A Star is Born

“There lived in the country at that time a brave knight, a famous and celebrated descendant of the Vlachs, János Hunyadi, a warrior… It is said that King Sigismund was persuaded by the fame and renown of this knight’s father to bring him from the Wallachian lands to his own country and take up residence there” – recorded the chronicler János Thuróczy. The authenticity of this Matthias Corvinus-era chronicle cannot be doubted in the light of recent scholarship, although numerous contemporary legends about the origins of the Hunyadi family have come to light.

A royal charter of grant dated 1409 confirms Thuróczy's quoted account. The Hunyadi family received at that time an estate consisting of some 30 or 40 villages from Sigismund of Luxembourg in recognition of their services to the monarch. The charter listed among the beneficiaries János Hunyadi's father, Vajk son of Serbe, and his two brothers, Magas and Radul. János Hunyadi, who was probably born between 1405 and 1407, is also listed in the document. Unfortunately the name of his mother remains obscured by the passage of time. Among his siblings, the names of Vajk, Klára, and a younger brother likewise baptized János are mentioned in contemporary documents. It was undoubtedly as a reward for his efforts on the battlefield that Vajk son of Serbe was awarded the family’s eponymous estate where the family residence was built in the ensuing decades – Vajdahunyad Castle. 

The beginnings of the family’s history in Hungary can thus be linked to János’ father – Vajk son of Serbe, who rose at the peak of his career to become one of Sigismund’s court knights. Through their embracement of Catholicism (they were originally Orthodox) and their marital strategy, the family soon joined the ranks of the common nobility of Hunyad County, becoming assimilated. The example of the Hunyadis was by no means exceptional in that era, for there were other families of Vlach origin who had settled in Hungary, such as the Drágfi, the Nádasdy Ongor, the Malomvizi Kenderes, the Kendeffy, the Macskási, and the Csulai families.

The dawn of a career

Like his contemporaries, Hunyadi began his training as a page in his early youth. He first entered the service of the Florentine Filippo Scolari, known as Pipo Ozorai (Pipo of Ozora), in the first half of the 1420s. It was under Ozorai, who held the rank of Ispán of Temes County and possessed excellent organizational and military qualities, that the southern Hungarian border defense system was built. Hunyadi’s first years of service undoubtedly proved to be of decisive importance in the course of his later life and he followed it by joining the court of Prince Stefan Lazarević, Despot of Serbia, in 1425.

It was in the despot’s court that he met his future father-in-law, László Szilágyi of Horogszeg, who was one of the prince’s leading liegemen. He was soon engaged to Szilágyi’s daughter, Erzsébet, whom he led to the altar around 1428-1430. The marriage increased both János’s prestige and financial opportunities as the Szilágyi family, originating from Szilágy County of historical Transylvania, were members of the Hungarian nobility. Becoming increasingly skilled as a swordsman, the young man soon entered service with the Csákis, historically voivodes of Transylvania, and then with István Újlaki, the Ban of Macsó, where he made the acquaintance of István's younger brother, Miklós Újlaki.

Like his father, Hunyadi soon joined the royal court and took part in the campaign against the Hussites in 1430 as one of King Sigismund’s court knights. He thenceforth traveled to Italy as a member of Sigismund’s entourage to attend the latter’s coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. In late autumn 1431, Hunyadi also attended Sigismund’s investiture as the King of Lombardy in Milan. The court historian Antonio Bonfini, who recorded the event, described the young knight as follows:

“He caused quite a stir not only with his strong slender stature and sumptuous attire, but with his dancing as well. The most distinguished ladies so desired to dance with him that even Sigismund was envious.”

Rather than accompanying his lord to the Eternal City, however, Hunyadi entered service with the Duke of Milan, Filippo Maria Visconti. It was during his nearly two-year stay in Milan that Hunyadi mastered the basic elements of Italian mercenary warfare which, combined with his knowledge of Hussite tactics, later proved useful. The duke rewarded him generously, so it did not cause Hunyadi any great difficulty to loan the Hungarian ruler 1200 gold florins – a prodigious sum in those days – upon the latter’s return from Rome.

After returning to Hungary, he entered service with the Ragusa native, Frank Tallóci (Franko Talovac), the Ban of Szörény (Severin), and was thus able to put his newly-acquired military experience to good use in the southern reaches of Hungary. In 1437, Sigismund hired him as leader of a small military unit for three months during his then campaign against the Hussites. However, Hunyadi's career would really begin to flourish only after Sigismund’s death.

Having no male heir, Sigismund made arrangements so that the Hungarian throne –and the Bohemian and German thrones as well – be filled while he was still alive. As successor to the Hungarian throne, Sigismund chose Albert, Duke of Austria – the husband of his daughter Elisabeth and son of his old ally Albert of Habsburg (1377–1404).

In the summer of 1438, the Ottoman armies of Ali Bey, with the support of the voivode of Wallachia, Vlad II Dracul, spent a month plundering Transylvania without meeting any serious resistance. This ushered in a new chapter in Hunyadi’s life for in May 1439, Albert, crowned the new king of Hungary in 1438, ordered him to defend the southern reaches of the kingdom. He was thence entrusted with the command of Szörény and several other fortresses, leading to his appointment as the Ban of Szörény several months later. This first significant office elevated him to the rank of baron, though it conferred little real political or governmental authority. For the sake of historical accuracy, it must also be noted that his former patron, Frank Tallóci, had evidently resigned from the office of ban in favor of Hunyadi.

Ottoman incursions then targeted Serbia in the summer of 1439, and by the end of August they had taken Szendrő (Smederevo) castle, as a result of which the Serbian despot was forced to flee to Hungary. When the Hungarian army gathered at Titel, north of Belgrade, however, for a planned campaign against the Ottomans, dysentery broke out in the Hungarian camp, to which King Albert succumbed at the end of October. 

At the time of Albert’s death, his widow Elisabeth was expecting his child and it was hoped she would soon give birth to a healthy boy to secure the country’s throne. Finally, in 1440, an heir was born and christened Ladislaus. Supporters of the queen and her infant son included many of the country’s high priests and barons, including Dénes Szécsi, Archbishop of Esztergom, Ulrik Cillei, László Garai, Miklós Újlaki, and the Bohemian mercenary leader of the northern counties (Upper Hungary), Jan Jiskra. The infant was crowned Ladislaus V of Hungary in May.

With the southern borders of the kingdom increasingly threatened by the Ottomans, however, there were those who, quite understandably, preferred to have a stronger ruler on the throne. Their choice fell on the Polish king of the Jagiellonian dynasty, Władysław III, who was crowned Vladislaus I of Hungary in Fehérvár (Székesfehérvár) in June 1440, shortly after Ladislaus. The reliquary crown of St. Stephen was used for the occasion in place of the Holy Crown of Hungary, which had been purloined by Elisabeth, Ladislaus’s mother. Hunyadi’s decision to support the young Polish king is evidenced by his seal on the document attesting to Vladislaus’s election as king – it was a prudent decision that would resolutely advance his career.

The opposing camps split the country, resulting in a bloody civil war that lasted for years. The situation was made worse when the Sultan Murad II, taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the country, laid siege to the fortress of Nándorfehérvár – gateway to the country – in the summer of 1440. Tallóci, who led the defense during the siege, eventually managed to hold the fortress. Hunyadi, who had already been appointed the Ban of Szörény by this time, likely took part in the liberation of Belgrade.

The 1441 clash between the armies of Ladislaus and Vladislaus near Bátaszék in southern Hungary proved pivotal, as the pro-Jagiellion troops, led by János Hunyadi and the newly recruited Miklós Újlaki, defeated the pro-Habsburg forces led by Ladislaus Garai. This victory was of great importance to the future careers of both Hunyadi and Újlaki, as Vladislaus appointed the two men joint voivodes of Transylvania as well as ispáns of the Székelys – important government positions that conferred great prestige on the two ambitious men.

From this point onwards their paths took on a steep upward trajectory. They formed a close alliance, holding many offices and positions together and seemingly coordinating their land-acquisition efforts through tacit agreement, with Hunyadi focused on obtaining lands east of the Tisza River and Újlaki concentrating his efforts in Transdanubia and even more so beyond the Drava River. The two men were also appointed joint captains of Nándorfehérvár following the Turkish capture of Frank Tallóci.

First successes

By the early 1440s, Hunyadi was considered an experienced soldier with a thorough knowledge of the military technology of the day and skilled in modern military strategy and leadership, having honed his craft first in Hungary’s southern reaches, then in northern Italy, and later in the Hussite Wars. The Ottoman offensive of 1441, however, marked a strategic turning point: whereas he had previously focused his efforts on defense and had organized his troops accordingly, he now increasingly viewed any success against the Ottomans as dependent on adopting an offensive strategy. Since he and Újlaki were jointly responsible for several counties located in the southern part of the country, including the strategically important Temes County, they were essentially in charge of the country’s southern border defenses during this period. Hunyadi’s leadership role was naturally beyond doubt, as he played a leading role in every major campaign against the Ottomans until 1456.

In the summer of 1441, the Turks invaded Serbia once again, this time under Ishak Bey, raiding the area around Nándorfehervár which had been unsuccessfully besieged the year before. Hunyadi, however, who commanded the fortress at the time, repelled the Ottoman forces. Thuróczy recorded this event as follows:

“It was at this time – after János Hunyadi had gained fame because of his offices as the voivode of Transylvania and the ban of Szörény and upon his investiture as ispán of Temes had of necessity also become the captain of Nándorfehervár – that the southern regions of Hungary up to the Tisza River and all the lands between the Sava and Drava rivers were devastated by the Turks with cruel fury. […] During this time the Turks had a leader named Ishak who had occupied the fortress of Szendrő and other strongholds of Rascia; indeed, he controlled all of Rascia, that is, Serbia […] and proceeded to burn and pillage the villages near the fortress of Nándorfehérvar so as to test the courage of the new captain. Voivoide János […] set out in battle array and met the foe in the field. […] Ishak, seeing that the Hungarians were either prevailing or willing to die, retreated and set off on his swiftly galloping horse towards the fortress of Szendrő along with his surviving men. Voivode János and his entire army pursued them with swords raised, dispatching many of them unto death, until within sight of the walls of the fortress of Szendrő. They thus returned to Nándorfehérvár with a victory and a great mass of plunder.” 

The court historian Antonio Bonfini, endowed with the arsenal of the humanist chroniclers, supplemented Thuróczy’s account:

“Ishak had been given a taste of Corvinus’s valor and comported himself with much greater modesty thereafter. This event greatly increased János’s reputation, for when news of the Turkish defeat reached Buda, everyone was seized with great joy, most of all King Vladislaus, who, upon receiving the tidings of victory, gave immediate thanks to the immortal gods and then congratulated János in a lengthy letter lavish with praise and gifts, encouraging him to continue the war.”

The Turkish defeat was without a doubt Hunyadi’s first significant success over the Turks, to be followed by many more over the following years.

Hunyadi’s talent for generalship

In the spring of 1442, the Ottomans devastated the lands of Transylvania and Hunyadi as voivode was forced to respond. Although he shared the voivodship with Újlaki, his counterpart was fighting alongside Vladislaus at the siege of Pozsony (Bratislava) at the time; thus, Hunyadi was left alone – as he would be later on – to take charge of the entire southern border defense, which proved no easy task from a logistical point of view. The situation was problematic, as the Ottomans had marched onto the battlefield with a 16,000-man army – according to contemporary documents – threatening not only Transylvania but the entire southern border. 

Hunyadi deployed his troops in the center of the borderline, near Temesvár (Timișoara), in order to effectively supply the wide defense zone and be able to react quickly. Thanks to information received both through intelligence and Serbian informants, the Hungarians had prior knowledge of Ottoman intentions and were able to mobilize their forces in time. Hunyadi entrusted the temporary defense of Transylvania to György Lépes, the bishop of Transylvania, who was likewise a trained soldier with his own banner. The mobilized Transylvanian nobility, reinforced by Saxon and Szekler troops, most likely assembled near Kolosvár (Cluj-Napoca). The situation was made more precarious by the fact that the Turkish army, which had a great number of battle-tested troops in its ranks, was threatening not only Transylvania. In addition to invading the southern part of Hungary, the Ottomans also intended to capture Szrebernik (Srebrenik), to the southwest, and in order to keep the Hungarians off-balance as long as possible, they waited until the last moment to divide their army in two, so that Hunyadi himself was uncertain where they would invade. Eventually, the Ottomans did indeed split their army, with one contingent attacking Slavonia in the southwest, while the other – led by Mezid Bey – marched into Transylvania.

Both Thuróczy and the historical document he used mention two battles in Transylvania, which also accords with the view of historians. Recent research, however, has made an accurate reconstruction of the events possible. According to this, two battles did indeed take place in March 1442, but not quite as described either in the historical document or in Thuróczy's subsequent chronicle. Lépes, the Transylvanian bishop, lost his life in the battle of Marosszentimre, as his epitaph attests. Hunyadi, however, despite what the historical sources claim, did not take part in this battle, as he was stationed with his army at Nándorfehérvár at the time.

Aware of Hunyadi’s absence, Mezid Bey’s Ottoman forces, which had also suffered heavy losses at the battle of Marosszentimre, devastated the province with the intention of leaving the ravaged Transylvanian territory through the Iron Gate gorge towards Wallachia. Mezid, however, must have been bitterly disappointed when, a few days after the Turkish victory, Hunyadi appeared from the direction of Temesvár, leading a well-equipped and well-rested army. Having arrived at the Iron Gate, the voivode waged “a difficult, great, and epic battle” against the Ottomans.

“Having defeated so many thousands of the enemy and capturing many of its leaders, plundering vast treasures, and acquiring all the valuable equipment of its army, Lord János […] having bravely embarked upon war, had wisely led it, successfully fought it, and won a memorable victory.”

The sultan sought revenge for the fiasco at the Iron Gate and the death of Mezid Bey as soon as possible; thus, in the late summer of 1442, he sent a contingent numbering several tens of thousands of men, led by Şehabeddin, the Beylerbey of Rumelia. With his then-fellow voivode, Miklos Újlaki, Hunyadi led the army which included a large number of armor-clad warriors and they proceeded to do battle in early September along the upper reaches of the Jalomica (Ialomița). It ended with another Ottoman defeat, with many of them left behind on the battlefield. Well-equipped heavy cavalry and the use of the Hussite tactic of wagon forts (wagenburg) were crucial to the victory. Taking advantage of his victory, Hunyadi first marched his army into Wallachia, where he deposed the pro-Turkish voivode, Vlad Dracul, and replaced him with Basarab II, son of Dan II of Wallachia, after which his army marched all the way into Bulgaria.

The winter campaign

News of Hunyadi’s victory was brought to Rome by a courier named Matthew (Matheus de Ungaria) – news that so pleased Pope Eugene IV that he had ten forints transferred from the Apostolic Chamber to the herald.  From then on, Hunyadi’s name was increasingly mentioned at the papal court, and plans for a new crusade began to be hatched.

With the arrival and assistance of the papal legate Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini in Hungary in the spring of 1442, the civil war between the supporters of Ladislaus and Vladislaus was peacefully resolved, thus strengthening the chances of cooperation against the Turks. Once the opposing parties concluded a truce through his mediation, preparations for a Balkan offensive could begin. Circumstances were propitious, since the Hungarians had also learned that the Ottoman Empire had fallen victim to a series of Karamanid Emirate attacks from the east. 

Hunyadi finally led an international crusader army across the Danube in October 1443, and the so-called Long or Winter Campaign began. The expedition, numbering some 25 to 30,000 men, included Serbs, Bohemians, and Poles and even counted King Vladislaus I and the papal legate himself within its ranks.

By mid-October, the troops had reached Serbian territory where Đurađ Branković, the Serbian despot, also joined the campaign.

The Hungarian army captured Niš in early November and then Pirot, to the southeast, at the end of the month before taking Sofia in early December. Many Bulgarian cities voluntarily opened their gates to the Christian soldiers, hoping to be freed from the Ottoman yoke. Adrianople, the Sultan’s European capital, was to have been the next goal, but they were unable to break through the Zlatitsa Pass, which had been blocked by the Ottomans. It was at this point that the king and Hunyadi decided to retreat – a decision necessitated by the unusually harsh winter weather and problems with the army’s supplies.

Hunyadi’s troops would clash with the Ottomans several times during their retreat, with one of the latter’s armies led by Sultan Murad II himself. 

Hunyadi, who provided the rear guard, captured the sultan’s brother-in-law, among others, at the Battle of Kunovica Pass. Despite failing to regain Balkan territory from the Turks, the campaign was still considered a success. On the one hand, it was now shown that the Ottomans could be defeated, and on the other, the possibility of a successful crusade based on European cooperation seemed feasible.

The new crusade

Through the mediation of the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković, Sultan Murad II made a peace offer to the Hungarian king. Cardinal Cesarini, however, employing his exceptional diplomatic skills and taking advantage of the previous military campaign’s successes, did everything in his power to impede peace between Hungary and the Ottomans, with the intention of organizing a Christian coalition to expel the Turks from Europe as soon as possible. Their military plan foresaw the Venetian, Burgundian, and Papal fleets financed by the Pope closing off the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, thus preventing Ottoman forces from returning to Europe, while King Vladislaus and Hunyadi would push the Turks out of the Balkan Peninsula on land.  

Vladislaus appointed the ambitious and determined János Hunyadi as commander-in-chief of the army, with Cesarini promising Hunyadi Bulgaria in addition to whatever loot could be obtained. In late September, an army of about 15-16,000 men set out from Várad (Oradea) to be joined later by a 4,000-man force under the prince of Wallachia. The army was to march down the Danube with the likely intention of capturing Adrianople, having chosen this more direct route to avoid crossing the Balkan passes that had caused such serious difficulties during the previous winter campaign. The idea was that the naval fleet would transport food supplies to the mouth of the Danube allowing the land force, supported by the galleys, to march further toward the Dardanelles. However, this plan remained merely on paper.

After an initial series of successes, the land forces reached Varna on the Black Sea Coast. However, the smaller-than-expected Christian fleet, amounting to eight Papal, five Venetian, and two ships each from Burgundy, Ragusa, and Byzantium, was unable to prevent the Ottomans from crossing into Europe. The Ottomans employed cannons against the Christian fleet from both sides of the Bosphoros, while Genoese ships transported Turkish troops from Anatolia to Europe.

The Battle of Varna

Murad II’s 40,000-strong army, departing from Adrianople, fell upon the rear of Vladislaus and Hunyadi’s army, cutting off the supply line of the Christian forces. It was only after the capture of Varna that the Crusaders noticed that the Sultan’s army had forged on ahead and had blockaded the city from the north and the west. Moreover, the Turks also occupied the heights and the mountain passes, thus gaining a clear strategic advantage.

Hunyadi, seeing how the Ottomans had deployed their forces, had the Christian cavalry line up in a wide arc, thus preventing the Turks from outflanking them. The left wing of the Christian forces, commanded by Mihály Szilágyi – Hunyadi’s brother-in-law – consisted of heavy cavalry backed by troops from Transylvania and the Banat (Temesköz). The right wing fought under the command of Frank Tallóci and included, among others, troops led by Simon Rozgonyi, bishop of Eger; János de Dominis bishop of Várad; and Rafael Szekcsői, bishop of Bosnia. Heavy cavalry under the command of Hunyadi and Judge Royal István Báthory held the center. Behind them was a wagon fort sheltering the troops of Vladislaus and Cardinal Cesarini, and next to them, the infantry and the Hungarian camp on the Black Sea coast.

The Ottomans assumed their usual battle formation, with the Rumelians on the right wing and the Anatolians on the left, with the Janissaries behind them. The battle commenced on November 10, with Turkish Akinji and Azeb irregulars on the Ottoman left luring the Hungarian right wing into an ambuscade in front of the Anatolian contingent. Tallóci, seeing the Anatolians thence crush the forces belonging to the bishops of Eger and Várad, retreated behind the wagon fort. Hunyadi’s heavy cavalry then attacked the Turkish left, which had scattered following the death of Karaja Pasha of Anatolia. Meanwhile, Szilágyi attacked the Rumelians on the Ottoman right – Hunyadi soon following him. Success did not end there either, as the Turkish right was pushed back all the way to the center.  

Meanwhile, the young Hungarian ruler was eager to join the fray and take part in the prospective Christian victory. He launched an attack with a force of 4500 men against the Ottoman janissaries in the Turkish center, but unfavorable circumstances – attacking uphill – and most importantly, the ruler’s inexperience, led to complete failure. The janissaries surrounded the Christian horsemen and routed them in the ensuing melee.   

According to contemporary accounts, the Crusader army suffered the loss of around 7-8 thousand men. Among the fallen were Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini, István Báthory, the bishops of Eger and Várad, and, most painful of all, the young king Vladislaus I. 

Hunyadi, seeing the death of the king and the regrouping of the Rumelian spahis, decided to retreat. The Transylvanian voivode, fleeing with his army, was captured by the prince of Wallachia, Vlad Dracul, but was soon released, the latter having been threatened by Lőrinc Hédervári, the palatine of Hungary. János Hunyadi returned home soon after but could not have imagined – or at most, hoped – that his star would rise even higher in the sky of the Carpathian Basin following the catastrophe at Varna.

***

These struggles established Hunyadi’s reputation as a military leader, which played an important role in the continuous advancement of his political power while at the same time affording him the opportunity to amass wealth. His successes also demonstrated that with proper preparation and well-chosen tactics, the Ottomans could be checked, if only temporarily. As the chronicler put it: “From this point onward not only the country’s inhabitants but foreigners too embraced with sincere love this man who could be loved with all one’s heart.” 

(translated by Andrea Thürmer and John Puckett)