Leon's life coincided with a decline of sovereignty in both Wallachia and Moldavia, which were already tributary states of the Ottoman Empire "(see Early Modern Romania"). Ștefan, his supposed father, had been a loyal exponent of "Ottomanization" in both his state policy and his private life, and signed his documents with a "tughra"-like ornament. In 1629, both countries were still struggling with the consequences of the Long Turkish War, when Michael the Brave and Radu Șerban successively attempted to restore Wallachian independence. As historian Ion-Radu Mircea notes, "a grave conflict opposing Wallachia to the Sublime Porte had occurred in 1595–1611, provoked by heavy feudal duties and the Turks' ever-increasing interference in country affairs". Radu Mihnea, as the first Prince of Wallachia directly appointed by the Porte, had helped to "relaunch these antagonisms" in the 1610s and 1620s. As scholar Neagu Djuvara notes, the Ottomans made sure that both Wallachia and Moldavia were "militarily insignificant" by this moment in time, on their way to becoming "mere pawns in games of the great powers".