John Hunyadi

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}}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}} }}{{#if:|{{#if:||{{#ifeq:{{#ifeq:|no|yes}}|yes||}}}} }}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox officeholder with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y| regexp1 = 1blankname[%d]* | regexp2 = 1namedata[%d]* | regexp3 = 2blankname[%d]* | regexp4 = 2namedata[%d]* | regexp5 = 3blankname[%d]* | regexp6 = 3namedata[%d]* | regexp7 = 4blankname[%d]* | regexp8 = 4namedata[%d]* | regexp9 = 5blankname[%d]* | regexp10 = 5namedata[%d]* | allegiance | alma_mater | regexp11 = alongside[%d]* | alt | regexp12 = ambassador_from[%d]* | regexp13 = appointed[%d]* | regexp14 = appointer[%d]* | regexp15 = assembly[%d]* | awards | battles | battles_label | birth_date | birth_name | birth_place | birthname | regexp16 = blank[%d]* | bodyclass | branch | branch_label | cabinet | candidate | caption | categories | regexp17 = chancellor[%d]* | children | citizenship | regexp18 = co%-leader[%d]* | commands | committees | regexp19 = constituency[%d]* | regexp20 = constituency_AM[%d]* | regexp21 = constituency_MP[%d]* | regexp22 = convocation[%d]* | regexp23 = country[%d]* | regexp24 = data[%d]* | date | death_cause | death_date | death_manner | death_place | demo | regexp25 = deputy[%d]* | regexp26 = district[%d]* | education | election_date | embed | father | regexp28 = firstminister[%d]* | footnotes | regexp29 = governor[%d]* | regexp30 = governor_general[%d]* | regexp31 = governor%-general[%d]* | height | honorific_prefix | honorific-prefix | honorific_suffix | honorific-suffix | image | image name | image_name_alt | image_size | imagesize | image_upright | incumbent | regexp32 = jr/sr[%d]* | regexp33 = jr/sr and state[%d]* | known_for | regexp34 = leader[%d]* | regexp35 = legislature[%d]* | regexp36 = lieutenant[%d]* | regexp37 = lieutenant_governor[%d]* | mainwidth | regexp38 = majority[%d]* | regexp39 = majority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp40 = majority_leader[%d]* | regexp41 = majorityleader[%d]* | mawards | regexp42 = military_blank[%d]* | regexp43 = military_data[%d]* | regexp44 = minister[%d]* | regexp45 = minister_from[%d]* | regexp46 = minority_floor_leader[%d]* | regexp47 = minority_leader[%d]* | regexp48 = minorityleader[%d]* | regexp49 = module[%d]* | regexp50 = monarch[%d]* | mother | name | nationality | native_name | native_name_lang | nickname | nocat | regexp51 = nominator[%d]* | nominee | occupation | regexp52 = office[%d]* | opponent | regexp53 = order[%d]* | otherparty | parents | regexp54 = parliament[%d]* | regexp55 = parliamentarygroup[%d]* | partner | party | party_election | portfolio | regexp56 = preceded[%d]* | regexp57 = preceding[%d]* | regexp58 = predecessor[%d]* | regexp59 = premier[%d]* | regexp60 = president[%d]* | regexp61 = primeminister[%d]* | regexp62 = prior_term[%d]* | profession | pronunciation | rank | rank_label | relations | relatives | residence | resting_place | resting_place_coordinates | restingplace | restingplacecoordinates | regexp63 = riding[%d]* | runningmate | salary | serviceyears | serviceyears_label | signature | signature_alt | signature_size | smallimage | smallimage_alt | source | speaker | speaker_office | spouse | spouses | regexp64 = state[%d]* | regexp65 = state_assembly[%d]* | regexp66 = state_delegate[%d]* | regexp67 = state_house[%d]* | regexp68 = state_legislature[%d]* | regexp69 = state_senate[%d]* | regexp70 = status[%d]* | regexp71 = suboffice[%d]* | regexp72 = subterm[%d]* | regexp73 = succeeded[%d]* | regexp74 = succeeding[%d]* | regexp75 = successor[%d]* | regexp76 = taoiseach[%d]* | regexp77 = term[%d]* | regexp78 = term_end[%d]* | regexp79 = term_label[%d]* | regexp80 = term_start[%d]* | regexp81 = termend[%d]* | regexp82 = termlabel[%d]* | regexp83 = termstart[%d]* | regexp84 = title[%d]* | unit | unit_label | regexp85 = vicegovernor[%d]* | regexp86 = vicepremier[%d]* | regexp87 = vicepresident[%d]* | regexp88 = viceprimeminister[%d]* | regexp89 = assuming[%d]* | website | width | year }} John Hunyadi (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Circa – 11 August 1456) was a leading Hungarian military and political figure during the 15th century, who served as regent of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1446 to 1453, under the minor Ladislaus V.

According to most contemporary sources, he was the member of a noble family of Wallachian ancestry. Through his struggles against the Ottoman Empire, he earned for himself the nickname "Turk-buster" from his contemporaries. Due to his merits, he quickly received substantial land grants. By the time of his death, he was the owner of immense land areas, totaling approximately four million cadastral acres, which had no precedent before or after in the Kingdom of Hungary. His enormous wealth and his military and political weight were primarily directed towards the purposes of the Ottoman wars.

Hunyadi mastered his military skills on the southern borderlands of the Kingdom of Hungary that were exposed to Ottoman attacks. Appointed Ban of Szörény in 1439, appointed Voivode of Transylvania, Counts of the Székelys and Chief Captain of Nándorfehérvár (now Belgrade) in 1441 and head of several southern counties of the Kingdom of Hungary, he assumed responsibility for the defense of the frontiers. He adopted the Hussite method of using wagons for military purposes. He employed professional soldiers, but also mobilized local peasantry against invaders. These innovations contributed to his earliest successes against the Ottoman troops who were plundering the southern marches in the early 1440s.

In 1442, Hunyadi won four victories against the Ottomans, two of which were decisive.Template:Sfn In March 1442, Hunyadi defeated Mezid Bey and the raiding Ottoman army at the Battle of Szeben in the south part of the Kingdom of Hungary in Transylvania.Template:Sfn In September 1442, Hunyadi defeated a large Ottoman army of Beylerbey Şehabeddin, the Provincial Governor of Rumelia. This was the first time that a European army defeated such a large Ottoman force, composed not only of raiders, but of the provincial cavalry led by their own sanjak beys (governors) and accompanied by the formidable janissaries.Template:Sfn Although defeated in the battle of Varna in 1444 and in the second battle of Kosovo in 1448, his successful "Long Campaign" across the Balkan Mountains in 1443–44 and defence of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár) in 1456, against troops led personally by the sultan, established his reputation as a great general. The pope ordered that European churches ring their bells at noon to gather the faithful in prayer for those who were fighting. The bells of Christian churches are rung at noon to commemorate the Belgrade victory.

John Hunyadi was also an eminent statesman. He actively took part in the civil war between the partisans of Wladislas I and the minor Ladislaus V, two claimants to the throne of Hungary in the early 1440s, on behalf of the former. He was popular among the lesser nobility, and in 1445 the Diet of Hungary appointed him one of the seven "Captains in Chief" responsible for the administration of state affairs until Ladislaus V (by that time unanimously accepted as king) came of age. The next Diet went even further, electing Hunyadi as sole regent with the title of governor. When he resigned from this office in 1452, the sovereign awarded him with the first hereditary title in the Kingdom of Hungary, (perpetual count of Beszterce/Bistrița). He had by this time become one of the wealthiest landowners in the kingdom, and preserved his influence in the Diet up until his death.

This Athleta Christi (Christ's Champion), as Pope Pius II referred to him, died some three weeks after his triumph at Belgrade, falling to an epidemic that had broken out in the crusader camp. However, his victories over the Turks prevented them from invading the Kingdom of Hungary for more than 60 years. His fame was a decisive factor in the election of his son, Matthias Corvinus, as king by the Diet of 1457. Hunyadi is a popular historical figure among Hungarians, Romanians, Serbs, Bulgarians, and other nations of the region.

Childhood (Template:Circa 1406 – Template:Circa 1420)

File:Fff437kicsi.jpg

King Sigismund of Hungary's charter of the grant of Hunyad Castle (in present-day Hunedoara, Romania) to Voyk, Magos and Radol (the sons of Serbe), and their uncle or cousin, Radol, and Voyk's son, John

File:ZikmundLux.jpg

Sigismund, King of Hungary

A royal charter of grant issued on 18 October 1409 contains the first reference to John Hunyadi.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the document, King Sigismund of Hungary bestowed Hunyad Castle (in present-day Hunedoara, Romania) and the lands attached to it upon John's father, Voyk and Voyk's four kinsmen, including John himself.Template:Sfn According to the document, John's father served in the royal household as a "court knight" at that time, suggesting that he was descended from a respected family.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Two 15th-century chroniclersTemplate:MdashJohannes de Thurocz and Antonio BonfiniTemplate:Mdashwrite that Voyk had moved from Wallachia to Hungary upon King Sigismund's initiative.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn László Makkai, Malcolm Hebron, Pál Engel and other scholars accept the two chroniclers' report of the Wallachian origin of John Hunyadi's father.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In contrast with them, Ioan-Aurel Pop says that Voyk was a native of the wider region of Hunyad Castle.Template:Sfn

Antonio Bonfini was the first chronicler to have made a passing remark of an alternative story of John Hunyadi's parentage, soon stating that it was just a "tasteless tale" fabricated by Hunyadi's opponent, Ulrich II, Count of Celje.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to this anecdote, John was actually not Voyk's child, but King Sigismund's illegitimate son.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The story became especially popular during the reign of John Hunyadi's son, Matthias Corvinus who erected a statue for King Sigismund in Buda.Template:Sfn The 16th-century chronicler Gáspár Heltai repeated and further developed the tale, but modern scholarsTemplate:Mdashfor instance, Cartledge, and KubinyiTemplate:Mdashregard it as an unverifiable gossip.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi's popularity among the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula give rise to further legends of his royal parentage.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The identification of John Hunyadi's mother is even less certain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In connection with King Sigismund's supposed parentage, both Bonfini and Heltai say that she was the daughter of a rich boyar, or nobleman, whose estates were located at Morzsina (present-day Margina, Romania).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Pop proposes that she was called Elisabeth.Template:Sfn According to historian László Makkai, John Hunyadi's mother was a member of the Muzsina (or Mușina) kenez family from Demsus (Densuș, Romania), but Pop refuses the identification of the Morzsina and Muzsina families.Template:Sfn<ref name='Makkai'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

With regard of John Hunyadi's mother, Bonfini provides an alternative solution as well, stating that she was a distinguished Greek lady, but does not name her.Template:Sfn According to Kubinyi, her alleged Greek origin may simply refer to her Orthodox faith.Template:Sfn In a letter of 1489, Matthias Corvinus wrote that his grandmother's sister, whom the Ottoman Turks had captured and forced to join the harem of an unnamed Sultan, became the ancestor of Cem, the rebellious son of Sultan Mehmed II.Template:Sfn Based on this letter, historian Kubinyi says that the "Greek connection cannot be discounted entirely".Template:Sfn If Matthias Corvinus' report is valid, John HunyadiTemplate:Mdashthe hero of anti-Ottoman warsTemplate:Mdashand the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II were first cousins.Template:Sfn On the other hand, historian Péter E. Kovács writes that Matthias Corvinus's story about his family connection with the Ottoman Sultans was nothing but a pack of lies.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi's year of birth is uncertain.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Although Gáspár Heltai writes that Hunyadi was born in 1390, he must have actually been born between around 1405 and 1407, because his younger brother was only born after 1409, and a difference of almost two decades between the two brothers' age is not plausible.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The place of his birth is likewise unknown.Template:Sfn The 16th-century scholar, Antun Vrančić wrote that John Hunyadi had been "a native" of the Hátszeg region (now Țara Hațegului in Romania).Template:Sfn Hunyadi's father died before 12 February 1419.Template:Sfn A royal charter issued on this day mentions Hunyadi, Hunyadi's two brothers (John the younger and Voyk) and their uncle Radol, but does not refer to their father.Template:Sfn

Rise of a general

Youth (Template:Circa 1420–1438)

Andreas Pannonius, who served Hunyadi for five years, wrote that the future commander "accustomed himself to tolerate both cold and heat in good time".Template:Sfn Like other young noblemen, John Hunyadi spent his youth serving in the court of powerful magnates.Template:Sfn However, the exact list of his employers cannot be completed, because 15th-century authors recorded contradictory data on his early life.Template:Sfn

Filippo Scolari's biographer, Poggio Bracciolini writes that ScolariTemplate:Mdashwho was responsible for the defense of the southern frontier as Ispán, or head, of Temes CountyTemplate:Mdasheducated Hunyadi from his very youth, suggesting that Hunyadi was Scolari's page around 1420.Template:Sfn On the other hand, John of Capistrano writes, in a letter of 1456, that Hunyadi started his military career serving under Nicholas of Ilok.Template:Sfn For Nicholas of Ilok was at least six year younger than Hunyadi, historian Pál Engel writes that Capistrano confused him with his brother, Stephen of Ilok.Template:Sfn Finally, Antonio Bonfini says that at the beginning of his career Hunyadi worked either for Demeter Csupor, Bishop of Zagreb or for the Csákys.Template:Sfn

According to the Byzantine historian Laonikos Chalkokondyles, the young Hunyadi "stayed for a time" at the court of Stefan Lazarević, Despot of Serbia, who died in 1427.Template:Sfn Hunyadi's marriage with Elisabeth Szilágyi substantiates Chalkokondyles' report, because her father, Ladislaus was the Despot's familiaris around 1426.Template:Sfn The wedding took place around 1429.Template:Sfn While still a young man, Hunyadi entered the retinue of King Sigismund.Template:Sfn He accompanied Sigismund to Italy in 1431 and upon Sigismund's order he joined the army of Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bonfini says that Hunyadi "served two years" in the Duke's army.Template:Sfn Modern scholarsTemplate:Mdashfor instance, Cartledge, Engel, Mureşanu and TekeTemplate:Mdashsay that Hunyadi familiarized himself with the principles of contemporary military art, including the employment of mercenaries, in Milan.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Hunyadi again joined the entourage of Sigismund, who had in the meantime been crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome, at the very end of 1433.Template:Sfn He served the monarch as a "court knight".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He loaned 1,200 gold florins to the Emperor in January 1434.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In exchange, Sigismund mortgaged PapiTemplate:Mdasha market town in Csanád CountyTemplate:Mdashand half of the royal incomes from a nearby ferry on the Maros River to Hunyadi and his younger brother.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The royal charter of the transaction mentions Hunyadi as John the Vlach (Romanian).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In short, Sigismund granted Hunyadi further domains, including Békésszentandrás, and Hódmezővásárhely, each incorporating about 10 villages.Template:Sfn

Antonio Bonfini writes of Hunyadi's service in the retinue of one "Francis Csanádi" who "became so fond of him that treated him as if he were his own son".Template:Sfn Historian Engel identifies Francis Csanádi with Franko Talovac, Croatian nobleman and Ban of Severin, who was also Ispán of Csanád County around 1432.Template:Sfn Engel says that Hunyadi served in the Ban's retinue for at least one and a half years from around October 1434.Template:Sfn A Vlach district of the Banate of Severin was mortgaged to Hunyadi in this period.Template:Sfn

Sigismund, who entered Prague in the summer of 1436, hired Hunyadi and his 50 lancers for three months in October 1437 for 1,250 gold florins, implying that Hunyadi had accompanied him to Bohemia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi seems to have studied the Hussites' tactics on this occasion, because he later applied its featuring elements, including the use of wagons as a mobile fortress.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn On 9 December 1437 Sigismund died; his son-in-law, Albert was elected King of Hungary in nine days.Template:Sfn According to historians Teke and Engel, Hunyadi soon returned to the southern frontiers of the kingdom which had been subject to Ottoman raids.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In contrast with them, Mureşanu says that Hunyadi served King Albert in Bohemia for at least a year, until the end of 1438.Template:Sfn

First battles with the Ottomans (1438–1442)

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File:Tucrcoczy Janos Iancu de Hunedoara Brunnner Ausgabe.jpg

John Hunyadi (John Thuróczy – Chronica Hungarorum, 1488)

Template:Further The Ottomans had occupied the larger part of Serbia by the end of 1438.Template:Sfn In the same year, Ottoman troopsTemplate:Mdashsupported by Vlad II Dracul, Prince of WallachiaTemplate:Mdashmade an incursion into Transylvania, plundering Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben, Gyulafehérvár (present-day Alba Iulia, Romania) and other towns.Template:Sfn After the Ottomans laid siege to Smederevo, the last important Serbian stronghold in June 1439, Đurađ Branković, Despot of Serbia fled to Hungary to seek military assistance.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

King Albert proclaimed the general insurrection of the nobility against the Ottomans, but few armed noblemen assembled in the region of Titel and were ready to fight.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A notable exception was Hunyadi,Template:Sfn who made raids against the besiegers and defeated them in smaller skirmishes, which contributed to the rise of his fame.Template:Sfn The Ottomans captured Smederevo in August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn King Albert appointed the Hunyadi brothers Bans of Severin, elevating them to the rank of "true barons of the realm".Template:Sfn He also mortgaged a Vlach district in Temes County to them.Template:Sfn

King Albert died of dysentery on 27 October 1439.Template:Sfn His widow, ElisabethTemplate:MdashEmperor Sigismund's daughterTemplate:Mdashgave birth to a posthumus son, Ladislaus.Template:Sfn The Estates of the realm offered the crown to Vladislaus, King of Poland, but Elizabeth had his infant son crowned king on 15 May 1440.Template:Sfn However, Vladislaus accepted the Estates' offer and was also crowned king on 17 July.Template:Sfn During the ensuing civil war between the two kings' partisans, Hunyadi supported Vladislaus.Template:Sfn Hunyadi fought against the Ottomans in Wallachia, for which King Vladislaus granted him five domains in the vicinity of his family estates on 9 August 1440.Template:Sfn

File:Władysław Warneńczyk seal 1438 (cropped).PNG

Detail of the seal of Vladislaus, King of Poland and Hungary, whom Hunyadi supported in the civil war of 1440–1442

Hunyadi, together with Nicholas of Ilok, annihilated the troops of Vladislaus' opponents at Bátaszék at the very beginning of 1441.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Their victory effectively put an end to the civil war.Template:Sfn The grateful King appointed Hunyadi and his comrade joint Voivodes of Transylvania and Counts of the Székelys in February.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In short, the King also nominated them Ispáns of Temes County and conferred upon them the command of Belgrade and all other castles along the Danube.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Since Nicholas of Ilok spent most of his time in the royal court, in practice Hunyadi administered Transylvania and the southern borderlands alone.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Soon after his appointment, Hunyadi visited Transylvania where the child Ladislaus V's partisans had maintained a strong position.Template:Sfn After Hunyadi pacified Transylvania, the regions under his administration remained undisturbed by internal conflicts, enabling Hunyadi to concentrate on the defence of the borders.Template:Sfn By effectively defending the interests of local landowners at the royal court, Hunyadi strengthened his position in the provinces under his administration.Template:Sfn For instance, he obtained land grants and privileges for local noblemen from the King.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi set about repairing the walls of Belgrade, which had been damaged during an Ottoman attack.Template:Sfn In retaliation for Ottoman raids in the region of the river Sava, he made an incursion into Ottoman territory in the summer or autumn of 1441.Template:Sfn He scored a pitched battle victory over Ishak Bey, the commander of Smederovo.Template:Sfn

Early the next year, Bey Mezid invaded Transylvania with a force of 17,000 soldiers.Template:Sfn Hunyadi was taken by surprise and lost the first battle near Marosszentimre (Sântimbru, Romania).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Bey Mezid lay siege to Hermannstadt, but the united forces of Hunyadi and Újlaki, who had in the meantime arrived in Transylvania, forced the Ottomans to lift the siege.Template:Sfn The Ottoman forces were annihilated at Gyulafehérvár on 22 March.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Pope Eugenius IV, who had been an enthusiastic propagator of a new crusade against the Ottomans, sent his legate, Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to Hungary.Template:Sfn The Cardinal arrived in May 1442 tasked with mediating a peace treaty between King Vladislaus and Dowager Queen Elisabeth.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II dispatched Şihabeddin PashaTemplate:Mdashthe governor of RumeliaTemplate:Mdashto invade Transylvania with a force of 70,000.Template:Sfn The Pasha stated that the mere sight of his turban would force his enemies to run far away.Template:Sfn Although Hunyadi could only muster a force of 15,000 men, he inflicted a crushing defeat on the Ottomans at the Ialomița River in September.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn John Hunyadi and his 15,000 men defeated the 80,000-strong army of Begler Bey Sehabeddin at Zajkány (today's Zeicani), near the Iron Gate of the Danube river in 1442.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Hunyadi placed Basarab II on the princely throne of Wallachia, but Basarab's opponent Vlad Dracul returned and forced Basarab to flee in early 1443.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi's victories in 1441 and 1442 made him a prominent enemy of the Ottomans and renowned throughout Christendom.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He established a vigorous offensive posture in his battles, which enabled him to counteract the numerical superiority of the Ottomans through decisive maneuver.Template:Sfn He employed mercenaries (many of them recently disbanded Czech Hussite troops), increasing the professionalism in his ranksTemplate:Sfn and supplementing the numerous irregulars mustered from local peasantry, whom he had no reservations about employing in the field.Template:Sfn

General and politician

The "Long Campaign" (1442–1444)

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} In April 1443 King Vladislaus and his barons decided to mount a major campaign against the Ottoman Empire.Template:Sfn With the mediation of Cardinal Cesarini, Vladislaus reached a truce with Frederick III of Germany, who had been the guardian of the child Ladislaus V.Template:Sfn The armistice guaranteed that Frederick III would not attack Hungary in the subsequent twelve months.Template:Sfn

Spending around 32,000 gold florins from his own treasury, Hunyadi hired more than 10,000 mercenaries.Template:Sfn The King also mustered troops, and reinforcements arrived from Poland and Moldavia.Template:Sfn The King and Hunyadi departed for the campaign at the head of an army of 25–27,000 men in the autumn of 1443.Template:Sfn In theory, Vladislaus commanded the army, but the true leader of the campaign was Hunyadi.Template:Sfn Despot Đurađ Branković joined them with a force of 8,000 men.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

File:South-eastern Europe 1444.jpg

Map of Southeastern Europe, circa 1444

Hunyadi commanded the vanguards and routed four smaller Ottoman forces, hindering their unification.Template:Sfn He captured Kruševac, Niš and Sofia.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, the Hungarian troops could not break through the passes of the Balkan Mountains towards Edirne.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Cold weather and the lack of supplies forced the Christian troops to stop the campaign at Zlatitsa.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn After being victorious in the Battle of Kunovica, they returned to Belgrade in January and Buda in February 1444.Template:Sfn

Battle of Varna and its aftermath (1444–1446)

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}}

File:Varna 1444 Polski Kronika from 1564.jpg

The Battle of Varna, as depicted in the 1564 edition of Martin Bielski's Polish Chronicle

Although no major Ottoman forces had been defeated, Hunyadi's "long campaign" stirred enthusiasm throughout Christian Europe.Template:Sfn Pope Eugenius, Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and other European powers demanded a new crusade, promising financial or military support.Template:Sfn The formation of a "party"Template:Mdasha group of noblemen and clericsTemplate:Mdashunder Hunyadi's leadership can be dated to this period.Template:Sfn Their main purpose was the defence of Hungary against the Ottomans.Template:Sfn According to a letter of Đurađ Branković, Hunyadi spent more than 63,000 gold florins to hire mercenaries in the first half of the year.Template:Sfn An eminent representative of Renaissance humanism in Hungary, John Vitéz became Hunyadi's close friend around that time.Template:Sfn

The advance of Christian forces in Ottoman territory also encouraged the peoples of the Balkan Peninsula to revolt in the peripheries of the Ottoman Empire.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For instance, Skanderbeg, an Albanian noble, expelled the Ottomans from Krujë and all other fortresses once held by his family.Template:Sfn Sultan Murad II, whose main concern was a rebellion by the Karamanids in Anatolia, offered generous terms of peace to King Vladislaus.Template:Sfn He even promised to withdraw the Ottoman garrisons from Serbia, thus restoring its semi-autonomous status under Despot Đurađ Branković.Template:Sfn He also offered a truce for ten years.Template:Sfn The Hungarian envoys accepted the Sultan's offer in Edirne on 12 June 1444.Template:Sfn

Đurađ Branković, who was grateful for the restoration of his realm, donated his estates at Világos (present-day Șiria, Romania) in Zaránd County to Hunyadi on 3 July.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi proposed King Vladislaus to confirm the advantageous treaty, but Cardinal Cesarini urged the monarch to continue the crusade.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On 4 August Vladislaus took a solemn oath of launching a campaign against the Ottoman Empire before the end of the year even if a peace treaty were concluded.Template:Sfn According to Johannes de Thurocz, the King appointed Hunyadi to sign the peace treaty on 15 August.Template:Sfn In a week, Đurađ Branković mortgaged his extensive domains in the Kingdom of HungaryTemplate:Mdashincluding Debrecen, Munkács (present-day Mukacheve, Ukraine), and Nagybánya (present-day Baia Mare, Romania)Template:Mdashto Hunyadi.Template:Sfn

King Vladislaus, whom Cardinal Cesarini urged to keep his oath, decided to invade the Ottoman Empire in autumn.Template:Sfn Upon the Cardinal's proposal, he offered Hunyadi the crown of Bulgaria.Template:Sfn The crusaders departed from Hungary on 22 September.Template:Sfn They planned to advance towards the Black Sea across the Balkan Mountains.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn They expected that the Venetian fleet would hinder Sultan Murad from transferring Ottoman forces from Anatolia to the Balkans, but the Genoese transported the Sultan's army across the Dardanelles.Template:Sfn The two armies clashed near Varna on 10 November.Template:Sfn

Although outnumbered by two to one, the crusaders initially ruled the battlefield against the Ottomans.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, the young King Vladislaus launched a premature attack against the janissaries and was killed.Template:Sfn Taking advantage of the crusaders' panic, the Ottomans annihilated their army.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi narrowly escaped from the battlefield, but was captured and imprisoned by Wallachian soldiers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, Vlad Dracul set him free before long.Template:Sfn

At the next Diet of Hungary, which assembled in April 1445, the Estates decided that they would unanimously acknowledge the child Ladislaus V's rule if King Vladislaus, whose fate was still uncertain, had not arrived in Hungary by the end of May.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Estates also elected seven "Captains in Chief", including Hunyadi, each being responsible for the restoration of internal order in the territory allotted to them.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi was assigned to administer the lands east of the river Tisza.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Here he possessed at least six castles and owned lands in about ten counties, which made him the most powerful baron in the region under his rule.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi was planning to organize a new crusade against the Ottoman Empire.Template:Sfn For this purpose, he barraged the Pope and other Western monarchs with letters in 1445.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In September he had a meeting, at Nicopolis, with Waleran de Wavrin (nephew of the chronicler Jean de Wavrin), the captain of eight Burgundian galleys, and Vlad Dracul of Wallachia, who had seized small fortresses along the Lower Danube from the Ottomans.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, he did not risk a clash with the Ottoman garrisons stationed on the south bank of the river, and returned to Hungary before winter.Template:Sfn Vlad Dracul soon concluded a peace treaty with the Ottomans.Template:Sfn

Governorship (1446–1453)

File:Castelul Huniazilor - panoramio (7).jpg

Main entrance of the Hunyad Castle (in present-day Hunedoara, Romania)

File:Hunyady János.jpg

John Hunyadi

The Estates of the realm proclaimed Hunyadi regent, bestowing the title "governor" upon him on 6 June 1446.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn His election was primarily promoted by the lesser nobility, but Hunyadi had by that time become one of the richest barons of the kingdom.Template:Sfn His domains covered an area exceeding Template:Convert.Template:Sfn Hunyadi was one of the few contemporaneous barons who spent a significant part of their revenues to finance the wars against the Ottomans, thus bearing a large share of the cost of fighting for many years.Template:Sfn

As governor, Hunyadi was authorized to exercise most royal prerogatives for the period of King Ladislaus V's minority.Template:Sfn For instance, he could make land grants, but only up to the size of 32 peasant holdings.Template:Sfn Hunyadi attempted to pacify the border regions.Template:Sfn Soon after his election, he launched an unsuccessful campaign against Ulrich II, Count of Celje.Template:Sfn Count Ulrich administered Slavonia with the title ban (which he had arbitrarily adopted) and refused to renounce of it in favor of Hunyadi's appointee.Template:Sfn Hunyadi could not force him to submit.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi persuaded John Jiskra of BrandýsTemplate:Mdasha Czech commander who controlled the northern regions (in present-day Slovakia)Template:Mdashto sign an armistice for three years on 13 September.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, Jiskra did not keep the truce, and armed conflicts continued.Template:Sfn In November Hunyadi proceeded against Frederick III of Germany, who had refused to release Ladislaus V and seized Kőszeg, Sopron and other towns along the western border.Template:Sfn Hunyadi's troops plundered Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, but no decisive battle was fought.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A truce with Frederick III was signed on 1 June 1447.Template:Sfn Although Frederick renounced of Győr, his position as the minor King's guardian was confirmed.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Estates of the realm were disappointed and the Diet elected Ladislaus GaraiTemplate:Mdasha leader of Hunyadi's opponentsTemplate:MdashPalatine in September 1447.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Hunyadi accelerated his negotiations, which had been commenced in the previous year, with Alfonso the Magnanimous, King of Aragon and Naples.Template:Sfn He even offered the crown to Alfonso in exchange for the King's participation in an anti-Ottoman crusade and the confirmation of his position as governor.Template:Sfn However, King Alfonso refrained from signing an agreement.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi invaded Wallachia and dethroned Vlad Dracul in December 1447.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to the contemporaneous Polish chronicler Jan Długosz, Hunyadi had "the very man he promised to make voivode" blinded, and planned "to appropriate"<ref>The Annals of Jan Długosz (A.D. 1447), p. 501.</ref> Wallachia for himself.Template:Sfn Hunyadi styled himself "voivode of the Transalpine land" and referred to the Wallachian town, Târgoviște as "our fortress" in a letter of 4 December.Template:Sfn It is without doubt that Hunyadi installed a new voivode in Wallachia, but modern historians debate whether the new voivode was Vladislav II (to whom Hunyadi referred as his relative in a letter) or Dan (who seems to have been a son of Basarab II).Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In February 1448 Hunyadi sent an army to Moldavia to support the pretender Peter in seizing the throne.Template:Sfn In exchange, Peter acknowledged Hunyadi's suzerainty and contributed to the installation of a Hungarian garrison in the fort of Chilia Veche on the Lower Danube.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi made a new attempt to expel Count Ulrich of Celje from Slavonia, but could not defeat him.Template:Sfn In June Hunyadi and the Count reached an agreement, which confirmed Count Ulrich's position of Ban in Slavonia.Template:Sfn In short time Hunyadi sent his envoys to the two most prominent Albanian leadersTemplate:MdashScanderbeg and his father-in-law, Gjergj ArianitiTemplate:Mdashto seek their assistance against the Ottomans.Template:Sfn Pope Eugenius suggested that the anti-Ottoman campaign should be postponed.Template:Sfn However, Hunyadi stated, in a letter dated 8 September 1448, that he "have had enough of our men enslaved, our women raped, wagons loaded with the severed heads of our people" and expressed his determination to expel "the enemy from Europe".Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the same letter, he explained his military strategy to the Pope, stating that "[p]ower is always greater when used in attack rather than in defence".Template:Sfn

File:Smederevo palace 1.jpg

Ruins of Despot Đurađ Branković's palace in the Smederevo FortressTemplate:MdashHunyadi was kept prisoner in this fort after his defeat in the Second Battle of Kosovo in 1448

Hunyadi departed for the new campaign at the head of an army of 16,000 soldiers in September 1448.Template:Sfn About 8,000 soldiers from Wallachia also joined his campaign.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For Đurađ Branković refused to assist the crusaders, Hunyadi treated him as the Ottoman's ally and his army marched through Serbia plundering the countryside.Template:Sfn In order to prevent the unification of the armies of Hunyadi and Skanderbeg, Sultan Murad II joined battle with Hunyadi on Kosovo Polje on 17 October.Template:Sfn The battle, which lasted for three days, ended with the crusaders' catastrophic defeat.Template:Sfn Around 17,000 Hungarian and Wallachian soldiers were killed or captured and Hunyadi could hardly escape from the battlefield.Template:Sfn On his way home, Hunyadi was captured by Đurađ Branković who kept him prisoner in the fort of Smederevo.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Despot was initially contemplating to surrender Hunyadi to the Ottomans.Template:Sfn However, the Hungarian barons and prelates who assembled at Szeged persuaded him to make peace with Hunyadi.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to the treaty, Hunyadi was obliged to pay a ransom of 100,000 gold florins and to return all the domains that he had acquired from Đurađ Branković.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi's oldest son, Ladislaus was sent to the Despot as a hostage.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi was released, and he returned to Hungary in late December 1448.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

His defeat and his humiliating treaty with the Despot weakened Hunyadi's position.Template:Sfn The prelates and the barons confirmed the treaty and assigned Branković to negotiate with the Ottomans, and Hunyadi resigned from the office of Voivode of Transylvania.Template:Sfn He invaded the lands controlled by John Jiskra and his Czech mercenaries in the autumn of 1449, but could not defeat them.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On the other hand, the rulers of two neighboring countriesTemplate:MdashStjepan Tomaš, King of Bosnia, and Bogdan II, Voivode of MoldaviaTemplate:Mdashconcluded a treaty with Hunyadi, promising that they would remain loyal to him.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In early 1450 Hunyadi and Jiskra signed a peace treaty in Mezőkövesd, acknowledging that many prosperous towns in Upper HungaryTemplate:Mdashincluding Pressburg/Pozsony (present-day Bratislava, Slovakia) and Kassa (present-day Košice, Slovakia)Template:Mdashremained under Jiskra's rule.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Upon Hunyadi's demand, the Diet of March 1450 ordered the confiscation of Branković's estates in the Kingdom of Hungary.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi and his troops departed for Serbia, forcing Branković to release his son.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi, Ladislaus Garai and Nicholas Újlaki concluded a treaty on 17 July 1450, promising each other assistance to preserve their offices in case King Ladislaus V returned to Hungary.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In October Hunyadi made peace with Frederick III of Germany, which confirmed the German monarch's position as guardian of Ladislaus V for further eight years.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With the mediation of Újlaki and other barons, Hunyadi also concluded a peace treaty with Branković in August 1451, which authorized Hunyadi to redeem the debated domains for 155,000 gold florins.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Hunyadi launched a military expedition against Jiskra, but the Czech commander routed the Hungarian troops near Losonc (present-day Lučenec, Slovakia) on 7 September.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With the mediation of Branković, Hungary and the Ottoman Empire signed a three-year truce on 20 November.Template:Sfn

The Austrian noblemen rose up in open rebellion against Frederick III of Germany, who governed the duchy in the name of Ladislaus the Posthumus at the turn of 1451 and 1452.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The leader of the rebellion, Ulrich Eizinger sought the assistance of the Estates of Ladislaus's two other realms, Bohemia and Hungary.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Diet of Hungary, which assembled in Pressburg/Pozsony in February 1452, sent a delegation to Vienna.Template:Sfn On 5 March the Austrian and Hungarian Estates jointly requested Frederick III to renounce the guardianship of their young sovereign.Template:Sfn Frederick, who had been crowned Holy Roman Emperor, initially refused to satisfy their demand.Template:Sfn Hunyadi convoked a Diet to discuss the situation, but before the Diet made any decision the united troops of the Austrian and Bohemian Estates forced the Emperor to hand over the young monarch to Count Ulrich of Celje on 4 September.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn In the meantime, Hunyadi had met Jiskra in Körmöcbánya (present-day Kremnica, Slovakia) where they concluded a treaty on 24 August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to the treaty, Jiskra retained Léva (present-day Levica, Slovakia) and his right to collect the "thirtieth"Template:Mdasha custom dutyTemplate:Mdashat Késmárk (present-day Kežmarok, Slovakia) and Ólubló (present-day Stará Ľubovňa, Slovakia).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In September Hunyadi sent envoys to Constantinople and promised military assistance to the Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI.Template:Sfn In exchange, he demanded two Byzantine forts on the Black Sea, Silivri and Misivri, but the Emperor refused.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi convoked a Diet to Buda, but the barons and the prelates preferred to visit Ladislaus V in Vienna in November.Template:Sfn At the Diet of Vienna, Hunyadi renounced the regency, but the King appointed him "captain general of the kingdom" on 30 January 1453.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The King even authorized Hunyadi to keep the royal castles and royal revenues that he possessed at that time.Template:Sfn Hunyadi also received Beszterce (present-day Bistrița, Romania)Template:Mdasha district of the Transylvanian SaxonsTemplate:Mdashwith the title "perpetual count" from Ladislaus V, which was the first grant of a hereditary title in the Kingdom of Hungary.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Conflicts and reconciliations (1453–1455)

File:Ladislas the Posthumous 001.jpg

Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary and Bohemia, and Duke of Austria

In a letter of 28 April 1453, Aeneas Silvius PiccolominiTemplate:Mdashthe future Pope Pius IITemplate:Mdashstated that King Ladislaus V's realms were administered by "three men": Hungary by Hunyadi, Bohemia by George of Poděbrady, and Austria by Ulrich of Celje.Template:Sfn However, Hunyadi's position gradually weakened, because even many of his former allies considered his acts to retain his power with suspicion.Template:Sfn The citizens of Beszterce forced him to issue a charter confirming their traditional liberties on 22 July.Template:Sfn Hunyadi's longtime friend, Nicholas Újlaki made a formal alliance with Palatine Ladislaus Garai and Judge royal Ladislaus Pálóci, declaring their intention to restore royal authority in September.Template:Sfn

Hunyadi accompanied the young King to Prague and concluded a treaty with Ulrich Eizinger (who had expelled Ulrich of Celje from Austria) and George of Poděbrady at the end of the year.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Having returned to Hungary, Hunyadi convoked, in the name of the King but without his authorization, a Diet in order to make preparations for a war on the Ottomans who had in May 1453 captured Constantinople.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Diet ordered the mobilization of the armed forces and Hunyadi's position of supreme commander was confirmed for a year, but many of the decisions was never carried out.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn For instance, the Diet obliged all landowners to equip four cavalrymen and two infantrymen for every hundred peasant households on their domains, but this law was never applied in practise.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Ladislaus V convoked a new Diet which assembled in March or April.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn At the Diet, his envoysTemplate:Mdashthree Austrian noblemenTemplate:Mdashannounced that the King was planning to administer royal revenues through officials elected by the Diet and to set up two councils (also with members elected by the Estates) in order to assist him in governing the country.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, the Diet refused to ratify most of the royal proposals, only the establishment of a royal council consisting of six prelates, six barons and six noblemen was accepted.Template:Sfn Hunyadi, who was well aware that the King attempted to limit his authority, demanded an explanation, but the King denied that he had knowledge of his representatives' act.Template:Sfn On the other hand, Jiskra returned to Hungary upon Ladislaus V's request and the King entrusted him with the administration of the mining towns.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In response, Hunyadi persuaded Ulrich of Celje to cede him a number of royal fortresses (and the lands pertaining to them) which had been mortgaged in Trencsén County.Template:Sfn

The Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed II invaded Serbia in May 1454 and laid siege to Smederevo, thus violating the truce of November 1451 between his empire and Hungary.Template:Sfn Hunyadi decided to intervene and started to assemble his armies at Belgrade, forcing the Sultan to lift the siege and leave Serbia in August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn However, an Ottoman force of 32,000 strong continued to pillage Serbia up until Hunyadi routed them at Kruševac on 29 September.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He made a raid against the Ottoman Empire and destroyed Vidin before returning to Belgrade.Template:Sfn

Emperor Frederick III convoked the Imperial Diet to Wiener Neustadt to discuss the possibilities of a new crusade against the Ottomans.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn At the conference, where the envoys of the Hungarian, Polish, Aragonese and Burgundian monarchs were also present, no final decisions were made, because the Emperor refrained from a sudden attack against the Ottomans.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn According to Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, the Emperor hindered Hunyadi from participating at the meeting.Template:Sfn In contrast with the Emperor, the new Pope, Callixtus III was a fierce supporter of the crusade.Template:Sfn

King Ladislaus V visited Buda in February 1456.Template:Sfn Ulrich of Celje, who accompanied the King to Buda, confirmed his former alliance with Ladislaus Garai and Nicholaus Újlaki.Template:Sfn The three barons turned against Hunyadi and accused him of abusing his authority.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn A new Ottoman invasion against Serbia promoted a new reconciliation between Hunyadi and his opponents, and Hunyadi resigned the administration of part of the royal revenues and three royal fortresses, including Buda.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn On the other hand, Hunyadi, Garai and Újlaki made an agreement that they would refrain the King from employing foreigners in the royal administration in June 1455.Template:Sfn Hunyadi and Count Ulrich were also reconciled in next month, when Hunyadi's younger son, Matthias and the Count's daughter, Elizabeth were engaged.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Belgrade victory and death (1455–1456)

File:Fresco siege of Belgrade 1456 in Olomouc.jpg

Gothic fresco of the Siege of Belgrade in the Church of Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary in Olomouc (1468)

File:Tomb of John Hunyadi.jpg

Hunyadi's tomb in Gyulafehérvár / Alba Iulia Catholic Cathedral.

Envoys from Ragusa (Dubrovnik, Croatia) were the first to have informed the Hungarian leaders of the preparations that Mehmed II had made for an invasion against Hungary.Template:Sfn In a letter addressed to Hunyadi, whom he styled as "the Maccabeus of our time", the papal legate, Cardinal Juan Carvajal made it clear that there was not much chance of foreign assistance against the Ottomans.Template:Sfn With the Ottomans' support, Vladislav II of Wallachia even plundered the southern parts of Transylvania in late 1455.Template:Sfn

John of Capistrano, a Franciscan friar and papal inquisitor, started to preach an anti-Ottoman crusade in Hungary in February 1456.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Diet ordered the mobilization of the armed forces in April, but most barons failed to obey and continued to war against their local adversaries, including the Hussites in Upper Hungary.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Before departing from Transylvania against the Ottomans, Hunyadi had to face a rebellion by the Vlachs in Fogaras County.Template:Sfn He also supported Vlad DraculaTemplate:Mdasha son of the late Vlad DraculTemplate:Mdashto seize the Wallachian throne from Vladislav II.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

King Ladislaus V left Hungary for Vienna in May.Template:Sfn Hunyadi hired 5,000 Hungarian, Czech and Polish mercenaries and sent them to Belgrade, which was the key fortress of the defense of Hungary's southern frontiers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Ottoman forces marched through Serbia and approached Nándorfehérvár (modern-day Belgrade) in June.Template:Sfn A crusade made up mostly of peasants from the nearby counties, who had been roused by John of Capistrano's fiery oratory, also started to assemble at the fortress in the first days of July.Template:Sfn The Ottoman siege of Belgrade, which was personally commanded by Sultan Mehmed II, began with the bombardment of the walls on 4 July.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Hunyadi proceeded to form a relief army, and assembled a fleet of 200 ships on the Danube.Template:Sfn The flotilla assembled by Hunyadi destroyed the Ottoman fleet on 14 July.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This triumph prevented the Ottomans from completing the blockade, enabling Hunyadi and his troops to enter the fortress.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The Ottomans started a general assault on 21 July.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn With the assistance of crusaders who were continuously arriving to the fortress, Hunyadi repulsed the fierce attacks by the Ottomans and broke into their camp on 22 July.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Although wounded during the fights, Sultan Mehmed II, decided to resist, but a riot in his camp forced him to lift the siege and retreat from Belgrade during the night.Template:Sfn

The crusaders' victory over the Sultan who had conquered Constantinople generated enthusiasm throughout Europe.Template:Sfn Processions to celebrate Hunyadi's triumph were made in Venice and Oxford.Template:Sfn However, in the crusaders' camp unrest was growing, because the peasants denied that the barons had played any role in the victory.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn In order to avoid an open rebellion, Hunyadi and Capistrano disbanded the crusaders' army.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Meanwhile, a plague had broken out and killed many people in the crusaders' camp.Template:Sfn Hunyadi was also taken ill and died near Zimony (present-day Zemun, Serbia) on 11 August.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He was buried in the Roman Catholic St. Michael's Cathedral in Gyulafehérvár (Alba Iulia).Template:Sfn

[Hunyadi] governed the country with an iron rod, as they say, and while the king was away he was regarded as his equal. After routing the Turks at Belgrade [...], he survived for a brief time before dying of disease. When he was ill, they say that he forbade the Body of Our Lord to be brought to him, declaring that it was unworthy for a king to enter the house of a servant. Although his strength was failing, he ordered himself to be carried out to church, where he made his confession in Christian way, received the divine Eucharist, and surrendered his soul to God in the arms of the priests. Fortunate soul to have arrived in Heaven as both herald and author of the heroic action at Belgrade.{{#if:Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini: Europe<ref>Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini: Europe (ch. 1.10.), p. 60.</ref>|{{#if:|}}

— {{#if:|, in }}Template:Comma separated entries

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Family

In 1432, Hunyadi married Erzsébet Szilágyi (c. 1410–1483), a Hungarian noblewoman.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn John Hunyadi had two children, Ladislaus and Matthias Corvinus.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The former was executed on the order of King Ladislaus V for the murder of Ulrich II of Celje, a relative of the king.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The latter was elected king on 20 January 1458, Matthias after Ladislaus V's death. It was the first time in the history of the Kingdom of Hungary that a member of the nobility, without dynastic ancestry and relationship, mounted the royal throne.Template:Sfn

Legacy

File:Budapest Heroes square Hunyadi János.jpg

Statue of Hunyadi, Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary

The noon bell

Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the Christian defenders of the city of Belgrade.<ref>István Lázár: Hungary: A Brief History (see in Chapter 6)</ref> The practice of noon bell is traditionally attributed to the international commemoration of the Belgrade victory and to the order of Pope Callixtus III.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

File:Coa Hungary Family Hunyadi János (extended) big.svg

Personal Coat of arms – note the raven depicted on the escutcheon, the origin of the name Corvinus.

The custom still exists even among Protestant and Orthodox congregations. In the history of Oxford University, the victory was welcomed with a peal of bells and great celebrations in England too. Hunyadi sent a special courier (among others), Erasmus Fullar, to Oxford with the news of the victory.<ref>Imre Lukinich: A History of Hungary in Biographical Sketches (page: 109.)</ref>

The national hero

Along with his son Matthias Corvinus, Hunyadi is considered a Hungarian national hero and praised as its defender against the Ottoman threat.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Romanian historiography adopted Hunyadi and gives him a place of importance in the history of Romania too.Template:Sfn However, Romanian national consciousness did not embrace him to the extent that Hungarian national conscience did.Template:Sfn John Hunyadi, a Hungarian hero, was subordinated to the ideology of National Communism in the era of Ceaușescu and transmuted into a hero of Romania.<ref name="Petrescu">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Pope Pius II writes that "Hunyadi did not increase so much the glory of the Hungarians, but especially the glory of the Romanians among whom he was born."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite bookTemplate:Dead link</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The French writer and diplomat Philippe de Commines described Hunyadi as "a very valiant gentleman, called the White Knight of Wallachia, a person of great honour and prudence, who for a long time had governed the kingdom of Hungary, and had gained several battles over the Turks".<ref name=Commynes>Template:Cite book</ref>

Pietro Ranzano wrote in his work Annales omnium temporum (1490–1492) that John Hunyadi was commonly called "Ianco"' („Ioanne Huniate, Ianco vulgo cognominator). In chronicles written by Byzantine Greek authors (such as George Sphrantzes and Laonikos Chalkokondyles) he is called „Ianco/Iango", „Iancou/Iangou", „Iancos/Iangos", „Iancoula/Iangoula", „Gianco/Giango" and „Ghiangou"Template:Citation needed

File:John Hunyadi in the Battle of Varna.jpg

Lithograph picture of John Hunyadi fighting against the Ottomans in the Battle of Varna, made by József Marastoni.

Byzantine literature treated Hunyadi as a saint:

<poem>First, I glorify the Emperor of Hellas who Alexander the Macedon, the son of Olympias. The Christian Emperor, who is the peak and the root and found the cross, the mighty Constantine. and the third one is the absolutely marvelous Emperor John. How to write a tribute for him and should my mind how rise to exalted praise? Because like the two Emperors mentioned above I also pay such respect to the above Emperor. It is worthy and appropriate that the Church of Rome and the whole generation of Eastern and Western Christians respectfully draw a full memory of the present. Who became famous in the battles of wars the brave and the timid ones and all the generations, I say, to fall before John of Hungary today, glorify him as a knight glorify him today as an Emperor, together with the ancient, mighty, and brave Samson, with the terrible Alexander and the mighty Constantine. I glorify the evangelists, I also glorify the prophets, and the mighty Saints fighting for Christ, and among them, I glorify Emperor John.</poem> {{#if:Greek poem on the Battle of Varna<ref>Moravcsik, Gyula: Magyar-görög tanulmányok 1 – Görög költemény a várnai csatáról (page 16, line 17–38) http://real-eod.mtak.hu/7843/2/MTA_Konyvek_124140.pdf</ref>|{{#if:|}}

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File:Zemun Gardoš Tower.JPG

The Tower of John Hunyadi at the remains of the Zemun Fortress, Belgrade, Serbia

File:János Hunyadi.jpg

19th century painting of Hunyadi in a green dolman. Painting by Béla Schäffer

Hunyadi was "recognised as being Hungarian..." and "frequently called Ugrin Janko, 'Janko the Hungarian'" in the Serbian and Croatian societies of the 15th century,Template:Sfn while another bugarštica makes him of Serbian origin.Template:Sfn According to a bugarštica (a Serbian popular poem), he was the son of Despot Stefan Lazarević and Stefan's alleged wife, a girl from Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben (present-day Sibiu, Romania).Template:Sfn Actually, the Despot did not father any children.Template:Sfn He is also portrayed as an ardent supporter of the Catholicization of Orthodox peoples.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In Bulgarian folklore, the memory of Hunyadi was preserved in the epic song hero character of Yankul(a) Voivoda, along with Sekula Detentse, a fictitious hero perhaps inspired by Hunyadi's nephew, Thomas Székely.<ref name="Балкански 1996 102–103">Template:Cite book</ref>

He was subsidiary to Roger de Flor as the role model for the fictional character of Tirant lo Blanc, the epic romance written by Joanot Martorell, published in Valencia in 1490. They both shared, for instance, the device of a raven on their shield.

Nicolaus Olahus was the nephew of John Hunyadi.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1515, the English printer Wynkyn de Worde published a long metrical romance called 'Capystranus', a graphic account of the defeat of the Turks.Template:Sfn

In 1791, Hannah Brand produced a new play called 'Huniades or The Siege of Belgrade', which played to a packed house in the King's Theatre, Norwich.Template:Sfn

Iancu de Hunedoara National College in Hunedoara, Romania is named after him.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In popular culture

Hungarian genre author Mór Bán wrote a thirteen-part historical fantasy adventure book series about a fictionalized biography of Hunyadi, released between 2008 and 2023.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The book series was adapted to a television miniseries, Rise of the Raven, released in 2025.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The series features over 600 international actors, and the production is unique in that the actors speak in their native languages, adding to its historical authenticity.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> In Rise of the Raven, John Hunyadi devotes his life to defending Europe against the Ottoman invasion. Amid political intrigue and betrayal, and conspiracies between noble families from Hungary, Austria, Italy, Poland, Serbia, his key allies are his wife Elizabeth, who fights alongside him, and Mara, his first love, who becomes Sultan Murad's concubine. As the Ottoman Empire mobilizes an enormous army to conquer Hungary, Hunyadi leads his smaller but formidable forces into battle, sealing a hard-fought victory at the Siege of Belgrade.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0" />

Gallery

• Nádasdy Mausoleum - Hunyadi János.jpg

  John Hunyadi (Nádasdy Mausoleum, 1664)

• Hunyadi Janos P9300275-lev-1000.jpg

  Statue of John Hunyadi in the Royal Castle in Budapest, Hungary (made by István Tóth in 1903)

• Millenniumi Emlékmű3.jpg

  Statue of John Hunyadi at the Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary (made by Ede Margó in 1906)

• Statues of Julian Cesarini, John Hunyadi and John of Capistrano in the Szeged Pantheon.jpg

  Statues of Julian Cesarini, John Hunyadi and John of Capistrano in Szeged, Hungary (made by Ferenc Sidló in 1930)

• Hunyadi Pátzay Pécs.JPG

  Statue of John Hunyadi in Pécs, Hungary (made by Pál Pátzay in 1956)

• Hunyadi János Szeged.jpg

  Relief of John Hunyadi on the pedestal of the statue of Matthias Corvinus in Szeged, Hungary (made by Gábor Józsa in 2001)

Sources

Primary sources

• Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini: Europe (c. 1400–1458) (Translated by Robert Brown, introduced and commented by Nancy Bisaha) (2013). The Catholic University of America press. Template:ISBN.
• The Annals of Jan Długosz (An English abridgement by Maurice Michael, with commentary by Paul Smith) (1997). IM Publications. Template:ISBN.

Secondary sources

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Further reading

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Template:S-start Template:S-off |- Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-end Template:Serbian epic poetry