Stefan Voevoda

(real name, Mirzga). Leader of a peasant uprising in Moldavia in 1566.

According to the Moldavian chronicler G. Ureche, Stefan Voevoda came from Transylvania, posed as a hospodar, and gathered a following of shepherds and other people. The Moldavian ruler Aleksandru Lăpusneanu sent an army against the rebels and sought the help of Transylvanian feudal lords. Stefan Voevoda’s troops were defeated near the fortress of Nyemecz; Stefan, however, escaped into the mountains. The captured rebels were cruelly punished.