Of the continued wars and dissensions in Wallachia, during the reign of Mircea it is unnecessary to speak.  He ruled with varying fortunes until 1418 A.D., and there is no doubt that the State was much better organised for defence, although his wars entailed great misery upon the peasantry.  It is clear, not only from the Treaty of Nicopolis, but from other records, that the general condition of the country somewhat resembled that of England in the Saxon period.  The prince was elected by the boyards,[131] or barons spiritual and temporal, and by the nation (probably through representatives), and there was a general Council of State.  There were probably freemen and serfs, although some writers maintain that there was perfect equality until after Mircea’s wars commenced; then it is universally admitted that absolute slavery existed.

It has been said that Mircea kept a standing army of about 18,000 foot and 17,000 cavalry; but whether that was so or not, he certainly maintained a force sufficiently well organised to cope with his powerful adversaries the Turks and the Hungarians.[132] That these latter were still a fierce and untamed race is very probable, as were, no doubt, the followers of Mircea, and they committed ravages by their inroads, which have caused modern writers to class them with the barbarians whose rule had ceased.  Whatever may have been his faults and vices (and his desertion of the Christians at Nicopolis, and the number of illegitimate children left by him, prove that he had both), his patriotism and courage endeared him to posterity, and his deeds are commemorated in the national poems of the present century.  Here is a graphic picture of

    MIRCEA IN BATTLE. 
    By D. BOLENTINEANU (1826-1872).

    Countless hosts of Magyars desolate the lands,
    E’en the sun in terror sees their roving bands;

    But the aged Mircea, firm and undismayed,
    With his braves, a handful, meets the furious raid.

    Knows, full well, to save the homestead’s all but vain,
    Calmly still determines duty to maintain.

    Ah! the days of heroes surely now are fled,
    When, at duty’s summons, Roumains nobly bled!

    Speaks the hoary chieftain:  ’Hearken, brothers all,
    ‘Tis the will of God, as Roumain I should fall.’

    Dedicate thy life-blood, saviour of a nation;
    ’Tis a puny flamelet in a conflagration.

    What is one poor lifetime in th’ eternal day? 
    ’Tis a single blossom in a gorgeous May.

    Ere the noble falcon to the Jaeger yields,
    Casts he nest and offspring down into the fields.

    Ere our arms or ankles should be locked in chains,
    Lot us fall as heroes, die as free Roumains.

    Ah! the days of heroes surely now are fled,
    When, at duty’s summons, Roumains nobly bled.

[Footnote 129:  His full title was ’Mircea, D.G.  Voivode of Wallachia, Duke of Fogaras and Omlas, Count of Severin, Despot of the lands of Dobrudscha and Silistria,’ and, making allowance for the exaggerations of a conqueror, it is clear that he must have ruled over an extended territory.]