Vasile Lupu - Reign

Reign

Although widely seen as Albanian in his time, and having held high office under Miron Barnovschi, Vasile Lupu was elected Prince as a sign of indigenous boyars' reaction against Greek and Levantine competition. This was because Vasile Lupu had led a rebellion against Alexandru Iliaş and his foreign retinue, being led into exile by Moise Movilă (although he was backed by Prince Matei Basarab and the powerful Pasha of Silistra, Mehmet Abza).

His rule was marked by splendor and pomp. He was a builder of notable monuments (the unique Trei Ierarhi Monastery in Iaşi and the St. Paraskeva Church, Lviv, among others), a patron of culture and arts (introducing printing presses, founding the Academia Vasiliană upper school - that was to last, as the "Şcoala mare domnească", until 1821). These acts also had negative effects, the tax burdens being increased to an intolerable level.

After relations between the two Princes soured, Vasile Lupu spent much of his reign fighting the Wallachian Matei Basarab, trying to impose his son Ioan to the throne in Bucharest. His army was defeated twice in 1639 (at Ojogeni and Nenişori) and a third time, at Finta, in 1653. After this last battle, the Moldavian boyars rebelled and replaced him with the Wallachian favorite, Gheorghe Ştefan. Vasile Lupu went into exile and died while being kept in Turkish custody at Yedikule prison in Constantinople.

Vasile built a strong alliance with Bohdan Khmelnytsky, marrying his daughter Ruxandra to Tymofiy (Tymish) - the hetman's son, who went on to fight alongside Vasile Lupu at Finta.