Câmpulung

Near Câmpulung are the remains of a Roman camp. Now known as the Castra of Jidava (or Jidova) which was believed to be built around 190-211 AD; and just next to it, vestiges of a Roman colony, variously identified with Romula, Stepenium and Ulpia Traiana. Now called Grădiștea (meaning place of a fortress in Romanian) or Jidovi.[3]

Campulung was a very important trade route for most of time. It was used by the Romans as a trade route, and was also used in medieval ages as a trade route for merchants as well to pass threw the region. Campulung was important because it was only 37km away from the Bran Pass which was an important route for militaries and merchants.

Câmpulung was the first capital of the feudal state of Wallachia which might mean that the city might have been built in the 13th century, until succeeded by Curtea de Argeș in the 14th century. There was a considerable traffic with Transylvania, over the Bran Pass, 24 kilometers to the north, and with the south by a branch railway to Ploiești.

Câmpulung was one of the earliest urban settlements in Wallachia, the Transylvanian Saxon colonists contributing to its development by bringing the German urban culture. The earliest written evidence of the town's existence is dated 1300, and is to be found in the Câmpulung church. The inscription is an epitaph of Laurencius de Longo Campo,[4] the full text being Hic sepultus est comes Laurencius de Longo-Campo, pie memorie, Anno Domini MCCC ("Here is buried count Laurentius of Longus-Campus, in pious memory, Anno Domini 1300"). Laurentius was most likely the person coordinating the colonization process.[5]

The oldest known written document in Old Romanian was dated back to 1521 (Neacșu's letter). The letter was written to warn the city of Brasov of an impending Ottoman attack. The letter also names the city in Old Romanian, which was Slavic, according to its roots: Dlăgopole — Длъгополь (with the same meaning — "a long field").

When the printing press started to get popular in Europe, Matei Basarab managed to bring a printing press in Campulung in 1635 where Orthodox books would be printed and would be sent all over the Balkan peninsula for Orthodox people. This did not last long and in 1650 there weren't records of books being printed after that.

During the reign of Șerban Cantacuzino (1678-1688), pressure was exerted to change the Catholic judges of Câmpulung to Orthodox.

Originally, the Romanians of the town did not have the same rights as the German colonists,[6] but by the 15th century, the two communities were already merged, as shown by the new Romanian churches built near the Catholic areas and by the fact that some of the elected județs were Romanians.[7] Another community in the town were the Bogomil Bulgarians, who settled in the Șchei neighbourhood (Șchei being an old Romanian word referring to Slavic people).[8] Outside the town, in the south-west, on the hill currently named Câmpul mișeilor ("Field of the cripple") was a leper colony, which had its own church and mill.[8]

Câmpulung was the first capital of the feudal state of Wallachia which might mean that the city might have been built in the 13th century, until succeeded by Curtea de Argeș in the 14th century. There was a considerable traffic with Transylvania, over the Bran Pass, 24 kilometers to the north, and with the south by a branch railway to Ploiești.

From the Middle Ages until 1822 Câmpulung had its own autonomy, until it was withdrawn in 1822.

At the end of the 19th century Câmpulung had a population of 11,244 people, and the main streets were called Negru Vodă, Râului, Matei Basarab and Gruiului, running parallel to the city centre and paved with cobblestones, some of them planted with trees. There were three squares Sfântul Ilie, Scheiul și a Județelor Sfântul Ilie square was the main one. And next to the church of Sfântul Ilie there was a weekly fair there, as well as a big annual fair between 17 and 28 July.

In 1950 Muscel province was abolished and Câmpulung became a district town, the residence of the Muscel county of the Argeș province. In 1968, during the administrative reform, the city lost its status of regional administrative center, becoming a city of Argeș province. Soon after Câmpulung was declared a municipality in 1994.