Ovidiu Cristea
Two Notes on the Putna Monastery’s History | p. 201–210


Keywords
abbot, Chilia citadel, circulation of intelligence, Gaspar Kornis, Putna Monastery

Abstract

The paper puts together two short contributions to the history of the Putna Monastery. The first deals with the time the ruler of Moldavia, Stephen the Great, chose for founding his monastery. Although there is no document to support a connection between the conquest of the Chilia citadel (1465) and the founding of the Putna Monastery, the author suggests that the building of this emblematic monastery was possible only after restoring Moldavia’s borders.

 

The second note emphasizes the importance of Putna in the circulation of intelligence between Moldavia and Transylvania at the end of the 16^th century. A source edited a while ago by Andrei Veress shows that Gaspar Kornis, the count of Maramureş and castellan of the Khust castle, received intelligence about the imminent Tatar invasion from the abbot of the Putna Monastery. Although the source does not give too many details it allows us to draw several conclusions: Putna was a center for collecting and dispatching intelligence, and a trustworthy one at that, since the news was retransmitted to the Polish chancellor Jan Zamoyski. Moreover, the source calls the abbot of Putna a friend of the count of Maramureş, which suggests the existence of a special relation between Maramureş and the monastery of Stephen the Great.