TY - JOUR AU - Czamańska, Ilona PY - 2021/09/07 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - The area of residence, legal status and directions of economic activity of the Wallachians / Vlachs in the Middle Ages and the early modern era JF - Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et studia JA - BP VL - 28 IS - 1 SE - Articles DO - 10.14746/bp.2021.28.1 UR - https://pressto.amu.edu.pl/index.php/bp/article/view/28741 SP - 7-34 AB - <p>This article is devoted to the scope of Vlach settlement, Vlach law and its functioning, as well as the socio-economic role of the Vlachs in Central European and Balkan areas. The source material at our disposal does not allow us to define any clear direction for the expansion of the Vlachs as an ethnos, especially since it evolved very quickly in some areas, but undoubtedly, when the Vlachs appear in the sources, their presence is possible to be traced from the Chalkidiki Peninsula to the Carpathians. By observing the functioning of the Vlach law, we can observe a similar development in the entire territory where it was applied, including the countries of Western European and Byzantine-Orthodox tradition, or the Ottoman Empire. Also the evolution of this law was similar and occurred at a similar time. We can observe the following stages of this evolution:<br>1. till 14<sup>th</sup> century: shaping the social and self-government system of Vlach communities<br>2. 14<sup>th</sup> –16<sup>th</sup> centuries: settlement processes and intensive colonization under the Vlach law<br>3. 16<sup>th</sup> –18<sup>th</sup> centuries: taking up agricultural activities by some Vlachs and their loss of the Vlach law<br>4. 15<sup>th</sup> –18<sup>th</sup> centuries: using the principles of Vlach law to build the legal status of Military Borderlands<br>5. 14<sup>th</sup> –18<sup>th</sup> centuries: accession of <em>knez</em>, <em>voivodes</em> and <em>primićurs </em>to the nobility or the timariot class<br>Vlachs, despite their seemingly primitive way of life and management, played an important civilizational role, enabling the economic use of hard-to-reach and dangerous areas.&nbsp;</p> ER -