SOME THOUGHTS REGARDING THE CHRONOLOGY OF THE TOMB NO. 10 OF THE PRINCELY CHURCH IN CURTEA DE ARGEȘ, AS WELL AS ABOUT ONE OF THE RINGS FOUND THERE

The authors of the present article conduct a careful analysis of the new hypothesis advanced by Adrian Ioniță, Beatrice Kelemen and Alexandru Simon in the book AL WA. Prințul Negru al Vlahiei și vremurile sale, published in 2017. According to this study, the tomb no. 10 – found by Virgil Drăghiceanu in 1920 – from the Princely Church in Curtea de Argeş is assigned to the first constructed church (Argeş I), while the buried person is identified with Alexander Wayuoda, “one of the unnamed sons of Basarab I”. These hypotheses are based on some signs – read as AL VA/WA – that are visible on one of the ring shoulders found in the mentioned tomb. As a result of our investigations, we came to different conclusions, namely: the tomb no. 10 belongs to the church Argeş II, while the signs placed on the ring’s shoulder weren’t inscribed after its execution, representing, in fact, the goldsmith’s hallmark, that cannot ever be mistaken with the name and the social position of the ring bearer.
 
Keywords: Wallachia, Curtea de Argeş; Saint Nicholas Princely Church, princely necropolis, the tomb no. 10, the cameo ring from the tomb no. 10, 14th century