ILEANA CIOAREC, Domeniul funciar al boierilor Brăiloiu din judeţele Dolj şi Mehedinţi (The estates of the Brăiloiu boyars in the Dolj and Mehedinţi counties)

ILEANA CIOAREC
Cercet. şt. III dr., Institutul de Cercetări Socio-Umane „C. S: Nicolăescu-Plopşor” al Academiei Române, din Craiova, E-mail: ileanacioarec@yahoo.com

Abstract
Original from the locality Drăgoiani, the Brăiloiu boyars are attested for the first time in the 16thcentury, when the documents mentioned a certain Barbu of Drăgoiani.Owning a wide landed property, the Brăiloiu family, could join other families with an old and far off origin as boyars, probably before the foundation of the feudal state Walachia. The existence of their estate is proved by a great number of testaments and many others documents in which are specified the frontiers („hotărnicii”) that have remained as a testimony along the time. This noble family owned properties in four from the five countiesof Oltenia: Dolj, Gorj, Mehedinţi, Vâlcea and Romanaţi.
The large number of estates demonstrates both their quality as important boyars and the economic role that they played in the Romanian society.

Keywords
Brăiloiu boyars, the estates, Dolj and Mehedinţi counties, testaments, frontiers