- Description
- Specifications
| ID Number: | BB06-0101 |
| Description: | Heroes of Vaslui |
| Country or State: | Romania |
| Year: | 01.03.1979 |
| Face Value: | 55 Romanian ban |
| Series: | International Year of the Child, 1979 |
| Perforation: | comb 13¼ |
| Printing: | Photogravure |
| Dimensions (B x H): | 33 x 48 mm |
| Emission: | 3,000,000 |
| Catalog Number: | Michel RO 3573 Stamp Number RO 2816 Yvert et Tellier RO 3149 Stanley Gibbons RO 4436 |
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The Battle of Vaslui (also referred to as the Battle of Podul Înalt or the Battle of Racova) was fought on 10 January 1475, between Stephen III of Moldavia and the Ottoman governor of Rumelia, Hadım Suleiman Pasha. The battle took place at Podul Înalt (the High Bridge), near the town of Vaslui, in Moldavia (now part of eastern Romania). The Ottoman troops numbered up to 120,000, facing about 40,000 Moldavian troops, plus smaller numbers of allied and mercenary troops. Stephen inflicted a decisive defeat on the Ottomans, described as "the greatest ever secured by the Cross against Islam," with casualties, according to Venetian and Polish records, reaching beyond 40,000 on the Ottoman side. Mara Brankovic (Mara Hatun), the former younger wife of Murad II, told a Venetian envoy that the invasion had been worst ever defeat for the Ottomans. Stephen was later awarded the title "Athleta Christi" (Champion of Christ) by Pope Sixtus IV, who referred to him as "verus christianae fidei athleta" ("the true defender of the Christian faith"). According to the Polish chronicler Jan Długosz, Stephen did not celebrate his victory; instead, he fasted for forty days on bread and water and forbade anyone to attribute the victory to him, insisting that credit be given only to the Lord. |
