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Ioan Iacob Heraclid or Ioan Iacob Eraclid (also known as Jacob Heraclides; 1511—1563) was a Greek
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
 soldier and ruler of Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
 from November 1561 to November 1563, most notable for being the first officially Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 monarch in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
.

on either Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
 or Samos
Samos Island

Samos is a Greece island in the North Aegean sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the Ionian coast of Turkey....
, he was the adopted son of a Despot of Samos (from whom he acquired his full name, along with a claim for legitimacy).






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Ioan Iacob Heraclid or Ioan Iacob Eraclid (also known as Jacob Heraclides; 1511—1563) was a Greek
Greeks

The Greeks , also known as Hellenes, are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighbouring regions, who can also be found in Greek diaspora communities around the world....
 soldier and ruler of Moldavia
Moldavia

Moldavia is a geographic and historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester river....
 from November 1561 to November 1563, most notable for being the first officially Protestant
Protestantism

Protestantism is a movement within Christianity that originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the three principal traditions of Christianity, together with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy....
 monarch in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe is a term that applies to the geopolitical region encompassing the easternmost part of the Europe. Throughout history and to a lesser extent today, parts of Eastern Europe has been distinguishable from Western Europe and other regions due to cultural, religious, economic, and historical reasons, even though there i...
.

Early life

Born on either Crete
Crete

Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the List of islands in the Mediterranean largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km? ....
 or Samos
Samos Island

Samos is a Greece island in the North Aegean sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the Ionian coast of Turkey....
, he was the adopted son of a Despot of Samos (from whom he acquired his full name, along with a claim for legitimacy). Educated by John Laskarides, a scholar descended from the Imperial
Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
 family of the Laskarides (see List of Byzantine emperors
List of Byzantine Emperors

This is a list of the Emperors of the late Eastern Roman Empire, commonly known as the Byzantine Empire by modern historians. This list does not include numerous co-emperors who never attained sole or senior status as rulers....
), Heraclid travelled over much of Europe. He fought as a mercenary
Mercenary

A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict, who is not a national or a party to the conflict, and is "motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or p...
 in the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a union of territories in Central Europe during the Middle Ages and the Early modern Europe under a Holy Roman Emperor....
 armies of Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
, in his war against Henry II of France
Henry II of France

Henry II , of the House of Valois and the son and successor of Francis I of France, was King of France from 31 March 1547, until his death....
 (the Italian War of 1551
Italian War of 1551

The Italian War of 1551 , sometimes known as the Habsburg-Valois War, began when Henry II of France, who had succeeded Francis I of France to the throne, declared war against Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor with the intent of recapturing Italy and ensuring French, rather than Habsburg, domination of European affairs....
).

After their defeat in the Battle of Renty
Battle of Renty

The Battle of Renty was fought on August 12, 1554, between France and the Holy Roman Empire. The French were led by Francis, Duke of Guise, while the Imperial forces were led by Emperor Charles V. The French repelled Charles's invasion....
 (1554), the Despot passed through Brussels
Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Capital-Region, is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium....
 on his way to Wittenberg
Wittenberg

Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is a town in Germany in the States of Germany Saxony-Anhalt, on the Elbe River. It has a population of about 50,000....
. He had already adhered to Protestantism, and was an acqaintance of Philipp Melanchthon
Philipp Melanchthon

Philipp Melanchthon was a German professor and theologian, a significant character in the Protestant Reformation, a key leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther....
 and other religious leaders.

In Moldavia

He came to Moldavia in 1556, in service to Voivode Alexandru Lapusneanu
Alexandru Lapusneanu

Alexandru Lapusneanu was Prince of Moldavia between September 1552 and 18 November 1561 and then between October 1564 and 5 May 1568....
, pretending to be a relative of Ruxandra's, Lapusneanu's wife. Heraclid befriended the usurper Motoc and was forced to flee, first to Brasov
Brasov

Brasov is a city in Romania and the capital of Brasov County, with a population of 284,596, according to the 2002 census, is the 7th largest Romanian city, after Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timisoara, Iasi, Craiova and Galati....
, and then to the Transylvania
Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountains, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term frequently encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical regions of Crisana, Maramures, and Banat....
n estate
Estate (house)

An estate comprises the houses and outbuildings and supporting farmland and woods that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion....
 of Albert Laski. Laski was soon convinced to aid Heraclid in his bid for the throne, and even to pawn
Pawnbroker

A pawnbroker is an individual or business that offers monetary loans in exchange for an item of value that is given to the pawn broker. The word pawn is derived from the Latin pignus, for Pledge , and the items having been pawned to the broker are themselves called pledges or pawns, or simply the collateral ....
 his lands as a loan to Despot.

Heraclid gathered military support - we see mention of a Hungarian
Kingdom of Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary , which existed from 1000 to 1918, and then from 1920 to 1946, was a considerable state in Central Europe....
 or Transylvanian mercenary named Anton Szekelyi, and a Burgundian one named Roussel. His first attempt was obstructed by Lapusneanu's Polish
History of Poland (1385–1569)

The Jagiellon Era 1385–1569, was dominated by the union of Poland with Lithuania under the Jagiellon Dynasty, founded by the Lithuanian grand duke Ladislaus II of Poland....
 overlord, Sigismund II of Poland. With help from Emperor Ferdinand I
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand I was a Central European monarch from the Habsburg. He was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558, King of Bohemia and King of Hungary and Croatia from 1526....
 and the powerful Jew
Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
ish trader Joseph Nasi
Joseph Nasi

Don Joseph Nasi was a Jewish diplomat and administrator, member of the House of Mendes, and influential figure in the Ottoman Empire during the rules of both Ottoman Dynasty Suleiman I and his son Selim II....
, Despot managed to defeat the Moldavian forces in November 1561. Such a successful intervention was without precedent in Moldavian history, although it had been announced by the progressive decay of Princes' authority in the previous decade.

Manifestly breaking apart with tradition, Heraclid ruled as Despot of Moldavia, and it was the adoption of this unusual title that established his Romanian
Romanian language

Romanian or Daco-Romanian ; self-designation: limba rom?na, ) is a Romance languages spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova....
 tautological
Tautology (rhetoric)

In rhetoric, a tautology is an unnecessary or unessential repetition of meaning, using different and dissimilar words that effectively say the same thing twice by repeating the meaning ....
 moniker
Moniker

"Moniker" is another term for a "nickname", "pseudonym", or "cognomen."Typically, the title is used as a personal or professional name, instead of the person's given name, for works of art, music, books, or performances....
 - Despot Voda (The Despot Voivode or Despot the Voivode). He soon appeased the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
, Moldavia's suzerain
Suzerainty

Suzerainty is a situation in which a region or nation is a tributary state to a more powerful entity which allows the tributary some limited domestic Wiktionary:autonomy to control its foreign affairs....
, by agreeing to pay a tribute
Tribute

A tribute is wealth one party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance....
 that was raised to the sum of 50,000 scudi, and maneuvered in Istanbul
Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
-proper by ensuring Valois
Valois Dynasty

The House of Valois was a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty, succeeding the House of Capet as List of French monarchs from 1328 to 1589. A cadet branch of the family reigned as Duke of Burgundy from 1361 to 1482....
 support through the French ambassador
Ambassador

An ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents their country. They are usually accredited to a Sovereignty or government, or to an international organization, to serve as the official representative of their country....
 to the Porte
Porte

Ottoman Porte used to refer to the Divan of the Ottoman Empire where government policies were established....
.

He made Lutheranism
Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the sixteenth-century Germans Reformer Martin Luther....
 the state Church, offending the native Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodox Church

The Eastern Orthodox Church is the second largest single Christian communion in the world with an estimated 225 million members worldwide. It is considered by its adherents to be the Four Marks of the Church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles nearly 2000 years ago....
. They viewed him as an iconoclast
Iconoclast

An iconoclast is someone who performs iconoclasm ? destruction of religious symbols, or, by extension, established dogma or conventions.Iconoclast may also refer to:...
 due to his rhetoric against images, even though he did not, in fact, destroy any icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
s. This, together with Despot's decision to marry another foreigner (a Pole), new and increased taxes and the omnipotence of his foreign retinue
Retinue

A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a nobility or royal family personage, a suite of "retainers."...
 led to a boyar
Boyar

A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the Feudalism Moscovy, Kievan Rusian, Bulgarian, Wallachian, and Moldavian Aristocracy, second only to the ruling knyazs , from the 10th century through the 17th century....
 conspiracy
Conspiracy (political)

In a political sense, conspiracy refers to a group of persons united in the goal of usurping or overthrowing an established political power. Typically, the final goal is to gain power through a revolutionary coup d'?tat or through assassination....
 instigated by high dignitary (hatman) Stefan Tomsa
Stefan Tomsa

Stefan Tomsa or Stefan VII was the ruler of Moldavia in 1563 and 1564....
. In the meantime, his postponement of debt payments angered Albert Laski. Faced with a large-scale rebellion, Heraclid retreated to the fortress in Suceava
Suceava

Suceava is the capital city of the Suceava County, Bukovina, northeastern Romania....
 and withstood a three-month siege
Siege

A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by Battle of attrition and/or assault. The term derives from sedere, Latin for "to sit." A siege occurs when an attacker encounters a city or fortress that cannot be easily taken by a coup de main and refuses to surrender ....
. At the end of it, Despot was captured and was struck to death with a mace by Tomsa himself.

Legacy

In 1562, Heraclid founded the Cotnari
Cotnari

Cotnari is a village and the center of the eponymous Commune in Romania in Iasi County, Romania, in the informal region of Moldova ; the commune also includes the village of C?rjoaia....
 school, intended as a Renaissance
Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
 academy
Academy

An academy is an institution of higher learning, research, or honorary membership.The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 385 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, north of Ancient Athens, Greece....
, led by the Transylvania
Transylvania

Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountains, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term frequently encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical regions of Crisana, Maramures, and Banat....
n scholar Ioannes Sommerus
Ioannes Sommerus

Ioannes Sommerus was a Transylvanian Saxon Protestant theologian and Ioan Iacob Heraclid's biographer.Born in Pirna, Sommerus came to Moldavia as a member of Despot Voda's retinue, becoming the main figure in the short-lived College of Cotnari ....
 (who was also to be his biographer). The institution did not survive Despot's overthrow.

Heraclid is the central figure of Despot-Voda, an 1879 tragedy
Tragedy

Tragedy is a form of The arts based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific Poetic tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of Western culture....
 by Vasile Alecsandri
Vasile Alecsandri

Vasile Alecsandri, was a Romanian poet, playwright, politician, and diplomat. He collected Romanian folklore and was one of the principal animators of the 19th century movement for Romanian cultural identity and union of Moldavia and Wallachia....
.

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