INTERNATIONAL BALKAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE (IBAC)

BOOK SERIES (4)

Editors
Prof. Dr. Florentina Nitu
Asst. Prof. Cosmin Ionita
Asst. Prof. Metin Ünver
Asst. Prof. Özgür Kolçak
Assoc. Prof. Hacer Topaktaş

TURKEY
ROMANIA
A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IN THE BALKANS
İstanbul 2016
 Publish Date
November 2016
•
Editorial Board
Prof. Dr. Florentina Nitu
Asst. Prof. Cosmin Ionita
Asst. Prof. Metin Ünver
Asst. Prof. Özgür Kolçak
Assoc. Prof. Hacer Topaktaş
•
Composition and Printed by
Babil Basım
Litros Yolu 2. Matbaacılar Sitesi
ZB-22 Topkapı / İSTANBUL
•
ISBN
ISBN-978-605-65863-3-0
•
TÜRK DÜNYASI BELEDİYELER BİRLİĞİ (TDBB) Publications, No: 18
INTERNATIONAL BALKAN ANNUAL CONFERENCE (IBAC)
BOOK SERIES (4)

TURKEY
ROMANIA
A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IN THE BALKANS
İstanbul 2016
Copyright © 2016 Union of Turkish World Municipalities and Istanbul University. All rights reserved.

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Back cover: Prof. Dr. Nicolae Iorga with a group of Turkish students (c. 1914)
 AN AGENDA OF THE OTTOMAN EXPEDITION BY
SULEIMAN THE MAGNIFICENT AGAINST THE CASTLE
OF SUCEAVA IN 1538
M. Akif Erdoğru*
In this paper, a copy of the journal of the military campaign against the Vaivode of
Moldavia, Petru Raresh, by Suleiman the Magnificent in 1538 will be presented, which is
registered in a Turkish manuscript maintained in the National Library in Vienna.1 The text
was copied most probably by J. V Hammer or one of his students. We explain the agenda of
Moldavian expedition dated 1538 in which Suleiman the Magnificent dispossessed Petru
Raresh, Vaivode of Moldavia, and captured the castle of Suceava that was the centre of
province of Moldavia (Moldova) near Danube River.2
The castle of Suceava, written as Seçav, Siçav, Sincav, Suçova, Suceava, Sučeava,
Suçiova, Sucheava etc. in some modern Turkish publications, is now situated in Romania, the
city of Suceava.3 We point out that a copy of the journal with minor differences was registered in
Münsheatü’s-Selâtin of Feridun Bei, one of the important books for the official and literary
letters written by Ottoman Sultans in the late sixteenth century. 4 However, the same text is also
registered into an Ottoman manuscript maintained in the catalog 327 of Turkish manuscripts of
the National Library in Vienna and is not quite different from the text in Münsheatü’s-Selâtin.
According to the military journal of the Ottoman army, Suleiman the Magnificent
marched to castle of Suceava with a large army with the intention of conquering the
town. He passed 45 stopping places en route to Suceava. Prof. Franz Babinger, German
historian and orientalist, points out the existence of the agenda
* Ege University, (aerdogru@gmail.com)
1] Gustav Flügel, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der Kaiserlich-
Königlichen Hafbibliothek zu wien, I, wien: K.K. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei, 1865, no: 293.
2] Moldavia province became conterminous with Ottoman Empire when the castles of Kiliya and
Akkerman were acquired by Bayezid II. Relations continued on condition that rulers of Moldavia pay
kharaj to Istanbul and do not exceed the border.
3] Suceava is an historical city situated in the north eastern part of Romania which was founded
before the 14th century. It is located in the upper right of Suceava River.
4] Feridun bey, Münşeatü’s-Selâtîn, I, İstanbul 1265, p. 602
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TURKEY AND ROMANIA
for the first time and stated that a critical edition of the work with other expeditions of
Suleiman the Magnificent would be useful.5 Daily narrative of this military expedition
which was known as the expedition of Moldavia (Kara-Bogdan) in contemporary Ottoman
histories was probably included in other Ottoman works of the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.
In fact, in the History of Pechevi, a contemporary Ottoman narrative source, written
in 1641 by Ibrahim effendi of Pécs in Hungary, there is valuable information on this
expedition, though not day by day.6 The journal contains an important text which completes
the fetih-name (an official Ottoman document proclaiming the conquest of the castle of
Suceava to other rulers) of Suceava, published by the Romanian historian Aurel Decei in
the year of 1953.
This Ottoman text that proclaims the conquest of the castle of Suceava in 1538 was
written in Ottoman Turkish, while Suleiman the Magnificent was returning to Istanbul on
October 1538 in Isaccea. It was addressed to the sub-governor (sancak-bei) and the judge (qadi)
of the city of Amasya. This valuable document has been preserved at the Prime Ministry’s
Ottoman Archives in Istanbul and was published by Aurel Decei (d.1976) in 1953. 7 In this
document, reasons of the 1538 Moldavian military expedition were explained in general. The
arguments held in the fetih-name are well known by the Ottoman historians of Turkey. 8 Decei
describes this campaign as “a disciplinary expedition made upon the treachery of the Boyars”. 9
According to the official text which reflects the reasons of the military expedition
from the Ottoman perspective, Petru, the Vaivode of Moldavia, plotted against the
Ottoman Empire and attempted an alliance with “the Infidel” who was Ferdinand I., the
emperor of Austria. The name of Infidel was not written explicitly in official text, as far
as we know from other sources, this person was Ferdinand I., the Emperor of Austria. It
was expressed in the fetih-name that Vaivode Petru Raresh has abandoned his loyalty to
the Sultan with the purpose of declaring independence for Moldavia and sent Ferdinand
secret letters.
5] Franz Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke (Turkish version:
Osmanlı Tarih Yazarları ve Eserleri, trans. Coşkun Üçok, Ankara 1982, p. 86)
6] Pechevi Tarihi, I, ed. B.S. Baykal, Ankara 1981, pp.149-152. Baykal misreads Suçav, the capital
of Moldavia, as Sincav (p. 154)
7] Aurel Decei, ‘Un ‘Fetih-Name-i Karabogdan ‘ 1538 de Nasuh Matrakçı’, 60. Doğum Yılı
Münasebetiyle Fuat Köprülü Armağanı, İstanbul 1953, pp. 113-124.
8] İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı Tarihi, Ankara 1983, THS Publications, pp. 342-343.
9] Halil İnalcık gives valuable information about Ottoman-Moldavian relations in ‘Bogdan’ article
of EI, Leiden, 1986, p.1253.
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 A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IN THE BALKANS
Turkish professor Uzunçarşılı wrote in his book, Ottoman History, that the Sultan
kept this military expedition a secret and announced it in the last day. Moreover, he states
that the Sultan held the Vaivode responsible for the killing of Andre Gritti, Venetian bailo
of Istanbul and informer to the Sultan about Hungary, who was living in Budapest in that
period.10
Furthermore, an official reason for this expedition was the death of a number of Muslims
and plundering of their properties by the Vaivode. He decreased the amount of kharaj (tribute)
that was paid to Istanbul every year. He seemed obedient to Sultan, yet he was indeed staging a
revolt against Ottoman rule. 11 As a concrete reason, it is indicated by Ottoman sources that
Vaivode did not send 1000 cavalries to the Sultan. 12 Therefore, Suleiman the Magnificent left
Istanbul with his army on July 9, 1538 and marched to the sanjak of Silistre. In the journal of the
Ottoman army, the name of Silistre was not written clearly. This place is quite likely the
stopping place of Danube River or Sultan Çayırı that he arrived in August 6th. While here, he
was visited by the Petru’s ambassador and his interpreter. There is no evidence showing the
ambassador was honoured, however, as it seems, their request for forgiveness was accepted by
the Sultan.13 The day the ambassador of Vaivode arrived in the Ottoman camp, Suleiman the
Magnificent sent his ambassador Sinan Çavush, superintendent of Caffa in Crimea, with
messenger (ulak) to Moldovia calling Petru to surrender and come to Istanbul. But, nine days
later, he reported Suleiman the Magnificent that Petru did not accept the offer.
Petru Raresh gathered 70.000-80.000 soldiers around himself and employed hit-and-
run tactics upon Ottoman forces in the highlands of Moldavia (in some sources: in the
region of Fokşani or Potşani14). Afterwards, he fled to Transylvania avoiding a pitched
battle with the Ottoman army. According to the journal, Suleiman the Magnificent assigned
Mehmed Pasha as commander in chief and he had a bridge built over the Danube River and
went across the bridge.
He crossed the border of Moldavia with Rumelian and Anatolian troops as well
as with the raiders (Akıncı). He came nearby the Prut River and went across by having a
bridge built over. 15 Sahib Girai, Khan of Crimea, greeted Suleiman
10] Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p. 342
11] Baykal, op.cit, p. 150
12] Abdülkadir Özcan, ‘Bogdan’, DIA, Istanbul 1992, p. 269
13] Baykal, op.cit, p. 152
14] Baykal, op.cit, p. 155
15] Pechevi writes that bridge was made by Vizier Lütfi Pasha (p. 152).
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the Magnificent with 150.000 Tatar soldiers. 16 The intelligence about the Vaivode that he
was at a place called Yaş Bazarı 17 was received. Ottoman soldiers headed towards this
place. Sahib Girai burned this city down. 18 However, Petru Raresh managed to escape.
Many were taken captive but Vaivode’s whereabouts could not be found out. From here,
Suleiman the Magnificent marched to the Suceava castle, the capital of Moldavia, with his
army (numbering a total of 230.000 with the Tatar soldiers) in September 16th. He arrived
at Suceava seventy days after he left Istanbul.
We know from the Ottoman journal that the castle was besieged immediately on
September 16, 1538. It was embargoed. Great iron cannonballs were manufactured in front of
the castle. The commander of the castle - his name was not mentioned in our journal -, who
realized that to defend the castle was impossible against the Ottoman soldiers delivered the keys
of the castle to Suleiman the Magnificent and asked him for mercy. It appears that the Sultan
stayed in here for seven days. Treasure and goods preserved in the castle came into the hands of
Ottoman soldiers.19 Hasan Agha, the chief master of the horses of the Sublime Port, discovered
these Moldavian treasures, golden pots, adorned crosses and crucifixes, inlaid swords and
skewers, pearls in golden inlaid, jewels, fabrics etc.20
After the conquest of the castle, the rulers and lesser Vaivodes of Moldavia
presented their obedience by coming to the royal tent of Suleiman the Magnificent.
They requested from Sultan to assign one of them as Vaivode. According to
information, the new Vaivode was Stefan, the brother of Raresh, known as Stefan the
Locust or the Great. 21An expression in the journal which reads as “the son of former
Vaivode was appointed to the land of Moldavia”, shows that the new Vaivode was the
son of Raresh. According to the late Turkish professor Uzunçarşılı, the new Vaivode
was somebody named Cetine?, name of the son of the former Vaivode, Stefan, and also
a village name. 22 The new Vaivode and local
16] The number of Tatar soldiers was given as 200.000 in some sources (Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p.
343). In History of Pechevi, there is no given information about the number of Tatar soldiers but it is
understood from telling that Suleiman the Magnificent credited the Tatar soldiers. This number must
exaggerated.
17] Uzunçarşılı writes that Yaş Pazarı was capital in second degree of Moldavian prince
(Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p. 343).
18] Aurel Decei, ‘Bogdan’, EI, Eskişehir 1997, p. 700 (Turkish version and second edition)
19] Decei, op.cit, 1997, p. 700.
20] Baykal, op.cit, p. 154
21] Özcan, op.cit, p. 270.
22] Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p. 343. Baykal has read this person’s name as Çetne ( p. 154).
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 A HISTORY OF PARTNERSHIP AND COLLABORATION IN THE BALKANS
rulers were forced to pay protection money regularly (kharaj) and the son of one of the
rulers whose name was not clearly written in the journal was appointed as Vaivode above
all others. In addition, borders between Ottoman and Christian lands were newly
designated.23 Professor Uzunçarşılı wrote that an amnesty was proclaimed by the Sultan in
Moldavia. 24
According to the journal, Sultan left the castle of Suceava on 16 September, 1538,
and headed for Istanbul after he appointed the new Vaivode. When Sultan arrived at a place
named creek of Lapushna, the newly appointed Vaivode informed that Bogdan, the son of
the former Vaivode, was beheaded and his head was sent to Istanbul. Sultan ordered the
capture of the former Vaivode (Petru or Petri Raresh) who was believed to flee to
somewhere in Buda.
Unfortunately, the return route, from Suceava to Istanbul, is not given in the journal we
published in Turkish. However, according to Uzunçarşılı, Sultan returned to Istanbul through
Yambol. It is seen that Sultan reached to Edirne on October 24, 1538. 25 When the journal was
examined, it appeared that Sultan arrived at Suceava with tracking the route of Istanbul-Edirne-
Danube River- Babadag-dock of Isaccea-Kalçın-Yaş Bazarı-Suceava. He stayed in Edirne for 8
days. His two sons, Sultan Selim and Sultan Mehmed were with him present. 26 He accepted the
son of Emir Rashid bin Megame, named Manı, while he was on his way towards Edirne. 27 On
August 17th, Sultan visited the tomb of Sarı Saltık Baba in Babadag. The next day, inhabitants
of Babadag were immigrated to other places of the empire.
With the conquest of Suceava, which was attended by Rüstem Pasha, Hüsrev
Pasha, Lütfi Pasha and Mehmed Pasha alongside the governors of Anatolia and
Rumelia (especially the bey of Smederova, son of Yahya Pasha) and Khan of the
Tatars, Sahib Girai, Moldavia was transformed into an Islamic province in terms of
Ottoman law. In order to announce the conquest to Muslims, Mahmud, son of a cavalry,
was sent to the city of Amasya in Anatolia. As a part of the celebration of the Suceava
conquest, the city of Amasya was decorated; festivals were organized; and prayers for
perpetuity of the empire were held. Chief Judge
23] Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p. 344.
24] Uzunçarşılı, op.cit, p. 343.
25] Baykal, op.cit, p. 155.
26] Baykal, op.cit, p. 151.
27] Baykal, op.cit, p. 151. Son of Basra ruler, Manı, presented blood horses, colored cloths, nacres,
pearls, corals, a kind of colored cotton cloth (Kandeharî), royal turbans, and Indian towels, bottles of
fragrance, various desserts and the key of Basra city to Suleiman the Magnificent. He was well respected.
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of Amasya was assigned to collect a herald tax, müjdegani akçası in the journal, a
money or tax given to the chief Judge of Amasya in exchange of good news of Suceava,
from all householders in the Amasya region.28
28] Decei, op.cit, p. 123.
328
 BIBLYOGRAPHY
Abdülkadir Özcan, ‘Bogdan’, DIA, Istanbul 1992.
Aurel Decei, ‘Boğdan’, EI, Eskişehir 1997, p. 700 (Turkish version and second
edition)
Aurel Decei, ‘Un ‘Fetih-Name-i Karabogdan ‘ 1538 de Nasuh Matrakçı’, 60.
Doğum Yılı Münasebetiyle Fuat Köprülü Armağanı, İstanbul 1953, p. 113-124.
Feridun bey, Münşeatü’s-Selâtîn, I, İstanbul 1265.
Gustav Flügel, Die arabischen, persischen und türkischen Handschriften der
Kaiserlich-Königlichen Hafbibliothek zu wien, I, wien: K.K. Hof-und Staatsdruckerei,
1865, no: 293. (Flugel, no. 293)
Franz Babinger, Die Geschichtsschreiber der Osmanen und ihre Werke (Turkish
version: Osmanlı Tarih Yazarları ve Eserleri, trans. C. Üçok, Ankara 1982.
Halil İnalcık, ‘Bogdan’ article of EI, Leiden, 1986.
İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı, Osmanlı tarihi, Ankara 1983.
Pechevi Tarihi, I, ed. B.S. Baykal, Ankara 1981.
329