Roman

Roman stands near the confluence of the Moldova and Siret rivers. Named for the Moldavian voivode Roman I, it was a centre of the principality's Lower Country and an Orthodox episcopal see from 1408. A document issued by Roman I bears one of the earliest legible Moldavian seals, with the aurochs, star, moon and flower that became enduring emblems of the land.

Stephen the Great built a stone fortress near the Siret, replacing older earthen defences. It resisted King Matthias Corvinus in 1467 and was besieged again by Mehmed II's army in 1476. Prince Petru Rareș rebuilt the episcopal church in 1542. Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic communities shared the town; in 1641 a visiting cleric counted adherents of all three. In 1691 the chronicler Miron Costin was executed at Roman on the orders of Prince Constantin Cantemir. A hospital was established in 1798, followed in 1817 by a Jewish school.