Ethnic and Political Communities in Transylvania in the Late Medieval Period

Cosmin Popa-Gorjanu is a specialist in the history of Transylvania, the nobility of medieval Central Europe, multi-ethnic communities, regional identities, and anti-corruption. He holds a Ph.D. in Medieval History from Central European University. In 2018-19 he was a member of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. In 2016-25 he was the Director of the Centre for Scientific Research at the University of Alba Julia where he is an associate professor. Cosmin's book on the medieval nobility of central Europe came out in 2019. In 2026-27, Cosmin is the coordinator of the special thematic strand on communities for the International Medieval Congress.

Transylvania was a multi-ethnic region for most of its medieval and modern history, being inhabited by Romanians, Hungarians, Germans, and Szeklers. The last three groups emerged as privileged political 'nationes' in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Romanians, while the most numerous and oldest inhabitants of the region, did not earn collective privileges or political recognition at that time. In the eighteenth century, the leaders of Transylvanian Romanians struggled unsuccessfully to be included in the constitutional system as a fourth political nation. The medieval development of these four communities draws attention to the processes of organization and differentiation and had lasting consequences into the modern period.