John Voda the Fierce

Little is known about the origin and youth of John Voda. In various sources he was called Moldavian , Pole , Armenian . There is a version that he was the son of the ruler of Stephen IV (according to another version, he was the son of Bogdan, son of Stephen III the Great ), born of the Armenian Serpega, for which he received the nickname “Armanul”.

Before the occupation of the Moldovan throne, he traveled a lot, was in Poland , Constantinople , the Russian kingdom , and Greece . From the letter of Ivan IV to Ivan Voda Lutom of May 1574, it is known that around 1566, Ivan Voda lived in Russia and was married there (to Mary, daughter of Prince Simeon of Rostov), ​​was in the service of the Tsar. Later, as a sovereign, Ioann Voda tried to get his wife and daughter out of Russia, but they died during the epidemic.

John accompanied the Polish ambassador to Constantinople as a translator, where he took up the post of Drahoman Porta. The sultan, having learned that the sisters of Bogdan Lepusnianu were married to the Poles, and the advisers of the Moldavian court were also of Polish origin, deprived Bogdan of the throne and appointed Ioana Voda in his place, taking him to Suceava with the Turkish troops. The boyars recognized the new sovereign, but his harsh policies provoked their hatred. John without mercy dealt with the participants of several conspiracies, confiscated the property of traitors, tortured them, executed.

John the Fierce paid Porte a large annual tribute of 35 thousand gold. He developed trade with neighboring countries, began to mint Moldavian copper coins with his image on the obverse and the inscription "Father of Moldavia", and on the reverse - the country's coat of arms, year (1573) and the inscription "Acche Moldovei Moldovei". He also moved the capital from Suceava (near the border with Poland) to Iasi (the center of Moldova).

He led an active foreign policy. In 1572, the Polish king Sigismund II Augustus died, and the new king was to be elected at the special diet of the entire gentry. The German prince Ernest, the French prince Heinrich Valois , governor Stefan Batory and Ivan the Terrible took part in the struggle for the Polish crown . Ioann Voda through his ambassadors actively supported Ivan the Terrible, but failed, and Henry Valois was elected king. Poland remained an ally of Turkey and, therefore, an adversary of the Principality of Moldova.

Relations between Turkey and Moldova escalated, and in 1574, when the Turks demanded a doubling of tribute, Ioan Voda refused and began to prepare for war. He counted on the support of the masses. The liberating nature of the war made it possible to convene the so-called " large army " and to draft peasants into the army. The ruler tried to get help from neighboring countries. The new Polish king did not want to break off relations with Turkey, however, individual Polish feudal lords, dissatisfied with the policy of his king, promised to send auxiliary units. Zaporizhzhya Cossacks sent a detachment of 1,200 people led by Svirgovsky , who arrived in Suceava on March 20, 1574.

The Turkish sultan appointed Peter Khromoi as the sovereign, and in the spring of 1574 he and his brother Alexander, the sovereign of Wallachia , led the Turkish-Wallachian and Hungarian troops into the Principality of Moldova. However, John Voda the Fierce was already ready to fight back. The Moldovan army was well prepared, there were many guns. The ruler sent the clerk to Dumbrava with 900 horsemen and Cossacks to meet the enemy. The hostile army consisted of 70 thousand soldiers of Wallachia, 30 thousand Turks and 3 thousand Hungarians. At the village of Zilishte (near Fokshan ), a Moldovan-Cossack detachment unexpectedly attacked the enemy, and the ruler arrived with the rest of the forces, as a result, the Turkish troops were defeated, and Ioan Voda got a huge booty. The Moldavian-Cossack army moved on and occupied Bucharest , then went to Braila , defeated the Turkish auxiliary detachment, burned the city, but could not capture the castle.

Further military operations were transferred to Budjak , where there were Turkish strongholds in Moldova. So the Cossacks defeated a large Turkish-Tatar detachment, went to Bender , occupied a posad , but the fortress stood. Near the fortress, the 10,000th Turkish detachment sent to help the Turkish garrison was also destroyed. To the Benders, along the Dniester River , 600 Cossacks arrived from Poland, led by Pokotilo, arrived in 25 boats. Ioann Voda instructed them to occupy Ackerman . The Cossacks took a posad, but the citadel stood, since the Cossacks did not have equipment to storm the walls of the fortress. With great booty, the detachment returned.

The Turks gathered a new army and went to Moldova from the south, their Tatars allies invaded from the east. At this time, a conspiracy was brewing in the circles of the Moldavian nobility due to dissatisfaction with its policy to strengthen the central government. During the hostilities it was very important to prevent the Turks from crossing the Danube . The most convenient was the Oblucky ford at Isakchi . A Moldovan detachment led by the boyar Jeremiah was sent here to stop the Turks, but he conspired with the enemy and allowed a crossing for a bribe of 30 thousand galbens and mislead the command. Misinformed about the number of enemy troops, the 35,000th Moldovan-Cossack army went to the Danube.

July 10, 1574 there was a battle near Lake Cagul. The forces of the Turks greatly exceeded the Moldavian army. Before the battle, the traitor boyars went over to the side of the Turks. The Moldavian army was forced to retreat. A new battle took place in the valley near the village of Roshkany . The Moldavian-Cossack army resisted in complete encirclement for three days. As a result, Ioan Voda decided to surrender under conditions of preserving the life of himself and his soldiers, however, the Turkish Pasha executed the king. John Voda the Fierce was beheaded, his body was tied to four camels and torn to pieces. The Zaporizhzhya hetman Ivan Svirgovsky was also killed . A similar fate befell many ordinary soldiers.

Peter VI Lame became the new ruler of the Moldavian principality, and the country was plundered by the Tatars so that the memory of this was preserved for many years. The Pruto-Dniester interfluve was especially affected.

• In 1995, a postage stamp of Moldova dedicated to Ioann Voda Lutom was issued.
• In 2015, the Moldavian rock band Che-MD wrote a song dedicated to Ioan Voda Lutom. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2uj_tO785c

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• Mokhov N.A. Moldavia of the era of feudalism. - Chisinau: Cartya Moldovenienasca, 1964. - S. 283-290.
• Lobanov E.A. John-Voda and the siege of the fortress // Bender. Pages of history. 1408-1812. - Bender: Polygraphist, 2003. - S. 47-51. - 272 p.
• Ioann Voda the Terrible / Grosul V. Ya. // Plasma Radiation - Islamic Salvation Front [Electronic resource]. - 2008. - P. 506. - (The Big Russian Encyclopedia : [in 35 vols.] / Ch. Ed. Yu. S. Osipov ; 2004—2017, vol. 11). - ISBN 978-5-85270-342-2 .

• Lista domnitorilor Moldovei (1247-1859) (mold.)