Vălenii de Munte

Vălenii de Munte lies on the Teleajen River in the foothills of Wallachia, along a route towards the Carpathian passes and Transylvania. A 1431 charter of Prince Dan II, renewing trading privileges for merchants of Brașov, mentions a market of the Săcuieni and a customs point; local histories associate it with Vălenii. The Teleajen road was recorded in 1433, and accounts from Brașov in the early sixteenth century show commercial connections with the town. Vălenii later served as the seat of Saac county. A document of 1797 records a paid schoolteacher in the locality, while a Greek school was founded beside its monastery in 1800. The market's history reflects the movement of merchants and goods between Wallachia and the lands beyond the mountains.