THE RELA TIONSHIPS OF STEPHEN THE GREAT WITH THE
PONTIC REGION
MIHAIL SPĂTĂRELU
The economic potential of the Danubian regions and their neighborhood with
the Black Sea helped some of the Pontic towns to enjoy rapid development due to
their good relationships with the Italian cities of Genoa, Venice and
Constantinople. Trade in agricultural products was easy and profitable both for the
Pontic towns and for the great metropolitan city of Constantinople. Regarding this
aspect the success gained by Genoa was quite significant in three places situated on
the Western shore of the Black Sea: Vicina, Chilia and Cetatea Albă (Moncastro).
Trade with the Danubian and Pontic towns excelled in the following transactions:
wheat (29), beeswax (14), slaves (15), honey (8), as well as wine, tissues and salt,
the latter to a lesser degree. Leather, honey, salted or smoked meat (pork or beef),
salted fish (sturgeons) were present as well; a century and a half later, during the
reign of Vasile Lupu ( 1634-165 3), a colony of Raguzans settled in Molda via in
order to prepare salted fish for sale. Beeswax and honey were two products very
often found as merchandise in Chilia and Cetatea Albă. Some transactions with
these goods showed also the name of the merchant, for example the Arrnenian
Sarchiz from Chilia. 1
The first contacts of the Carpathian-Danubian principalities with the
Ottomans took place on the battle grounds of the Balkans in the middle of the 14th
century, having two distinct traits and sides: the strong deterrnination of the
principalities to defend their own independence and, on the other hand, the
tendencies of expansion and even worldwide hegemony if we focus on the
Ottoman policy in the South-Eastem part of Europe, developed for half a
millenium in a quite similar way.
Since the l 5th century, when the battle ground moved from the Balkans into
the three principalities, we record the first conventions, agreements and treaties with
the Ottoman Empire; in 1945, after a proper study done in the Turkish archives, there
was discovered a copy of the copy of the convention (ahdname) offered by
Mahomed the Conqueror (1451-1481) to Stephen the Great (1457-1504), the
I Octavian Iliescu, Nouvelles contributions a la geographie historique de la Mer Noire, in "La
Mer Noire", Roma, I (1994) p. 229-259.
Etudes Byzantines et Post-Byzantines, V, p. 37-47, 2006
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38 Mihail Spătărelu 2
2
voivode of Moldavia during the last quarter of the century. Some years after the
death of the sultan, a few words were added to this "peace convention of the sultan
Mehmed ... with Moldavia", the most significant being the Persian preposition ba
added to the principality of Moldavia (ba Kara Bogdan) instead of the usual
preposition be, a fact that explicitly shows the idea of partnership within Ottoman-
Moldavian relationships.
The principality of Moldavia had reached a peak of its power, having
successfully resisted the campaigns led by King Mathias Corvin of Hungary
(1467), Jan Olbracht of Poland and Fatih Mehmed (1467), the last one taking place
after a sever defeat of the commander (beylerbey) of Rumelia in Moldavi a (14 75).
Meanwhile, the military power of Moldavia is confirmed by contemporary sources.
Filippo-Buonaccorsi-Callimachus wrote to the Pope around the year 1490 that
Voivode Stephen the Great "often caused the Turks hard losses, so that they were
finally obliged to call him an ally and a friend"; thus Moldavia's voivode "subdued
with certain conditions, but not forced by weapons" (non armis, sed conditionibus
cedentem). According to the same sources, the Moldavians "agreed to these
conventions, not as conquered people, but as victors" (nat ut vicii, sed tamquam
victores pactionobus deciderunt). 3
In the 15th-17th centuries the three Romanian principalities, could together
have gathered an army of about 120,000-140,000 fighters (50,000-60,000 from
Transylvania, 40,000 from Moldavia and as many from Walachia). To this we can
also mention the very favorable geographical conditions to the fight of defense,
namely the forests, mountains and swamps which favored a prolonged isolated
resistance. An example of the military power of Moldavia can be taken from the
war Iike expedition of Baiazid II in 1484, directed against the harbor towns of
Chilia and Cetatea Albă; the sultan promised an exceptional reward, called timar,
to any fighter who took part in the holy war (gazza) against Moldavia, an appeal
which is very rarely found in Ottoman history because this call to arms was usually
very selective, reserved only for "the sword people" (sipahi's) and not normal tax
payers, most of whom were peasants (raya). 4
The dar-u/-ahd conventions (the capitulations) became in this period the
convergent principie of the entire evolution of Romanian-Turkish relationships.
The three Romanian principalities did their best to keep these conventions as "the
most favorable fonn of agreement"; on the other hand, the Ottomans managed to
get numerous political and economic gains by means of these conventions. The
principalities became "buffer states", and from the economic point of view the
Aurel Decei, Tratatul de pace - Sulhname - încheiat între sultanul Mehmed li şi Ştefan cel Mare
2
în 1479, in "Revista istorică română'', XV ( 1945), p. 465-494.
Şerban Papacostea, Tratatele Ţării Româneşti şi Moldovei cu imperiul Otoman în secolele
3
XIV-XVI, in Stat, societale, naţiune. Interpretări istorice, Cluj-Napoca, 1982, p. 98.
Mihai Maxim, Ţările Române şi Înalta Poartă (The Romanian Principalities and the Sublime
4
Porte), Bucharest, 1993, p. 118-119.
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3 The relationships of Stephen the Great with thc Pontic rcgion 39
Ottomans acquired tributes, gifts and other products. The annual tribute (harac), as
well the numerous gifts (peskes) were considerable burdens for the Carpathian-
Danubian principalities, but they were at the same time efficient means of
preserving their fundamental interests, both against this pressure of Ottoman
expansion, and with regard to the aggressive tendencies of neighboring Christian
states (Poland and Hungary). 5
ln their relationship with Walachia, Moldavia and Transylvania (only for the
period 1541-1687), the Ottomans preserved the local financial and administrative
system, different in terms of structure from the Ottoman Empire. Moreover, the
dar-ul-ahd agreement generated significant commercial privileges for alt the
merchants from the three principalities (freedom to travel and to trade within the
entire Ottoman Empire, lower customs taxes, security, etc.). Merchants from the
Romanian regions enjoyed preferential tariffs both for Ottoman goods (at the level
of the local custom taxes) and reduced custom taxes for Romanian products
exported to Ottoman territories, that is 3-4% of their value, compared to 5-5.5%
ad valorem paid by merchants from outside the Ottoman Empire (dar-ul-ahd), from
the war regions (dar al-harb ).
Both Walachia and Moldavia had been integrated since the 14th century
within a larger economic region between Europe and Asia, by two major
commercial roads running East-West and North-South. The roads crossing
Moldav ia and Walachia were parts of the wider trading zone which developed after
the so-called "Mongolian peace", especially due to the proximity to the Danube
and the Black Sea. Pontic trade became, in the term used by Gheorghe Brătianu a
"turn-table" for the international trade of the three Principalities and greater
politica) powers, such as the Kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, and ltalians from
6
Genoa and Venice, whose presence in the Pontic region had become traditional.
The Pontic policy of the two continental Kingdoms had significant and long-
lasting influences upon the Romanian territories in this period of time. The
Hungarian Kingdome had an indirect link with the Lower Danube and the Pontic
regions through the Transylvanian Saxon town of Braşov (Kronstadt) situated north
of the border with Walachia; merchants"from Braşov had freedom of movement in
Walachia ever since January 1368 and, by means ofthis, they had also obtained the
right to take part in the international trade between Europe and the regions of the
Black Sea basin. Thus, "the Moldovian road" linked the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea
through the Polish town of Lwow. Lwow represented for Moldavia what Braşov
meant for Walachia in interregional and Pontic trade, although the merchants from
Tahsin Gemi!, Românii şi Otomanii în secolele XIV-XV/, Bucureşti, 1991, p. 211-218.
5
Georges I. Brătianu, La mer Noire. Des origines a la conquete ottomane, Monachii, 1969,
6
p. 225-252; Şerban Papacostea, Începuturile politicii comerciale a Ţării Româneşti şi Moldovei
(XIV-XVI), in "Studii şi materiale de istorie medie", X (1983), p. 9-56.
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40 Mihail Spătărelu 4
Lwow did not enjoy the same levei of liberty m their transactions as their
7
Transylvanian contemporaries and rivals.
On the other hand, the Ottoman merchants were well placed on "the silk
road" linking the cities of Tabriz, Bursa and Constantinople. As well as the main
route passing through Anatolia from East to West, there were alsa lesser roads, a
Northern one linking the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and another (thanks to the
Italian merchants) towards the Lower Danube. Safety on trade routes became a
problem after the Mongol invasion; of all the silk roads, Pegolotti mentions the
8
Pontic one as being the safest. There were a Iso other directions of trade linking the
Pontic coast to the closest seas, the Aegean and the Mediterranean. After 1453, the
Ottomans managed to replace în a short period of time the Italian merchants from
the commerce developed between the basin of the Black Sea and that of the
Aegean Sea. as well as in the economica! Balkan-Anatolian exchanges. They were
replaced by local Greek, Raguzan and Jewish merchants, and (although in far fewer
numbers) by Muslim traders (Turks, Arabs, Iranians) or traders from the Balkans
(Serbs, Bulgarians and Albanians).
Mahomed II offered trading privileges to the merchants from Cetatea Albă în
June 1456, placing them under the sultan·s protection; this privilege was
conditional on payment of tribute. As the Ottomans knew the importance of the
town Cetatea Albă as a linking bridge between the Baltic Sea and the Pontic or
Levantine trade, such a convention shows the importance of this commercial
junction and at the same time a greater attention paid to this place within Ottoman
geopolicy; only Raguza enjoyed a similar status at that period. Under such
circumstances, the Moldavian voivode Petru Aron (1454-1457) offered similar
terms to the merchants of Lwow ( 1456) to increase trading between the Baltic and
Pontic regions. 9
Cetatea Albă and Chilia were prosperous even during this period, linking
Pontic commercial trading with the steppes from the Northern part of the Black Sea
which were under Tartar domination, well known for trade in animal livestock and
10
to a lesser degree agricultural products.
7
Radu Manolescu, Comerţul Ţării Româneşti şi Moldovei cu Braşovul (secolele XIV-XV).
Bucureşti, 1965. p. 26; P.P. Panaitescu. Drumul comercial al Poloniei la Marea Neagră în evul
mediu, in Interpretări româneşti, Bucureşti, 1947, p. I 09.
Mustafa Mchmcd, Documente turceşti privind istoria României, voi. I, Bucureşti, 1976. p. 1-2;
8
F. Babingcr, Maometto ii Conquistatore e ii suo tempo, Torino. 1957, p. 213; N.Iorga, Negoţul la
români, Bucureşti, 1908, p. 99. For the silk way in Byzantium, see R.S. Lopez, Silk lndustry in the
By=antine Empire, in ''Speculum", 20 ( 1945), p. 1-42 and H. W. Haussig, Die Geschichte
Zentralasiens und der Seidenstrasse in vorislamischer Zeit, Darmstadt, 1983.
Mustafa Mehmed, Documente turceşti ... , voi. I, p. 1-2; F. Babinger, Maometto ii
9
Conquistattore ... , p. 213.
10
Halii lnalcik,The Ottoman Empire, in The Encyclopedia of Islam, III (Leiden, 1971),
p. 1180-1181; Youssouf Kemal, Monumenta Cartographica Africae et Aegypti, t. IV, fasc. I, Cairo,
1936. f 1205, whcre the Tartar heraldic symbol of the crescent moon is noticed, since 1327, related to
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5 The relationships of Stephen thc Great with the Pontic region 41
Cetatea Albă
The first documentary record of this medieval town, also known in the
documents as Murokastron, Monocastro or Moncastro, occurs in a Greek portulane
from the end of the 14th century. According to this document, at the river mouth
there is ''a white castle" - de; rn'>pyoc; acmpoc;, the castle of Asprokastron, Cetatea
Albă". It is not known exactly since when a Genovese colony came into being
11
within this town, but it is supposed that after the settlement of Genoa's population
in Caffa (1266), were also the Italian settlements of Moncastro - Cetatea Albă
founded. Thus, in 1290, it is noted that a Genovese craft leaves Caffa ''ad partes
Malvo castri (Mavrocastri) et deinde in Constantinopolim'', and in 1294, another
craft leaves Caffa for Cetatea Albă ("ad Maurocastrum"). 1 ~
This substantial settlement of Italians in Cetatea Albă is also confirmed by
the presence ofthe Catholic missionary monks by the Italian merchants. ln 1314 a
13
Franciscan missionary is killed and among the 18 monasteries of the minorite
monks found "Tartaria's" territories between 1314-1330 the monastery from
''Maurocastro" is also noted. This monastery is mentioned in 1334, but there is no
more information about it after 1390. There is a monk, too, who offers us
information about a certain man called Marin Zane, on April, 19, 1435, Romanian
by origin and former leader of Cetatea Albă.
14
lt was natural that the majority population here should have more than one
monastery: Cetatea Albă even had an episcopal see. The episcopal lists during the
reign of Andronic Paleologu I ( 1282-1328) include besides the 12 dioceses subject
to Kiev, severa! other dioceses in "Little Russia", the Russia situated near
Lithuania "Litvorussia", the last of these being the diocese of Cetatea Albă
(Asprokastron). 15 One of the first bishops is Chirii of Asprokastron, participant in
Cetatea Albă. ""The Li le of John the New Martyr"' also testifics with the samc respect of the Tartar
presence for the same period of time, the year of the martyrdom bcing 1330; see cd. Ep. Melchiscdec
(Ştefănescu), p. 166.
N. Bănescu, Maurocastron-Mo(n)castro-Cetatea Albă. ··Academia Română. Memoriile
11
secţiunii istorice", seria III, t. XXII ( 1939), mem. 6. p. 165-178; P.S. Năsturel. Le littoral roumain de
la Mer Noire d'apres le portulan grec de Leyde, in "'Revue des etudes roumaines". XIII-XIV, Paris.
1973, p. 124; A. Delatte, Les portu/ans grecs, Liege-Paris, 1947, p. 232, p. 291; Idem, Les portlt!ans
grecs li Comp/ements, Bruxelles, 1958, p. 5, 28, 44.
G.I. Brătianu, Vicina 11. Nouve//es recherches sur I 'histoire et la topographie medievales du
12
littoral roumain de la mer Noire, Bucureşti, 1940, p. 157.
C. Andreescu, Aşezări franciscane la Dunăre şi Marea Neagră în sec. X/li-XIV, in
13
"Cercetări istorice", VIII-IX (1932-1933), no. 2, p. 160. The killing of the minorite brother Angelo
de Spoleto, as well as that of St. John from Trapezunt (+1330) shows the influence of the Tartar
dominion in the religions policy ofthe town.
14
G. Fedalto, La chiesa latina in Oriente, voi. III, Verona, 1978, doc. 576, p. 222; Ibidem,
voi. I, 2nd ed., 1981, p. 546.
Fontes Historiae Daco-Romanae, voi. IV, Bucureşti, 1982, p. 271, translated by
15
prof. T. Teoteoi.
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42 Mihail Spătărelu 6
the Synod that elected the bishop of Smolensk ( 1435). Since 1303, Cetatea Albă
entered under the jurisdiction of Haliciu and the appointment and ordinationt of the
controversial Iosif "princely bone" as its bishop took place some time
16
betweenl371-1375 , during the reign of Petru Muşat (1375-1391), also related to
the chair of Halicia. Owing to this old character of the ordainment there must be
observed the statement made by the ecumenical patriarch Antony IV (1389-1390,
17
1391-1397) that "he is an old man and fearless of death". Joseph 's age of
ordination, in spite of the controversy with Constantinople, led to his promotion as
a Metropolitan bishop of Moldavia, appointment finally confirmed by the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1401. The successor of Petru Muşat, Roman of Muşat
(1391-1394) called himself "the only great ruler and voivode with God's mercy,
18
ruling over the country of Moldav ia from the mountains to the sea"; this title
shows that he was also ruter of Cetatea Albă, which justified him to promote Iosif
as metropolitan bishop as well, and Moldavia was no longer divided into two: the
Upper Country and the Lower Country. The situation of the country's treasury was
healtly as he could offer 3,000 rubles as a Ioan to the King of Poland, an act to
which there substantially contributed the customs from Cetatea Albă as well. The
19
same returns were made by Alexandru cel Bun (1400--1432) as well, a voivode
20
who repaired the citadel by means of the great prince of Lithuania in 1421, after
repelling a naval assault by the Turks ( 1420).
As to the demographical situation of Cetatea Albă, this was quite diversified as
in all great medieval towns, especially. Besides the autochtonous element and the
colony of Italian merchants, often called Latins ("Latini") or „French" (Franks - n.n),
there also existed Tartars, Greeks, Annenians and Jews. Ali these are mentioned in
"The Life of Saint John the New Martyr". 21 The Greeks, naturally, kept good
relationships with all the towns from the basin of the Black Sea, especially with
Trabizond, where most of them came from. A similar relationship was kept with
the Armenians, further confirmed by archeological diggings made within the
medieval town, where there have been found Armenian inscriptions, as well as
silver and bronze coins belonging to the Armenian Kings. 22 The Armenian
Şt. Andreescu, The metropolitanate of Halicz and the Bishopric of Asprokastron. A few
16
considerations, în Etudes bY=antines et post-byzantines, voi. IV, Iaşi, 2001, p. 141-151. The
metropolitan Antonie of Halicz (1371-1375) was forced to quit his chair în 1375, according to
J. Fenell, A History ofthe Russian Church to 1./48, London, 1995, p. 145.
17
FHDR, IV, p. 249
Costăchescu, Documentele moldoveneşti„., I, p. 7-8.
18
M.
19
Ibidem, p. 603-604.
20
N. Iorga, Studii istorice asupra Chilii şi Cetăţii Albe, Bucureşti, 1891, p. 57.
21
Viaţa Sf Ioan cel Nou„., p. 165.
22
Gr. Avakian, Inscripţiile armeneşti din Cetatea Albă, în "Revista istorică", nos. 7-9,
p. 123-136. Considered by centuries, most of them are from the I 8th century (28); Idem, Trei manete
ale regilor armeni găsite la Cetatea Albă, în "Buletinul Societăţii Numismatice Române'', 29 ( 1924 ),
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7 The relationships of Stephen the Great with the Pontic region 43
community of Cetatea Albă had relationships with the mother land, through
Trebizond, and also with the Crimea through the town-port of Caffa and other
centres of the region, like Sugdaia (Soldaia, Sudak) and Solhat (Sorbat), where
there was an ecclesiastical structure for the Armenian communities with a local
23
bishop. All these three towns were under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox diocese
of Sugdaia dependent on Constantinople in its turn. Between these two dioceses
from Sugdaia there occurred a serious controversy regarding the date of celebrating
24
Easter day. The Armenian community of Cetatea Albă was smaller than that in
the Crimea, but it was still significant in the l Sth century. The account of the
French traveller Guillebert of Lannoy in 1421 is informative on for the ethnic mix
of Cetatea Albă. This traveller, on his pilgrinage to the Holy Land, goes first on
"the Moldavian route" from Lwow (Lemberg) to Bellegard or Mavrocastro, a town
described by him as being inhabited by "Genovese, Romanians and Armenians". 25
He was left robbed near the walls of the town. From Cetatea Albă he went overland
for 18 days up to Caffa, his remaining baggage and one of his companions
travelling by sea to the Crimea.
The Jews are also mentioned in Cetatea Albă for the year 1330, the presumed
date of Sain John the New's martyrdom; there are mentioned the dwellings of the
Jews from this town. 26 Their presence is related to the important role played by
Cetatea Albă in the economic and political life of Moldavia In the period of time
when Lannoy lived there is no report conceming the Venetians 27 , but it is known
that about the year 1435 there were attempts to establish a Venetian presence in
Moncastro. Thus, in 1435, the Venetians did not negotiate with Moldavia's
voivode, but with the ruter of Cetatea Albă (dominus maurocastri), the son of a
monk, a ruter whose name is unknown (pater illius qui dominatur Moncastro qui
caloierus est). 28 The resolution of the Senate of Venice which has the date of
p. 10-14; E. Nadel-Golobic, Armenians and Jews in medieval Lvov. Their role in oriental trade,
1400-1600, in "Cahiers du monde russe et sovietique", 20 (1979), p. 345-388.
23
M. Ormanian, The Church of Armenia, ed. 2000, Montreal, p. 59; P.P. Panaitescu, Hrisovul
lui Alexandru cel Bun pentru episcopia armeană din Suceava (30 iulie 1401), in "Revista istorică
română", IV (1934), p. 44-56; DRH, A. Moldova, I, 14, p. 21.
24
F. Solomon, Dominaţie politică şi structuri confesionale în Moldova de Jos la vremea
întemeierii statului, in "Anuarul Institutului de istorie AD. Xenopol", XXX (1993), p. 244-245.
25
Guillebert de Lannoy, Voyages el ambassades, 1399-1450, Mons, 1840, p. 38-43.
26
Viaţa Sf Ioan cel Nou, ed. ep. Melchisedec, p. 172.
27
The finding out of Venetian coins and imitations of these ones is due to the activity of the
Genovese people, in the opinion of O. Iliescu, La monnaie venitienne dans Ies pays roumains am:
Xl/f-XV" siecles, in "RESEE", XV (1977), p. 360-361. The circulation of the Venetian coins in
Moldavia continued until the 18th century, see Em. Condurachi, Manete veneziane battute in
Moldavia, "RESEE", 20 (1943), p. 231-232.
28
Archivio di stato di Venezia Misti, t. 59, 105 v; Reg. No. 2381, apud S. Papacostea, Venise
et Ies pays roumains au moyen âge, in Venezia e ii Levante, II, Florence, 1973, p. 589-624.
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44 Mihail Spătărelu 8
April, 19, 1435 shows that the Venetians were proposed, by their messenger from
Constantinople to come with one of their ships to Cetatea Albă and there would be
offered certain commercial privileges and residence in the town, as well as a
custom-rates and reasonable taxes. Thus, the Venetians Senate decided that the
ship of Zaharia Donato should sail to Cetatea Albă and stay there for 15 days. As to
the merchandise shipped from Constantinople to Cetatea Albă, they were taxed to
0.5% ad valorem, while for those charged from Cetatea Albă to Constantinople
there were subdued to the taxes existing in Tana tao, where the Venetian merchants
29
were well established in Pontic trade.
Next year. on March 15, 1436, the Venetian Senate ordered a merchant,
Francesco Duodo to visit Cetatea Albă and to remain there as a viceconsul in order
to safeguard the interests of Venetian merchants and their privileges as in the
previous year. Three ships sailed to Cetatea Albă, one to Tana and another one to
3
°
Trebizond. From 1443 on the Venetian Senate maintained a consul or viceconsul
in territories which were nat under Venetians dominion, but which had numerous
Venetian residents. Next year it again sent a transport to Cetatea Albă ( 143 7), after
which this destination does nat recur in the deliberations of the Senate. N. Iorga
draws attention to an exception in a contemporary chronicle ( 1439) where one
destination does seem to refer to Cetatea Albă. 31 It is believed that the autonomy or
the semi-autonomy of Cetatea Albă must have ceased during the reign of the
righteous and holy voivode Stephen the Great ( 145 7-1504) who took over this
important town. Recently, Professor Halii Inalcik pointed out that the Genovese
Iost control of the Pontic basin long before the fall of Caffa ( 14 75), their place
being takcn by Ottoman subjects, especially Armenians, Greeks, Jews and
Moldavians. The seizure of the castle of Lerici by the Moldavians in 1455 and the
depa11urc of the Genovese from this fortress were, in lorga's view, a consequence
32
of Constantinople's conquest by the Turks in 1453. Stephen the Great not only
extended his authority in the Pontic basin from the mouth of Dnieper across to the
Danube delta, but he a Iso consolidated it by his mariage to Maria of Mangop, thus
managing to inpose his hegcmony upon the principality of Mangop in the southern
part of the Crimca. Turkish interference with his Pontic policy, once the Crimca
R. Manolescu. L "importance economique et militaire des viile.'· portuaires de la Valachie et la
,\fo/da1·ie mH XI "-XI 'f siecles. in Mollat. Poul'Oire central. p. 171-180.
29
M. E. Martin. I 'enetian li.ma in the later Fourteenth and Early Fifteen centuries,
„Byzantinischc Forschungcn". 11 (1987) p. 375-379; C. Maltezou, 'O Beaµo .r; roii iv
K(J)varavr1V(V7r0Âe1 Bcvirou Bai"ou, Athens. 1970. p. 123.
N. Iorga, Studii istorice asupra Chiliei şi Cetăţii Albe, Bucureşti, 1891, p. 93.
30
31
Idem. Notes el extraits pour servir a / 'histoire des croisades au XV siecle, voi. I, Paris,
1899, p. 573, n. 3.
32
H. lnalcik. An Economic and Social HistolJ' of the Ottoman Empire (1300-1914),
Cambridge University Press, 1994, p. 278-287; Ş. Papacostea, Moldova lui Ştefan cel Mare şi
genove=ii din Marea Neagră, in "'Anuarul Institutului de Istorie AD. Xenopol", XXIX ( 1992), p. 70.
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9 The relationships or Stephen thc Great with thc Pontic rcgion 45
was invaded, led him to break peace with Sultan Mehmet II and participate in the
··otranto crusade" by means of which Genoa wanted to recuperate its old
possessions from the Black Sea. Moldavian merchants from this region, such as
"Teodorache from Telicha", (Teliţa at the mouth of the Dniester, became
prosperous businessmen, just as in Caffa. 33 The son of this Theodore, "Demetrius
of Telica", was considered one of the richest local merchants ( 1461 ). 34
In his correspondence with the Italian republics, Stephen the Great showed
that Moldavia was "the gateway off the Christians and so far this gate which is our
country has been protected by God, but here to be lost, God forbid, the whole of
Christendom would be in great perii". Although the Italian republics continued
their fight with the Ottoman Empire, especially in the Mediterranean, they still
maintained their interests in the Danubian and Pontic region, as the relationship of
Stephen the Great with Yen ice reveals. The Y enetians were cons idered friends
Doctor Matteo Muriano examined Moldavia's voivode and nursed him between
1502-1503. In his description, Stephen was '·a very wise man, praiseworthy, loved
by his sub) ects b~cause he was forgi~ing and righteous, alwa~s wat.chful and
generous".- 5 The 111terest of the Venet1ans towards the Moldav1an v01vode and
Moldavia in general was due to area's role as a gate of Christianity, a role that
would be assumed in the 16th century by the Polish and Habsburg Kingdoms. The
holy and righteous voivode Stephen the Great was regarded in the same way by the
principality of Mangop or Teodoro once the matrimonial alliance through Maria of
Mangop ( + 14 77) was contracted.
Finding itself under the Tartar Yoke for a long period of time, until Timur's
death ( + 1405), this principality gained its independence again, maintaining it after
the Ottoman conquest of the Crimea in 1475. The principality of Mango had a
36
good upheaval due to Gabrades family and to the prince Alexis (1403-1444).
About 1421 were built the fortress and princely palace and at about the same time
there are recorded the first relationships of Moldavia with the principality of
Mangop. A later author, Theodor Spandugino Kantakuzino shows that the
relationships between the principality of Theodoro and Moldavia had older roots,
dating from end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century, that is
nearly three quarters of a century before the marriage of Stephen with Maria of
Şt. Andreescu, Un om de afaceri român în spaţiul pontic la mijlocul veacului al XV-iea:
33
"Teodorcha de Telicha ", in "Studii şi materiale de istorie medie", XVI ( 1998), p. 23-30.
34
Michel Balard, La Mer Noire et la Romanie genoise (Xlf-XV' siecles), Variorum reprints,
London, 1989, XIII. p. 230.
Eugen Denize, Relaţiile lui Ştefan cel Mare cu Veneţia, in "Magazin istoric''. 4 ( 1998).
35
p. 55-59.
36
Omeljan Pritsak, Dory, în The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, voi. I, 1991, p. 654-655:
Anthony Bryer, A Byzantine Family: The Gabrades (c. 979-1653), in The Empire of Trebizond and
the Pontos, London 1980, p. 38-45; Thierry Ganchou, Alina Minghiraş, Un nouveau document a
propos d'Alexios de Theodor-Mangoup, in Închinare lui Petre S. Năsturel la 80 de ani, Brăila, 2003,
p. 111-118.
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46 Mihail Spătărelu 10
Mangop. 37 The geopolitical and military importance of Moldavia during the reign
of Stephen the Great is shown most clearly in the attempts of the Yenetians and of
Uzun-Hasan to free Constantinople and the whole empire from under the Ottoman
yoke and to co-opt Stephen the Great and Mathias Corvin in this anti-Ottoman
crusade. The Khan knew Stephen the Great very well as he knew his matrimonial
alliance with Marie of Mangop since his own wife Despina, being another member
of the Comnen's family from Trebizond, gave him a claim upon the Byzantine
inheritance.
lf Despina, the Khan's wife had plotted everything for Anatolia, Maria of
Mangop, from another branch of the Comnens was interested so that the entire
Northern-Pontic space, from the Danube to the Crimea should be freed from
Ottoman influence. This explains why Khan Uzun-Hasan sent Isac to beg to
Stephen the Great to teii him that after "the great slaughter and ruin of the enemy"
since 14 73 when he reached Syria, the Khan was determined to come back
forcefully against the Turks in the spring of 1474. lt was a focused action of Uzum-
Pasha "in order to bring news to great Christian voivodes", urging them "to gather
their arm ies and come against the Ottomans, as good friends of ours, from that part
38
of the Europe". Such letters had also been sent to the pope, to the King of Poland
and to Mathias Corvin. As a distant relative of Uzun-Hasan, Stephen the Great
belonged to the system of Comnens' alliances, whose main objective was the
expulsion of the Ottomans from the Black Sea, area where only the Genovese
Caffa and the Moldav ian towns of Chilia and Cetatea Albă had resisted. Even since
14 71, Uzun had sent a messenger to Genoa as well, according to whom the
government of this Italian republic recommended to Antoniotto de Gabella, the
newly appointed consul in Caffa, a better regional agreement against Turks going
so far as suspension of reprisals with the principality of Theodoro (Mangop), with
Cetatea Albă and especially with "the Tartars' emperor". 39
Venice was not yet capable of helping Uzun-Hasan at sea, as it had been
decided on March 23, 1474, because it had to face the assault of Rumelia's bey in
Scutari - Albania. The same Ottoman troops from Albania passed into Moldavia,
being defeated in January 1475, near Vaslui. The news that Stephen had defeated
"90,000 Turks, out of whom 40,000 had perished and 4,000, among whom a pasha
and one of the Sultan's sons were caught" weakened the anti-ottoman coalition,
instead of strengthening it. Soon after that, during the summer of 1475, Caffa and
Mangop fell to the Turks, while Chila and Cetatea Albă had been attacked,
37
Ovidiu Cristea, review on Donald M. Nicol, The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos
(Cantac11::en11s), ca 1100-1460, Washington, 1968, in "Studii şi materiale de istorie medie", XIX
(2001), p. 322-323. See also A Biographical Dictionary of the Byzantine Empire, London, 1991, by
the same author.
Nicolae Iorga, Veneţia în Marea Neagră III. Originea legăturilor cu Ştefan cel Mare şi
38
mediul ~ofitic al desvoltării lor, in "Analele Academiei Române", t. XXXVII (1914), p. 14-16.
9
· Ibidem, p. 17.
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11 The relationships of Stephen the Great with the Pontic region 47
remaining under Moldavia's sovereignty. The fall of Caffa had a strong negative
influence upon Venice, as can be seen during the receiving of the delegates of
Stephen the Great by the Venetian Senate, recorded on May 6, 1476. 40
After two and a half decades, the continuity of the Venetian concern on
Moldova is seen through the very presence of Matteo Muriano, "doctor in arts and
medicine" as envoy of Leonardo Loredano, the doge of Venice. Beside his medical
care offered to the Moldavian voivode, Matteo Muriano had targeted to obtain
information about the state of the Moldavian principality and of his ruter and last
but not least about the Ottomans and their relations with powers from the same
region. 41 This information is present in his reporting from December 7, 1502 and
January 5, 1503. The notes of Muriano a Iso contain information about Bogdan, the
future voivode, and on events from neighboring countries: Poland, Russia and the
Ottoman Empire and on the Crimean Tatars. The Ottoman policy to sign an
agreement with Poland was lead, according to the same source, because of fears to
face in the near future a possible alliance of the Polish Kingdom with Moldavia.
The miss ion of Matteo Muriano ended in Moldova in the summer of 1503 when he
<lied. His long activity in Moldova showed once more the interest of Venice in the
Pontic policy of Stephen the Great. The Venetian policy was consistent regarding
Stephen the Great; Hieronimo da Cesena, Giorgio di Piemonte and Alessandro
Veronese were proposed to travel to Moldova. Eventually, Hieronimo da Cesena
42
want to Moldova with Theodore, the postelnic, envoy of the ruter to Venice.
After the campaign directed against Poland ( 1497) although the voivode was
in poor health, on September 24, 1498, six years before h is de partu re from th is
43
earthly life, voivode Stephen the Great had his son, Bogdan, as associated ruler.
He was to fully take over the rute and policy of Moldova on June 30, 1504, just
two days before the death of the righteous voivode Stephen the Great, when he was
44
thought to become a monk.
40
Ibidem, p. 20-21, 34-37.
41
Eugen Denize, op.cit, p. 55-58; Călători străini despre Ţările Române, voi. 1, p. 149.
42
N. Vătămanu, Voievozi şi medici de curte, Bucureşti, 1972, p. 21, 36-39; I. Ursu, Ştefan cel
Mare, Bucureşti, 1925, p. 275; C. Esarcu, Ştefan cel Mare. Documente descoperite la Veneţia,
Bucureşti, 1874, p. 88-100.
43
Iulian Marinescu, Bogdan al III-iea cel Orb, 1504-1517, Bucureşti, 1910, p. 22.
44
Silviu N. Dragomir, Mistere, Bucureşti, 1998, p. 183-186, 207-215.
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