Stephen V Báthory

Stephen Báthory of Ecsed (Hungarian: Báthory István, pronounced [ˈbaːtori ˈiʃtvaːn]; Romanian: Ștefan Báthory; 1430–1493) was a Hungarian commander, 'dapiferorum regalium magister' (1458–?), judge royal (1471–1493) and voivode of Transylvania (1479–1493). He rose to power under King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary and after the king's death sided with Vladislav Jagiellon of Bohemia and later together with Pál Kinizsi defeated Prince John Corvin in the Battle of Csonthegy (1493). As a result of his cruelty in Transylvania, especially against the Székelys, he was deposed by the King in 1493 and died shortly afterwards.

The Báthory family was a powerful and influential Hungarian noble family from the 14th to 17th century. The two branches of the family produced many voivodes, Transylvanian princes and a king, (Stefan Batory of Poland). Báthory belonged to the powerful family of Gutkeled, of the Ecsed branch. The name Báthory and the family coat-of-arms were granted in 1325.

In 1467, he took part in Matthias' bitter defeat against Moldavia at the Battle of Baia. In 1476, Corvinus decided to support Vlad III Dracula in reclaiming his Wallachian throne from Basarab Laiotă. He therefore made Báthory supreme commander over an army of 8,000 infantry and 13,000 cavalry, but since Báthory was rather inexperienced in military leadership, "the actual leadership was shared by Dracula and the Serbian despot Vuk Brancovic. Before this, Dracula and Báthory had waged war in Bosnia, where Báthory was sent by Corvinus to free a certain Bosnian king whose name was also Matthias. The new campaign would involve Hungarian, Moldavian, and Wallachian troops, with the assistance of a small Serbian contingent. Dracula wrote to his cousin, Prince Stephen III of Moldavia, to wait for him so that the two could merge their armies, but the merging failed due to delayment in movement of the Hungarian troops, which resulted in Stephen's defeat at the Battle of Valea Albă on July 26, 1476. On August 18, the two armies merged and helped Stephen get rid of the Turks in Moldavia. After a consultation that took place in the city of Braşov, Dracula, Báthory, and Brancovic invaded Wallachia from southern Transylvania with an army of 35,000, whereas Stephen would aid them by attacking eastern Wallachia with 15,000 men. Dracula's offensive began in early November 1476 and defeated Laiotă's 18,000 strong army at Rucăr, at the Wallachian-Transylvanian border. Both armies lost around 10,000 men.

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