Battle of Vaslui - Aftermath

Aftermath

After the battle, Stephen sent "four of the captured Turkish commanders, together with thirty-six of their standards and much splendid booty, to King Casimir in Poland", and implored him to provide troops and money to support the Moldavians in the struggle against the Ottomans. He also sent letters and a few prisoners and Turkish standards to the Pope and Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, asking for support. In response, "the arrogant Matthias writes to the Pope, the Emperor and other kings and princes, telling them that he has defeated a large Turkish army with his own forces under the Voivode of Wallachia." The Pope's reply to Stephen denied him help, but awarded him with the "Athleta Christi", while King Casimir pleaded "poverty both in money and men" and did nothing; his own men then accused him of sloth, and advised him to change his shameful behaviour or hand over his rule to someone else. Chronicler Jan Długosz hailed Stephen for his victory in the battle:

Hassan tried to create a new coalition with the European powers, arguing that Mehmed's best troops were lost at Vaslui. Upon hearing about the devastating defeat, Mehmed refused for several days to give audience to anyone; his other plans of expansion were put to rest as he planned revenge on Stephen. In the following year, Mehmed invaded the country with an army of 150,000, which was joined by 10,000 Wallachians under Laiotă and 30,000 Tatars under Meñli I Giray. The Tatars, who called for a Holy War, attacked with their cavalry from the north and started to pillage the country. The Moldavians took chase after them, and routed and killed most of them. "The fleeing Tatars discard their weapons, their saddles and clothes, while some, as though crazed, jump into the River Dniepr." Giray wrote to Mehmed that he could not wage more war against Stephen, as he had lost his son and two brothers, and had returned with only one horse.

In July 1476, after killing 30,000 Ottomans, Stephen was defeated at the Battle of Valea Albă. However, the Ottomans were unsuccessful in their siege of the Suceava citadel and the Neamţ fortress, while Laiotă was forced to retreat back to Wallachia when Dracula and Stefan Báthory, Voivode of Transylvania, gave chase with an army of 30,000. Stephen assembled his army and invaded Wallachia from the north, while Dracula and Báthory invaded from the west. Laiotă fled, and in November, Dracula was installed on the Wallachian throne. He received 200 loyal knights from Stephen to serve as his loyal bodyguards, but his army remained small.

When Laiotă returned, Dracula went to battle and was killed by the Janissaries near Bucharest in December 1476. Laiotă again occupied the Wallachian throne, which urged Stephen to make another return to Wallachia and dethrone Laiotă for the fifth and last time, while a Dăneşti, Ţepeluş, was established as ruler of the country.

In 1484, the Ottomans under Bayezid II, managed to conquer Chilia and Cetatea Albă and incorporate it into their empire under the name of Budjak, leaving Moldavia a landlocked principality for many years to come.

Between May and September 1488, Stephen built the Voroneţ Monastery to commemorate the victory at Vaslui; "the exterior walls – including a representation of the Last Judgment on the west wall – were painted in 1547 with a background of vivid cerulean blue. This is so vibrant that art historians refer to Voroneţ blue the same way they do Titian red." In 1490, he extended his work by building another monastery of Saint John the Baptist. These monasteries served as cultural centres; today, they are on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Stephen's victory at Vaslui is considered one of the greatest Moldavian victories over the Ottomans, and as such "played a role in universal history" by securing the "culture and civilization of the Christian West from the onslaught of Islam."