Mircea Cel Batrîn

(Mircea the Old). Year of birth unknown; died 1418. Hospodar of Walachia from 1386 to 1418; general.

Mircea eel Bâtrîn participated in the battle on the Kossovo Field in 1389 and commanded the Walachian Army, which defeated the army of the Turkish Sultan Bayazid at Rovine in 1394. In 1396, Mircea participated in the Hungarian king Sigismund’s anti-Turkish crusade, which ended with the defeat of the anti-Turkish coalition at Nicopolis. Under Mircea’s rule the territory of the principality of Walachia expanded, new cities and fortresses arose, central power was consolidated, and the taxation system and the administration of justice were regularized. Faced with growing pressure from the Turks and treason by the boyars, Mircea was forced in 1415 to agree to pay tribute to the Turkish sultan.