Early Modern Romania is the portion of Romanian history that falls in the early modern period, roughly from the end of the 15th century[citation needed] to the end of the 18th century (or from the union of Mihai Viteazul of 1600–1601[citation needed], to the revolution of Tudor Vladimirescu in 1821[citation needed]). During this period the Romanian lands were characterised by the slow disappearance of the feudal system, the leadership of some rulers like Vasile Lupu and Dimitrie Cantemir in Moldavia, Matei Basarab and Constantin Brâncoveanu in Wallachia, Gabriel Bethlen in Transylvania, the Phanariot Epoch, and the appearance of the Russian Empire as a political and military influence.