The origins of House Wulfenbach likely lie in the waves of German migration to Transylvania in the 1200s and 1300s, at the behest of one of the local kings seeking mercenaries for border defense and specialty workers for economic growth. Favored over the native Romanians ("Vlachs") by the upper-class Hungarian-origin ethnic groups, the "Saxons", as they became known, were well placed for elevation to nobility.