Întemeierea (The Mountains Realm)

Intemeierea--The Mountain Realm ; Poarta Invaziilor--The Invasions Gate
romane
Dan Starcu.
Published 1991 by Editura Porto Franco in Galati [Romania] .
Written in Romanian.
About the Book

The Mountains Kingdom (Realm) by Dan Starcu

Introduction

At the beginning of the XIV-th century, Hungary, one of the largest European countries, a real empire in the centre of the continent, ten times larger than today, saw the birth of the first Romanian Kingdom, which was its vassal at that moment. Taking advantage of the distructive effects of the Great Tartars’ Invazion over Europe and of his familiar relationship with the Bulgarian Tsar Michael Sishman, the Romanian Prince John Basarab, who previously was an earl, succeded to unify the counties and shires around Olt and Arges rivers, by force or ability. His goal was that his state, which included the Banat Shire, claimed also by the Hungarians, Bulgarians and Serbs, should gain its independence, because it was still under the Hungarian rule. Hungary had been shaken by the crysis dued to the extinction of the Arpadian dinasty and by the civil war that had followed. All these had been over since Charles Robert d’Anjou, a French duke, prince of Salerno and lord of Saint Angelo Mount,was proclaimed King of this vast country, whose inhabitants considered themselves heirs of Attila, the Huns’ Emperor. In 1330 all the attention of Charles Robert and of his noblemen was focusing upon the new Romanian state which paid no more taxes to them. The Hungarian army was ready to punish such a rebellion and to distroy the princedom of John Basarab.

Resumee

In my novel The Mountains Realm a strange and a tumultuous time is revealed, when French (Francois de Palatin), German (Jon de Wurtemberg) and Hungarian (Toma szecseny, Dionisie Szecs, Stephen Lackfy) knights and earls fought under the orders of Cgarles Robert d’Anjou, a French prince, king of Hungary, a real Empire in the centre of Europe, in order to defeat and destroy the Romanian state of John Basarab, who had hoped to be supported by the Tsar of Bulgary and by the Tartars, but remained alone against the invaders. A great number of medieval castles (the city of Severine, the Arges castle), cities (Timisoara) and combats are painted in its pages, in accordance with the events that took place in the XIV-th century in the very heart of the continent, involving warriors of many European countries, from the far-off France to the Byzantine Empire and the Tartar armies, their feudal habits, noblemen , young ladies and gentlemen, love stories, Christian rites and clergymen, sorcerers, scouts, killers and plots. Such a large participation is related in a dynamic rhythm, in order to surprise the changes in the battlefields that consisted in moorlands, woods, fortresses or mountains in a relative little number of pages (300 ). Well informed upon the historical events and characters described in this book, I propose an attractive and adventurous novel in the range of the famous Ivanhoe, The Black Arrow, Queen Margot, Quentin Durward and King Arthur’s Legends. It was first printed in Romania, Europe, in 1992, by Porto-Franco Publishing Company ( Galati, Romania).

THE INVASIONS GATE
The second historical novel, The Invasions Gate, presents (in 250 pages) the Hun’s tribes stormy arrival in in the eastern and the central parts of Europe, in 475 A.D., in their way towards Rome and Byzantyum, and their fights against the German, Slave and Asian tribes that were the masters of those lands, next to the Empire borders, until their appearance. The main character, Lexes, a Roman warrior from Dacia, an ex province of the Empire, a country next to the actual Greece and Hungary, has to prove his courage and sagacity in several adventures, trying to stop and overcome those new invaders who drank blood from human skulls. The great union of the western Gothic and other eastern Germanic tribes, like the Vandals and the Longobards, and the Roman warriors in Dacia under the orders of king Athanaric couldn’t, however, defeat the huge army of the ancestors of Attila, who continued its way towards Italy and France. The novel describes the greatest Asian invasion of Europe known until then and its consequences for the continent: the destruction of the Western Roman Empire and the appearance of the modern peoples on the continent , like the French, the Italians, the Spanish, the Romanians etc on its ruins, and the separation of the Byzantine Empire from the rest of the Latin world. A book full of adventures, love stories, combats and unexpected situations, the Invasions Gate describes a complexe and strange world in a moment of its transformation from an unique Empire made of countries on three continents towards the feudal Europe . If until that moment the main enemies of the Romans were the Eastern ( led by their 100 years old king Ermanaric) and the Western Goths (led by king Athanaric), the Vandals and the Burgunds, in the next years they had to face a foe more dangerous than those Germanic peoples, the Asian tribes of Attila.

Poarta Invaziilor
de Dan Starcu

Introducere
In secolul IV, asupra Europei se intindea umbra acvilei romane, iar in codrii Carpatilor si pe malurile salbatice ale Dunarii rasunau inca urletele lupilor daci, dupa mai mult de doua sute de ani de la infrangerea marelui lor rege Decebal si intrarea cetatii lor de scaun, Sarmisegetuza, in stapanirea imperiului.
Desi legiunile dominau Occidentul si Orientul, din indepartatele Iberia si Britannia pana in Egipt si Persia, impunandu-se in Grecia, Macedonia, Tracia, Galia, Germania, Fenicia, Mesopotamia, siria, Libia, pacea era inca tulburata de popoarele razboinice ale nordului, dinspre Scandinavia, printre care gotii, vandalii, gepizii, longobarzii, burgunzii, la care se adaugau alanii si carpii, daci liberi, ce infruntau cu indrazneala armatele temute si instruite ale Romei.
Dinspre imensa Asie avea sa vina insa cea mai cumplita primejdie de pana atunci, in fata careia Cetatea Eterna si Bizantul aveau sa se clatine din temelii: hunii! Pentru a izbi insa in portile Romei, ei trebuiau sa treaca mai intai prin Dacia, adevarata Poarta a Invaziilor, aflata pe atunci, in mare parte, sub conducerea legendarilor regi, vizigotul Athanaric si ostrogotul Ermanaric, in varsta de peste 100 de ani, dusmani de moarte intre ei.