Caracal

Caracal lies on the plain between the lower Jiu and Olt, in the fertile grain-growing country of southern Oltenia. Its market served the surrounding villages, while its position made it a convenient stopping place for Wallachian rulers travelling through the region. The princely court here recalls a time when Caracal was more than a local centre of agricultural trade.

The town first appears in a deed of 1538, when Radu Paisie granted estates he had bought from Marga of Caracal to a faithful official. Michael the Brave later held a court here and issued documents from it. In 1598 he marched from his camp at Caracal across the Danube to attack Ottoman forces at Nicopolis, where he was wounded and his horse was killed beneath him.