You Should Have Taken the Silver
sung by Basarab I
Basarab I
Basarab Intemeietorul (Basarab the Founder)When & where
Ruled Wallachia - today's southern Romania - in the first half of the 1300s, on the lower Danube frontier squeezed between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Mongol (Tatar) steppe.
Known for
The founding prince of Wallachia and of the dynasty that carries his name - the first ruler to win the young country its independence from the Hungarian crown.
The coolest thing they did
The Battle of Posada (1330). When King Charles I of Hungary invaded with a royal army that included heavy Western knights, Basarab first tried to buy peace with a fortune in silver; when the king refused, Basarab trapped the army in a narrow mountain pass and shattered it, rolling boulders and raining arrows down from the wooded heights. The king escaped only by swapping his royal robes with one of his knights, who was cut down in his place.
Fun fact
The main record of his greatest victory is his enemy's own book. The Hungarian royal court's Illuminated Chronicle (Chronicon Pictum) describes the Posada disaster in detail - and even includes a famous painted miniature of the Wallachians crushing the trapped knights in the ravine. The losers illustrated their own defeat.
The human behind the legend
A frontier founder boxed in by bigger powers - the Hungarian crown to the west, the Mongols to the east, Bulgaria to the south. He had once accepted the Hungarian king as his overlord, then chose defiance. Pragmatic before he was proud: he offered a small fortune to avoid the war, and only when that was thrown back at him did he turn his own mountains into a weapon.
References in this song
- ♦"I sent him seven thousand marks of silver / The fortress at Severin" - During Charles's campaign, before the ambush, Basarab offered King Charles I of Hungary 7,000 marks of silver and the fortress of Severin in exchange for peace. Charles refused.
- ♦"Into a road too thin" - during the Hungarian army's retreat in 1330, Basarab's forces trapped it in a narrow, wooded mountain pass where the heavy knights had little room to maneuver. The battle is now conventionally called Posada, but that modern name is not a securely identified medieval place.
- ♦"Arrows fell from the heights above them / Boulders broke the plated columns" - the surviving account and its illuminations show Wallachian fighters attacking from above with arrows and rocks, devastating the trapped royal army over several days.
- ♦"He traded royal robes with one of his knights / The knight was cut down. Charles slipped away" - Charles gave a knight his royal robes and insignia; the knight was killed, while Charles escaped in civilian clothes.
- ♦"The losers lit their own defeat in color" - the Hungarian royal court's Illuminated Chronicle recounts the disaster and includes a famous painted miniature of Wallachian fighters crushing the knights in the ravine.
- ♦"It made Wallachia answer to itself" - Wallachia had been founded earlier in Basarab's reign; the 1330 victory secured its independence from the Hungarian crown, and Basarab's descendants ruled it for at least two centuries.
Lyrics
[Intro - seven cold metal strikes, then the riff drops] I offered peace before I offered ruin. Remember that. [Verse 1 - clipped, restrained] First half of the fourteenth century, I founded Wallachia by the lower Danube. I am Basarab, its prince. I had called Hungary's king my overlord. Then Charles came with armored ranks. I sent him seven thousand marks of silver, The fortress at Severin, a road home. He saw a small prince. His answer: no. [Pre-Chorus - pressure building] One offer. One refusal. One narrow road remaining. [Chorus - huge melody, layered lead harmonies] You should have taken the silver. You should have taken the peace. You should have taken the fortress And left my country to me. You brought your crown and cavalry Into a road too thin. You should have taken the silver. Now your kingdom's pages remember me. [Verse 2 - low groove, drums tightening] The royal army turned. The mountain narrowed. Mail and horses jammed the wooded ravine. Arrows fell from the heights above them; Boulders broke the plated columns. For days their finest knights could barely move. Charles found one weapon armor could not match: He traded royal robes with one of his knights. The knight was cut down. Charles slipped away. [Pre-Chorus - rising clean vocal] That road did more than break an army. It made Wallachia answer to itself. [Chorus - stripped to hook, then riff stop] You should have taken the silver. You should have taken the peace. Your crown entered a road too thin. Now your kingdom's pages remember me. [Melodic Bridge - coin motif under clean guitar] Later, your son's court bound the loss in painted pages: My men above, your trapped bright ranks below. The losers lit their own defeat in color. Strangers learned my victory from you. [Final Chorus - full weight, last line alone] You should have taken the silver. You should have taken the peace. I founded Wallachia in the mountain's shadow; My dynasty endured for centuries. You brought your crown and cavalry. You escaped in common clothes. You should have taken the silver. Now your kingdom's pages speak my name.