Wallachian Plain
After the Mongol invasion, a great many (if not most) of the Cuman population left the Wallachian Plain, but the Vlach (Romanian) population remained there under the leadership of their local chiefs, called "knezes" and "voivodes". In 1247, King Béla IV tried to bring the Knights Hospitallers to the region and granted to them a number of territories in the "land of Severin". The knights’ mission, however, proved to be a total failure (there is even no report whether they occupied their posts), but the royal charter for the knights, dated June 2, 1247, lists four autonomous territorial-administrative units ("kenezate"s) in Oltenia and western Muntenia.