Saxon Roots | RomaniaForAll.com
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Saxon Roots

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Transylvanian Saxons

The Saxons are a population of German origin, settled in Transylvania by the Hungarian kings. It is believed that the Saxons came from Flandre or from a region near the North Sea, while others came from the middle Rhine region or Luxembourg.
There is no exact date on which they were settled in Transylvania, because the documents that could have attested it were lost during the great Tatar invasion in 1241. What is known for sure though is that they started to come on present Romanian land in the time of Hungarian King Geza II (1141-1162), who granted them privileges. The first groups were from the West German territories (Rhine, Moselle): Flemings, Walloons, Franconi. The documents talk about Flandrenses, Teutonic, Saxon, but the latter was generalized to the entire Germanic population.

Transylvania, sweet home
Transylvania, sweet home

To be encouraged to settle down and economically develop southern Transylvania, the Saxons received significant privileges. Saxon communities also benefited from administrative, judicial and religious privileges, in exchange for the military & fiscal obligations to the Hungarian crown.
The rapid expansion of cities populated by the Saxons led to Transylvania being known in German as Siebenbürgen (Septem Castra in Latin), refferring to seven of the fortified towns: Sibiu (Hermannstadt); Cluj-Napoca (Klausenburg); Brașov (Kronstadt); Sighișoara (Schässburg); Mediaș (Mediasch); Sebeș (Mühlbach), and Bistrița (Bistritz).

The villages with fortified churches are specific to SE Transylvania and have played both a religious and military role for more than five centuries. Counting nearly 150 buildings in the XXIst century (300 once existed), the fortified churches in Transylvania form one of the more dense system of well preserved medieval fortifications in Europe.

Currently, a group of seven former Saxon villages is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site: Biertan / Sibiu county, Câlnic / Alba county, Dârjiu / Harghita county, Prejmer / Brașov county, Saschiz / Mures county, Valea Viilor / Sibiu county, Viscri / Brașov county.