Battle of Baia Totally Explained

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The Battle of Baia was fought on December 15, 1467 between the Moldavian Prince, Stephen the Great and Hungarian King, Matthias Corvinus. The battle was the last Hungarian attempt to subdue the independent Moldavia, as previous attempts had ended in failure. Corvinus invaded Moldavia due to Stephen's annexation of Chilia — a fortress and harbour at the coast of the Black Sea, which at the time was controlled by Hungarian and Wallachian forces, though it had belonged to Moldavia centuries earlier.
The conflict ended with a bitter defeat for the Hungarians, who had an army more than three times the size of the Moldavian force. This put an end to all Hungarian claims on Moldavia. Corvinus almost died after being thrice wounded by arrows and barely made his escape to Transylvania.

Background

In 1359, Bogdan I of Moldavia rebelled against Hungary and founded an independent Moldavia. However, the Hungarian attempts to seize control over Moldavia didn't end there, and in 1429, Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor, and also King of Hungary, met with Władysław Jagiełło, King of Poland to try to persuade him to launch a common attack on Moldavia and divide the country in two equal parts—Polish and Hungarian. Sigismund argued that the Moldavian nation didn't "owe allegiance to anyone, is accustomed to live by theft and brigandage and so is everyone's enemy." He also complained about not receiving any help against his struggle against the Turks. On October 17, 1451, Prince Bogdan II was assassinated by Petru Aron, a pretender to the Moldavian throne. The country was thrown into civil strife which lasted until 1457, when Stephen, son of Bogdan, gained the throne and ousted the boyars loyal to Aron. The latter fled to Poland, but were later forced to seek asylum in Transylvania, after Moldavia and Poland concluded a new treaty. Stephen’s objective was to regain the region of Budjak with the castles of Chilia and Cetatea Albă. The region had previously belonged to Wallachia, but had been incorporated into Moldavia in the late 14th century. Due to the decline of Moldavia during the civil war, the region reverted back to Wallachia, with Chilia being co-ruled by Hungary and Wallachia.

Foreign relations

In 1462, Stephen sent a letter to his cousin, Prince Vlad Dracula of Wallachia, asking him to return Chilia back to Moldavia — a demand that was most likely refused. On 22 June, when Dracula was fighting Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire, Stephen launched an attack on Chilia, with some Turkish assistance, with the objective of capturing the fortress. The Wallachians rushed to the scene with 7,000 men, and together with the Hungarian garrison, battled the Moldavians and the Turks for eight days. The Turks were defeated and Stephen was wounded by a piece of shrapnel Mehmed was furious about the news and claimed Chilia as being a part of Wallachia, which now was a vassal to the Porte, and demanded Stephen relinquished ownership. However, Stephen refused and recruited an army, forcing Mehmed, who wasn't yet ready to wage war, to accept the situation, if only for the time being.}}
In 1446, Stephen regained Khotyn from Poland in a diplomatic victory, but in the same year, Corvinus became on bad terms with King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland, which frustrated the Hungarian king further, knowing that Moldavia was a Polish fief. One year later, in 1447, the locals of Transylvania started an uprising in which Corvinus had a difficult time quelling the riots. He later found out that Stephen had supported the rioters, — probably in order to find and kill Aron. Długosz writes in his ‘’Annals’’ that in 1447, a certain "Berendeja" went to the court of Corvinus and promised to make Moldavia his vassal, if the King would in turn make him Prince of Moldavia. With them, they brought 500 cannons The Moldavians, being fewer in number and seeing that the Hungarians were determined to wage war, started to evacuate the population close to the Hungarian border and blockaded the passages by cutting down trees and placing them on the roads. On 19 November, On 15 December, when dusk was approaching, Stephen sent smaller detachments that set the town on fire from three different places: thereafter, noise and confusion set in. The two armies started to butcher each other at the gate of the city; then the fighting continued onto the streets "with such a wrath, that nothing could be seen as more horrible than this." Stephen and Corvinus would later negotiate a peace treaty and become allies; in 1475, Corvinus sent 1,800 soldiers that assisted Stephen in his victory at the Battle of Vaslui.

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