The Battle of Cornul lui Sas took place on 9 July 1612 between the forces of

Ștefan IX Tomșa Stefan Tomşa IX (or II), (? – after 1623) of Moldavia was List of rulers of Moldavia, Prince of Moldavia for two reigns, in 1611–1615 and in 1621–1623. His reigns were concurrent with the period of Romanian and Eastern European history kno ...

, the ruler of

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

, (supported by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

) and the

Budjak Horde The Budjak Horde, also known as the Belgorod or Bilhorod Horde, formed part of the Nogai Horde in the 17th and 18th centuries. It settled in the northern Black Sea coast area under protectorate of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire's S ...

led by

Khan Temir Khan Temir (before 1594 to 1637) was a steppe warlord and raider. He ruled the Budjak Horde in what is now the southwestern corner of Ukraine (Budjak) along the Romanian border. Budjak is the southwesternmost corner of the Eurasian Steppe. He raid ...

(spelled Cantemir-bey by Romanian chroniclers)), and a private army assembled by , voivode of Bratslav in the (

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

in order to reinstall his brother in law

Constantin Movilă Constantin Movilă (1594 – July 1612) was the Prince of Moldavia from 1607 to 1611. The son of Prince Ieremia Movilă and driven by his mother, the ambitious Erszébet Csomortany de Losoncz, he twice seized the Moldovan throne at the expense o ...

as Moldavian ruler. By tacking this stance, Potocki openly defied the king's order to avoid any conflict with Ottomans. The battle resulted in a clear defeat of the Potocki's army. Both Stefan Potocki and Constantin Movilă's mother,

Elisabeta Movilă Doamna Elisabeta Movilă (floruit, fl. 1620) was a Princess consort of Moldavia by marriage to Ieremia Movilă. She was regent in Moldavia in 1607–1611 on the behalf of her son Constantin I Movilă and her son Alexandru Movilă in 1615–1616. S ...

were captured by Ottomans.Cronica-Vrancei-XI-2011-04 https://biblioteca-digitala.ro/reviste/Cronica-Vrancei/dl.asp?filename=11-Cronica-Vrancei-XI-2011-04.pdf. The former

voivode of Moldavia This is a list of monarchs of Moldavia, from the first mention of the medieval polity east of the Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians and until its disestablishment in 1862, when Unification of Moldavia and Wallachia, it united with Wallachia, the ot ...

was taken prisoner by the

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

, with the intent to ransom him, but he drowned while they were crossing the

Dniester The Dniester ( ) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and then through Moldova (from which it more or less separates the breakaway territory of Transnistria), finally discharging into the Black Sea on Uk ...

. This battle was an episode of

Moldavian Magnate Wars The Moldavian Magnate Wars, or Moldavian Ventures, refer to the period at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century when the magnates of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth intervened in the affairs of Moldavia, clashing ...

. This battle forms the topic of the first chapter in

Mihail Sadoveanu Mihail Sadoveanu (; occasionally referred to as Mihai Sadoveanu; 5 November 1880 – 19 October 1961) was a Romanian novelist, short story writer, journalist and political figure, who twice served as acting President of Romania, head of st ...

's historical novel ' (The Șoimărești Family).

References

Cornul lui Sas Cornul lui Sas Cornul lui Sas Cornul lui Sas Cornul lui Sas Military history of Romania History of Western Moldavia History of Iași County 1612 in Europe 1612 in the Ottoman Empire 17th century in Moldavia {{Ottoman-battle-stub