by Basta who rescued the back of the Spanish army from the sudden attack of Henry of Navarre. In 1590 he joined the forces of Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma in Flanders. He returned to France in 1591, and partook in the siege of Rouen with the rank of Commander General of the cavalry. He however was almost killed by Sir Roger Williams, who sliced his neck in personal combat. In February 1592 he separated Navarre from his greater army and the prince fled capture by his forces. He was tasked with ensuring communications between Rouen and the Netherlands, which was massively threatened by the French army, and then protecting the retreat of the Spaniards after the injury of Alexander Farnese to Caudebec. In 1596, after the death of the Duke of Parma, Balta followed the fate of many Italian princes, and had to abandon the Spanish. He then went to the service of Emperor Rudolf II, on the recommendation of Philip II, and served as general master in the army of Archbishop Mattia, later deputy governor of Upper Hungary, and finally the commander of the armies of Hungary and Transylvania. Ambrogio Merodio in his Istoria Tarantina, calls him the "terror of Ottoman armies". For more than a decade, Basta fought against Hungarians, Transylvanians, Vlachs, and Tatars, gaining much fame as one as the best generals of the Empire. In 1597 he was released, together with General Schwarzenberg, from Pápa, which was conquered three years earlier by the Turks. In 1597, while he was deputy governor of Hungary, he recaptured the city of Huszt, which had rebelled against the Empire. At the Battle of Mirăslău, Michael the Brave was defeated by Basta, forcing Michael to appeal to the Emperor Rudolf II to mediate the dispute with Basta. Under his command, his ally Michael the Brave, the former ruler of Transylvania, Wallachia and Moldavia, was assassinated at Keresztesmező camp, near Câmpia Turzii, because Basta considered him a liability. The event happened on 9 August 1601, only days after a joint victory in Battle of Guruslău. Following the murder of Michael and his victory over Báthory, Basta became military commander of Transylvania, but his cruelty led to public discontent. Under his leadership, iniquities and murders multiplied throughout Transylvania. During this brief period, Basta tried to uproot Protestantism. Following Papal and Imperial policy, Calvinist Hungarians and Székelys, Orthodox Wallachians and Serbs, and Lutheran