Ştefan cel Mare, domn al Ţării Româneşti
Stephen the Great, Prince of Wallachia

Summary/Abstract: During the Pontic (Black-Sea) war against the Ottoman empire (1473–1486) Stephen the Great, prince of Moldavia (1457–1504) and his councilors subordinated Wallachia (the South Carpathian Romanian Principality), position reflected in the Cantacuzene’s Chronicle by a mention of the prince Stephen’s reign in that principality and by a religious foundation – the princely church of Râmnicul Sărat. The author argues that the 19 years of Stephen the Great’s reign in Wallachia mentioned in the chronicle are the period of Moldavian’s rule upon the fortresses of Chilia-Lycostomo and its territory, i.e. South of interfluve Prut-Sasic (Sărata), the Danube Delta and North-East Dobroudja, an Eastern part of the former Bessarabia, a part of the principality of Wallachia.Stephen the Great also launched an attack to central Dobroudja with the aim of dismantling the Ottoman aggressive frontier (uğ) installed there. This new assertion is based on a passage from Jan Długosz’ Historia Polonica about the results of the Romanian attack, during which the Ottoman salt provisions of Dobroudja seashore (probably from Tuzla, North of Constantza) were destroyed. The passage was summarized in the Polish Chronicle of Joachim Bielski, and now, by a restitution of the whole campaign this episode can be dated in the winter 1477/1478. From that time Moldavia was recognized as Great Wallachia and her prince as the Great Wallachian, and could negotiate a peace agreement (sulhnâme), granted by Mehmed II in 1479.Using a newly discovered Spanish chronicle of the Ottomans the study emphasizes the importance of the Armenian colonies in Moldavia during Stephen the Great’s reign. The author supposes that the persecution of this minority in “Great Wallachia”, mentioned in a letter of Patriarch Maxim to the Venetian Duke in January 1480, refers to Moldavia, and thanks to this interpretation he dates the above mentioned sulhnâme to 1479.

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