Moldavia gains independence under Bogdan I

1359

A Vlach voivode led his followers across the Carpathians into the rolling steppe between the Prut and Dniester rivers, founding a principality that would serve as buffer between Hungary, Poland, and the Ottoman frontier for centuries. Moldavia's monasteries, painted inside and out with scenes of biblical siege and saintly martyrdom, would become its civilization's most luminous monuments.