National Institute for Earth Physics. Bucharest. Romania

The investigation into the historical seismicity of Romania evidences the occurrence of two strong earthquakes in Transylvania (central part of Romania) near the localities of Medias (1523) and Tàrnaveni (1880). Historical information on the 1523 earthquake, though poor, shows that it was felt on Saint Elizabeth's Day, which is celebrated on November 19, not on June 19 as proposed by previous studies and catalogues. Historical information on the 1880 earthquake allows a detailed study. The investigation concentrated on time, epicentral location and intensity distribution. The new macroseismic map shows a large area of I = VII (r7 = 20.7 km), the centre of which is proposed as the epicentral location, different from the previous ones.