THE INSTITUTION OF BANAT IN THE BANAT OF LUGOJ AND CARANSEBES IN THE XVIth-XVIIth CENTURIES
Sorin BULBOACĂ Ph. D.
“Vasile Goldiş” Western University of Arad
Faculty of Humanities, Politics and Administrative Sciences, Arad
Phone: 0727-455952
E-mail: sorin_bulboaca@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT. In this article, we try to investigate and explain the connection between the Banat og Lugoj-Caransebes and the central institution in Transylvania, during the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. In the Principality of Transylvania, the banat of Lugoj and Caransebes was a member of the council of the prince, as second to the grand captain of Oradea. The most important prerogatives of the bans of Lugoj and Cransebes are the military ones, as they also had other important military posistions in the Principality. They had diplomatic atributions as messengers and negotiators in the relations with the Ottoman Empire or in the relations with Walachia and Moldavia. They were the presidents of the nobility’s assenblies from the Banat of Lugoj and Cransebes or of two districts. The documents mention the „chair of judgement” of the ban, which had competency regarding property, succession, confiscation or distraint of estates for political reasons, in case of betrayal. They have also participated to the religious affairs, encouraging Calvinsm and the translation of some religious books into Romanian.
Keywords: Banat, prerogatives, military, diplomatic attributions, religious affairs