Bogdan I of Moldavia

Informace o Bogdanu Vodovi, jehož jméno nese naše partnerská škola v Rumunském městě Campulung Moldovenesc.

Informations about Bogdan Voda, his name have our partnering school in Romanian Campulung Moldovenesc.

 

Bogdan of Cuhea (or Bogdan-Vodă; Bogdan I of Moldavia) is the second founding-figure of the Principality of Moldavia, its ruler between 1359 and 1365. He was a Vlach (ethnic Romanian)[1] nobleman and Voivode of Maramureş, inside the Kingdom of Hungary.

In cca. 1349, Bogdan and a group of followers rebelled against Hungarian authority and crossed the Carpathians to the east, in the land which had been created as a barrier to Mongol incursions by the Kingdom of Hungary in the times of Dragoş. Bogdan crossed the mountains together with his followers, deposing of the voivode of Moldavia Bâlc, grandson of Dragoş.

The Ottoman chronicles started to refer to Moldavia as Bogdan or Bogdania in reference to the polity. During his reign, the first Moldovian coins were minted, bearing the inscription: Moneda Moldaviae-Bogdan Waiwo(da).

Unlike his deposed predecessors, who had been close to the Hungarian Crown, he reshaped Moldavia's position and secured her independence a decade after he seized the throne. He successfully resisted Hungarian and Polish ambitions whilst confronting Mongol rule to the east (see Golden Horde).

His first capital was located at Baia, then at Siret, but was soon moved to Suceava. He ordered the building of Bogdana Monastery, in Rădăuţi, Suceava County, which is the oldest standing one in Moldavia.