Stephen III of Moldavia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Stefan Cel Mare) "tefan cel

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve th is article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be ch allenged and removed. (January 2007) Prince Saint Stephen the Great (tefan cel Mare) Humorstefan.jpg Miniature from the 1473 Gospel at Humor Monastery Reign April 12, 1457 July 2, 1504 Coronation Direptate Born 1433 Birthplace Borzeti(?), Moldavia Died July 2, 1504 (aged 70-71) Place of death Suceava, Moldavia Buried Putna Monastery Wives Evdokia Olelkovici Maria din Mangop Maria Vochi a Royal House House of Muat Father Bogdan II of Moldavia Mother Lady Oltea Saint Stephen the Great Stefan cel Mare.jpg Prince of Moldavia Honored in Romanian Orthodox Church Canonized July 12, 1992, Bucharest, Romania by Romanian Orthodox Church Major shrine Putna Monastery Feast July 2 Stephen III of Moldavia (also known as Stefan the Great, Romanian: tefan cel Mare , pronounced [tefan tel mare] or tefan cel Mare i Sfnt, "Stefan the Great and Holy"; 1 3 July 2, 1504) was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most promin ent representative of the House of Muat. During his reign, he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence again st the ambitions of Hungary, Poland, and the Ottoman Empire, which all sought to subdue the land. Stephen achieved fame in Europe for his long resistance agains t the Ottomans. He was victorious in 46 of his 48 battles, and was one of the fi rst to gain a decisive victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui, after which Pope Sixtus IV deemed him verus christianae fidei athleta (true Champion o f Christian Faith). He was a man of religion and displayed his piety when he pai d the debt of Mount Athos to the Porte, ensuring the continuity of Athos as an a utonomous monastical community. Contents [hide] 1 Early life and rise to power 2 Rule 3 Main battles 3.1 Battle of Baia 3.2 Battle of Vaslui 3.3 Battle of Valea Alb 3.4 Battle of the Cosmin Forest 4 Illness and death 5 Canonization 6 Legacy 6.1 Coins and banknotes 6.2 Monuments 6.3 Film 7 See also

8 References 9 External links 9.1 Polish chronicles Early life and rise to power[edit source | editbeta] Stephen was born in Borzeti and was a member of the ruling House of Muat. His fath er Bogdan II had ruled Moldavia for two years (1449 to 1451) before being killed in a stealthy raid led by Stephen's uncle, Petru Aron. Bogdan II was attending a wedding of one of his boyars who apparently was in collusion with Petru Aron a nd the surprise was complete. Stephen barely escaped with his life, but his fath er was captured and beheaded on the spot by his stepbrother Petru Aron. Between 1451 and 1457, Moldavia was in turmoil from the civil war between Petru Aron and Alexndrel a nephew of Alexander the Good. Following the outbreak of the conflict, Stephen took refuge in Transylvania, see king the protection of military commander John Hunyadi. After that, he moved to the court of his first cousin Vlad III Dracula and, in 1457, managed to receive 6,000 horsemen as military assistance, putting them to use in a victorious battl e against Petru Aron at Doljeti, near Roman. Following another lost battle at Orb ic, Aron fled to Poland, while Stephen was crowned Prince. Two years later, he l ed an incursion into Poland in search of Aron, but was met with resistance. Inst ead, a treaty was signed between Moldavia and Poland, through which Stephen reco gnized King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon as his suzerain, while Aron was banned from e ntering Moldavia. Rule[edit source | editbeta]

Moldavian principality Menaced by powerful neighbours, he successfully repelled an invasion by the Hung arian King Matthias Corvinus, defeating him in the Battle of Baia (in 1467), cru shed an invading Tatar force at Lipnic and invaded Wallachia in 1471 (the latter had by then succumbed to Ottoman power and had become its vassal). When the Ott oman Sultan Mehmed II launched a retaliatory attack on Moldavia, Stephen defeate d the invaders at the Battle of Vaslui in 1475, a victory which temporarily halt ed the Turkish advance. Stephen was defeated at Rzboieni (Battle of Valea Alb) the next year, but the Ottomans had to retreat after they failed to take any signif icant castle (see siege of Cetatea Neam ului) as a plague started to spread in the Ottoman army. Stephen's search for European assistance against the Turks met wi th little success, even though he had "cut off the pagan's right hand" as he put it in a letter. Stefan helped to oust Vlad epe's brother, Radu the Handsome who had converted to I slam and later became the Ottoman commander of Wallachia, he then installed Laio t Basarab the Old on the throne in the hope of bringing Wallachia back into the C hristian camp. This proved to be illusory, as Laiot quickly turned his back on St ephen, deeming that Ottoman protection would better help him consolidate his rul e. With Stephen's support, Laiot was removed from the throne in 1482 by Vlad Clugru l, brother to Vlad Tepes, and for the remainder of the 15th century Wallachia re mained relatively stable under his rule. After 1484, when he lost the fortresses of Chilia Nou and Cetatea Alb to an Ottoma n blitz invasion, Stephen had to face not only new Turkish onslaughts which he d efeated again on November 16, 1485 at Catlabuga Lake and at cheia on the Siret Ri ver in March 1486, but also the Polish designs on Moldavian independence. Finall y on August 20, 1503[1] he concluded a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II that preser ved Moldavia's self-rule, at the cost of an annual tribute to the Turks. From the 16th century on, the Principality of Moldavia would spend three hundred years as an Ottoman vassal. In his late years, he dealt successfully with a Pol ish invasion, defeating the Poles at the Battle of the Cosmin Forest. Main battles[edit source | editbeta] Battle of Baia[edit source | editbeta]

Main article: Battle of Baia The Battle of Baia was fought on December 15, 1467 against the armies of Hungari an King, Matthias Corvinus. The battle was the last Hungarian attempt to subdue the independent Moldavia, as previous attempts had ended in failure. Corvinus in vaded Moldavia due to Stephen's annexation of Chilia a fortress and harbour at t he coast of the Black Sea, which at the time was controlled by Hungarian and Wal lachian forces, though it had belonged to Moldavia centuries earlier. The conflict ended with a bitter defeat for the Hungarians, who had an army more than three times the size of the Moldavian force. This put an end to all Hungar ian claims on Moldavia. Corvinus almost died after being thrice wounded by arrow s and barely made his escape to Transylvania. In 1468, Stephen campaigned in Transylvania, found Aron and had him executed.[2] Stephen and Corvinus would later negotiate a peace treaty and become allies; in 1475, Corvinus sent 1,800 soldiers that assisted Stephen in his victory at the Battle of Vaslui. Battle of Vaslui[edit source | editbeta] Main article: Battle of Vaslui Coat of arms of Moldavia in 1481, at Putna Monastery. The Battle of Vaslui (also referred as Battle of Podul nalt or the Battle of Raco va) was fought on January 10, 1475, against the Ottoman Beylerbeyi of Rumelia, H adm Suleyman Pasha. The battle took place at Podul nalt (the High Bridge), near th e town of Vaslui, in Moldavia (now part of eastern Romania). The Ottoman troops numbered up to 120,000, facing about 40,000 Moldavian troops, plus smaller numbe rs of allied and mercenary troops.[3] Stephen inflicted on the Ottomans a decisive defeat that has been described as " the greatest ever secured by the Cross against Islam,"[4] with casualties, accor ding to Venetian and Polish records, reaching beyond 40,000 on the Ottoman side. Mara Brankovic (Mara Hatun), who had formerly been the younger wife of Murad II , told a Venetian envoy that the invasion had been worst ever defeat for the Ott omans.[5] Stephen was later awarded the title "Athleta Christi" (Champion of Chr ist) by Pope Sixtus IV, who referred to him as "Verus christiane fidei aletha" ( The true defender of the Christian faith).[6] According to the Polish chronicler Jan Dugosz, Stephen did not celebrate his vict ory; instead, he fasted for forty days on bread and water and forbade anyone to attribute the victory to him, insisting that credit be given only to "The Lord". Battle of Valea Alb[edit source | editbeta] Main article: Battle of Valea Alb Battle flag of Stephen the Great: Saint George enthroned, trampling a dragon. After the disaster of the Battle of Vaslui, the Sultan Mehmed II assembled a lar ge army and entered Moldavia in June 1476. Meanwhile groups of Tartars from the Crimean Khanate (the Ottomans' recent ally) were sent to attack Moldavia. Romani an sources may state that they were repelled,.[7] Other sources state that joint Ottoman and Crimean Tartar forces "occupied Bessarabia and took Akkerman, gaini ng control of southern mouth of Danube. Stephan tried to avoid open battle with the Ottomans by following a scorched-earth policy."[8] In the process the Moldav ians forces ended up being dispersed throughout the country, leaving only a smal l force of about 1220,000 men, led by tefan cel Mare himself, to face the main Ott oman attack. The battle began with the Moldavians luring the main Ottoman forces into a fores t that was set on fire, causing some casualties to the attacking Ottoman army in the forest. According to another battle description, the defending Moldavian fo rces repelled several Ottoman attacks with steady fire from hand-guns.[9] The at tacking Turkish Janissaries were forced to crouch on their stomachs instead of c harging headlong into the defenders positions. Seeing the imminent defeat of his forces, Mehmed charged with his personal guard against the Moldavians, managing to rally the Janissaries, and turning the tide of the battle. Turkish Janissari

es penetrated inside the forest and engaged the defenders in man-to-man fighting . The Moldavian army was utterly defeated (casualties were very high on both sides ), and the chronicles say that the entire battlefield was covered with the bones of the dead, a probable source for the toponym (Valea Alb is Romanian and Akdere Turkish for "The White Valley"). tefan cel Mare retreated into the north-western part of Moldavia or even into the Polish Kingdom[10] and began forming another army. The Ottomans were unable to conquer any of the major Moldavian strongholds (Suceava, Neam , Hotin)[7] and were constantly harassed by small scale Moldavians attacks. Soon they were also conf ronted with starvation, a situation made worse by an outbreak of the plague, and were driven out of the country, many of then dying while crossing the Danube ri ver. The Sultan returned to Istanbul without considering himself defeated, but a lso without conquering anything. Battle of the Cosmin Forest[edit source | editbeta] Main article: Battle of the Cosmin Forest Coat of arms of Stephen the Great After the Moldavian loss of Chilia and Cetatea Alb, the Ottoman threat seemed mor e evident. King John I Albert of Poland was suzerain of Moldavia, and, when Step hen asked him for military assistance, they met, in 1494 at the conference of Le voa, where together with King Ladislaus II of Hungary and Elector Johann Cicero o f Brandenburg, they forged plans for an expedition against the Porte. The object ive was to recapture Chilia and Cetatea Alb. However, in unexplained circumstance s, tefan received reports from Hungary that John Albert prepared to place his own brother, the Polish prince Sigismund (later king, as Sigismund I the Old), on t he Moldavian throne[citation needed]. By 1497 John Albert managed to gather 80,0 00 men and was preparing for the expedition when tefan invaded Galicia and pillag ed it[citation needed]. The plans for the Ottoman invasion were put aside and Jo hn Albert went against Moldavia instead. The campaign started on the wrong foot, with John Albert entering Moldavia at Ho tin and despite sound advice to the contrary deciding not to take the fortress, but to go straight for the capital city of Suceava. After the abortive siege of Suceava (September 26 October 16) with the taking of the recently rebuilt and re inforced fortress nowhere in sight (despite having used heavy siege artillery on its walls), and facing famine, disease, bad weather plus the prospect of coming winter John Albert was compelled to lift the siege. After some negotiations, th e Poles left Suceava on October 19. John Albert accepted Stephen's conditions for retreat, but later decided to brea k the arrangement. It was a mistake that Stephen was waiting for all along: on O ctober 26 he ambushed the Poles while they were marching on a narrow road passin g through a thickly wooded area known as The Cosmin Forest. Thus, John Albert wa s unable to deploy his forces, rendering the Polish heavy cavalry completely use less. The several phases of battle lasted for three days, with Stephen routing t he invading army, which was forced to flee in disarray, harassed all the way by the forces of the prince. At the same time a Moldavian contingent intercepted on October 29 a hastily assembled Polish relief force and completely annihilated i t at Len eti. However, once back in open space, the Poles were able again to take a dvantage of their heavy cavalry, and that part of the remaining troops which man aged to retain a measure of order and discipline succeeded in crossing back into Poland despite Stephen's last effort to engage the remnants of the king's army in a battle of annihilation when they were trying to ford the Prut river at Cernui . After the failed campaign the Poles no longer threatened Moldova for the rest of Stephen's reign. Illness and death[edit source | editbeta]

The tomb of Stephen the Great and his last wife, Maria Voichi a, Putna Monastery. In 1462, during the assault of Chilia Nou, Stephen was shot in the leg. The wound never fully healed. In 1486, during the battle of cheia, his horse was injured. They both fell and Stephen was trapped under the horse. The incident aggravated his old leg injury. Over time, he summoned to his royal court many doctors, astr ologists and other persons, who attempted to heal his wound. Among these were He rmann, "bacalaurio in medicina", astrologist Baptista de Vesentio, Maestro Zoano barbero from Genoa (in 1468), Isaac Beg (in 1473), Don Antonio Branca (skilled in fixing cut noses), Mateo Muriano from Venice (in 1502), and Hieronimo di Cese na from Venice (in 1503). Towards the end of his life, Stephen suffered from gout, which immobilized his h ands and legs. On November 9, 1503, Vladislav, King of Hungary wrote to the Doge of Venice: "The voivode of Moldavia is tormented by an old illness." On June 30 , 1504 Stephen's wound was cauterized by the doctors present in Suceava (one of whom was Hieronimo di Cesena from Venice). The operation caused great pain to th e old voivode, who died two days later, on the morning of July 2, 1504. He was b uried in the Monastery of Putna. Canonization[edit source | editbeta] Stephen the Great is perceived by the Romanian Orthodox Church as a defender of the faith, of the Church, and the whole of Christianity. Stephen's opposition to the Ottoman Empire protected the entirety of Europe from an invasion. After the Battle of Vaslui, Pope Sixtus IV named Stephen "the Champion of Christ" (Athlet a Christi). It is said that he built 44 churches and monasteries (see List of ch urches established by Stephen III of Moldavia), one for each battle that he won (44 out of a total of 48). At the end of the 20th century, the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to canonize Stephen. The canonization was enacted on June 20, 19 92 by the Synodic Council of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Stephen is called "Sa int Voivode Stephen the Great". His feast day in the Romanian Orthodox calendar is July 2, the day of his death. Legacy[edit source | editbeta]

Stephen the Great monument in Nisporeni Stephen III on the Moldovan 1 leu banknote. Though it was marked by continual strife, Stephen's long reign brought considera ble cultural development; many churches and monasteries were erected by Stephen himself; some of which, including Vorone , are now part of UNESCO's World Heritage sites. Stephen was seen as holy by many Christians, soon after his death.[citation need ed] He has been canonized a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church under the name "The Right-believing Voivode Stephen the Great and the Holy". In a 2006 Romanian national television campaign on TVR 1 (see Mari Romni), Stephe n III was voted by almost 40,000 viewers as the "Greatest Romanian" of all times . Coins and banknotes[edit source | editbeta] Stephen III on the Old Romanian 20 lei coin. Stephen the Great's image was used on coins and banknotes both in Romania and Mo ldova. The Romanian leu, the currency used in Romania, features Stephen on the coins of 20 lei, issued in the 1990s. These coins are no longer in use. The Moldovan leu, established on November 29, 1993, following the collapse of th e Soviet Union and the creation of the independent republic of Moldova, features Stephen the Great on the front side of all the banknotes. Monuments[edit source | editbeta]

Stephen the Great Monument in Chiinu The Stephen the Great Monument is a prominent monument in Chiinu, opposite the mai n government building. A monumental equestrian statute of Stephan the Great exis ts in Iai, in the square in front of the neogothic grand Palace, while another eq uestrian statue exists in Suceava, near the medieval citadel. Many other statues and monuments dedicated to Stephan the Great feature prominently in all the maj or cities in the region of Moldavia, eastern Romania, the western part of the fo rmer Principality of Moldavia, as well as on the site of some of the most import ant battles that he fought.