Farcaș

Farcaș,^[1][2] also Farkas, Farkaș^[3] or Farcas,^[4] was a cneaz (local chieftain or ruler)^[4][5] mentioned in the Diploma of the Joannites issued by king Béla IV of Hungary (1235–1270) on 2 July 1247; the diploma granted territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Cumania.^[6] Farcaș held a kenazate which was given to the knights by the king.^[6] His kenazate lay in the northeast of modern Oltenia (in Romania).^[4]

The diploma of Béla IV also refers to the kenazates of John and voivode Litovoi and to voivode Seneslau.^[6] Seneslau and Litovoi are expressly said to be Vlachs (Olati) in the king's diploma.^[6]

Farkas (Farcaș) is a typical Hungarian name meaning ‘wolf’.^[6] The Romanian historian Ioan-Aurel Pop suggests that his name is mentioned in Hungarian translation in the diploma, and Farcaș's kenazate was one of the incipient Romanian states south of the Carpathian Mountains.^[4]

According to the Hungarian historian István Vásáry [hu], Farcaș was either Hungarian or Romanian with Hungarian name, but the latter supposition is less probable, since Lupu, the Romanian equivalent of Hungarian Farkas, was used by the Romanians.^[6]

László Makkai proposes that the name of Vâlcea County could indicate the land of Farcaș (Slavic vlk (‘wolf’) > Vâlcea).^[7]