100 Lei Petru Rares

Petru Rareș ruled Moldavia twice — 1527 to 1538, then 1541 to 1546 — an unusual double reign made possible by Ottoman political maneuvering after his first expulsion. His first term ended when Suleiman the Magnificent marched through Moldavia personally, forcing Rareș to flee into Transylvania. The Ottomans installed a puppet, then later permitted Rareș to return, having calculated his usefulness as a buffer against Habsburg expansion.

This National Bank of Moldova commemorative belongs to a series reclaiming medieval Moldavian rulers as founding figures of Moldovan national identity — a project with obvious political weight given ongoing tensions over the relationship between Moldova and Romania.