Voivode Mircea the Elder

Mircea the Elder, in Romanian Mircea cel Bătrân, ruled Wallachia from 1386 to 1418 and was very close to the Bulgarian royal court. He was the son of Voivode Radu I, who was subordinate to the Bulgarian tsar, the father of Vlad II Dracul and the grandfather of Mircea II and Vlad the Impaler.

In 1386, the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman installed Mircea as voivode of Wallachia after dissatisfaction with the previous ruler, Dan I, led to his deposition. This established close ties between Mircea and the Bulgarian court. They also became the principal opponents of the Ottoman invasion of the Balkans.

In 1387 and 1388, the Turks conquered several fortresses, including Silistra and Dobrudja. In 1388, Mircea first acknowledged himself as a Turkish vassal.

Mircea rejected Turkish vassalage in 1390 and 1391 and joined Bulgarian forces against the Turks. He achieved successes, reaching Karnobat, but the Turks counter-attacked and, led by Bayezid I, captured Veliko Tarnovo in 1393. Mircea continued resisting and won a battle against Sultan Bayezid at Karanovasa in 1394. In 1395, he also fought the Turks at the Battle of Rovine.

In 1396, Mircea participated in the Battle of Nicopolis, where the combined Christian armies were defeated. He fled to Hungary again but returned soon afterwards. In 1402, he continued the war against the Turks.

Mircea the Elder died in 1418 after becoming subordinate to the Turkish sultan Mehmed I. His life and reign were connected with the Balkan peoples' resistance to Ottoman expansion and his close relations with the Bulgarian royal court.