Abstract:
An important component of the social imaginary related to the identity of a people is represented by the images attributed to it by other peoples, primarily neighboring ones. The testimonies of foreign travelers who crossed the Romanian Lands in the 15th-18th centuries, who were in this space in different contexts and with different missions, represent valuable primary sources that allow, not without methodological difficulties, the reconstruction of these representations and images. Among the dominant images constructed by foreigners in the Middle Ages, the one that highlights psychological-moral traits and vices attributed to the majority of Romanians, such as: barbarism, laziness, negligence, theft, drunkenness and ignorance. Another image that stands out by contrast with the first, is related to the admiration and virtues that foreigners identify in the case of Romanians. Along with moderation, agility and the ability to succeed in many professions, foreigners note the warlike virtues of Romanians. The texts cited from the corpus Foreign Travelers about the Romanian Lands are selected according to their degree of generalization and their intention to characterize Romanians beyond the context in which they were observed. The present study attempts to reconstruct, by exploring the descriptions of foreign travelers, aspects that outline the military organization and warlike abilities of the Romanians.
