Ştefan Tomşa

Ştefan Tomşa or Ştefan VII was the ruler of Moldavia in 1563 and 1564.

Career

Tomşa served as hatman and came to power as leader of a boyar revolt against the Lutheran Ioan Iacob Heraclid, whose attempts to impose the new usages in Moldavia offended the Eastern Orthodox sensibilities of nobles. Ioan Iacob, better known in Romanian history as Despot Vodă, sought refuge in the city of Suceava. The city fell to Ştefan Tomşa's forces in October 1563, and the new ruler killed his predecessor with a mace.

Ştefan Tomşa defeated an invasion by the neighbouring Wallachian prince Petru cel Tânăr, but was unable to obtain recognition by the Ottoman Empire as ruler of Wallachia. Alexandru Lăpuşneanu, who had been deposed by Ioan Iacob in 1561, was returned to power with Ottoman assistance in March 1564, and Ştefan Tomşa fled to neighbouring Poland.

There he was executed on a pretext by the Polish-Lithuanian King Sigismund II Augustus. He was buried in Lemberg.

His sons were later rulers of the Romanian principalities, Ştefan II Tomşa in Moldavia, and Leon Tomşa in Wallachia.