the witness of all the mentioned events) to free yourself from the troubles of our days, to breathe the fresh mountain air, and rediscover your identity.

Mihai