Battle of Verbia

Battle of Verbia
	Part of Moldavian Magnate Wars
	; Approximate route of the 1561 invasion
Date	November 18, 1561
Location	Verbia, Dorohoi County, Moldavia; (now in Botoșani County, Romania)
Result	Rebel victory
Belligerents
Rebel forces Military support:; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Holy Roman Empire; Knights Hospitaller (putative); Zaporizhian Sich;	Moldavia Military support:; Ottoman Empire; Wallachia;
Commanders and leaders
Iacob Heraclid; Olbracht Łaski; Moțoc; Pierre Roussel; Peter Soldicki; Anton Székely; Captain Vilelle	Alexandru Lăpușneanu
Strength
≈2,000 total; 100 Silesians	≈25,000 total; ≈300–700 Janissaries; 800 Turkish-Tatar cavalry

The Battle of Verbia was the decisive episode in Iacob Heraclid (Despot)'s invasion of Moldavia, taking place on November 18 (Old Style: November 8), 1561. Heraclid and Olbracht Łaski's army was backed by the Holy Roman Empire and possibly also by the Knights Hospitaller; it comprised foreign mercenaries, including Spaniards armed with arquebuses, making this the first battle in Moldavian history to be won by superior firepower. The Moldavian military forces under Prince Alexandru Lăpușneanu were backed by Janissaries, but lost crucial support from the cavalry when commander Moțoc defected to the enemy. From the village of Verbia, located outside Dimăcheni, Heraclid's Hungarian troops stormed into Botoșani, slaughtering the surviving Janissaries.

The battle was preceded by some two years of attempts by Heraclid and his associates to murder or chase out Lăpușneanu. Increasingly unpopular among his subjects, the latter had ultimately lost the confidence of his backers. Verbia finally allowed Heraclid to inaugurate his program as a Protestant ruler in an Orthodox country, cemented by his edict of toleration on December 2, 1561. His own popularity with both regular subjects and boyar elites declined rapidly, in particular when it became apparent that he was actively pursuing a religious transformation of the country. He also focused on plans to create a "Dacian" realm, bringing him into conflict with the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom, and losing him military support.

By 1563, both Łaski and Moțoc had turned against Heraclid, leaving the path open for usurpation by Ștefan Tomșa. Besieged in Suceava, where he alienated many of his remaining supporters, Heraclid was finally killed by Tomșa's own hand. A mural of his 1561 victory existed on the walls of his palace, but was eventually destroyed. The village witnessed a second battle in 1600, when Michael the Brave managed to oust Prince Ieremia Movilă.