It could be argued that the diplomatic correspondence of Mihai, hastily written while
still gripped in the religious fervour of his dream, did more bad than good to his cause.
However, nobody can deny their importance and historical value.
Diplomatic Letter Send to Poland
If the authenticity of the List is highly debatable, the Letter still kept in Kracow (and displayed in its History Museum) has certainly been written by the Emperor himself.
To his Majesty, Sigismundus Tertium Rex Poloniae et Lituaniae Coniunctio, [...]
[...]
We are deeply saddened by the wars fought between our realms over our beloved province of Moldavia. While we can certainly understand your interest in the former Principality, we are politetly asking you to accept the fact that it no longer exists.
The Romanian Lands are now forever united and we could not tolerate the occupation of Moldavia and the imposition of a foreign Prince there any more than you would accept the same in your province of Galicia for example.
Again, we understand that your purpose was not to include Moldavia into your realms but only to have certain interests recognized and respected. If we understand it correctly, your interests are twofold: from a military point of view you desire a friendly buffer on your southern border and from an aconomic point of view, you desire unobstructed access for your crafts and merchants all the way to the Black Sea and the Sublime Porte.
In order to mentain the peace between our countries and to forge an everlasting friendship, we are ready to accomodate your interests.
First of all, you will win a large and powerful friend guarding all your southern flank from any attacks by the Turks. It is obvious that the Romanian Lands which will be much better at fending off any attempt of invasion from the south than the little powerless Moldavia.
And second, we vow to recognize any reasonable requests of economic and comercial concessions for your merchants, traders and goods in all our lands. You will have to pay the lowest taxes and tariffs and will benefit from a free port area in Albocastrum (Cetatea Albă; Akkerman), at the mouth of the Denestrum (Nistru; Dniester), which for much of its course delimits our realms.
We will even be so graceful to forget anything about Pokuttya and write off that ancient debt.
However, if your Majesty's warmongering counselors will succeed again in convincing your peace loving Majesty to go to war against us, in spite the fact that we have not harmed your realms in any way, we shall be forced to defend our country as we did in the times of Stephan the Great. And your realms will lose a faithful ally and a trading partner, Pokuttya and possibly more.
[...]
And, hoping that we and our peoples shall be friends and allies, may I start helping my future ally right now.
A new Era shall come in the civilized countries of Europe. The Era of the Nations. God Himself has opened my eyes and showed me the inevitable future.
A people becomes a Nation when it wakes up and realizes that it shares a common ancestry, a common language, religion and culture, common needs and hopes and a common glorious future. And afterwards, nothing can stand in its way to greatness.
The Romanian Nation is slowly taking shape. Other nations will undoubtely follow suit.
What will be the position of your country when it will find itself flanked from the west and north, not by German speaking countries, but by a German Nation with common goals and interests?
What will happen when your Russian speaking subjects from the eastern parts of your realm will consider themselves more like members of the Rus Nation than faithful subjects of Poland-Lithuania?
Your country has bigger problems ahead that if not timely and properly addressed could become dangerous in the near future. On the other hand, you have no reason to worry about us, since we do not need anything from your realms.
[...]
Your Majesty will most certainly think about the potential dangers to His Realms that I have revealed and will find brilliant sollutions.
However, let me mention that had I been in your Majesty's place, I would start to work in two directions. The first would be the conquest and annihilation of the enclave which is Prussia in order to have a cohesive territory and no potential enemy at the north. And the second, which may take decades, is to forge a Nation from your peoples, before the other nations start to coalesce as well.
With friendship and respect,
Io Michaelus Woiwoda Dominusque Romanorum Unitum Terram Vallachiae, Transilvaniae et Moldaviae.
AD MDCI Augustus X
[Seal]
This letter more than any other document helped make Emperor Mihai Viteazul a very popular, interesting and unusual historical character. Because of some of its percieved oddities, it led to the suspicion that he was actually insane. This slander was especially common in Germany, probably fueled by Emperor Rudolf's enmity.
The fact is that the content of the letter is definitely strange. To give only a few examples:
1. The odd way it was addressed. This came to be widely employed and known as an inglorious habit. Mihai used made-up or less frequent titles in order to make a point, usually raising some eyebrows or inviting rage. Other similar examples from different letters include: Bishop of Rome, Imperator Germanicorum, Khaliff of the Faithful.
2. Most strikingly, at the time Mihai had absolutely no power in Moldavia whatsoever, having been ousted by Polish aligned Movilă.
3. Strange or less used names like Albocastrum, Denestrum, the Sublime Porte.
4. Threatening Sigismund to take over Pokuttya (feat that he actually unsuccesfully attempted the previous year).
5. By far the most unusual part is the prescient looking advice about the rise of Nations. This has led to all types of bizarre fringe theories which abound in certain places of the Globalnet.
6. The title and seal of the Emperor.
Whatever the truth about it and the exact reasons and motivations of the Emperor, thousands of historians and laymen have spent countless hours researching and theorizing about a piece of text written in about one hour on a remote field of Transylvania.
