Stephen III of Moldavia Stephen III of Moldavia ( also known as Stefan the Great , , or " Ștefan cel Mare și Sfânt " , " Stefan the Great and Holy " ; 1433 – July 2 , 1504 ) was Prince of Moldavia between 1457 and 1504 and the most prominent representative of the House of Mușat . During his reign , he strengthened Moldavia and maintained its independence against the ambitions of Hungary , Poland , and the Ottoman Empire , which all sought to subdue the land . Stephen achieved fame in Europe for his long resistance against the Ottomans . He was victorious in 46 of his 48 battles , and was one of the first to gain a decisive victory over the Ottomans at the Battle of Vaslui , after which Pope Sixtus IV deemed him " verus christianae fidei athleta " ( " true Champion of Christian Faith " ) . He was a man of religion and displayed his piety when he paid the debt of Mount Athos to the Porte , ensuring the continuity of Athos as an autonomous monastical community . Early life and rise to power . Stephen was born in Borzești and was a member of the ruling House of Mușat . His father Bogdan II had ruled Moldavia for two years ( 1449 to 1451 ) before being killed in a stealthy raid led by Stephen ' s uncle , Petru Aron . Bogdan II was attending a wedding of one of his boyars – who apparently was in collusion with Petru Aron – and the surprise was complete . Stephen barely escaped with his life , but his father was captured and beheaded on the spot by his stepbrother Petru Aron . Between 1451 and 1457 , Moldavia was in turmoil from the civil war between Petru Aron and Alexăndrel – a nephew of Alexander the Good . Following the outbreak of the conflict , Stephen took refuge in Transylvania , seeking the protection of military commander John Hunyadi . After that , he moved to the court of his first cousin Vlad III Dracula and , in 1457 , managed to receive 6 , 000 horsemen as military assistance , putting them to use in a victorious battle against Petru Aron at Doljești , near Roman . Following another lost battle at Orbic , Aron fled to Poland , while Stephen was crowned Prince . Two years later , he led an incursion into Poland in search of Aron , but was met with resistance . Instead , a treaty was signed between Moldavia and Poland , through which Stephen recognized King Kazimierz IV Jagiellon as his suzerain , while Aron was banned from entering Moldavia . Rule . Menaced by powerful neighbours , he successfully repelled an invasion by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus , defeating him in the Battle of Baia ( in 1467 ) , crushed an invading Tatar force at Lipnic and invaded Wallachia in 1471 ( the latter had by then succumbed to Ottoman power and had become its vassal ) . When the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II launched a retaliatory attack on Moldavia , Stephen defeated the invaders at the Battle of Vaslui in 1475 , a victory which temporarily halted the Turkish advance . Stephen was defeated at Războieni ( Battle of Valea Albă ) the next year , but the Ottomans had to retreat after they failed to take any significant castle ( see siege of Cetatea Neamțului ) as a plague started to spread in the Ottoman army . Stephen ' s search for European assistance against the Turks met with little success , even though he had " " cut off the pagan ' s right hand " " – as he put it in a letter . Stefan helped to oust Vlad Țepeș ' s brother , Radu the Handsome who had converted to Islam and later became the Ottoman commander of Wallachia , he then installed Laiotă Basarab the Old on the throne in the hope of bringing Wallachia back into the Christian camp . This proved to be illusory , as Laiotă quickly turned his back on Stephen , deeming that Ottoman protection would better help him consolidate his rule . With Stephen ' s support , Laiotă was removed from the throne in 1482 by Vlad Călugărul , brother to Vlad Tepes , and for the remainder of the 15th century Wallachia remained relatively stable under his rule . After 1484 , when he lost the fortresses of Chilia Nouǎ and Cetatea Albǎ to an Ottoman " blitz " invasion , Stephen had to face not only new Turkish onslaughts which he defeated again on November 16 , 1485 at Catlabuga Lake and at Șcheia on the Siret River in March 1486 , but also the Polish designs on Moldavian independence . Finally on August 20 , 1503 he concluded a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II that preserved Moldavia ' s self - rule , at the cost of an annual tribute to the Turks . From the 16th century on , the Principality of Moldavia would spend three hundred years as an Ottoman vassal . In his late years , he dealt successfully with a Polish invasion , defeating the Poles at the Battle of the Cosmin Forest . Main battles . Battle of Baia . The Battle of Baia was fought on December 15 , 1467 against the armies of Hungarian King , Matthias Corvinus . The battle was the last Hungarian attempt to subdue the independent Moldavia , as previous attempts had ended in failure . Corvinus invaded Moldavia due to Stephen ' s annexation of Chilia — a fortress and harbour at the coast of the Black Sea , which at the time was controlled by Hungarian and Wallachian forces , though it had belonged to Moldavia centuries earlier . The conflict ended with a bitter defeat for the Hungarians , who had an army more than three times the size of the Moldavian force . This put an end to all Hungarian claims on Moldavia . Corvinus almost died after being thrice wounded by arrows and barely made his escape to Transylvania . In 1468 , Stephen campaigned in Transylvania , found Aron and had him executed . Stephen and Corvinus would later negotiate a peace treaty and become allies ; in 1475 , Corvinus sent 1 , 800 soldiers that assisted Stephen in his victory at the Battle of Vaslui . Battle of Vaslui . The Battle of Vaslui ( also referred as Battle of Podul Înalt or the Battle of Racova ) was fought on January 10 , 1475 , against the Ottoman Beylerbeyi of Rumelia , Hadım Suleyman Pasha . The battle took place at Podul Înalt ( " the High Bridge " ) , near the town of Vaslui , in Moldavia ( now part of eastern Romania ) . The Ottoman troops numbered up to 120 , 000 , facing about 40 , 000 Moldavian troops , plus smaller numbers of allied and mercenary troops . Stephen inflicted on the Ottomans a decisive defeat that has been described as " the greatest ever secured by the Cross against Islam , " with casualties , according to Venetian and Polish records , reaching beyond 40 , 000 on the Ottoman side . Mara Brankovic ( Mara Hatun ) , who had formerly been the younger wife of Murad II , told a Venetian envoy that the invasion had been worst ever defeat for the Ottomans . Stephen was later awarded the title " Athleta Christi " ( " Champion of Christ " ) by Pope Sixtus IV , who referred to him as " " Verus christiane fidei aletha " " ( The true defender of the Christian faith ) . According to the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz , Stephen did not celebrate his victory ; instead , he fasted for forty days on bread and water and forbade anyone to attribute the victory to him , insisting that credit be given only to " The Lord " . Battle of Valea Albă . After the disaster of the Battle of Vaslui , the Sultan Mehmed II assembled a large army and entered Moldavia in June 1476 . Meanwhile groups of Tartars from the Crimean Khanate ( the Ottomans ' recent ally ) were sent to attack Moldavia . Romanian sources may state that they were repelled . Other sources state that joint Ottoman and Crimean Tartar forces " occupied Bessarabia and took Akkerman , gaining control of southern mouth of Danube . Stephan tried to avoid open battle with the Ottomans by following a scorched - earth policy . " In the process the Moldavians forces ended up being dispersed throughout the country , leaving only a small force of about 12 – 20 , 000 men , led by Ștefan cel Mare himself , to face the main Ottoman attack . The battle began with the Moldavians luring the main Ottoman forces into a forest that was set on fire , causing some casualties to the attacking Ottoman army in the forest . According to another battle description , the defending Moldavian forces repelled several Ottoman attacks with steady fire from hand - guns . The attacking Turkish Janissaries were forced to crouch on their stomachs instead of charging headlong into the defenders positions . Seeing the imminent defeat of his forces , Mehmed charged with his personal guard against the Moldavians , managing to rally the Janissaries , and turning the tide of the battle . Turkish Janissaries penetrated inside the forest and engaged the defenders in man - to - man fighting . The Moldavian army was utterly defeated ( casualties were very high on both sides ) , and the chronicle s say that the entire battlefield was covered with the bones of the dead , a probable source for the toponym ( " Valea Albă " is Romanian and " Akdere " Turkish for " The White Valley " ) . Ștefan cel Mare retreated into the north - western part of Moldavia or even into the Polish Kingdom and began forming another army . The Ottomans were unable to conquer any of the major Moldavian strongholds ( Suceava , Neamț , Hotin ) and were constantly harassed by small scale Moldavians attacks . Soon they were also confronted with starvation , a situation made worse by an outbreak of the plague , and were driven out of the country , many of then dying while crossing the Danube river . The Sultan returned to Istanbul without considering himself defeated , but also without conquering anything . Battle of the Cosmin Forest . After the Moldavian loss of Chilia and Cetatea Albă , the Ottoman threat seemed more evident . King John I Albert of Poland was suzerain of Moldavia , and , when Stephen asked him for military assistance , they met , in 1494 at the conference of Levoča , where together with King Ladislaus II of Hungary and Elector Johann Cicero of Brandenburg , they forged plans for an expedition against the Porte . The objective was to recapture Chilia and Cetatea Albă . However , in unexplained circumstances , Ștefan received reports from Hungary that John Albert prepared to place his own brother , the Polish prince Sigismund ( later king , as Sigismund I the Old ) , on the Moldavian throne . By 1497 John Albert managed to gather 80 , 000 men and was preparing for the expedition when Ștefan invaded Galicia and pillaged it . The plans for the Ottoman invasion were put aside and John Albert went against Moldavia instead . The campaign started on the wrong foot , with John Albert entering Moldavia at Hotin and – despite sound advice to the contrary – deciding not to take the fortress , but to go straight for the capital city of Suceava . After the abortive siege of Suceava ( September 26 – October 16 ) – with the taking of the recently rebuilt and reinforced fortress nowhere in sight ( despite having used heavy siege artillery on its walls ) , and facing famine , disease , bad weather plus the prospect of coming winter – John Albert was compelled to lift the siege . After some negotiations , the Poles left Suceava on October 19 . John Albert accepted Stephen ' s conditions for retreat , but later decided to break the arrangement . It was a mistake that Stephen was waiting for all along : on October 26 he ambushed the Poles while they were marching on a narrow road passing through a thickly wooded area known as " The Cosmin Forest " . Thus , John Albert was unable to deploy his forces , rendering the Polish heavy cavalry completely useless . The several phases of battle lasted for three days , with Stephen routing the invading army , which was forced to flee in disarray , harassed all the way by the forces of the prince . At the same time a Moldavian contingent intercepted on October 29 a hastily assembled Polish relief force and completely annihilated it at Lențești . However , once back in open space , the Poles were able again to take advantage of their heavy cavalry , and that part of the remaining troops which managed to retain a measure of order and discipline succeeded in crossing back into Poland – despite Stephen ' s last effort to engage the remnants of the king ' s army in a battle of annihilation when they were trying to ford the Prut river at Cernăuţi . After the failed campaign the Poles no longer threatened Moldova for the rest of Stephen ' s reign . Illness and death . In 1462 , during the assault of Chilia Nouǎ , Stephen was shot in the leg . The wound never fully healed . In 1486 , during the battle of Șcheia , his horse was injured . They both fell and Stephen was trapped under the horse . The incident aggravated his old leg injury . Over time , he summoned to his royal court many doctors , astrologists and other persons , who attempted to heal his wound . Among these were Hermann , " bacalaurio in medicina " , astrologist Baptista de Vesentio , Maestro Zoano barbero from Genoa ( in 1468 ) , Isaac Beg ( in 1473 ) , Don Antonio Branca ( skilled in fixing cut noses ) , Mateo Muriano from Venice ( in 1502 ) , and Hieronimo di Cesena from Venice ( in 1503 ) . Towards the end of his life , Stephen suffered from gout , which immobilized his hands and legs . On November 9 , 1503 , Vladislav , King of Hungary wrote to the Doge of Venice : " The voivode of Moldavia is tormented by an old illness . " On June 30 , 1504 Stephen ' s wound was cauterized by the doctors present in Suceava ( one of whom was Hieronimo di Cesena from Venice ) . The operation caused great pain to the old voivode , who died two days later , on the morning of July 2 , 1504 . He was buried in the Monastery of Putna . Canonization . Stephen the Great is perceived by the Romanian Orthodox Church as a defender of the faith , of the Church , and the whole of Christianity . Stephen ' s opposition to the Ottoman Empire protected the entirety of Europe from an invasion . After the Battle of Vaslui , Pope Sixtus IV named Stephen " the Champion of Christ " ( Athleta Christi ) . It is said that he built 44 churches and monasteries ( " see List of churches established by Stephen III of Moldavia " ) , one for each battle that he won ( 44 out of a total of 48 ) . At the end of the 20th century , the Romanian Orthodox Church decided to canonize Stephen . The canonization was enacted on June 20 , 1992 by the Synodic Council of the Romanian Orthodox Church . Stephen is called " Saint Voivode Stephen the Great " . His feast day in the Romanian Orthodox calendar is July 2 , the day of his death . Legacy . Though it was marked by continual strife , Stephen ' s long reign brought considerable cultural development ; many churches and monasteries were erected by Stephen himself ; some of which , including Voroneț , are now part of UNESCO ' s World Heritage sites . Stephen was seen as holy by many Christians , soon after his death . He has been canonized a saint by the Romanian Orthodox Church under the name " " The Right - believing Voivode Stephen the Great and the Holy " " . In a 2006 Romanian national television campaign on TVR 1 ( " see Mari Români " ) , Stephen III was voted by almost 40 , 000 viewers as the " Greatest Romanian " of all times . Coins and banknotes . Stephen the Great ' s image was used on coins and banknotes both in Romania and Moldova . The Romanian leu , the currency used in Romania , features Stephen on the coins of 20 lei , issued in the 1990s . These coins are no longer in use . The Moldovan leu , established on November 29 , 1993 , following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the creation of the independent republic of Moldova , features Stephen the Great on the front side of all the banknotes . Monuments . The Stephen the Great Monument is a prominent monument in Chişinău , opposite the main government building . A monumental equestrian statute of Stephan the Great exists in Iași , in the square in front of the neogothic grand Palace , while another equestrian statue exists in Suceava , near the medieval citadel . Many other statues and monuments dedicated to Stephan the Great feature prominently in all the major cities in the region of Moldavia , eastern Romania , the western part of the former Principality of Moldavia , as well as on the site of some of the most important battles that he fought . Film . Stephen , and his victory at Vaslui , were the subject of a 1975 film , " Ștefan cel Mare – Vaslui 1475 " , by Romanian director .