The Emperors or The Lords? Succesors of Stephen the Great and Their Title "Tsar" in Chronicle of Macarie
Abstract
The chronicle of Moldavian Bishop Macarie created in the 16th century is probably the most influential work of early Moldavian historiography. One of its specifics is the frequent and systematic use of the title "tsar' (Slavonic translation of Greek βασιλεύς/emperor) in connection with Moldavian voivodes.
The aim of this article is to examine how this usage could be influenced by older byzantine chronicles (translated in to the old Slavic language in Bulgaria) and Serbian annals that circulated in Moldova. In the Slavo-orthodox tradition (closely following the Byzantine tradition), the use of the title "tsar" is broader than in the western tradition.
While in the western tradition, many of the monarchs are called 'only' kings, in the Slavo-orthodox tradition the term 'tsar' is used - this applies to the king vs. tsar of Egypt, Asyria, Judea, Persia, Macedonia and others. Many of these statemen and monarchs have stable role and position throughout the chronicles.
In fact, they represent a historical axis that is the centre of the narrative about universal Roman (and Serbian) history. This article presents that Macarie's regular and systematic usage of the title "tsar" has a significant reason.
It is the effort to include Moldova in this "axis" and make it a part of "the history of Tsars and Tsardoms" to give it roles in the history of orthodox Christendom.