Bezerenbam and Mișelav

Updated on Sep 29, 2024

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Bezerenbam (or Bazaram-bam) and Mişelav were the Wallachian (Romanian) leaders (the former a "ban" according to Xenopol, Hasdeu and Constantin C. Giurescu) mentioned in 1241, in the Persian chronicle of Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (Fazel-Ullah-Raschid). They appear in the context of the Mongol invasion of Europe. The former's army was located in Ilaut country, as the chronicle says:

In the middle of the spring (1240), the princes crossed the (...) mountains to enter in the country of Bulars and Bashguirds. Orda, who marched on the right, passing through Ilaut country, met (Bezerenbam?) with an army; the latter has been defeated. Cardan and Buri went against the Sassans, and defeated them after three battles. Budjek crossed the mountains of that country in order to enter in Cara-Ulag (probably Transylvania and Wallachia), defeated the Ulags (Vlachs), crossed the (...) mountains, and entered in the country of (Mişelav?), where he beat the awaiting enemy..

In his work, History of the Romanians, Alexandru D. Xenopol considers that it is possible for Bezerenbam, or Basarab the ban, to be the same person as Litovoi, mentioned in a document from 1247 as ruler of the same land. He considers Bazaram-bam is an ancestor of the Romanian dynasty of Basarab Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu also thinks that the leader was "Basarab the ban", a local leader, while Constantin C. Giurescu considers that this name was a distorted form of the title of Ban of Severin (Terra Zeurino).

Neagu Djuvara is considering the possibility that Mişelav was Seneslau, another Wallachian leader contemporary with and neighbouring Litovoi.

References

Bezerenbam and Mișelav Wikipedia

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