Interesting Facts
Why do we find the Governor of Wallachia on the beer label?
It did not take long to come up with a name for the Kozlovice light lager. The Governor of Wallachia (historically a district of Romania) has been a part of Kozlovice since times long gone by. And even today, the Governor of Wallachia – the former chief administrator of pastoral settlements and farms – is commemorated thanks to a great number of restored traditions. Back in 1970, a folk dance and music ensemble called the Wallachian Governor of Kozlovice was founded, continuing the folk culture of the Lachia-Wallachia borderlands. The face of the "Governor of Wallachia” and the “Kozlovice Bailiff” have been smiling up at customers from Kozlovice beer labels since 2008. Their “presence” compels us to respect the tradition and work of our ancestors. In the Kozlovice Bailiff’s House Museum you can learn more about Wallachian governors from an exhibition devoted to the history of the town.
What was it that the Governor of Wallachia had to watch over? As Vojtěch Plotěný states in his chronicle, the duties of a governor (the technical Slavic term is ‘voivod’) included “tending the borders of the domain, as well as checking how many sheep there were in each glade (an area in woods where sheep could be put to pasture) and whether they were there in the numbers permitted. They saw to it that the shepherds grazed their sheep well, made good cheese (brynza), and for each sheep weighed out a certain number of pounds of cheese for those who had handed over their sheep to the sheep farm. Parties who sent their sheep to graze complained to the governor about wrongdoings from the shepherds. The governor meanwhile protected his shepherds from the lords. These were the duties all such governors shared. In order to manage all the work, the governors or ‘voivods’ had assistants at their disposal. The Voivod of Rožnov had 12 clerks at hand and 2 officers, while those of Silesia had 9 sworn clerks…”
The Wallachian Governor thus managed Wallachian farming in the mountains, looked after the Wallachian people, safeguarded their interests and interceded with the lords, collecting both payments in kind and cash – the so-called “Wallachian tax” imposed by the lords. HeThe governor also presided over the court, the Wallachian general meeting. In public life these governors held a very important position and in the municipality they (just like bailiffs) enjoyed great respect. Due to lack of information, we do not have a clear idea of the rights of these Wallachian governors. Neither can we be sure whether the office was hereditary. However, it seems that the position of ‘voivod’ was not held in perpetuity and hereditary, unlike that of bailiff, but that the lords appointed these governors at their own discretion, mainly from decent and honest farmers.
The Wallachian governors had their seat in Kozlovice for about 200 years (probably from the 1st half of the 16th century) until 1764. That was the year in which the position ceased to exist because – due to growing iron production – more and more woods were needed to produce charcoal for mines, and the domains were gradually closing down the pastoral settlements on their territories and instead starting to plant trees there.
(Text taken from Jiří Tichánek’s publication: The Bailiff’s House Museum in Kozlovice and its History; published by Šmíra-Print s.r.o. in 2007. The publication is available for sale at the Relax Information Centre in the Beskydy Foothills)
