Mihnea Turcitul

Who was Mihnea Turcitul?

Mihnea II Turcitul was Prince of Walachia between September 1577 and July 1583, and again from April 1585 to May 1591.

The only son of Alexandru II Mircea and Ecaterina Salvaresso, he ascended to the throne after events characteristic for the decline in prestige of local custom and princely power under pressure from the Ottoman Empire: Mihnea had to compete with a foreign pretender, the Lombard physician Rosso, who claimed to be descended from a Wallachian ruler, and ultimately succeeded after enlisting the help of his grandmother, the influential Lady Chiajna.

He, Ecaterina Salvaresso, and Chiajna subsequently established what would become a highly unpopular rule, which followed the political guidelines imposed by Alexandru II, and saw a major increase in taxes — around 1583, the pressure was leading peasants to abandon their plots and flee to Transylvania in large numbers.

Local boyars unsuccessfully petitioned the Porte citing Mihnea's youth, began talks with a certain Pătrașcu or Radul Popa, and eventually rebelled in Oltenia. A more powerful pretender was the real son of Pătrașcu cel Bun, Petru Cercel, who held the throne from 1583 to 1585, provoking Mihnea's exile to Tripoli.