A thousand years of the Hungarian art of war

CHAPTER III

JANOS HUNYADI, CHAMPION OF CHRISTENDOM

In the fifteenth century, the kings of Western Europe, preoccupied with their own dynastic quarrels, neglected to pay attention to the threats created by the expansionist policy of the Ottoman Empire. In 1453, when Constantinople fell into Turkish hands, the British and French armies fought the last battle of the Hundred Years' War at Bordeaux./1/ The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, under Frederick III of Habsburg, included a "bewildering variety of forces."/2/ Powerful electors competed with lesser nobles, important cities struggled against the vanishing knights, and little principalities sought control over local towns by waging small wars against them. Emperor Frederick III (1440-1493), neither too ambitious nor able, tried to hang onto the remnants of imperial authority and attempted to expand his domain with the help of marriage contracts. The weakness of the imperial power was caused by the simple fact that it was based only on the riches and strength of the Habsburg family. They possessed only Lower and Upper Austria, Tyrol, and the duchies of Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and Gorizia./3/ In the rest of the Empire, imperial power was only nominal. In Bohemia and Hungary, Habsburg claims for the throne were not recognized. The Czech and Hungarian estates had had enough of foreign-born kings, and decided to elect a national king from among their own ranks in 1457-58./4/

In Italy, the renaissance monarchies and republics arrived at a precarious equilibrium and jealously watched each other so as not to allow the emergence of a too powerful and therefore dangerous state within their own ranks. They also watched Venice's desperate defense against the Turkish expansion with a certain malicious joy.

In Poland, the Jagellon dynasty fought a long war against the Teutonic Order (1454-1466) with success, but began to lose to the Turks territories in the Crimea and on the shores of the Black Sea. The establishment of the grand duchy of Muscovy projected troubles for the future.

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Sultan Mohammed II (1451 - 1481) extended the frontiers of his empire to the Balkan Peninsula. After defeating a Hungarian army at Varna in 1444, the Turks were stopped at Nandorfejervar (Belgrade) in 1456, but in the same year they occupied Athens, and three years later the principality of Serbia. Only the popes recognized the threat. They made several attempts to organize a European crusade against the pagan Turks, but European rulers were not willing to participate in any campaign which did not offer direct benefits to their own interests. Thus, they offered only a fraction of the forces which were necessary to stop the Turkish expansion.

No less confusing was the situation within Hungary. After the death of Sigismund in 1437, several pretenders, supported by the feuding, powerful magnates, fought bitter and sometimes bloody political battles for possession of the throne. Finally, Albrecht of Habsburg, Sigismund's son-in-law, was crowned King of Hungary and Bohemia. From the beginning of his reign, he had to defend his realm. On the North, the Hussite rebels attacked Bohemian territories with the help of Poland, while in the South the Turks raided Transylvania and after several weeks of unopposed looting carried about 70,000 Hungarians away into captivity./5/

The Hungarians naturally blamed Albrecht for the losses, and the Diet of 1439 forced the king to grant important concessions, thereby weakening his authority./6/ In the same year, Albrecht led a campaign against the Turks, but an outbreak of dysentery ended the military operations before the first clash. Albrecht too died, victim of the epidemic. Although Queen Elizabeth was recognized as a co-ruler of Hungary, the nobles elected a new king in the person of Wladislaw V, King of Poland. Elizabeth, who was pregnant with Albrecht's child, could not prevent the coronation.

On February 22, 1440, Elizabeth gave birth to a son. At once she declared her son, the infant Ladislas, to be the only lawful king of Hungary, and asked the Czech warlord, Giskra, to protect her son's kingdom. At the same time, she entrusted the guardianship of the infant Ladislas to his uncle, Emperor Frederick III, of the Holy Roman Empire, also delivering into his care the Holy Crown. In reality, King Wladislaw remained in control of Hungary. In 1444, he led an army against the Turks in the Balkans but was defeated at Varna and lost his life in the battle. Now the Hungarians recognized young King Ladislas, and in 1446 elected Janos Hunyadi as regent to govern the country until the boy reached maturity.

Janos Hunyadi, as students of medieval history know, was one of the foremost champions of Christendoms one of the richest landlords in the Hungarian kingdom, the

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father of King Mathias, and the victor in the battle of Nandorfejervar (Belgrade). As a soldier and general, he fought many battles defending the Balkans against the expansion of the Turks. No wonder that Hungarians, Serbs and Wlachs all regarded him as their hero. Sources are reticent concerning the origin of the family. The first mention of the young Janos is found in the donation letter of King Sigismund, written in 1409./7/ In this letter, Sigismund awarded the royal estates of Hunyad to his familiaris, Vajk, and to his infant son, Janos (John)./8/

Following contemporary custom, Janos spent his childhood and early youth in the courts of great lords, the Csakis and Ungors, as their page; later as their familiaris.

In 1420, Janos took part in the Hussite War as a soldier of King Sigismund./9/ In the late 1420's he fought his first skirmish against the Turks in the service of Stefan Lazarevic, Prince of Serbia. After the prince's death, Hunyadi served under Miklos Ujlaki and Demeter Csupor, as familiaris, and returned to the service of Sigismund in 1432. As royal familiaris Hunyadi escorted his king to Lombardy, where he accepted the invitation of Philip of Visconti, Prince of Milan, and served him as mercenary captain until 1434. In that year he returned to the service of King Sigismund and escorted him to the Council of Basel. In the same year, he married Erzsebet (Elizabeth), daughter of one of the richest landlords in Hungary, Laszlo Szilagyi. His first son, Laszlo, was born in 1436; his second son, Mathias, the future King of Hungary, was born around 1440.

In 1437 Hunyadi was awarded huge estates for driving the Turks out of Serbia (Semendria, Smederevo). He also became a member of the Royal Council. In 1439 he supported the candidacy of Wladislaw to the Hungarian throne against the Austrian-supported candidate, Ladislas Posthumus. For his services Wladislaw awarded him the captaincy of the fortress of Nandorfejervar (Belgrade) and appointed him voivode (district governor) of Transylvania. With this appointment, the defense of the southern frontiers became entirely Hunyadi's responsibility. He lived up to the king's expectations. By 1444 he broke the Turkish hold in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Albania, Serbia and Bulgaria. In the campaign of November, 1444, he was less successful: George Brankovic, Prince Of Serbia, informed the Turks of Hunyadi's coming. King Wladislaw died at the Battle of Varna, which Hunyadi lost. Two years later the Hungarian estates elected Hunyadi as regent for the period of Ladislas V's infancy. However, Ladislas was already under the guardianship of his uncle, Emperor Frederick III. Only in 1450, after Hunyadi forced Frederick to

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surrender the young king, did peace return to Hungary. Hunyadi then resigned as regent, but was appointed by the king as "Captain-General" of Hungary./10/

To be captain-general of Hungary meant responsibility without authority, because of the traditional law which exempted the banderia of the lords and noble counties from the obligation of fighting any enemy outside of the frontiers of Hungary./11/ Hunyadi could not rely on the support of Ladislas V, who remained in Austria and governed his countries (Austria, Bohemia, Hungary) according to the suggestions of the court nobility. The court nobles did not care about the problems of the realm. They plotted underhandedly against each other. or fought each other individually or in groups assembled around one or another rich oligarch, with one goal in mind: to enhance their own power and preserve their traditional privileges.

Hunyadi knew from experience what consequences a country would face should it become a theatre of war and become occupied by the Turks. The Turkish danger came close to Hungary after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. To prevent a direct attack on Hungary, Hunyadi wanted to reorganize the Hungarian army system with two purposes in mind: first, to amalgamate and thus train the great number of amateur soldiers (noble insurrection), and, second, to use this well-trained army in the Balkans, i.e., outside the national frontiers.

Hunyadi drafted a law proposal on January 25, 1454, in the name of the king, but without having previously consulted Ladislas./12/ The bill proposed that in order to prevent a surprise attack on Hungary, as had happened at the time of the Mongolian invasion, the Diet was to declare a (preventive) war on the Ottoman Empire at once. To make victory plausible, the armed forces of the country would be divided into two groups with separate administrative and military leadership for each group. The first group was to be comprised of the banderia of the king, the great lords and bishops, as well as the lot militia. In the second, the banderia of the counties were to be supplemented with the troops organized from the entire non-noble male population of the country. Both parts of the armed forces were to be subordinated to the captain-general and had to follow his orders outside the national frontiers, as well as within the country. Each soldier would have been required to take care of his own needs: food supplies as well as arms. Expenses were to be paid by the noble counties. Exemptions could be granted only for key government officials. Draft-dodgers would have been fined, and if they did not pay their fine, their properties were to be confiscated.

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The law would have placed an exceptionally heavy burden on every individual's shoulders. Therefore, the bill stipulated that once the Turkish danger had passed this law would be repealed once and for all.

It is clear that the entire proposal was an impossible dream on the part of Hunyadi. The nobility was not in a patriotic mood at all, the oligarchs were jealous of Hunyadi's growing power, and the king always sided with the men who were momentarily in his presence. Thus the proposal never became a law. But it proved the ability of Hunyadi to see things in perspective and testified to his organizational skill in meeting dangers well-prepared.

One aspect of this proposed law strikes the student of history: Hunyadi wanted to put arms into the hands of the jobbagys - the common people - , not sending them away to fight a far-away crusade, but using them for the defense of their homeland.

What made Hunyadi trust the lower classes to such a degree? The answer lies in his own experiences - his tolerance in religious matters as well as in questions of nationality. Already in 1420, after the Hussite wars, he had hired out some 10,000 Czech rebels as soldiers to serve in his banderia. Wlachs, Serbians, Croats, and Albans joined his army voluntarily after they learned what the Turkish invasion would mean for the peasants. Hunyadi became the hero of the Serbs and Wlachs, and even Greek folksongs mention his name as the hero who could stand up against the mighty Ottoman Empire./13/

In 1454, news of the preparations of Mohammed II (1451-1481) reached the European courts. This time Mohammed wanted to conquer Hungary. The only fortification which stood in the way of his army was Nandorfejervar. Hunyadi himself was busy collecting an army which could match the strength of the Turks. He wanted a crusade in which all of Europe would participate, providing him with an army of 100,000. Pope Callixtus III (1455-1458) announced the crusade in October, 1455, and ordered a special daily prayer for noontime, followed by the ringing of church bells, to remind the people of their duty to defend Christendom./14/ He also began to build a navy to destroy the supply lines of the Turkish army.

The calling of the crusade echoed throughout Europe, but only the Czechs, Poles, Germans and Austrians began to recruit troops, King Ladislas V summoned the Hungarian Diet on February 6, 1456, and, in the presence of the papal legate, Cardinal John Carvajal, Franciscan friar Giovanni Capistrano, leader of the crusaders, and Austrian and Bohemian advisors, he issued orders for the organization of the army and the country's defenses. He appointed Hunyadi as Commander in Chief of the army, and in

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order to provide him with enough soldiers, he called the noble insurrection. But, by the end of May, Ladislas had left the army and returned to Vienna./15/ As soon as he left, the unity of the magnates and oligarchs disappeared, giving way to rivalry and jealousy. Finally, only three magnates joined Hunyadi's army with their banderia./16/

Mohammed II arrived at Nandorfejervar (Belgrade) at the end of June with an army of 150,000 men, supported by 300 cannons, 200 galleys, and a great quantity of siege equipment./17/ At the fort the commander was Mihaly Szilagyi, Hunyadi's brother-in-law, with 7,000 men and 20 to 40 fishing boats. Hunyadi himself, still in Hungary recruiting, hurried to the fortress only after Mohammed had begun the siege. Hunyadi had from 40,000 to 50,000 men under his command, out of which 30,000 to 35,000 could be regarded as professional soldiers. An additional contingent of crusaders joined with Capistrano./18/ On the Danube a flotilla of 200 small fishing boats followed the army. By the time Hunyadi arrived, Nandorfejervar was completely encircled, and the Sultan was hoping for a quick victory. However, the real battle for Nandorfejervar began in earnest only on July 14./19/

The military importance of Nandorfejervar lies in its strategic location (Plan 2). The fortress, built on the southern side of the junction of the Danube and Sava Rivers, was located directly on the river's banks. The Danube, with its many arteries, islands and marshes north of the city, created a serious obstacle for crossing. Therefore, the trade route coming from the Balkans passed south of the city, crossed the Sava River, and then, by the small fortress of Zimony, turned north to cross the Danube as well. From there on, the road led without natural obstacles, either to Buda or in several alternate routes to Austria.

The fortress of Nandorfejervar was built directly on the banks of the Danube, while the city lay south of the fort. To mount an attack against the high walls from the north would be an impossible task. To attack from the south would require that the city be taken before reaching the fortified walls.

Mohammed marched his army south of the city and began to destroy the walls with his superior artillery. Behind the artillery, the Anatolian army corps was positioned on the left flank. In the center stood Mohammed's headquarters, with the janissaries, while the army corps of the Rumelians closed the ring around the city on the right flank. Mohammed knew about the coming of Hunyadi's army. If Hunyadi were to cross the Danube at Zimony, he could easily get into the rear of the Turk's left flank. Mohammed

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recognized this danger, and sent his entire river flotilla to Zimony to blockade the river. To avoid any surprises, he ordered his spahis to patrol the banks of the Danube east of the fortress. His artillery began to fire at the walls on June 29, after which the Turks attempted to occupy Nandorfejervar. The attack was successful against the city, but not against the fortress.

On July 9, Hunyadi arrived with the relieving army at the Danube across from Zimony. There he found the Turkish galleys blockading the crossing. At the same time, Capistrano arrived at the Sava with his peasant crusaders, who were for the most part Serbs, Croats and Slovenians.

Hunyadi had two alternatives from which to choose in order to relieve besieged Nandorfejervar: either he could lead his army in the fortress to strengthen the garrison and continue to repel the Turkish attacks until the Turkish army ran out of supplies and withdrew; or, he could join Capistrano's crusaders and, after crossing the Sava River, attack the rear of the Turkish army's left flank. The prerequisite for both alternatives was the same: opening the Danube crossing by destroying the Turkish flotilla. For that purpose, Hunyadi organized his fishing boats into three groups. In the first group were his heaviest barges, loaded with stones. Using the river's current, these barges were to collide with the Turkish boats, damaging them and creating confusion, while Hunyadi's artillery positioned on the north bank of the river was to destroy the Turkish fleet with concentrated fire. The first wave of small fishing boats would follow the barges with infantry aboard. Their assignment was to board the Turkish galleys, defeat the sailors in hand-to-hand combat, and then use the galleys to make their way into the Sava artery under the walls of Nandorfejervar. Finally, the third wave of boats would transport Hunyadi's army to the fortress. So that this operation might maintain the element of surprise, he ordered that the attack be carried out at night.

On July 14, the river battle began. After a tiring, bloody, night-long battle, Hunyadi and his forces entered the fort. They arrived in time to help the defenders repel the continuing assaults of the Turks. On July 22, Hunyadi's soldiers not only beat back the Turkish attack, but followed the retreating troops, surprised the Turkish batteries, and began to destroy them. Seeing their success, Capistrano's crusaders crossed the Sava River and attacked the retreating Anatolian army corps.

That the battle was not yet over, both Hunyadi and Mohammed knew. Therefore, Hunyadi ordered his troops back behind the walls. On the other hand, Mohammed sent his center, the janissaries, to the rescue of the Anatolian army corps retreating under the

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pressure of the crusaders. The janissaries' attack hit the crusaders in the left flank, and pushed them back toward the Sava River. Hunyadi recognized that the crusaders would be lost without his help. Assembling all the cavalry of the fortress, he left the security of the walls and, followed by infantry troops, attacked the side and rear of the janissaries. This surprising and unconventional attack by the garrison of the besieged fortress created panic among the Turks, who began to flee. They were hotly pursued by Hunyadi's forces. Mohammed knew he had lost and ordered the Rumelian army corps to retreat, leaving behind his entire artillery, ammunition depots, and supplies.

The news of Hunyadi's victory spread quickly throughout Europe. The Pope ordered the church bells to continue ringing in commemoration of Hunyadi s victory. The German Emperor awarded him with the title of "Prince." However, Hunyadi could not enjoy all of this recognition. On August 11, 1456, he died - the result of contracting a disease which had broken out among the Turkish soldiers, and spread throughout the city and fortress.

One more question remains to be answered: Why did not Hunyadi choose the second alternative, that is, instead of entering the fort after the victorious river battle, attack the Turks across the Sava? The explanation lies in the proportional strength of the armies. Hunyadi's 40,000 to 50,000 men would not have had a chance for victory in an open battle against the still more than 100,000 seasoned soldiers of Mohammed, who were supported by a superior artillery.

Hunyadi's victory saved Hungary as well as the Balkans and stopped the Turkish invasion. His organizational ability, clear strategic judgment, excellent generalship and personal courage provided new hope for the desperate people on the Balkans, as well as for the apathetic Hungarian and Western European nobles and peasants. His victory is one of the brightest examples of the Hungarian art of war.

A thousand years of the Hungarian art of war