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| Samuel Korecki's expedition to Moldavia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofMoldavian–Polish War Polish–Ottoman Wars | |||||||
 Samuel Korecki | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Samuel Korecki's troops Moldavian opposition | Moldavia Ottoman Empire.svg){kind=icon} Crimean Khanate Wallachia | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Samuel KoreckiMichał WiśniowieckiAlexandru MovilăElisabeta Movilă | Ștefan IX TomșaAhmed IRadu Mihnea | ||||||
Samuel Korecki's expedition to Moldavia in 1615–1616 was an unsuccessful military intervention aimed at placing on the Moldavian throneAlexandru Movila, who was favorable toSamuel Korecki. Korecki, despite initial successes, was defeated by theOttoman-Tatar-Moldavian army in the Battle of Cornul lui Sas in 1616, after which he was captured and imprisoned inYedikule prison. However, Korecki managed to escape and return to Poland in the spring of 1618.
Samuel Korecki married the daughter ofMoldavianhospodarIeremia Movilă, famous for her beautyCatherine, which drew him and his wife's brothers-in-law into dynastic struggles in Moldavia andWallachia.
Ieramia Movila died in 1606, orphaning the ambitious widowElisabeta and several children who were still underage. In view of this, the throne fell to Ieremia's brotherSimion, who after less than a year in power died under not entirely clear circumstances. He was probably poisoned by Elizabeth.[1][2] However, Simion's sonMikhail came to the throne in Moldavia, which led to a bloody civil war. The Polish nobility intervened in the war,Stanisław Zolkiewski stood up for Mikhail and thePotocki andWiśniowiecki families stood up for Elisabeta, and in 1607 a private army of the Potocki family marched into Moldavia, defeating the opposition at thebattle of Stefanesti and placing Elisabeth's eldest sonConstantin on the throne.[1]
The change of power in Moldavia was opposed by theOttomans, to whom Moldavia was payingtribute at the time, and in 1611 they dethroned Constantin and appointedȘtefan IX Tomșa as the new hospodar.Tomșa banished Elisabeta from the country, who sought help in Poland, in 1612Stefan Potocki set out to help Elisabeta, whose expedition, however, was not successful, and the candidate for the throne Constantin, who accompanied him, died while crossing theDnieper, Stefan Potocki himself was taken prisoner.
After Constantine's death, Elisabeth did not give up the Moldavian throne and wanted to makeAlexandru the new hospodar. While staying in Poland she metSamuel Korecki who offered her his help.[3]
Soon after, in 1615, Korecki together withMichał Wiśniowiecki and Alexandru embarked on an armed expedition to the Moldavian capital ofIași where they smashed Tomsa's army.[4] Twelve-year-old Alexandru took power in Moldavia. And soon after the victory, in order to consolidate the alliance, Korecki marriedCatherine Movila daughter ofIeremia Movilă.[1][5]
The change of power was opposed by the Ottoman SultanAhmed I who ordered his other subject, theWallachianvoivodeRadu Mihnea, to remove Alexandru from the throne. Unluckily for Alexandru, his protectorMichał Wiśniowiecki died, probably after being poisoned. Samuel Korecki was thus left alone, so he gathered an army in Poland and set out on another armed expedition to Moldavia. This time, however, Poland cut itself off from this expedition in order to avoid open conflict with theOttoman Empire. The Turks expelled Alexandru from the capital and appointed Radu Mihnea in his place, the Turkish-Tatar forces defeated Korecki at the Battle of Cornul lui Sas, and Korecki himself was taken captive by them.
Korecki was imprisoned in one of the toughest prisons of the Ottoman Empire located inIstanbul,Yedikule.[1] The family and especially Samuel Korecki's brother tried to bail him out of prison, but the Turks were not going to let him go because they treated him as a fierce enemy of their interests. Help was found on the spot. Korecki lowered himself from the tower after a rope, finding refuge in the house of aGreekclergyman, where he waited out the search. After a few weeks, disguised as a monk and with a false passport, he reachedNaples and thenRome. There he was granted an audience by popePaul V. Then viaVienna, where the Emperor received him, he returned to his homeland in the spring of 1618.[6]
The escape made Korecki's name famous in Europe, but it did not yet end the prince's Moldavian-Magnate adventures.[6]
In 1620 he accompaniedStanisław Zółkiewski on an expedition to Moldavia where he was again taken prisoner after theBattle of Cecora. In 1621, however, the Ottoman army suffered a severe defeat at theBattle of Khotyn. As part of theTreaty of Khotyn, the Ottomans agreed to release Polish prisoners who had been captured a year earlier. Samuel Korecki was too much of a threat to them, and the Turks could not afford to release him. Shortly after that, Polish envoyKrzysztof Zbaraski arrived in Istanbul to bail out Korecki from prison.[4] So the Turks decided to get rid of Korecki in advance and most likely strangled him in prison. According to legends, before his death, Korecki managed to kill several attackers with his bare hands.[1]