between the seventeenth and nineteenth centUJies. Their relevance for the mythical genesis however does not fade as they are emulations of the pre-seventeenth-centmy collective mem01y. The documents closest in time of the mythical genesis are two donation acts which reward the bravery of two boyars with Iands. Dated May
12,1475 (therefore sh01tly after the Battle of Yaslui), but conceived after 1 610,398 an act
"issued" by Stephen signalled the donation of a land by the River Bärlad to a certain Avram Huiban because of "his bravery in the battle with the Turks from upper
392 For instanee: DRH A.3, doeument Vll. 543-545; DRH A.2, doeument X, 433-435.
393 DRH A.2, doeument XX, 453-455.
394 For the image of Stephen as judge and the disputes he seuled du ring his reign, see: Gorovei and Szekely, Princeps Omni Laude Maior, 462-468.
395 Ibidem, 462.
396 See, as examples. documents XII or XIV in DRH A.2, 438 and 444.
397 See the aets of donation to these monasteries in: DRH A.2, doeuments lii and IV, 41 6-420; and DRH A.3, doeuments I, JV, X, 532-533, 538-540, 550-551.
398 The extant doeumenl is a supposed 1610 translation of an original Slavenie doeument. However, in 1610, Slavenie documents were not yet translated. See: DRH A.2, 452.
99
Yaslui."399 Supposedly ten years later, in
1485,
Stephen issued a new document in gratitude to another Moldavian act of bravery: Malu�ca and Cozma Rizan, together with their brothers, received Iands by the ban.ks of the Yi�novat River in order to establish new Settlements. The document stated that these Iands were a reward to the four men for their bravety in defending the Moldavian border from Tartar attacks.400 The third document is the most fascinating one, although it was most likely written sometime in mid-nineteenth century.401 Dated September7, 1474,
the document accommodates Stephen's orders regarding the imminent Ottoman attack, materialised in the1475
Battle of Yaslui. Through bis boyar Gavril Boldm, Stephen ordered that all Moldavian boyars, part of the so-called small host, be prepared for the confrontation. The instructions to the Moldavian soldiers end in a paragraph which not only sums the orders of Stephen, but also sums the way Stephen was perceived in posterity: "Be healthy and merciless, just like your parents and your grandparents were. Have trust . . . do not be afraid of the pagan multitude . . . "402A last type of forged documents completes the collection of documents which delineate the image of Stephen the Great in collective memory. A document dated
1480
showed that the Moldavian prince was the establisher of the guild of the poor in the town of la�i: " . . . the poor of the market of Ia�i have gathered . . . and discussed among us and we were willingly or/i
anised in a guild, by the order of the abovementioned prince, Stephen the old."40 The good, compassionate, and giving Stephen the Great transpired in this document.
Analyzing these documents altogether, an "imagined" image of the ruler may easily be highlighted: Stephen the Great was the humane protector of the poor, the supreme judge whose decisions were irrefutable, merciful with the helpless and merciless with enemies. Undoubtedly, these characteristics were the intrinsic elements of Stephen's image in the aftermath of his death. Because any type of mythical narrative is the direct result of collective memory processes,404 this image was also the catalyst for the !arge amount of legends surrounding the mler's life and deeds.
The legendary
A significant number of legends detail aspects of Stephen the Great's life, some ofwhich can be traced back to the mler's life, uncovering the veracity of some of these stmies. At the turn of the seventeenth century, Ion Neculce compiled his
"Collection of words." A quarter of the
42
legends present in Neculce's compilation399
Ibidem, document XIX, 452.400 Ibidem, document XXIV, 460.
401 The document was writtcn in a style which points to oineteenth-ceotury forgery. See more: !bi-dem, 452.
402 See entire document: Ibidem, 450-452, esp. 452.
403 Ibidem, document XXI, 456.
404 van Gennep, Laformation des legendes, 5.
relate to Stephen's reign, a fact which demonstrates the impact he had on collective memory, as well as the reaction of collective memory to his image. Neculce's collection includes two of Stephen's most well-known legends, both of which mingle between truth and legend.
The image of Stephen as righteous judge and protector of the poor also emerges in these legends. The story known as the "The Hillock of Purcel"405 shows Stephen on a Sunday morning, while going to mass in Yaslui. Once he left his court, he heard a man calling his oxen to plough his land. Surprised that somebody would work on a Sunday, the prince ordered that the man be brought to him. The man named Purcel was ploughing his land ("now known as the Hillock of Purcel")406 when he was summoned to Stephen. Purcel explained to the ruler that, being a poor man, he had to work on Sundays, especially because his brother did not agree to !end him his plough only on this day of the week. Consequently, Stephen decided to "take the plough of the rich brother and give it to the poor brother, to be his."407 It has already been shown that this legend seems to have its origin in historical truth:408 the story was propagated by the P(B)urcel409 family and was transmitred to Neculce in the seventeenth century by a foliower of the family. Surely, while one cannot attest the truthfulness of the entire legend, it is more relevant to high light the fact that the Purcel family kept the righteous judgement of Stephen in their memory for centuries.
The second legend which broke historical boundaries presented Stephen in an atypical and non-princely sih1ation: a defeated prince who had fallen off his horse. As the fifth legend in Neculce's collection, the story describes the events which took place at the battle of �cheia, where Stephen was defeated by a claimant to the throne, Peter Hroiot.410 During this battle, Stephen feil off his horse and was not able to return to safety. In Neculce's version of the events, the boyar Purice offered the prince his horse but still he could not mount because "he was a small man."4 1 1 Consequently, the boyar offered that h e crouched in front o f the horse in such a way that Stephen could step on bis back and then mount the horse. "T will crouch into a small hillock"412 and so he did. Stephen then replied: "Poor Purice, should you and I
40s See legend number VII in Ion Neculce, "0 samä de cuvinte" [A collection of words], in Letopiseful Tiirii Moldovei (The Chronicle of Moldavia), ed. Anatol and Dan Vidra�cu (Bucharest: Litera International, 200 1), 16-17.
406 lbidem, 17.
407 lbidem.
408 Mircea Ciubotaru, "De Ia Vilne�ti Ia Movila lui Burcel. Observatii onomastice �i istorice" [From Vilne�ti to the hillock of Burcel. ldentity and historical Observations), Arhiva Genealogicä VI (1994): 143-149. See also: $tefan S. Gorovei, "Ion Neculce �i traditiile Putnei" [Ion Neculce and the traditions ofPutna) Analeie Putnei 1 (2005): 55.
409 The family name was changed into Burcel in the nineteenth century. See: Ciubotaru, "De Ia Vilne�ti Ia Movi1a 1ui Burcel. ObservaJii onomastice �i istorice," 143-149.
410 See information on the Banle of $cheia in: Gorovei and Szekely, Princeps Omni Laude Maior, 235-238.
411 Sec legend number V in Ion Neculce, "0 samä de cuvinte," 16.
412 lbidem.
be able to escape safely, you shall change your name to Movilä (meaning
"hillock")."413 They both escapcd and Stephen eventually returned to his throne. The legend said that Stephen rewarded the boyar with a high dignity, as weil as with a new name -that of Movilä. A century later, at the end of the sixteenth century, the Movilä family became the ruling family of Moldavia. The legend, in the version presented by Neculce, stressed the connection between Stephen the Great and the new dynasty of the Movilä family. Historical sources however presented a somewhat different image: Purice did help Stephen out of the battle, but only after the prince had spent half a day "among the dead."414 Moreover, the name-change of Purice was not mentioned in original sources, thus suggesting that Neculce's legend suffered a transformation with the domination of the Movilä family, under whose reign the legend was widespread.415
Analyzing these two legends, one may notice two propagation channels for Stephen's image: one popular and another princely. The P(B)urcel family, whose representative was aided by St
�
hen the Great, was a small family of boyars originating in Lower Moldavia.41 They propagated among themselves the story of Stephen's righteous judgement for several generations through oral tradition.Oppositely, the legend of Stephen's defeat was propagated on a much higher Ievel, that of the princely court of the Movilä family,417 and was altered in such a way that it suited the legitimatised discourse of the throne. Surely, both of these channels had their own particularities and interests in propagating the image of Stephen -especially the princely spheres. The genesis of Stephen's public (imagined) image was thus a complex process born on different layers (both legendary and historical) and continuously developed from the time of his death.
All this information Ieads once more to the discussion on Stephen's designations: he was "the great," suggesting that his close followers were well aware of his immortal dimension. However, his immortal dimension did not only include bis "the great" appellative, but others as well -all of which reveal the perception of the prince in the sixteenth century. In 1 509, five years after the prince's death, a
416 Ciubotaru, ··oe Ia Vilne�ri Ia Movila lui Burcel. Observatii onomastice �i istorice," 147-148.
417 Pecican, Sange �i rrandafiri, 35.
418 See: Darnasehin Mioc, "Materiale romäne�ti din arhive sträine" [Romanian documents in foreign archives], Studii $i Materiale de Istarie Medie 6 ( 1 973): 333-334.
419 Of conrse, after the reign of Stephen the Yonng, "the old" designation needs no more explanation as n1lers such as Peter Rare�, Alexander Läpu�neanul or the Movilä family
102