of War. 6.  The Great Vestiar, Treasurer and Master of the Robes. 7.  The Great Postelnik, Master of the Post. 8.  The Paharnic, chief butler and cup-bearer (this was a title of Hungarian origin). 9.  The Great Stolnik, chief cook. 10.  The Great Comis, Master of the Horse. 11.  The Aga, Chief of Police. 12.  Great Pitar, Inspector of Commissariat. 13.  Serdar, general of infantry of three districts (3,000 men).  In Moldavia the Spathar was called the Hettman; in both principalities there were minor offices, and in Stephen’s time the first six only formed the Council of Ministers.[139]

Although, as we have said, the peasantry were chiefly serfs, there were differences in their condition.  The chief body were called Scutelnici, and the peasantry generally were divided into two classes, those who possessed land of their own, and those who worked on the estates of the prince, the boyards, or the monasteries.  Part of the latter were free to move about in search of employment, and the rest were absolutely serfs attached to the soil; the term of service in every case was fixed at forty-eight days in the year.  The towns were growing in importance, the capital being Tirgovistea, but Bucarest (to which place Constantine Brancovano transferred his capital about a century later) was already an important place, owing chiefly to its situation.  Another town or large village was Curtea d’Ardges.  But the Wallachian Voivodes shifted their ‘capital’ as it suited their pleasure, and the removal in those days was probably not a very onerous undertaking.  It appears that Vlad Dracul (the Devil) preferred Tirgovistea, whilst another Voivode, Michna, favoured Ardges.[140] Other towns of note Craiova, Ploiesti, Buzeu, and two or three ports on the Danube.  In Moldavia, Iasi, Suceava, and Roman were the chief towns.  The government of the towns was carried on by a burgomaster, or mayor, a prefect, and a council of twelve citizens.

The army was very heterogeneous both as regarded its nationalities and its armament.  It was then, or perhaps at a somewhat later period, divided into three sections, the regular army,[141] the militia, and the landsturm, the last-named being without pay and only called out in times of great danger, and it consisted mainly of the servants and slaves of the boyards.  The arms of the regular soldiers were originally, as in this country, bows and arrows and lances, but in Michael’s time there were already musketeers and primitive artillery.  Besides the native soldiery there were mercenaries, namely, Hungarians, Szeklers, Poles, Cossacks, Servians, Bulgarians, Albanians, cavalry as well as infantry.  The whole country was at that time divided into military districts answering to the present Judeztu or departments, each district being under the control of a captain who united military, administrative, and judicial power in his own person.  The names of most of the districts remain unchanged to the present day.

To this account of the state of Moldo-Wallachia it is only necessary to add that in time of war, and that was the normal condition, the people were subjected to terrible privations.  When an army advanced, the peasantry were laid under contributions for the troops; when it fled before the enemy, everything was burned or destroyed in its retreat, so that the pursuing force might be checked for want of supplies.