Sunday marked 425 years since the death of Michael the Brave (Mihai Viteazul), the first ruler to unite Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia under a single leadership.
At the end of the 16th century, Michael the Brave became Prince of Wallachia, beginning his reign in 1593. Amid the conflict between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburg Monarchy, he led an extensive military and diplomatic campaign to strengthen his rule and defend Christendom.
In 1600, Michael the Brave briefly united Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia under a single political authority, becoming the first ruler to achieve the political union of the three Romanian principalities. For his role in the anti-Ottoman struggle, Pope Clement VIII referred to him as “Knight of Christ and Defender of Christendom.”
Final victory and assassination
On 3 August 1601, Michael fought alongside the forces of General Giorgio Basta at the Battle of Guruslău, where they defeated the army of Sigismund Báthory. The victory would prove to be his last.
Six days later, on 9 August 1601, Michael the Brave was killed in his camp near Turda. According to historian Dionysios Foteinos, a bitter rivalry had developed between the prince and General Basta. Accusing Michael of maintaining contacts with the Ottomans, Basta allegedly ordered his arrest and execution. Surrounded by mercenaries, the prince attempted to defend himself but was struck with a spear and then beheaded.
A late 17th-century chronicle described his tragic death:
“And his noble body fell like a tree, for he had neither known nor had the chance to wield his swift sword in his brave hand. His body remained naked, cast into the dust, for thus has envy worked since the beginning of the world. (…) For he was the Christians’ defender and stood firm as a valiant champion for them, making the Turks tremble in fear of him.”
Where Michael the Brave rests
After his death, the prince’s body was buried near the site of his assassination, in what is now known as Obelisk Alley in Turda. In 1977, a 16.01-meter obelisk—symbolising the year 1601—was erected there, decorated with bas-reliefs, the coats of arms of the three Romanian provinces, and a cross.
Michael’s skull was taken to Dealu Monastery, near Târgoviște, where it remains today. Over the centuries, the relic was moved several times for safekeeping, including during the First World War, before being returned to the monastery in 1920.
The stone placed above the tomb by the Grand Ban Radu Buzescu bears the inscription:
“Here lies the honoured and departed skull of the Christian Michael, the Great Voivode, who was Prince of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia.”
A national hero
Today, the site is also marked by a marble plaque bearing an epitaph composed by historian Nicolae Iorga:
“Here rests what crime and impiety left of the sacred body of Michael the Brave, while his soul lives in the souls of an entire nation until the Scriptures are fulfilled, when he shall find in heaven the rest of the righteous together with the blessed souls of his forefathers.”
In 2020, the Romanian Parliament officially declared Michael the Brave a “martyr and hero of the Romanian nation.” It also established 27 May—the date marking the political union of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia under his rule—as National Michael the Brave Day.
In recent years, several local initiatives have sought to canonise Michael the Brave.
Photo: Worldcometomyhome.Blogspot.com / Valentin Tănase
