Alexander I the Good of Moldavia was born 1370 to Roman I of Moldavia (c1345-1394) and Anastasiya Karijotaitis (c1358-c1408) and died 1 January 1432 of unspecified causes. He married Margareta Loszonc . He married Ana Neacşa .
Alexander the Good and his lady, Marina.
Alexander cel Bun (Romanian: Alexandru cel Bun or Alexandru I Mușat) was a Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia, reigning between (11 Feb 1400 - 1 Jan 1432)[1] He was the son of Roman I Mușat and his second wife Anastasya.
He succeeded Iuga, who raised to the throne of Moldavia in 1399.,[2] Alexander, who claimed to be associated as ruler of Moldavia, requested the help of Mircea I of Wallachia c1360-1418) who intervened with an army and secured the support of the Moldavian boyars. Yuga was taken prisoner and died in Wallachia around 1406.
Internal politics
Emissaries of the church of "Moldovlahia" to the Council of Constance in 1415, led by Grigore Ţamblac, and sent by Alexandru cel Bun
Alexander expanded the bureaucratical system by creating the "Council of the Voivode", the Chancellory and by adding (in 1403) the institution of Logofăt – Chancellor of the official Chancellery.
During his reign, he introduced new fiscal laws, by adding commercial privileges to the traders of Lviv (1408) and Kraków (1409), improved the situation of the trading routes (especially the one linking the port of Cetatea Albă to Poland), strengthened the forts guarding them, and expanded the Moldavian ports of Cetatea Albă and Chilia.
He also had a role in ending the conflict of the Moldavian Eastern Orthodox with the Patriarch of Constantinople; he built Bistrița Monastery where he is buried and continued the building of Neamț Monastery which was started in the previous century.
Foreign affairs
The main concern of Alexander the Good was to defend the country in wars against superior armies. In order to do that, he forged a system of alliances with Wallachia and Poland, generally against Hungary (although he had been backed to the throne by Sigismund of Hungary). In 1402, he was sworn vassal of Jogaila, the King of Poland.[3] The treaty was renewed in 1404, 1407, 1411 and 1415.
Alexander participated in two battles against the Teutonic Knights: in 1410 at Grunwald and in 1422 at Marienburg. In 1420, he also defended Moldavia against the first incursion by Ottomans at Cetatea Albă. He also got involved in the power struggles of Wallachia, by helping Radu II Prasnaglava in 1418–1419 and Alexandru I Aldea in 1429, mostly in order to prevent the capture of Chilia.
Due to a territorial claim of Poland and the previous failure of the Polish king to fulfill his part of the vassality treaty during an Ottoman attack in 1420, Alexander launched an attack on Poland during the Lithuanian Civil War (1431–1435). The attack ended with the treaty of Suceava on November 18, 1431.
Personal life
The Prince's tomb at Bistrița Monastery
Alexandru cel Bun had four legitimate wives – Margareta Loszonc, Ana Neacşa, Rymgajla (daughter of Kęstutis and sister of Vytautas the Great of Lithuania; divorced in 1421), and Mariana. His sons later reigning in Moldavia - Iliaș, Stephen II, Petru II, Bogdan II (father of Stephen the Great) and Alexander.[4] He was father-in-law to Vlad II Dracul and grandfather to Vlad III the Impaler through his eldest daughter, Cneajna (or Vasilisa, or Maria Muşat).
He died on January 1, 1432, and was buried in the Bistriţa Monastery.
External links
- Marek, Miroslav. "Muşatin family". Genealogy.EU. http://genealogy.euweb.cz/balkan/balkan18.html.
Notes
- ^ Vauchez, Andre (2001-04-01). Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages. Routledge. ISBN 1-57958-282-6. http://books.google.com/?id=om4olQhrE84C&pg=PA966&dq=%22Alexander+the+Good%22+1400-1432.
- ^ Williams, Henry Smith (1909). The Historians' History of the World. Hooper & Jackson. pp. 242. ISBN 0-8419-0088-4. http://books.google.com/?id=sB8QAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA242&dq=%22Alexander+the+Good%22.
- ^ King, Charles H. (2000). The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the politics of culture. Stanford, CA: Hoover Institution Press. pp. 15. ISBN 0-8179-9791-1. http://books.google.com/?id=ldBFWtuv8DQC&pg=PA15&dq=%22Alexandru+cel+Bun%22.
- ^ http://enciclopediaromaniei.ro/wiki/Alexandru_cel_Bun
| Preceded by Iuga |
Voivode of Moldavia 1400–1432 |
Succeeded by Iliaş |
Residences
Footnotes (including sources)
| ‡ General |
|