Schools for the people there were none, and all the knowledge that existed was confined within the walls of the monasteries, which were, however, numerous and well endowed.  At no period of its history was Wallachia in such a deplorable condition as when Michael ascended the throne.  Besides possessing the suzerainty of the principality the Turks completely occupied the whole southern bank of the Danube, along with some posts and what is known as Temesvar, on the northern side.  The Transylvanian slopes of the Carpathians and the country beyond were a fief of the German, or, as it was called, the Roman Empire, over which at that time Rudolph II. reigned, whilst the territory north of Moldavia formed part of Poland.  But although Wallachia was nominally autonomous, and was allowed to choose its own rulers, it was in reality an oppressed province of Turkey.  The treaties had been completely set at defiance.  Mosques had been erected and houses built by Turkish residents, contrary to the stipulations of the Treaty of Nicopolis, with the connivance of the voivodes, who, as we have said, were raised up and deposed as it suited the greed or policy of the Porte.  Their fortresses and garrisons on the Danube served as centres from which the Ottomans made raids into Wallachian territory, spreading desolation far and wide, and in addition to this scourge the suffering inhabitants had from time to time hostile visits from the Tartars.  Hordes of these savages were in alliance with the Turks against Hungary, and it was not unusual for them to deviate from their route, fall into the plains of Wallachia, and renew the scenes of rapine and outrage which had characterised the passage of the Eastern barbarians.

Michael, who was probably the posthumous son of a former voivode of Wallachia called Petraschko, was born about the year 1558, and in 1583 he married the widow of a boyard, by whom he had at least one, if not two sons, and a daughter.  He occupied several honourable positions in the State, and was Ban of Craiova before he ascended the throne of Wallachia.  This step he accomplished through intrigues at Constantinople with the aid of his father-in-law, whereby he succeeded in deposing his predecessor Alexander.  Some marvellous tales are told concerning the hairbreadth escapes of Michael in his struggles for the ascendency, one being that, when he was captured by Alexander and ordered for execution, the headsman was so terrified at the majesty of his countenance that he dropped the axe and fled, and no one else was to be found willing to undertake the odious duty.  Be that as it may, he succeeded eventually in removing his rival, and mounted the throne of Wallachia in 1593.  For some time after his accession Michael addressed remonstrances to his suzerain at Constantinople concerning the lawless proceedings of the Turkish and Tartar soldiery, but, finding these to be of no avail, he sought the alliance of Sigismund, Prince of Siebenbuergen[142] (Transylvania),