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Stephen Báthory: Transylvanian Voivode

1. Stephen Báthory was a Hungarian commander and judge who rose to power under King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. 2. In 1476, he was made supreme commander of a large Hungarian army to help Vlad III Dracula regain the Wallachian throne from Basarab Laiotă. 3. They were successful, defeating Laiotă's army, allowing Dracula to retake the capital and be reestablished as Prince of Wallachia, though Dracula would later be killed after Báthory and their armies retreated.

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67 views1 page

Stephen Báthory: Transylvanian Voivode

1. Stephen Báthory was a Hungarian commander and judge who rose to power under King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. 2. In 1476, he was made supreme commander of a large Hungarian army to help Vlad III Dracula regain the Wallachian throne from Basarab Laiotă. 3. They were successful, defeating Laiotă's army, allowing Dracula to retake the capital and be reestablished as Prince of Wallachia, though Dracula would later be killed after Báthory and their armies retreated.

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Kakha
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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STEPHEN BATHORY

Stephen Báthory of Ecsed (Hungarian: Báthory István, pronounced [ˈbaːtori


ˈiʃtvaːn]; Romanian: Ștefan Báthory; 1430–1493) was a Hungarian commander, 'dapiferorum
regalium magister' (1458–?), judge royal (1471–1493) and voivode of Transylvania (1479–1493). He
rose to power under King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and after the king's death sided
with Vladislav Jagiellon of Bohemia and later together with Pál Kinizsi defeated Prince John
Corvin in the Battle of Csonthegy (1493). As a result of his cruelty in Transylvania, especially against
the Székelys, he was deposed by the King in 1493 and died shortly afterwards.
In 1467, he took part in Matthias' bitter defeat against Moldavia at the Battle of Baia. In 1476,
Corvinus decided to support Vlad III Dracula in reclaiming his Wallachian throne from Basarab
Laiotă.[4] He therefore made Báthory supreme commander over an army of 8,000 infantry and 13,000
cavalry,[4] but since Báthory was rather inexperienced in military leadership, "the actual leadership
was shared by Dracula and the Serbian despot Vuk Brancovic.[4] Before this, Dracula and Báthory
had waged war in Bosnia, where Báthory was sent by Corvinus to free a certain Bosnian king whose
name was also Matthias.[5] The new campaign would involve Hungarian, Moldavian, and Wallachian
troops, with the assistance of a small Serbian contingent.[4] Dracula wrote to his cousin,
Prince Stephen III of Moldavia, to wait for him so that the two could merge their armies, but the
merging failed due to delayment in movement of the Hungarian troops, which resulted in Stephen's
defeat at the Battle of Valea Albă on July 26, 1476.[6] On August 18, the two armies merged and
helped Stephen get rid of the Turks in Moldavia.[4] After a consultation that took place in the city
of Braşov, Dracula, Báthory, and Brancovic invaded Wallachia from southern Transylvania with an
army of 35,000, whereas Stephen would aid them by attacking eastern Wallachia with 15,000 men.
[7]
 Dracula's offensive began in early November 1476 and defeated Laiotă's 18,000 strong army
at Rucăr, at the Wallachian-Transylvanian border.[7] Both armies lost around 10,000 men.[7] On
November 8, Dracula captured the capital of Târgovişte where he met with Stephen.[7] The two swore
eternal allegiance to one another and when at the presence of Báthory, the two pledged as well to
pursue a great crusade against the Turks.[7] By November 11, Báthory reported to the town officials
of Sibiu that most of Wallachia was in Dracula's hands and added that "all the boyars aside from two
are with us" and "even the latter will soon join us."[7] On November 16, Bucharest fell to Báthory's
army and on November 26, Dracula was reestablished as Prince of Wallachia for his third time.
[7]
 After Stephen and Báthory retreated from Wallachia, Laiotă would return to Wallachia with an army
to reclaim his throne. In December, Laiota and Dracula met each other in battle. Dracula possessed
only a small army and was killed in battle.

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