„Doamna de la Vaslui”: Mara Branković și păcile ei (1474–1475)
“The Lady from Vaslui”: Mara Branković and Her Peaces (1474–1475)

Summary/Abstract: Both the anti-Ottoman victory of Stephen III the Great of Moldavia at Vaslui (10 January 1475) and the role played by Mara Branković in the politics of her stepson, Sultan Mehmed II, have been the objects of rather numerous scholarly studies. This short paper draws attention to two reports sent from Venice by the Milanese diplomat Leonardo Botta to Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza (13 and 24 January 1475). The reports focused on the talks between the Porte and the Serenissima conducted through the offices of Mara. Ultimately, as Mara had suggested, the main result of the events from early 1475 was a six-month truce between the Republic of Saint Mark and the sultan that allowed the latter to take Genoese Caffa and nearly crush Stephen. This raises the question of Venice’s true motifs and agenda and, in particular, the question of Mara’s aims and motivations. The latter seem to have been more personal than objective, and less deeply rooted in her religious confession than previously presumed.

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