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Stefan cel Mare (Stephen the Great) was a voivod (prince) of Moldavia ( 1457- 1504), who won renown in Europe for his long resistance against the Ottoman Empire.

With the help of the Wallachian prince Vlad III the Impaler, Stefan secured the throne of Moldavia in 1457. Menaced by powerful neighbours, he successfully repulsed an invasion by Hungary in 1467, and invaded Wallachia in 1471, which had by then succumbed to Turkish vassalage.

When the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II launched an attack on Moldavia, Stephen defeated the invaders near Vaslui in 1475. Stephen was defeated at Razboieni (Valea Alba) next year, but the Turks had to retreat after they failed to take any important fortress. His search for European assistance against the Turks had little success, but his determination "to cut off the pagan's right hand" won him the acclaim of Pope Sixtus IV as " Christ's AthleteAthleta Christi ( Latin: Champion of Christ is a title granted by the pope to men who have led military campaigns to defend Christianity. Those who have held the title include: John Hunyadi Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg Stefan cel Mare.".

After 1484Events July 6 Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cao finds the mouth of Congo River December 5 Pope Innocent VIII gives the inquisition a mission to hunt heretics and witches in Germany with the lead of Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger First cuirassier units Stefan had to contend not only with new Turkish onslaughts but also with PolishThe Republic of Poland a country in Central Europe, lies between Germany to the west, the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south, Ukraine and Belarus to the east, and the Baltic Sea, Lithuania and Russia (in the form of the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave) t and Hungarian designs on Moldavian independence. Finally in 1503Events January 20 Seville in Castile is awarded exclusive right to trade with the New World. April 21 Battle of Cerignola. Aragonese forces under Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordoba defeat the French under the Duc de Nemours, who is killed. Considered to be the he concluded with Sultan Beyazid IIBeyazid II ( 1447/ 48 May 26, 1512) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. Bayezid was born in Demotika in Thrace. The son of Mehmed II the Conqueror, Bayezid ascended the Ottoman throne in 1481. Like his father, Bayezid was a patron of w a treaty that preserved Moldavian independence, at the cost of an annual tribute to the Turks.

Though it was marked by continual strife, Stefan's long reign nonetheless brought considerable cultural development; no less than 44 churches and monasteries were erected by Stefan himself, some of which are now part of UNESCO's World Heritage.