A FEIGNED PEACE" IN THE LOWER DANUBE : THE TRANSYLVANIANWALLACHIAN DIPLOMATIC

APPROACHES TO THE PORTE IN 1596 1597 Abstract Based on two previously published documents
which were wronglydated, the author makes an attempt at reconstituting the negotiations
carriedout in the first half of the year 1597 between Transylvania and Wallachia130 N. Iorga, Noi
acte ronvinesti la Sibiu, in AAR, MSI, seria III, t. VIT, Bucuresti, 1927, p. 93 (vezi si pl. IV, reprod. foto a
actului). 131 T. G. Bulat, 0 scrzsoare de /a negustorzi din Tdrgoviste cdtre Szbieni, in Revista Isto-
rica", an XII (1926), 7-9, p. 2 17-2 18; izvor folosit si de L. Lehr, op. cit., p. 287-288. 332 Spre aceasta
concluzie ne indrurna analiza hrisovului din 9 iarniarie 1593 (DIR, B, XVI-6, nr. 70, P. 6 1-62); vezi, in
acelasi sens, remarcile lui Zsigmond Pal Pach, LevantineTrade Routes to Hungary, 15th-17th
Centuries, in Acta Historica Academiae ScientiarurnHungaricae", t. 33 (1987), 1, p. 6 1-62. 133
Cdlàtori striiint, III, p. 14; suma acceptata 5i de B. Murgescu, op. czt., p. 460. 134 In martie 1598
emisarii lui Mihai la Poarta confirrnau ca in Tara Romaneascacontinuano trafficare Ii mercanti, cosi di
Turchi, come cristiani, ma non gia si risicanodi entrare troppo nelli paessi" (Hurmuzaki, Dac., XII, P.
337). sasa www.dacoromanica.ro 1148 Stefan Andreescu 30on one hand and the Ottoman Porte on
the other hand. Among the conditi-ons worded by the Court of Alba Julia in the view of concluding
the peacecounted the recognition by the Sultan of Sigismund Bathory's "protection"over Wallachia
and Moldavia, a situation which would have actually enabledthe latter to appoint and revoke princes
in the two extra-Carpathian Ruma-nian States. Another highly significant provision the Porte was
invited tocomply with was the restoring of the borderline on the rivers of the Danubeand of the
Tisza (Theiss). The very person who consistently advocated the idea of putting anend to the war
against the Turks under these favourable conditions was chan-cellor Stephen Josika. His efforts
actually sprang from his hope to ascendthe throne, a fact which would have been unthinkable of
should Transyl-vania have remained attached to the Habsburgs within the Holy League. On the other
hand, by this agreement with the Porte, TOsika and Michael the Brave, the voivode of Wallachia, had
equally in view the possibilityto remove Moldavia from under the influence of the Polish Kingdom.
The high significance of these peace negotiations is given, among others, by Poland's radical change
in attitude toward Michael the Brave. And, asa matter of fact, successful negotiations would have
seriously jeopardizedchancellor Jan Zamoyski's project to gain control over the three states inthe
region of the Lower Danube in connivance with the Porte. It is thereason why in 1597 the Polish
diplomatic efforts to peacefully win over Micha-el the Brave gained momentum. The short lapse of
time marked by the cessation of hostilities in theLower Danube actually a truce! continued until the
second half ofthe year 1598. In the meantime, Prince Sigismund Bathory had abdicated. But under
the new circumstances and in order to stall the Ottoman reactionto the coming of Transylvania
under the direct authority of the House ofAustria, Michael the Brave decided to send a sum of
money to Constanti-nopole as part of the tribute. Three Ottoman documents, which were recently
published, indicate that the Porte saw through the scheme of the voivodeand gave him new orders
among which the raiding of Transylvania! meant to put on trial his good faith, given the new
developments in the LowerDanube. The last document is an order issued to Ahmed, pasha of Silis-
tra, by which he was to enter Wallachia and make an attempt at capturing Michaelthe Brave. The
attack actually took place with the rurkish army beingeventually repulsed! and marked the resuming
ot hostilities betw eenWallachia and the Ottoman Empire (September 1598). The last aspect being
examined in the present paper is of economicnature: the resuming of trans-Danubian trade, under
circumstances createdby the armistice of 159 7-1598.