Eustratie Dabija

Eustratie (or Istrate) Dabija was Prince (Voivode) of Moldavia between 1661 and his death in September 1665.

Rule

As financial collapse had marked the history of Moldavia for several decades running, Dabija is noted for re-introducing the mint in Suceava from his first year of rule. Previous large-scale inflation and devaluation had made Moldavian currency undesirable, so the state had to resort to issuing counterfeit coinage, mainly Swedish and Livonian shillings and riksdalers. Produced with the assistance of Polish mintmaster Titus Livius Boratini, the imitations are, usually, of extremely poor quality. The only proper monetary issue of his rule are the "şalăi" (in sources that use Latin, they are referred to as "solidi"), the smallest coin on the market.

Eustratie Dabija assisted the Ottomans during two of their campaigns into Transdanubia against the Habsburgs, in 1663 and 1664.

Mihai Eminescu's poem, "Umbra lui Istrate Dabija - Voievod" ("Prince Istrate Dabija's shadow"), presents the image of an inebriated and jovial leader ruling over an isolated and bucolic country.

External links

* [http://romaniancoins.ancients.info/falsuri.htm Counterfeit coins produced by the Suceava mint under Eustratie Dabija and his succesors]
* [http://romaniancoins.ancients.info/dabija.htm "Şalăi" in the same source]
* [http://ro.wikisource.org/wiki/Umbra_lui_Istrate_Dabija-voievod Mihai Eminescu's "Umbra lui Istrate Dabija - Voievod"] (in Romanian)