Bucharest carries in the names of its streets and boulevards long-forgotten stories that await rediscovery. Among these historically charged names is Baba Novac Boulevard, a busy artery of the capital, which recalls one of the bravest and most loyal generals of Michael the Brave. The story of this figure is a dramatic one, where courage intertwines with cruelty, and his tragic fate secured him a special place in collective memory.

The Serbian hajduk’s origins

Baba Novac was born around 1520 in the village of Poreč, on the banks of the Danube, in Serbia. He came from a modest family, but his childhood was marked by the instability of the times and the constant Ottoman threat. From an early age, he learned the craft of weapons, using them to defend both his Orthodox faith and his homeland.

Legends and folk ballads portray him as an imposing man, gifted with unusual physical strength, who found his calling among the Balkan hajduk bands. For him, the life of a hajduk was not only a rebellion against injustice and poverty but also a way of resisting Ottoman domination.

The famous historian and philologist Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu wrote that he spent “forty or fifty years” in the mountains of Romania, after living his first decades in his native Serbia. Thus, when he met Michael the Brave, Baba Novac was already past 70, but his warrior’s spirit knew no fatigue.

Meeting Michael the Brave

In 1595, as conflicts between Wallachia and the Ottoman Empire intensified, Baba Novac joined Michael the Brave’s army. He was not alone but accompanied by another well-known hajduk, Deli Marcu, and together they led about 700 men in a campaign that made history. 

At Sofia, they managed to drive back the army of Pasha Hassan, offering the voivode an important victory just before the famous battle of Călugăreni.

Impressed by the Serbian’s bravery and loyalty, Michael the Brave placed his complete trust in him. The voivode’s personal guard was composed largely of Serbian hajduks, showing how highly he valued them. Baba Novac was not only a fearless soldier but also a respected general, alongside prominent captains of the era such as Preda and Stroe Buzescu or Ban Mihalcea.

Heroism at Șelimbăr

Baba Novac’s moment of glory came in 1599 at the battle of Șelimbăr. Though at an advanced age, he commanded the troops with extraordinary energy, managing to defeat the Hungarian nobles led by Cardinal András Báthory. 

The victory opened the way for the union of Transylvania with Wallachia, and Baba Novac played a decisive role.

Tradition says that he personally laid the armor of the defeated generals at Michael’s feet, a symbolic gesture that remained etched in the memory of contemporaries. It was proof of his gratitude and unwavering devotion to the ruler he followed without hesitation.

Campaigns in Banat and Moldavia

After the victory at Șelimbăr, Baba Novac was sent to Banat, where he achieved further successes against his enemies. 

He then followed Michael the Brave into Moldavia, participating in the conquest of Iași and the campaign that reached as far as Hotin. His presence was essential for the army’s morale, and his vast experience made him an irreplaceable leader.

Yet, the times were unstable. After 1600, Michael the Brave was left without an army, forced to seek external support in Vienna and Prague. 

In this context, Baba Novac entered the service of General Giorgio Basta, the imperial commander. This was not an act of betrayal but rather a natural continuation of his soldier’s career, since Michael no longer had an army to lead.

Betrayal and arrest at Cluj

Baba Novac’s fate took a dramatic turn in February 1601. While on a diplomatic mission in Cluj, he was arrested by Hungarian nobles who accused him of treason. 

The pretext was a letter sent to the Pasha of Timișoara, through the Orthodox priest Sascu, in which he allegedly promised, for a sum of money, to indicate the right moment to attack certain Transylvanian towns.

Historians believe the accusation was merely a convenient excuse to eliminate the feared Serbian general. The Hungarian Diet condemned him to death, and the execution that followed was one of the cruellest of the age.

Torture and horrific death

On February 3, 1601, Baba Novac was brought into the central square of Cluj, together with his Serbian confessor. Two old men over 70 years of age were about to endure unimaginable torment. They were not simply burned at the stake but tied to huge wooden beams, like spits, and turned over the flames. Beforehand, they had been tortured and partially flayed alive.

To prolong their agony, their bodies were sprinkled with water from time to time. The execution lasted an hour and a half until Basta, watching from the window of his residence, ordered them to be left to die. After their deaths, the corpses were taken outside the citadel and impaled near the Tailors’ Tower. Crows devoured their flesh, leaving after a few days nothing but bare bones.

This brutal death sparked outrage even among enemies. Sultan Mehmed III, though an adversary of Michael the Brave, considered the manner of Baba Novac’s end unworthy of such a warrior, saying he should have died on the battlefield.

Hero of both Romanians and Serbs

The tragic fate of Baba Novac turned him into a symbol of resistance and loyalty. He is revered by both Romanians and Serbs, considered a national hero. 

Numerous localities in Romania bear his name: Baba Novac in Satu Mare county, the villages called Baba in Alba and Maramureș, Novac in Dolj, Novaci in Ilfov and Gorj, as well as Novăcești in Alba, Prahova, and Satu Mare.

In Bucharest, the boulevard that bears his name stands as recognition of his sacrifice and as a reminder not to forget the past. 

Beyond the noise of traffic, every street sign with the name “Baba Novac” recalls a man who, though he lived in an age of treachery and cruelty, remained steadfast in his faith and courage until his last moment.

From a hajduk to an eternal symbol

Baba Novac was more than one of Michael the Brave’s generals. He was a hajduk turned strategist, a Serb who fought for Romanian freedom, and an old warrior who met his end in a terrible ordeal. 

Though his death was marked by cruelty, his memory endured, and gratitude was expressed in the names of villages, monuments, and streets.

Baba Novac Boulevard in Bucharest is not merely an urban road, but a bridge to the past, to a time when loyalty and courage meant more than life itself. 

His story reminds us that heroes are not forged only by victories but also by supreme sacrifice, which grants them immortality.

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