Wise Old Lazarus

Legend talks about the times when the Mongol hordes invaded Hangu. According to their custom, they robbed and set fire to houses, churches and the Prince’s Palace. They plundered and took many cattle, slaves, retreating with all they could get. Most of the inhabitants hid in the forests and mountain valleys. The legend also tells us that the Hangu’s locals did not leave the Mongols’ action unpunished. Led by the old man Lazarus, they waited for the Mongols in a place on the Lady’s Hill called Palanca. There they closed the road with cut down trees. They had cut down the trees holding them so that they would not overturn on their own, and at the moment of the appearance of the crowd, they let the trees fell on it, destroying it altogether. Only one Mongol escaped, which a rifleman shot down when he was on his way towards Călugăreni.

The memory of the Mongols passing through the region is preserved in an anecdotal form. The priest Simion Ungureanu from Secu Buhalniței told the story of Constantin Mătasă: “When the Mongols entered Ceahlău, they robbed a nearby village. The poor people, fleeing in a hurry, were up in the woods on the nearby hill. A wife, who was too busy with the concealment of things that seemed most precious to her, was caught in the house and could no longer run. Being young and beautiful, the Mongol tied her hands and mounted her on the horse to take her as a slave. When the people on the hill saw what was happening, they shouted in terror at the man, who was nearby:

”Hurry up John, because the Mongol man took Mary.”

John took a look towards the valley and with his hand crossed on his chest, he said:

”Oh, poor Mongol man!” (After C. Matasă, Through Moldavia at the foothill of the mountain, in a manuscript found at the Archives of the Neamț State).

The legend and anecdote presented above are the only local sources that mention the presence and plunder of the Mongols in the Hangu region. The question arises as to whether the Mongols reached Hangu, plundered it, and whether it was possible for the Hangu locals to destroy the Mongols, being known that the Mongols were well known for being very skilled at the art of war, had a lot of experience in fighting being used in the Turks’ wars with the German people and other nations from Europe and Asia.

The answer to this question is yes. The presence of the Mongols in Hangu is also recorded in the chronicles of that time. During the Austro-Turkish War in 1716-1718, all of Moldavia, from the mountains to Siret river, was occupied by the robing Germans; they were joined by the Moldavians, who rioted, because they were no longer willing to pay the tribute imposed by the ruler Mihai Racoviță. The German people occupied then both Neamț Land, and Hangu. Mihai Racoviță called for help from the Mongol hordes who managed to defeat the “soldiers”. For their service, the Mongols asked for 10 bags of money, as a price for their departure from the country, but Mihai Racoviță did not give them the required gold, allowing them, instead, to plunder the country beyond Siret river “because that people is all so greedy, dear soldier”. On that occasion, the Mongols plundered Neamț Land, reaching at the foothill of Ceahlău Massif. Neculce also wrote: “And from Siret river onwards, they also set free the loaves to prey as much as they could of all the Neamț Land. And as far as Hangu and Ceahlău they plundered them and returned full of slaves to Buceag. ”(Ion Neculce, Letopisețul Țării Moldovei, Ed. Minerva, 1982, p.658).

Old Lazarus must have been a Hangu local, who took part in the wars of that time: He probably led the soldiers of Hangu in these battles as they were in 1674. The surname Lazarus existed and exists in Hangu, Catagrafia (population census) since 1774. It mentions Ion Lazăr, Simeon Lazăr and Lăzăroaie, the grandmother. If there was the name of Lazarus in 1774, then there was also in 1716 -1717 when the Mongol hordes invaded Hangu.

Prof., Gheorghe Drugă