Battle of Lipnic

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict=Battle of Lipnic


caption=
partof=
date=August 20 1470
place=Lipnic, Moldova
result= Moldavian pyrrhic victory.
combatant1=Moldavia
combatant2=Golden Horde
commander1=Stephen III
commander2=Ahmed Khan
strength1=unknown
strength2=unknown
casualties1= medium
casualties2= large

The Battle of Lipnic (or Lipnica, or Lipniţi) was a battle between the Moldavian forces under Stephen the Great, and the Volga Tatars of the Golden Horde lead by Khan Mamak, and which took place on the August 20 1470.

The Battle

In the summer of 1470 (other sources give 1469), Mamak [Other sources render his name as Moniak, Mainac or Manyak] (Ahmed Khan), the Great Khan of the Great Horde, the central principality of the Mongol-Tatar Golden Horde, organized an attack against Moldavia, the Kingdom of Poland, and Lithuania.

Stephen and the Polish king Casimir IV Jagiellon were previously informed of the future attack by the Khan of the Crimean Khanate, Meñli I Giray (1466-1515, with intermittence), who was an occasional ally of Stephen the Great, and had a clear stance against the Golden Horde.

The hordes unleashed a three-directional attack [ Stanislaus Sarnicius: "Annales Seu De Origine Et Rebus Gestis Polonorum Et Lithuanorum" : “The Tatars from beyond the Volga, with their Khan Mamiak, crossing the river, had split into three armies: one towards Lithuania, other to Podolia, and the thirds to Moldavia.”] via Podolia, being conducted by the brother and son of the Khan. They first raided and pillaged the eastern territories of Poland, and as Casimir failed to gather enough forces to attack them [Nicolae Costin: "Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei"] , the Tatars then headed southwards against Moldavia. Chronicles speak of several clashes and two other battles [ Stanislaus Sarnicius: "Annales Seu De Origine Et Rebus Gestis Polonorum Et Lithuanorum": “The Moldavian Voivode beat them three times, catching the very son of the Khan.”] both of which being won by the Moldavians. Nevertheless, the final and most violent was to take place at Lipinţi, a village near the Dniester, in the Soroca County, modern Republic of Moldova.

By this time, the Tatars had started to retreat carrying into slavery several thousand women and children, [Nicolae Costin in "Letopiseţul Ţării Moldovei" speaks of 10,000 people] hundreds of herds of cattle, horses, and flocks of sheep. By August 20th, Stephen managed to swerve this Tatar convoy, and to divert them to a trap set at the edge of the lime tree forest near Lipnic, and to force the Tatars to face the Moldavians in an open battle.

There are no actual descriptions of the battle, but it is accounted as to have been a bloody and violent one. Large numbers from the ranks of both the Moldavians and of the Tatars perished. While most of the Tatars died in the battle itself, a large number of them actually drowned in the Dniester while attempting escape by fleeing. Numerous Tatars were captured, including the Khan’s son. The Khan’s brother died in the battle.

Aftermath

Stephen conditioned the life of the Khan's son on his father's making peace on Moldavia, stating that his son would live until the exact day that a Tatar would touch the land of Moldavia. However, the Khan's son was eventually killed, after an episode at Stephens's court. This episode is mentioned by Stanislaus Sarnicius (Sarnicki) [Stanislaus Sarnicius: "Annales Seu De Origine Et Rebus Gestis Polonorum Et Lithuanorum"] , as well as by Jan Długosz in his "Historia Polonica":

Mamak Khan failed to organize a new attack against Stephen. By 1502 the Great Horde was completely destroyed by Meñli I Giray of the Crimean Khanate. Stephen took measures to protect his eastern frontier, strengthened the Orhei and Tighina fortresses, and built the Soroca fortress, thus completing the Eastern line of defence along the river Nistru. Tatar attacks continued against Moldavia, this time from the other Tataric states from north of the Black Sea.

Footnotes and References

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general
*Şerban Papacostea: "Relaţiile internaţionale ale Moldovei in vremea lui Ştefan cel Mare".
*Collection of historic sources on [http://www.stefancelmare.ro/izvoare.htm stefancelmare.ro] (Romanian)

ee also

*Tatar invasions
*Moldavian military forces
*Battle of the Vorskla River
*Borzeşti Church