Redating documents from the first reign of Mircea the Shepherd, lord of Wallachia (March 1545 – November 1552)

The study analyses the dates of the documents considered to be from the first reign of Mircea called the Shepherd, lord of Wallachia. A total of 147 documents were published in 1981 and 1983 in Documenta Romaniae Historica, series B, volume IV and V. In the meantime, eight others have been published in various works. The result of this research is the redating of nineteen of them, while two are classified as doubtful/false. An overview of the newly dated documents is given in Appendix I (Table 1). The changes occurred in the lord’s council in these years are presented in Appendix II (Tables 6). On his arrival in the country in March 1545, Mircea was initially supported by an important group of noblemen (boyars). The conflict between him and the boyars went through several stages, one of the most important being the Battle of Periș in the summer of 1546, the flight of several boyars from the country in October-November 1547), the radical changes in the lord’s council (which occurred between April 18th – May 4th, 1548) and a second battle with boyar’s army in September 1548. The boyars regrouped in Transylvania under the leadership of lord Radul Ilie, returned to the country and defeated Mircea the Shepherd in battle (November 1552), putting an end his first reign.