Stephen the Great. The “Champion of Christ”. Cousin of the notorious Vlad the Impaler.
Nemesis of the mighty Mehmed the Conqueror. Stephen III of Moldavia is remembered today by
those across Moldova and Romania as a national hero and a canonized saint. This is his story…
…
The exact year of the mighty Stephen’s birth is unknown, with estimates ranging from 1433 to 1440,
although one could guess that the date would fall closer to the earlier years given the
prince’s closeness in timeline to Mehmed II and Vlad III, both born in the early 1430s.
Stephen was the grandson of Alexander the Good of Moldavia and the son of Bogdan II (Bog-Dan) and
Maria Oltea. Historians speculate that Stephen likely had around 5 siblings,
although, with the great commonality of illegitimate offspring in Stephen
and his father’s time, that number may be quite different in reality.
Stephen himself is also believed to have fathered a handful of legitimate and possibly many more
illegitimate children between his multiple wives and affairs. It’s assumed that the great Moldavian
fathered 2 or 3 sons named Alexandru alone, with one having been from a woman by name of Mărușca or
Mărica that some claim to have been his first wife - though the legitimacy of this is scrutinized.
Stephen’s later wives included the likes of Evdochia of Kyiv, Maria of Mangup,
and Maria Voichița, with all three women and other mistresses birthing multiple heirs for the prince.
But, in spite of Stephen’s colorful record when it came to his marital and familial relations,
he was and continues to be viewed as a Christian hero. This is in large part due to him being the
mastermind of one of the greatest European victories against the Ottoman Empire in all
of history, but with additional credit to his insistence on building dozens of new churches
throughout his reign. Pope Sixtus IV would award the prince with the title of “Athleta Christi”
for his efforts and historians note that many Moldavians began to regard Stephen as a saint
almost immediately after his death - though he would not be canonized until June of 1992.
Nevertheless, a man such as Stephen boasts far more to his story than wives, heirs, and titles.
Stephen was a prince, a military commander, and a friend - or enemy - to some of history's
most famous faces. And it all started with the aid, and death, of his father…
Young Stephen’s first taste of princedom came when his father named him co-ruler and heir to
the Moldavian throne before he’d even reached adulthood. It was also around this time that
Stephen’s cousin, Vlad III Dracula, had come to seek refuge under Bogdan’s protection after being
ousted from the Wallachian throne at the end of 1448. The relationship between the boys is
assumed to have been good, and when Bogdan was murdered by his own brother, Peter III Aaron,
Stephen and Vlad escaped together and found their way to John Hunyadi of Hungary and
Transylvania. The details of what happened over the next few years are murky, but eventually,
Vlad would garner enough support from Hunyadi to invade Wallachia, violently
oust another cousin of his, Vladislav II, and retake his rightful throne by the end of 1456.
During this period, Stephen had either joined Vlad on the military expedition or made his way
to his relative’s court following the victory. The next year, Vlad would do Stephen the same favor he
had received from Hunyadi himself, and Stephen was successfully crowned Voivode of Moldavia.
This meant dethroning his uncle, Peter Aaron, who subsequently fled to nearby
Poland in hopes of slipping from Stephen’s vengeful wrath without a scratch. This may
have worked at first, but the new Moldavian prince wasn’t quick to forgive and forget,
nor would he risk another betrayal by his father’s brother and killer. Thus,
Stephen launched an attack against Poland with the hope of deterring King Casimir The Forth from
backing the pretender. The result of the 1458 campaign was hopeful for the spirited Moldavian.
Stephen and Casimir came to an agreement, signing a treaty in the spring of 1459, with the former
promising to aid the Poles in their conflict with the Tartars; while Casimir, who was now confirmed
as suzerain over Moldavia, would prevent Peter Aaron from returning to Stephen’s princedom.
With that, Peter was on the move again, and Stephen’s ability to forgive was no more present
than it had been before. Peter’s attempts to settle in Transylvania were challenged
by Stephen’s repeated and focused incursions on the Szekely Lands and the pretender eventually
gave up once more. With John Hunyadi’s son now on the Hungarian throne, Peter fled next to Buda
where he was given support and protection. The Moldavian prince would give his uncle a
momentary break from being on the run, but this would not be their last encounter just yet…
Nevertheless, Stephen had more to focus on than just his enemies. In fact, he was strategically
looking to reduce the number of those he had, and thus he now sought to implement friendly
relations with both his allies in Poland and with the Ottoman Empire. Having agreed to pay a yearly
tribute to the latter, the Moldavian would begin to see the Sultan as more of a friend
than his own blood over in Wallachia in an unusual shift of allegiances.
For reasons we can not pin down to an exact, the bond between Stephen and Vlad was suddenly
on a downhill spiral. Distrust was creeping up on both ends and it seemed that both felt a military
clash was soon inevitable. It’s possible that the motive, at least on Stephen’s end,
came from the fact that Chilia which had previously been a Moldavian possession,
was now under the guardianship of the Hungarians and their Wallachian allies.
Stephen had long wanted to retake the territory and it seemed that its new owners would not
give it up without a fight. A fight that the wily prince of Moldavia was willing to start,
even if it meant going to war with the cousin who’d helped him take his crown to begin with…
By mid 1462, Wallachia was at war with the Ottoman Empire, and Moldavia decided to join in.
Stephen, with the help of his Ottoman allies, laid siege to Chilia . Despite the military
prowess and numerical capabilities, 8 days after the siege had begun,
the Ottoman-Moldavian coalition was forced to accept defeat. Stephen himself had in
fact received such a severe leg injury that it would never fully heal - a painful reminder of
one of the great prince's few failures, and in the face of a former friend, nonetheless…
Three years later, Stephen’s determination to seize his principality’s former lands
was as strong as ever. With Vlad Dracula now imprisoned by his alleged allies in Hungary,
his little brother Radu was on the Wallachia throne at the behest of the Ottomans - whom
Stephen no longer felt as generously cordial toward. As a result, in 1465, Stephen began
a new siege on Chilia . This time, the campaign would last for only 2 intense days, and it would
end in the Moldavian’s successful capture of the fortress he had yearned for for so long.
The fallout from this victorious endeavor would be that Stephen had
now alienated all who laid claim to Chilia - the Wallachians, Ottomans, and Hungarians.
The latter was particularly angered by Stephen’s voracious expedition and Matthias Corvinus quickly
gathered his own force to retaliate and thus carried out an invasion of Moldavia.
The Hungarian King managed to seize the Moldavian possession of Baia but would later scarcely
escape with his life intact as the war effort collapsed and Stephen retook the captured land.
If anything important had come of this, it was the fact that it only solidified Stephen’s loyalty to
Casimir as opposed to Corvinus. Stephen knew that warfare had been and still was a constant during
his dynamic reign, and having strong allies was crucial if one was to protect his own territory.
Thus, as the Moldavians restarted their raids into the Hungary-aligned region of Transylvania,
Stephen swore fealty to the Poles once again. If he was to now face his neighbors in Wallachia,
the Hungarians, and the Ottomans, he needed someone at his side when duty called. But,
the Polish-Moldavian alliance had required Stephen to make new enemies in the form of the Tartars,
and in 1470, those of the Golden Horde launched an incursion into Moldavian lands…
After initially wreaking havoc through Poland, an occasion that Casimir had failed to prevent
nor put an end to, the Tartars made their way to Moldavia in hopes of doing the same. Here,
it would be Stephen who would rain on their parade and rout the invaders in multiple face-offs;
finally giving the death blow near Dniester
To no one’s surprise, the Wallachians were next to try their hand at defeating Stephen,
now launching a hopeful campaign to retake Chilia - but this too would fall apart. The ensuing
months would see Stephen preoccupied with repeated clashes against his neighbors in Wallachia,
giving the prince’s much-forgotten uncle and rival a chance to weasel his way back into the picture.
While his nephew was busy defending his border, Peter began rallying support amongst the Szekelys
of Transylvania, convincing himself and them that, with their aid, he could retake the Moldavian
throne. While Peter would ultimately succeed at gathering troops and invading his homeland,
he had been wrong about everything else. Stephen crushed his challengers and took his
uncle captive, naturally having him executed and ridding himself of the nuisance once and for all…
And then, it was back to war with Radu and the Wallachians. As this rivalry carried on,
Stephen’s relationship with both the Poles and Ottomans was rapidly deteriorating. Bickering over
who didn’t do enough for who with Casimir echoed debates with Mehmed about who should possess
Chilia . Knowing that he may be on the verge of turning two once-allies into enemies, Stephen
opted to send envoys to his Hungarian counterpart with the goal of at least winning over Corvinus.
By the end of 1473, the prince of Moldavia had had enough of the Sultan and his puppet next
door. Having ceased paying his yearly tribute to the Ottomans, Stephen kicked off a new invasion of
Wallachia, this time aimed at ousting his little cousin in favor of a new protege,
Basarab III Laiota…
A week of battle and overpowering the Wallachians saw Stephen victoriously seize the neighboring
throne and crown Basarab Laiota in Radu’s place, though this would be short-lived. It wouldn’t be
long before the Ottoman-backed Radu came marching back and deposed the newly placed Voivode. Basarab
then returned and the exchange happened again. More repetitions would play out before Radu
finally fled, letting Basarab, at last, establish a real reign over the Wallachian principality.
But, this was far from the end of Stephen’s troubles with the Ottomans. In fact,
it was only the beginning. While the whiplash over who would rule Wallachia had been occurring, the
Ottomans, Wallachians, Poles, Hungarians, and Moldavians had all been preparing for war…and
engaging in it. In January of 1457, Stephen’s only
accomplishment wasn’t reseating his protege on the Wallachian throne.
His greatest accomplishment was winning one of the greatest military victories in European history…