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Illyefalva (Ilieni) - a brief history |
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Illyefalva is situated in the valley of the Illyefalva stream that flows from the Barót hills (Muntii Baraolt), and on the right bank of the Olt River. It takes its name from the biblical prophet Elijah, the medieval patron saint of the local castle church. It is first mentioned under the name Villa Helye in a 1322 register of papal tithes.
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| Its status as a town dates back most likely to 1578 when, thanks to János Cseffey, the king’s justice, the voivode (governor) of Transylvania, Kristóf Báthori, granted the village of Illyefalva (in the Sepsiszék district) the right to hold a weekly Monday market and three nationwide fairs. The privilege is recorded in a letter issued on 7 March 1578 at Gyulafehérvár. |
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| The Illyefalva coat of arms is an obelisk crowned by a globe, before which are two crossed rods surmounted by doves. In the right field there is a tree with five roundels, and on the left a flying dove and four roundels. The inscription on the seal is “Sigillum Oppidi S. Ilyefalva”. As a market town it was subject to taxation, but its citizens did serve in the army. |
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On 11 August 1612, at the initiative of the German (‘Saxon’) population, a mercenary army attacked Illyefalva. They destroyed the town and went off with a great many sheep and cows. The local population, having been stripped of their possessions, attacked the mercenaries as they were hading for Braşov, and recaptured the stolen flocks. On 16 October the soldiers attacked once again, under the leadership of Mihály Weisz, and this time forced the people of Illyefalva to surrender their caste.
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| The town experienced the most significant devastation in 1658. After the unsuccessful Polish campaign led by the prince of Transylvania, György Rákóczi II, the region, left without defence, was attacked by the joint armies of the Tatar Khan, the Pasha of Silistra, and the voivodes of Walachia and Moldavia. The attack was ordered by the Ottoman sultan as punishment for the prince’s unauthorised campaign. They devastated the entire territory of Transylvania. After the armies crossed the Bodza pass and gathered in the Burzenland (Barcaság/Tara Bîrsei) basin, the first fortification to be attacked was the castle of Illyefalva. After a five-day siege by the armies that arrived on 20 August, the castle fell. More than 500 people died in the battles; the entire settlement and its surroundings were put to the sword and set on fire. 800 prisoners were taken away as slaves by the Crimean Tatars. A historical ballad recounts the battles and destruction. It was at this time that all the town’s documents, kept in the castle, were destroyed. |
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In 1876, with the introduction of county administration, Illyefalva lost its status as a town. Between 1940 and 1944, these border communities were split up, with Illyefalva belonging to Hungary and Aldoboly to Romania. In 1944 the community was the site of violent battles between, on the one hand, the Romanian and Soviet armies, and on the other the German and Hungarian defence forces.
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| (János Török) |
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