Anniversary of the truce break with Sultan Murad II by King Władysław Warneńczyk.
Today, in our calendar, we will look at events that led to 1 of the biggest disasters of the Polish weapon, the conflict of Varna, in which the Polish king died.
Since the mid-14th century, the Turks, bypassing the heavy reinforced Constantinople, have attacked the Balkan peninsula. Within respective decades, they defeated the weak Slavic states that arose after the dissolution of the Byzantine Empire. The Turkish opposition was temporarily halted by the raid of nomadic chief Timur on Asia insignificant in the early 15th century. This invasion almost destroyed the Turkish empire. It rose from the fire unexpectedly rapidly and then continued to grow in Europe, this time storming Hungarian borders.
Meanwhile, Albrecht Habsburg, who gained power in the Czech Republic and Hungary and was willing to take over the German imperial crown, died in 1439 of dysentery in a military camp during the fighting against the Turks. After his death, there was a change of power strategy in Central Europe. Albrecht's son, Władysław took over the Czech Republic. On the another hand, the troubled Hungarians at their parliament decided to give the crown to Jagillon, who ruled Krakow, hoping that he would attract military aid from Poland and Lithuania.
The coronation of Władysław III was held in Białogród Royal on 17 July 1440. Only a 16-year-old monarch accepted the work of managing 2 countries. In Poland, in the absence of the king, Bishop Oleśnicki gained an even stronger position. Meanwhile, a civilian war broke out in Hungary. The widow of Albrecht II, Elizabeth gave birth Władysław PogrowiecShe wanted to put on the throne.
The war fought with changing happiness ended in 1442 with a peace agreement in Györ, under which the crown was preserved by Władysław. The king gave Elizabeth a set of uncommon sable skins. 4 days later, Elizabeth died, which became a origin of rumors that the donated skins could have been saturated with poison. In any case, the king's power in Hungary was established, and the king himself could deal with Turkish affairs.
Soon the Sultan invaded Hungary again. This time his troops were repelled by the superb Hungarian commander Jan Hunyadi, who skillfully utilizing the strategy of super-border fortresses and natural obstacles, caused the attackers tremendous losses and forced them to retreat. Władysław III gave the words of Pope Eugeniusz IV to advance to the attack and drive the Turks out of Europe completely.
A fresh crusade was announced, but the participation of the Western knighthood was small. Material and monetary aid, mainly from the Papacy itself, was huge. As early as September 1443 an expedition was launched, consisting of about 25,000 Poles, Hungarians and Serbs. Theoretically, the king commanded it, but it was actually led by experienced Jan Hunyady. On 3 November, Christians won the triumph at Aleksinac, on 1 December, Bulgarian Sofia was taken, and on 12 December Turkish forces at Zlatnica were defeated. On Christmas Eve, another triumph was won – under Melstnica, and on January 2, remnants of the retreating enemy in the Kunowice Gorge were crushed.
On 1 August 1444, a successful 10-year truce was signed in Segedin, under which Sultan Murad II committed to leave Serbia and to donate 24 border castles to Hungary.
Already on the day of the signing of the agreement, any of the powerful, convinced of the request to proceed the victorious war. The papal legate Julian Caesarini, who skillfully tickled the young king's ego, persuaded him to gain individual glory and merit from God erstwhile he eliminated the Turkish threat erstwhile and for all. Additionally, abroad MPs swore that this time the expedition would be supported by their rulers, and Papal, Burgundy and Venetian galleys would block the Asian straits, making it hard to possibly spread enemy forces to the Balkans.
On 4 August, so just 3 days after signing the peace, the king announced in a ceremonial manifesto the declaration of war of Turkey and began mobilization of the army. This time, only 20,000 soldiers were gathered, with whom the ruler set off on a fresh expedition. He crossed the Danube and headed east, but the road was sent to Turkish fortresses, which but for 1 (Tash Hisar), were not taken.
Meanwhile, the Papal and Burgundy galleries to block the Turkish crossing through Dardanele were besides few. shortly it turned out that the main Ottoman army, with about 60,000 soldiers, marched to meet Poles and Hungarians.
The key was the attitude of the Genueans, who alternatively of blocking the Sultanian army's crossing, passed it through the Bosphorus on their ships in exchange for gold. The conflict took place on 10 November 1444 at Varna, Bulgaria. Although the troops commanded by Hunyady and Władysław III were 3 times weaker than the Turkish but were skillfully deployed, they managed to repel the first enemy attack and drive out the perfect Anatoliian ride. A momentary panic broke out in the sultan army, but well - trained janchers formed a quadrangle and averted the ghost of Turkish defeat.
Meanwhile, Władysław, reasoning that the decisive minute of the conflict had come, not asking Hunyady’s opinion and not waiting for a regroup of returning troops, threw himself into attack at the head of respective side banners. The dense ride entered the janchar quadrangle, but losing momentum and having no flank cover, she was surrounded and beaten. King Władysław died. This time it was in the Polish-Hungarian ranks that panic prevailed and even Hunyady could not control it. Seeing the adverse turn of events, he withdrew to his homeland at the head of surviving remnants of the army.
The defeat was very severe and troubled the full Christian world. The cut head of the Polish king was taken to the Sultan, who kept her in a pot of honey for many years and showed as a symbol of his triumph over Christians. In Poland, due to the disappearance of the royal body, various legends about the endurance of the ruler were created. His absence was explained, among another things, by the shame of his defeat and by the breach of his sworn truce with penance.
According to the most improbable theories, he was to settle on Madeira and become the father of Christopher Columbus. But all these stories have nothing to do with reality. They mostly deny that if the king had survived, he would have returned to the country sooner to regain his crown. The fact is, however, that after the death of the ruler, 3 years of unkingdom reigned in the country. So long was waiting for the return of the warrior Władysław, who yet gained his nickname Warneńczyk.
Previous entry from our calendar is available Here.
