Feketehalom

Feketehalom or Zeiden (in Romanian: Coldlea) is a Saxon fortified church in Transylvania. It is in Romania, 11 km from Brassó (Brasov, Kornstadt). The settlement was a populous Saxon town and in the 15th century, it became an agricultural town. The Ottomans destroyed it in 1421, 1432, and 1530. There were 221 Saxon families in 1536.

They all embraced the Evangelical faith because of Lucas Weygander. The Hungarian Székelys who were their neighbors, gathered at its walls in 1595 to set out for the campaign of Prince Báthory Zsigmond against Wallachia. The town was destroyed by the Romanian Mihail Vitezul, Prince of Wallachia in 1599 and again in 1600 by Moldavian troops. (Note: Wallachians and Moldavians were Romanians.)

Prince Báthory Gábor took it in 1612 and had most of the defenders executed. Yet, the Saxons of Brassó took it back during the same year with a trick. They were soon put down by Török István, the general of the Prince, though.

Prince Bethlen Gábor was within its walls in 1616. A fire destroyed most of the city in 1628 and the Crimean Tatars put it on fire in 1658, too. This time, the inhabitants were saved in the fortified church. The first mention of Romanian (Wallachian) inhabitants is from 1699, 23 families of them were there at that time.

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