After the assassination of Michael the Brave and the short reign of the
Moldavian Simion Movilă, Radu Șerban ascended the throne of Wallachia in October 1601, with the support of the great
boyars Preda,
Stroe and
Radu Buzescu, to whom he was an uncle after his mother, and who, enjoying great political and military authority, constantly supported his reign. The first year of his reign was a very difficult one, Radu Șerban having to fight first with the former lord, Simion Movilă, until he, being abandoned by the
Polish armies sent by
Jan Zamoyski, the great
chancellor of the crown, was forced to retreat to
Moldavia, then with
Radu Mihnea, the pretender to the throne supported by the
Turks. A skilled commander of troops, Radu Șerban continued Michael the Brave's policy of liberating the country from the Turks and approaching the
Habsburg Empire. He fought battles with the Turks,
Tatars, and
Hungarian princes from
Transylvania,
Moses Székely and Gabriel Bathory, who were supported by the
Ottoman Porte. In the autumn of 1602 Simion Movilă made a new attempt to regain the throne of Wallachia. To this end, he addressed the Tatars of the
Crimean Khanate, "worse friends than the worst enemy" (as Nicolae Iorga characterized them), promising them that he would allow them to plunder freely in the country if they would help him occupy the Wallachian throne. On 13 September, Simion Movilă, together with the 40,000 Tatars (under the command of the khan
Gazi Ghirai), the Moldavians sent by his brother, Ieremia Movilă, and about 300 Cossacks, entered Wallachia. Radu Șerban's army was much smaller, numbering about 8,000–10,000 infantry and 6,000 cavalry, to which were later added 1,000 cavalry sent from Transylvania by the Habsburg general Giorgio Basta. Given the numerical superiority of the invaders, Radu Șerban adopted a defensive tactic. The decisive battle was fought at
Teișani, in the
Teleajen River valley, on 23 and 24 September 1602. All Tatar attacks against the Romanian camp, which was fortified with trenches and palisades, failed; finally, after suffering heavy losses, the Tatars were forced to retreat to
Silistra, where they crossed the Danube, being expected as aid for the campaign that the Turks were to carry out in Hungary. During the Battle of Teișani, a memorable event occurred: the son-in-law (and nephew) of the Khan Gazi Ghirai came out in front of the Tatar lines, challenging the leaders of the Wallachian army to a single combat. The challenge was accepted by Stroe Buzescu, who after a fierce battle defeated the Tatar by beheading him in front of the terrified eyes of the Khan and to the enthusiasm of the Wallachian army. Unfortunately, Stroe Buzescu was also seriously wounded and died a few days later, on 2 October. His tombstone, from the Stănești hermitage (in
Stănești-Lunca, Vâlcea County), has been preserved to this day, on which his wife, the lady Sima, had an inscription carved in beautiful Romanian about her husband's Christian and brave deeds, ending with: "And he was not in the presence of the Tatar dogs." In the summer of 1603, Radu Șerban intervened in Transylvania against the coalition of Hungarian magnates, led by Moses Székely, who were trying to drive the Habsburgs out of Transylvania. The main reason for this intervention was not so much the alliance he had concluded with the Habsburg Empire, but the awareness that it was unacceptable that, while an anti-Ottoman struggle was going on south of the Carpathians, the pro-Turkish power of Moses Székely and the Hungarian nobles who supported him could not be established in Transylvania. Radu Șerban could not accept the capture of Wallachia in a "pincer" by the Ottoman Empire south of the Danube and a Transylvania subject to them. The vanguard of the Wallachian armies, under the command of the captains Gyorgy Racz and Vasile Mârza, crossed the mountains on the Teleajen Valley and set up camp near Brașov (a
Saxon fortress that had remained loyal to the Habsburgs), first at
Feldioara, then at Râșnov, awaiting the main forces. he voivode, with the bulk of his army, crossed the Carpathians through the
Rucăr-
Bran pass, joining up with the vanguard led by Gyorgy Racz. Moses Székely also arrived with his army (4,000 Hungarians, 2,000 Tatars and 25 light cannons) near Brașov, but considering that he had no chance of success in an open field battle, he adopted a defensive tactic, fortifying himself near Râșnov in a surrounded camp with wagons connected to each other. The decisive battle took place on the morning of July 17 (historians call it the First
Battle of Brașov - 1603): the impetuous attack of the Wallachians managed to break through the defenses of the Hungarians and put them to flight. Radu Șerban's cavalry pursued the fugitives, wreaking havoc among their ranks; Moses Székely himself was killed while trying to escape. The imperial general Giorgio Basta, who was at
Satu Mare, feared that Radu Șerban would take possession of all of Transylvania, just like Michael the Brave, but the
Wallachian voivode was content with this victory, which secured his northern flank, and retreated to Wallachia. Several years of peace and relative tranquility followed for the country. With the northern border secured and the threat of Tatar invasions repelled, Radu Șerban managed to establish a "
modus vivendi" with the Turks, who had other
political and
military problems at the time, thus securing the southern border of Wallachia. After consolidating his rule, Radu Șerban preferred
Târgoviște as his seat (to be more protected from a possible
Turkish invasion), but he did not neglect Bucharest either, where he built the Șerban Vodă pond, which is today in Carol I Park. Remarkably for that era, the voivode sought to support the country's economic development by taking measures to settle debts between individuals and compensate for "plunders and thefts and robberies" (a confirmation of these measures being found in a charter issued by
Matei Basarab on June 12, 1636 ) In 1610, there were disturbing signs that the new prince of Transylvania, Gabriel Bathory, intended to take aggressive action against his neighbors across the Carpathians, Moldavia and Wallachia. Radu Șerban had meanwhile established friendly relations with the new ruler of Moldavia,
Constantin Movilă. On 20 December 1610, Gabriel Bathory's mercenaries, after having plundered
Țara Bârsei for five days, crossed the snowy Carpathians and entered Wallachia by surprise. Radu Șerban, being unprepared, was forced to leave Târgoviște and take refuge in Moldavia, with his friend Constantin Movilă. For three months, Gabriel Bathory's armies ruthlessly plundered Wallachia; including churches and monasteries suffered, being plundered of their sacred relics and lead roofs (melted for casting bullets), and graves desecrated. Meanwhile, Radu Șerban was trying to gather his troops in his camp at Roman and renewed the treaty of alliance with the Habsburg Empire. In early June 1611, he returned to Wallachia and gathered around him the army of the country, the boyars and boyars being "thirsty for revenge against Gabor [Gabriel Bathory] for the many evils he had done to Wallachia", as a chronicler of the time wrote. In July, Radu Șerban, with his entire army, crossed the Carpathians, surprising Gabriel Bathory in the camp at
Prejmer (near Brașov), where he had fortified himself with his main forces. Gabriel Bathory tried to retreat towards Brașov, but Radu Șerban, although his troops were tired after the exhausting march over the mountains, did not let him go but attacked him on July 9 on the plain between Brașov and the village of Sânpetru. Here took place the battle called by historians The Second Battle of Brașov - 1611. The Wallachians and the Polish cuirassier riders (hired as mercenaries by Radu Șerban) crushed the Transylvanian army, Gabriel Bathory fleeing from the battlefield. The numerous mentions in the chronicles, letters and chancellery documents of the time are eloquent evidence of the importance that contemporaries attached to this brilliant
victory. The
Habsburgs' satisfaction at seeing a formidable enemy defeated was somewhat overshadowed by the fear that Radu Șerban would follow in the footsteps of Michael the Brave and conquer all of Transylvania. Radu Șerban understood, however, that the overall situation was no longer favorable to an attempt to unite the Danubian principalities into a state capable of successfully opposing the Ottomans, as Michael the Brave had attempted. The
Ottoman Empire, however, could not accept the expulsion of its protégé, Gabriel Bathory, from the throne of Transylvania. A large Turkish army, reinforced with a Tatar horde, invaded Wallachia. Radu Șerban returned from Transylvania, but was forced to retreat to Moldavia, pursued by the Turks and Tatars. His remaining army was attacked by his pursuers in a forest near
Bacău, on September 30, 1611. In this clash, Radu Șerban lost his cannons and supply wagons, bogged down in the mud caused by the autumn rains, but also his best soldiers, including the Polish cuirassier cavalry, who sacrificed themselves to ensure the withdrawal of the main forces. Radu Șerban went to Suceava, where he took his family, and set off on the wandering path to
Vienna. File:Székely Mózes.JPG|Moses Szekely File:Gabriel Bathori.jpg|Gabriel Bathori File:Giorgio-basta.jpg|Giorgio Basta File:Stamp of Moldova 255.gif|Simion Movila ==Battle of Brașov==