ughter; on that glorious day
Falls the Moslem chivalry like the new-mown hay.'

Notwithstanding the great victory which he obtained, the Moslem power
was too strong for him, and he is found, before the century's close,
allied with them against Poland, to whose sovereign he had but a few
years previously sworn fealty, and into which he now made a raid. In
1504 he died a natural death, and it is said that before his decease,
either from fear of the Turks, or distrusting the power of his son
Bogdan, he advised the latter to make a permanent treaty with the Porte,
which he did shortly after his death.[135] The most favourable traits
in Stephen's character seem to have been his courage and patriotism,
notwithstanding the story which is told of his flight to Niamtz. Like
Mircea, he organised an army which is estimated at about the same
strength, with the addition of irregular troops. That he was pious after
a fashion is most likely, but that he also practised the tyrannic
cruelties of his age is undoubted. Shortly after his advent to the
throne, the Tartars entered his dominions, carrying fire and sword
everywhere, but they were eventually repulsed and driven out by Stephen.
In the course of this campaign he took a son of the Tartar chief
prisoner, and when envoys came to treat for his liberation he ordered
the prince to be decapitated in their presence, a deed which may have
been justified as a lesson to the ruthless tribe who had invaded his
country. Not content with this, however, he impaled all the envoys but
one, whose nose and ears he cut off, and sent him back to his master in
that dreadful condition. 'But,' adds the chronicler, 'Stephen, who was a
man of his period, only regarded this act as a manifestation of zeal in
the faith. Shortly afterwards he built the monastery of Putna, dedicated
it to Jesus and the Virgin, and caused to be transported thither the
wooden chapel which Dragosch had constructed at Volovitz.' 'These were
the ordinary practices of the age,' remarks another commentator; 'and if
such treatment was reserved for the high and noble, one may guess what
was the fate of the humble.'

[Footnote 135: For the terms of this treaty see Appendix II.]

VI.

What that fate was may easily be imagined by anyone who follows the
narrative of the wars which devastated the land. But, before treating of
the condition of the country and the customs of the period, we must
refer to one or two voivodes whose rule