Battle of Argesh

The Battle of Argesh was a battle fought between the Wallachian army under the command of Mircea I and the Ottoman army under the command of Bayezid I on October 10, 1394/May 17, 1395.

Battle of Argesh
Part of the Ottoman wars in Europe and the Ottoman–Wallachian wars
Date 10 October 1394 or 17 May 1395 Location Near the Argeș River, Romania Result Disputed
Belligerents
Principality of Wallachia	Ottoman Empire Moravian Serbia
Commanders and leaders
Mircea I	Bayezid I Stefan Lazarević
Strength
Unknown	Unknown
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Unknown

Background

Following their first encounter in 1392, Mircea accepted Ottoman sovereignty and the payment of tribute. Mircea's envoys traveled to the Ottoman capital, Edirne, in 1392/93. They appeared before Bayezid and declared on behalf of Mircea that Wallachia would obey the Ottoman Empire. Later, Wallachia reneged on its promise of obedience to the Ottomans. It neither recognized Ottoman sovereignty nor paid taxes. Consequently, Bayezid I launched an expedition against Wallachia in 1394.^[1] Before attacking Wallachia, Bayezid attacked and plundered Southern Transylvania.^[2]

The battle

In the autumn of 1394, after a raiding campaign along the right bank of the Danube, Bayezid launched the attack on Wallachia. He commanded the Ottoman Rumelian army, and the armies of his Balkan vassals, most of which were Bulgarians and Serbs under Stefan Lazarević, the son of the late Serbian prince Lazar. The armies crossed the Danube at Nicopolis, and advanced along the Argeș River with the intention of capturing Curtea de Argeș, the capital city of Wallachia. After a weeklong march in which the constant Wallachian attacks took their toll, the Wallachian army met the Ottomans on October 10.^[3]

Result

While some historians record the battle as a Wallachian victory,^[4][5] others state that the battle was an Ottoman victory^[1][6][7][8] and record that Wallachia was brought under Ottoman rule.^[9][10][11]