The reign of Mircea the Elder is analysed as the founding era of medieval Romanian civilisation, characterised by four defining features: political realism reflected in his territorial titles, the cultural synthesis between the Gothic West, Palaeologan Byzantium and Arab-Turkish Islam; spiritual tolerance, illustrated by his sheltering of Sheikh Bedreddin of Samavna and Bulgarian refugees; and the aesthetic Romanity highlighted by the balanced architecture of Cozia, in contrast to the exuberance of contemporary Moravian places of worship.