Maria

Maria Tolmay or Mara (died in 1420 or 1427) was the wife of Mircea I of Wallachia. She was the mother of his only legitimate son and co-ruler, Michael. She was born to an unidentified Hungarian noble family and owned present-day Lesencetomaj at Lake Balaton in the Kingdom of Hungary in the early 15th century. Family Her baptismal name has traditionally been reconstructed as Mara. However, only its last two letters (..RA) have been preserved by an inscription of a picture painted in 1761. Constantin Gane proposed that she was a member of the House of Basarab, stating that she was the first cousin of her husband, Mircea I of Wallachia, for which they could only marry with a special permission issued by the Archbishop of Ohrid. The source of Gane's theory cannot be identified. Historians Petre P. Panaitescu, Constantin Rezachevici and Radu Florescu stated that she was closely related to the Counts of Celje. According to historian Mihai Florin Hasan, neither her baptismal name nor her family can certainly be identified. Her baptismal name could also be Klara, or even Anna. She owned Lesencetomaj near Lake Balaton in 1400. Consequently, she may have been related to any Hungarian noble family which had landed property in the region, including the Counts of Celje, the Szécsis, Bánffys or the nobles who owned the village of Badacsonytomaj.