MICHAEL the Brave. — Mihai Viteazu, b. 1558, d. 1608, prince of Wallachia, is one of the most stirring Romanian figures. Having ascended the throne in 1593, he immediately joined the crusade conceived by Clement VIII and led by Emperor Rudolph, and began the war single-handed, inflicting upon the Turks in 1595 the terrible defeat of Cálugáreni. When his ally, Prince Sigismund Báthory, ceded Transylvania to Cardinal Andrew Báthory, his cousin and a man trusted by the Polish allies of the Turks, Michael, feeling himself no longer secure, entered Transylvania and, in the battle of Selimber (1599), defeated Andrew, who thereby lost both his kingdom and his life. In this new possession Michael established for the Romanians the “Orthodox” bishopric of Alba Iulia; in his Transylvanian council there were also some Hungarian Catholic bishops.
With the conquest, in the following year, of Moldavia as well, Michael achieved the unity (“finiera”) of the Romanian lands; but after various victories and defeats he was treacherously killed near Turda. With him ended the great resistance of the Romanians to the Turks, who had already been masters of Hungary since 1526.