Craiova

Craiova stands near the Jiu in the fertile country of Oltenia. Its position made it a market for the surrounding plain and a seat of the great boyar families who governed western Wallachia. At the end of the fifteenth century Prince Vlad the Monk moved the seat of the ban of Oltenia from Strehaia to Craiova, giving the town a leading administrative role.

The authority of the bans and the wealth of local estates helped make Craiova a centre of commerce and churches. Its fortunes were nevertheless tied to the wars fought across the Danube frontier. In the late eighteenth century plague, earthquake and fire struck the town in quick succession. Raiding forces from Vidin occupied it in 1806 during the wider conflict between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Despite these disasters, Craiova remained the principal town of Oltenia.