Prima încercare de transformare în paşalâc a Ţării Româneşti: episodul Mehmed Bey (1522)
The first attempt to turn Wallachia into an Ottoman province: the Mehmed Bey episode (1522)

Summary/Abstract: The fall of Belgrade under Ottoman rule, in 1521, was more and more threatening the fate of Wallachia; the Ottoman Empire seemed to be on the point of engulfing Wallachia. The Mehmed Bey episode (1522) created the premises for an attempt to turn Wallachia into an Ottoman province. Mehmed Bey, a historical figure whose origin is still disputed, continues nowadays to arouse our curiosity. Taking advantage of the internal political disputes that he had constantly encouraged, Mehmed Bey of Nicopole tried to take hold of Wallachia, first as a ruler Prince, with the acknowledgement of the Sublime Porte, and then as an Ottoman governor. In Wallachia, all these actions led to the end of the fights between various nobility factions aiming to the ascension to the throne, and engendered a considerable reaction against the Ottomans, causing the immediate intervention of Süleyman Ist for ending the conflict and re-establishing the peace. Hence the old vassalage of Wallachia to the Ottoman Empire was re-established. Some historians interpreted this episode as an attempt to effectively subordinate Wallachia, while others considered it as a particular, unusual situation. However, most of them considered this event as the first attempt to turn Wallachia into an Ottoman province.

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