Domnitor

Domnitor (pl. domnitori) was the official title of the ruler of the United Principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia between 1859 and 1866. The term was previously used also in connection with Michael the Brave who united Romania for the first time, albeit for a short period, in the year 1600; 'Domnitor' was used in medieval times along with the slavonic-derived term of "Voievod"/voivode, and it derives from the 'cultivated Latin' term Dominus"; (the word itself is derived in the Romanian language from the word "domn" (lord or 'ruler'), in its turn originating from the Latin word "''Dominus"). It acquired an officially recognized meaning only after Wallachia and Moldavia chose through simultaneous and independent popular voting the same ruler--Alexandru Ioan Cuza (Alexander Joan Couza)-- in 1859. Previously, Wallachian and Moldavian rulers had sometimes been referred to by the term, though their official titles had been voivode and hospodar, especially after they were officially nominated by the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire.

The last two Domnitori of Romania were: Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1859–1866, deposed), and Prince Carol I of Romania of the new dynasty of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen who began his reign in 1866.

In 1881, Prince Carol I was crowned as "King of Roumania" (King of Romania ), that had been recognized in 1878-- in written documents by the Porte and the Sultan-- as an Independent Principality, and thus no longer an Ottoman vassal.

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