Mircea the Shepherd

Mircea the Shepherd (, d. 25 September 1559), was the Voivode (or Prince) of Wallachia three times: January 1545 (he entered Bucharest on 17 March)–16 November 1552; May 1553–28 February 1554 (leaving Bucharest that March); and January 1558–21 September 1559. Early life He was the fifth son of Radu cel Mare. His baptismal name was Dumitru and he married Chiajna, the daughter of Petru Rareș, whose name was in fact Ana. He was probably called the Shepherd because he bought sheep for the Istanbul markets before ascending the throne. Career The Ottoman Empire (Wallachia's suzerain) named him ruler in January 1545 in place of his stepbrother Radu Paisie and he entered Bucharest on 17 March 1545, ascending the throne on that day. Through his first decree of privilege, of 25 March 1545, he maintained in their functions and even promoted four high officials of his predecessor. A chronicle relates that two weeks after his installation, he ordered that a number of boyars be killed, including Coadă the vornic (internal affairs minister), Radul the comis, Stroe the spătar (second-in-command of the military), and Vintilă, also a comis. The chronicle also mentions that they were tortured so that they would reveal where the money and jewels were hidden, so that these could be poured into the treasury. Following this massacre, some of the wealthiest boyars and the relatives of those killed went into exile in Transylvania and Hungary, where they came together and tried twice to depose him from the throne. First challenge The first attempt came at the Battle of Periș, on 24 August 1546, when the host of boyars in exile was attacked by surprise and decimated by Mircea the Shepherd. At the beginning of 1548 a new exodus of the boyars remaining in Wallachia took place, headed by Stoica the stolnic, Vintilă the vornic, Radu the great logofăt and Pârvu the postelnic. In these conditions the boyars in exile regrouped and a second confrontation took place that year. Led by a young pretender and accompanied by 1,000 Székely mercenaries, they entered Wallachia hoping to be backed by a popular revolt. However, the expected revolt never materialized; the chronicle of the Brașov resident Ostermayer seems to indicate that the peasants backed Mircea. It appears that the battle took place near the village of Miloste ( in present the village of Milostea) in Vâlcea County, with Mircea the Shepherd emerging victorious and the boyars who were not killed escaping with great difficulty.