[138] Teutschländer, from whose excellent little treatise, Michael der Tapfere (Wien, C. Gräser, 1879), these details are taken, mentions many customs as existing in the time of Michael which were in all probability only introduced at a later period. The tobacco-tax is clearly one of them.
[139] The reader will find full accounts of the officials and their various duties, as well as a description of the investiture of the princes, in Raicevich, p. 62. In Wilkinson, p. 55, he will find that in his day there had been a great multiplication of the offices; there were second and third Logothets, second and third Vestiars, &c.
[140] Reissenberger, p. 39, in part quoting Engel.
[141] Some modern Roumanian historians affirm that Mircea already had a regular army, but Roesler and others treat the assertion with ridicule. As to Michael, the reader will judge for himself whether or not it would have been possible to accomplish what he did without a disciplined force.
[142] Siebenbürgen was so called from seven forts erected there.
[143] Teutschländer, p. 201.
[144] According to Vaillant and others there were two officers each with 300 men, and Michael ran his sword through one of the officers, but before he could withdraw it the other, called Bory, struck him down with his halberd.
[145] Vaillant (chronological table, vol. ii. p. 444) gives nineteen distinct princes, some of whom reigned twice in Wallachia, and twenty-eight, of whom one reigned three times in Moldavia, between 1601 and 1714. His dates and names must not, however, be regarded as authoritative.
[146] The reader who is interested in this subject will find a concise history of the following families in Carra, namely, Cantemir (said by some to be of Tartar origin), Ghika, Petreczeicus, Duca, Cantacuzene, Brancovano, Mavrocordato.
[147] A lion, crown, or ecu, of gold was worth about 4s. 8d., of silver 2s. 8d.