Stephen the Great
Ştefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great or St. Steven the Great or Stephen Muşat III), (1433, Borzeşti - July 2 1504, Suceava), was a voivod (prince) of Moldova (1457-1504), who won renown in Europe for his long resistance against the Ottoman Empire.
He was also the suzerain of the lands on the other side of the town of Vatra Dornei, the so-called Pocutia.
With the help of Vlad III the Impaler, Ştefan secured the throne of Moldova from his uncle Petru Aron. He was crowned voivod on April 14, 1457. Menaced by powerful neighbours, he successfully repulsed an invasion by Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus defeating him in the Battle of Baia in 1467, and invaded Wallachia in 1471, which had by then succumbed to Turkish vassalage.
When the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II launched an attack on Moldova, Ştefan defeated the invaders near Vaslui at the battle of Podul Înalt in 1475, a victory which temporarily halted the Turkish advance into the Balkans.
Ştefan was defeated at Războieni (Battle of Valea Albă) the next year, but the Turks had to retreat after they failed to take any significant castle (see siege of Cetatea Neamţului) and after a plague started to spread in the Ottoman army. Ştefan's search for European assistance against the Turks had little success, but his determination "to cut off the pagan's right hand" won him the acclaim of Pope Sixtus IV as "Christ's Champion".
After 1484 Ştefan had to contend not only with new Turkish onslaughts but also with Polish and Hungarian designs on Moldovian independence. Finally in 1489 he concluded a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II that preserved Moldovian independence, at the cost of an annual tribute to the Turks. Later, from the 16th century, the principality of Moldova spent three hundred years under Ottoman suzerainty.
Though it was marked by continual strife, Ştefan's long reign nonetheless brought considerable cultural development; no less than 44 churches and monasteries were erected by Ştefan himself, some of which are now part of UNESCO's World Heritage.
Ştefan cel Mare was called holy by many Christians, but it is said that he had more than 20 illegitimate children. He has been canonized by the Romanian Orthodox Church under the name "The Right-believing Voivod Stephen the Great and the Saint". He is buried in the Monastery of Putna.