 The foundation of Moldavia is attributed to the Vlach(an old exonym for Romanian) noblemen Dragoş of Bedeu, from Maramureş, who had been ordered in 1343 (1285 after other sources) by the Hungarian king to establish a defense for the historic Kingdom of Hungary against the Tatars, and Bogdan I of Cuhea, another vlach/Romanian from Maramureș, who became the first independent prince of Moldavia, when he rejected Hungarian authority in 1359.Bogdan I left his lands from Maramures with his army and part of the vlach/Romanian population, by crossing the mountains to the east, after entering in conflict with the Hungarian rulers.The greatest Moldavian personality was prince Stephen the Great, who ruled from 1457 to 1504.