THE INSTITUTION OF BANAT IN THE BANAT OF LUGOJ AND CARANSEBES IN THE XVIth-XVIIth CENTURIES

In this article, we try to investigate and explain theconnection between the Banat og Lugoj-Caransebes and the central institutionin Transylvania, during the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. In the Principality ofTransylvania, the banat of Lugoj and Caransebes was a member of the councilof the prince, as second to the grand captain of Oradea. The most importantprerogatives of the bans of Lugoj and Cransebes are the military ones, as theyalso had other important military posistions in the Principality. They haddiplomatic atributions as messengers and negotiators in the relations with theOttoman Empire or in the relations with Walachia and Moldavia. They were thepresidents of the nobility’s assenblies from the Banat of Lugoj and Cransebes orof two districts. The documents mention the „chair of judgement” of the ban,which had competency regarding property, succession, confiscation or distraintof estates for political reasons, in case of betrayal. They have also participatedto the religious affairs, encouraging Calvinsm and the translation of somereligious books into Romanian