The Siege of Belgrade by Muhammad I/,1 July 1-23, 1456

1892 235

The Siege of Belgrade by Muhammad I/,1 July 1-23, 1456. Downloaded from capture of Constantinople first gave the Turk an abiding- JL place among the powers of Europe. So long as the imperial city remained in Christian hands the footing of the Ottomans in the Balkan peninsula was slippery at best. A single reverse on the

Danube, a single palace revolution at Adrianople, a single revolt in http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ 1 The literature of the subject is .pretty copious, but fragmentary and much scattered. To begin with, we have the independent testimony of four eye-witnesses, Honyady, Oapistran, Tagliacotius, and Behem. The letters and despatches of the first three are set oat in Katona (Historia criiica regum Hungariae stirpis mixtae, torn. vi. pt. 2), and in Hunyadiak Kara Magyarontagon, Kot x. The rhyming chronicler's narrative is contained in Quellcn und Forschungen *w vattrliLndischen Geschichte, Literatur und Kunst, edited by Earajan (Vienna, 1849). As to contempo- raries, not eye-witnesses, we have first the Greek annalists Dokas, Frantses, Chalco- condylas, and Kritoboulos. In Dukas and Frantses, indeed, the siege of Belgrade is a at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 mere minor incident dismissed in a few lines, bat the account of Chalcocondylas ii, on the whole, the best we possess. The historian Kritoboulos was absolutely unknown till 1874, when an Hungarian savant discovered the manuscript at StambuL Kritoboulos was in the service of the last two Oreek emperors, and a man of authority in the isle of Imbros. His Life of Muhammad II is a work of considerable value but very unequal merit. His narrative of the siege of Belgrade (cap. 89-108) is simple, luoid, and methodical, but frequently condensed to the verge of confusion. Thus he omits all notioe of the naval battle of July 14, and confounds Capistran with Hunyady and vice vena. No Greek text being procurable, I have been obliged to use the Hungarian translation published in vol. xxiL of Monumenta Hungariae Historica, 1875. To another eminent Hungarian, Prof. Yambery, I am indebted for a Magyar translation of the Turkish annalist Said Eddin's description of the siege. Said Eddin's exuberant fancy, vituperative exaggeration, and rhetorical eccentricities are, at first, somewhat overpowering ; but his narrative, stripped of its exuberant verbiage, is fairly correct; he furnishes many picturesque details, and rises at times to nights of real poetio grandeur. Next we have brief notices in contemporary Servian lyetopisi contained in Qlamik Srpskog Uchenog Drushtva, Knj. 32 (Belgrade, 1871); the little known chronicles of Bagusa (Monumenta spectantia Historian Slatorum Meridionalium, vol. xiv., Agram, 1883 ; and an anonymous Hungarian account in Magyar regestdk a beat cs. leveltdrbdl, No. 1G2. I have also consulted the Hungarian chroniclers Pray and Turocz. Of quite modern books I may mention that exhaustive but ill-digested Servian compilation Despot Ouraj Brankovic, by C. Miyatovi<5 (Belgrade, 1880); the scholarly Chronica Bomdnilor, by Sincai din Sinca; Kiss's Hunyadi Jdnot utoUo hadjarata, with its excellent maps, and Fraknoi's masterly Carvajal Jdnos bibornok magyarom&gi KOveitegei, 1448-1401. For the general course of Hungarian history I have, of coarse, followed the great national historian Horvath (Mcujyarorsi&g tor- Unelme). For my information as to Capiatran I am indebted to P. Guerard, 8- Jean Copistran et ton Temps, and Cataneo's Vita di S. Giovanni da Capistrano. 236 THE SIEGE OF BELOBADE April Karamania might at any moment bring the galleons of Venice to the assistance of the sorely distressed but ever vigilant Tekfur,* and the experience of ten centuries seemed to demonstrate that that phoenix of politics the Greek empire was always capable of rising rejuvenescent from its own ashes. But from the moment when the crescent supplanted the cross on the dome of St. Sophia the whole situation completely changed. It was now no longer a part but the whole of Christendom that was in immediate danger. Muhammad II had solemnly sworn that as there was only one God in heaven, so there should be but one lord on earth, and his deeds were as tremendous as his words. The rapid tide of Turkish conquest spread irresistibly in every direction. Only two years after Downloaded from the death of the last imperial Palaeologus the whole Balkan peninsula was already too small to hold his conqueror. The Danube alone separated him from the rest of Europe, and what was the Danube to the master of many millions of warriors ?

The chief pastor of the Christian church was the first to sound http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ the alarm and rally the nations against the infidel. When, after the death of Nicholas V, the cardinals met together to elect hia successor, each member of the Bacred college vowed that if he were raised to the chair of Peter 3 he would use all his rcight to recover Constantinople and purge Europe of the Turk, and when (8 April 1455) the aged Alfonso Borgia was chosen pope, under the title of Calixtus m, he immediately hastened to redeem his, promises, solemnly protesting that he was ready to sacrifice all the treasures at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 of the church—nay, life itself—for the holy cause. A bull, issued six months after his accession, preached a new crusade throughout Christendom, and soon special legates appeared in all the courts of Europe to stir up princes and peoples against the common foe. The prospects of a holy war at that moment were decidedly gloomy. To the dejected catholic, faith and hope seemed to have died out of the world, and the voice of the vicar of Christ was as the voice of one vainly crying in the wilderness. ' The spirits of our princes waver,' exclaims Aeneas Sylvius, ' the kings slumber, the nations languish, and the bark of the fisherman, assailed by dark tempests, is nigh to sinking.' England lacerated, and Franco prostrated, by civil war, had enough to look to at home. Poland was embroiled with the Tartars. The emperor, intent on his private interests, procrastinated indefinitely. Spain was Bplit up into many different kingdoms. Naples and Aragon promised fleets that never came, and Burgundy talked bravely but did nothing. Hungary alone remained, and it was upon her that the chief, if not the sole, hope of Calixtus now rested. For the last two hundred years Hungary had been indisputably tjjiSJ = Kipws, the title given by the Turks to the Greek emperor. ' FraknAi, Caroajal Jdnos, Ao. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 237 the dominant power of south-eastern Europe. Her own territories extended from the shores df the Adriatic to the delta of the Danube, and she exercised the rights of a suzerain over Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. Long and valiant had been her resistance to the might of Islam, and she still continued, though the strain grew more grievous every year, to keep the adversary at arm's length. Un- happily the apostolic kingdom4 was, at this time, a house very much divided against itself. The interminable foreign wars, frequent dynastic disputes, disintegrating minorities and inter- regnums of the last seventy years had enormously increased the power of the great feudal nobles, and they used it almost as mischievously as their Polish neighbours. The executive, always Downloaded from weak in an elective kingdom, was now more than ever vacillating. The reigning monarch, Ladislaus V, a trivial and cowardly boy, was entirely in the hands of evil and alien counsellors, who taught him to hate his fatherland and endeavoured to govern in his name, though strenuously opposed by the leading magnates, most of whom were men of singular ability, but all, with one illustrious exception, http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ hopelessly selfish and impracticable. No wonder, then, if the pope regarded the state of Hungary with grave and growing misgivings. We learn with heartfelt grief [wrote Calixtua,5 September 1456] that our glorious Hungary, so fall of good works and good-will, so long the shield and buckler of Christendom, lies in confusion and disorder, head and limbs alike being crazy and feeble. Thus our faith will be deprived df its surest prop unless her leaders give each other the right hand of at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 fellowship and return to the paths of true peace and charity. And there was still one man in Hungary who was able and willing to save her in her own despite. This was the famous John Hunyady, for six years regent and all his life long the indefatigable defender of his country, one of whom it is the simple truth to say that he was an ideal hero, a consummate captain, the purest of politicians, the humblest of Christians, and the noblest of men.6 The exploits of Hunyady against the Turks, though by no means so widely known as they should be, are nevertheless familiar enough to be left unnoticed here. Suffice it to say that it had been the ambition of his life to expel the Turk from Europe, and once he had even got so far as to persuade the emperor John Palaeologus to entrust the towns of Selymbria and Mesembria to

* The title given by Pope Sylvester n to Hungary on the occasion of sending the famous silver crown to St. Stephen, the first Christian king of the Magyars, 1000. » Frakn6i. ' The highest tribute to Hunyady'B practical ability by an impartial outsider is given by Chalcocondylas, who, after describing him as irlip yinfiirot tpurrot it TA vima, thus proceeds : ' He was a man who did everything with all his might, was always prompt in extremities, and always at hand when most wanted.' He adds that eves Htwyady'a rivals admitted that his government was equally vigorous and secure. 288 THE SIEOE OF BELGRADE April Hungarian garrisons,7 so as to make them the outposts of western Christendom. But the terrible catastrophe of Varna (1444) had annihilated these fair hopes, and such a chance never presented itself again. The intrigues of Austria, the apathy of the western powers, the jealousy of his colleagues, and the treachery of his enemies left the great captain little time for foreign conquests. It was as much as he could do to hold his own in Hungary itself and keep the wolf from the door. But the fall of Constantinople had brought the brave old man once more into the saddle. In the following year, at the urgent request of George Brancovich, despot of Servia, whose territories were now reduced to the pleasure gar- dens surrounding his capital,8 he crossed the Danube with a little army equipped entirely at his own expense, scattered to the winds, Downloaded from at Krusevacz, the 80,000 picked troops left behind under Feriz Beg to hold Servia, and chased the sultan himself through Bul- garia till Muhammad, having received reinforcements, assumed the offensive, when the Hungarian captain-general fell back on Belgrade, and there stood at bay till he heard that the sultan had retired to http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Adrianople, and from thence to Stambul, when he disbanded his host likewise. But Hunyady knew the Turk too well to imagine that he would tamely submit to such a reverse, and from Belgrade he wrote a letter to the emperor Frederick, urging him, as the head of Christendom, to make haste and quell the infidel while there was yet time. In 1455, when the sultan again invaded Servia and captured the precious gold and silver mines of Novoberdo, the in- at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 sistence of the captain-general became more and more urgent. At the diet of Gyor (June 1455) he publicly declared that with 100,000 men behind him for three weeks he would undertake to drive the Turk headlong out of Europe, and offered to contribute 100,000 ducats towards the equipment of such a host. By his advice the diet addressed a solemn memorial to the new pope. ' All of us,' this document ran, ' are now convinced that it is possible to drive the Turk out of Europe; but if help come not speedily that hope must be abandoned.' But Calixtus needed no prompting. He had already set all the machinery of diplomacy in motion to arouse Europe from her apathy. He had appointed one of his most capable and resolute ministers, the Spanish cardinal Juan de Carvajal, to preach a new crusade in Germany, Hungary, Poland, and the circumjacent states, and had given him as his spokesman the wonder-working, evangelising Observantine friar and reformer John Capistran, whose burning zeal, soul-piercing eloquence, and heroic austerities had already set half Europe in a ferment. On the feast of our Lady's nativity the pope himself fastened on the breast of Carvajal the little red cross on a white

* Fiantses, Xporudr, lib. v. * Bagusa chronicle. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 239 field which was to be the symbol of the new crusade. On 20 Sept. the legate set out with a numerous and splendid retinue. At Venice they stayed some days, and by the pope's command exhorted the Benate to co-operate with a fleet; but the signoria, true to its mercenary traditions, declined to participate in an enterprise which promised so much risk and so little profit.9 Passing thence through Austria, where the emperor accepted the cross from the hands of the cardinal and promised to take part personally in. the crusade, Carvajal (22 Nov.) reached Vienna, where he was received with great splendour by the young king of Hungary and Bohemia, whose favourite resort it was. Ladislaus V expressed his willingness to satisfy all the desires of the holy father, and the legate, striking while the iron was hot, persuaded him to summon a diet to Buda, Downloaded from which met accordingly on 6 Feb. 1456. On the 14th, after high mass, the cardinal legate solemnly decorated Capistran with a cross which he had received for that express purpose from the hands of •the pope, and the impassioned monk, like a second Peter the Hermit, forthwith began publicly preaching the new crusade. He was http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ warmly supported by Hunyady, who had come up to the diet at the head of a goodly company, with the f agitive hospodar of Wallachia in his train. ' We cannot express in words or writing,' wrote the cardinal legate, ' how rejoiced and comforted we are by the promise of the lord governor 10 (in whose name we have great confidence) that he will equip 7,000 horsemen against the Turk . . . Under

this Macchabaeus of our times . . . God will certainly give the at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 victory to his people.' u Equally enthusiastic in his praises was Capistran. ' 'Tis John, called Hunyady,' wrote he to the pope, ' who is to be the salvation of Christendom. He has offered to provide 10,000 horsemen at his private expense.'la The contagion of the old hero's enthusiasm affected for a time tne court and the diet. The young king wrote a letter of thanks to the pope for the privilege of such counsellors as Carvajal and Capistran. Already the legate 6aw in the spirit young Ladislaus, ' like a second David, slaughtering, in the triumph of his youthful innocence, the unre- generate heathen;' and so numerous were the volunteers who sought to be enrolled beneath the banners of Hunyady that Carvajal rather feared a deficiency of victuals than of warriors. The debates waxed more and more warlike. Ladislaus offered to raise 20,000 men if Italy would contribute 2,000, Aragon 10,000, Burgundy 20,000, while Hunyady confidently promised that with such a host behind him he would not leave the Turk a spot in Europe whereon to lay his head—nay, that the recapture

• Frakn6i. " Though no longer regent, Hanyady was often called, by courtesy, Pomintu Gobemator. » Katona. » Ibid. 240 THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE April vof Constantinople would only be the first step towards the recovery of the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem. Yet all this fine fervour evaporated in empty words. After a two-months' session the diet decided indeed for war against the Turk, hut postponed opera- tions till after harvest time, because the general failure of the crops in the preceding year had caused a great dearth of corn and fodder in all the Danubian provinces." The very day after the dissolution of the diet the terrifying news reached the Hungarian capital that Muhammad II was already on hia way to besiege Belgrade with an army which the popular imagination magnified to 400,000 men,14 but which even at the most moderate

computation could not have been very much less than 150,000. Downloaded from The news was only too true. The Turkish annalist tells us that ever since the reverse of Krusevacz, the sole thought, day and night, of the ' throne-sustaining sultan' was how he might best ' humble the pride of the enemy of the faith (i.e. Hungary).'" Throughout the winter of 1455-6 he had been assembling round http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ Adrianople, from every part of his domains, with as much energy and circumspection as he had displayed before the siege of Constantinople, an army which, if not absolutely transcending the ' bounds of computation,'1G was certainly the mightiest host that had ever followed the green banner of the caliph. Cannon of every sort and Bize, including twenty monsters twenty-seven feet long, the like of which had never been seen before, with mortars for hurling 17 huge round stones, even more terrifying than cannon-balls, were at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 dragged from Adrianople to Belgrade at infinite trouble and expense. Camels, oxen, and buffaloes innumerable from Bosnia and Anatolia carried ammunition and provisions, while beasts of lighter burden were harnessed to wooden, iron, and brazen cars ' whereby,' adds the chronicler, ' the biggest guns were drawn with marvellous ease.' Of mills for grinding corn, ovens for baking bread, and vessels for divers uses there was no end. Nay, it was said that they were also bringing with them legions of dogs to eat the corpses of the Christians. They came, we are told, not as if to besiege a fortress, but to conquer a kingdom. The destination of this vast array was kept a profound secret, but in the spring of 1456 the sultan took the command and led his army straight towards Belgrade. He had resolved, once for all, to put an end to the in- solent interference of the Magyars by utterly subduing Hungary,

11 Katona, Horv&th. 11 It is difficult to get at the real nnmber of this host. The Hungarian and Rou- manian chroniclers put it down at 400,000 sans phrase. That it was something quite extraordinary is plain from the description of Hunyady himself, who never exaggerates, and was used to fighting armies of 100,000. He says of the Turkish host, Nunguam ofttlus hominit talia vidit nee mente cogitarc poteti. 11 Said Eddin. " Ibid. " So, at any rate, thought Tagliacotius, who had practical experience ef both. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 241

and the firBt' indispensable step towards such subjugation was the capture of the strong fortress which was the key of the Danube and the gate of central Europa At the tidings of his devastating approach a panic fell upon the Danubian princes. The hospodar of Wallachia and the despot of Servia took refuge in Hungary with their wives and children. The hospodar of Moldavia sent salt to Muhammad II, and promised an annual tribute of 2,000 ducats.18 The little republic of Ragusa had already placed herself unreservedly beneath the aegis of the crown of St. Stephen.19 But.in truth Hungary herself had never been so sorely in need of assistance. No sooner did the king hear of the approach of the sultan than, utterly forgetful of his duties and his promises, he lied by night Downloaded from rom Buda to Vienna, where ho remained till all fear of danger was over, leaving his kingdom to take care of itself.20 A hunting party was the pretext of this disgraceful flight,21 and its immediate consequences were disastrous. A paralysis seemed to fall upon the whole country. The citadel of Buda was left absolutely defence- less for more than a month. The nobility shut themselves up in http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ their castles and country houses and refused to stir. The legate was in despair. The ruin of Hungary seemed inevitable and irretrievable. This kingdom [he wrote to the pope] is on the eve of a terrible disaster, for neither with its own resources nor yet with the aid of the empire can it bring together forces sufficient to cope with the Turk. Our only hope

is that God will listen to the prayers of your holiness and move the at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 hearts of the princes to send their fleets. So pressing is the peril that the delay of a day or even of an hour may bring about such a defeat as shall make all Christendom weep for evermore. The frail, uncertain life of a single old man was all that stood between Hungary and utter ruin at this critical moment, for it was upon the aged shoulders of Hunyady that the crushing burden of supporting the sinking monarchy solely rested. Though no longer regent, his authority as captain-general of the kingdom and voywode of Transylvania was still considerable, and without hesitating a moment he hastened to the frontier. His first care was to throw 6,000 veterans into Belgrade under his brother-in-law

" Sincai din Sinea, Chronica Romdnilor. " Bagusa chronicle. " Thurocz, Katona, Horvath. 11 This flight was deliberately planned by Count Csilley, Honyady's mortal enemy and the chief adviser of the king. Csilley was well aware of the enormous superiority of the sultan's forces, and was also equally sure that Hunyady would go against him in any case. He therefore regarded the defeat and death of the elder Hunyady as certain, and had already laid his plans for removing the sons, Ladialaus and Matthias, as welL

lBTol. T 242 THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE April Michael Szilagyi and his own eldest son Ladislaus,85 who inherited his father's military genius and though still a mere youth held, as ban of Dalmatia and Croatia, the fifth highest dignity of the realm. Then he resolutely set about collecting a relief army. The obstacles which he encountered at every step might well have daunted the bravest. The shameless indifference of the Hungarian nobility and the invincible sluggishness of the Transylvanian burgesses confounded his best efforts. Of the thousands of gentlemen -who held their lands by military tenure, and -were bound by honour and duty alike to defend their country by force of arms, only some half-dozen of his personal friends, with a handful of horsemen,43 appeared at his summons. What little support he did get was not from his own countrymen but from the large-hearted zeal of the Downloaded from cardinal legate and the unfaltering enthusiasm of the crusading monk. Carvajal followed the captain-general all the way to Szeged, in South Hungary, to stimulate the people by his presence and superintend the formation of the crusading host. He burned to take an active part in the war and lead the crusaders http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ personally against the enemy;!4 but Hunyady persuaded him to return to the capital to counteract the intrigues of his enemies, urge the king to action, and keep in touch with the German princes. Capistran, however, was regarded by Hunyady as indispensable. ' Come hither to me,' wrote the hero to the saint, ' that the power of God may sustain the efforts of man.' From the very first moment when they met together these two single-minded enthu- at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 siasts had been mutually attracted to each other, and the desire to rescue Christendom from the infidel was the ruling passion of them both. Capistran came accordingly with a handful of Polish and German crusaders, and preachedM so effectually in the villages of South Hungary that within a few weeks he had gathered 60,000 followers around him. An army, indeed, it could scarcely be called, for a sorrier band of warriors surely never came together. We are told by one who saw these crusadersa6 that they .were all men of low degree, or rather no degree—rustics, beggars,

n The judicial murder of this promising young man within a year of his heroic father's death is one of the foulest blots on Hungarian history. The second son, Matthias, was left at court as a sort of hostage, on9 ascended the Hungarian throne as Matthias I, a few months after the events now recorded. 3 Tagliacotius. 5* Frakn6i. a Capistran must have been a wondrous preaoher. We are told that his delivery was BO touching that even those who did not understand his words shed tears of re- pentance when they heard him. At Brescia in 1451 his arrival drew such multitudes that the magistrates had to reprovision the town to save the population from starva- tion, and the throng in the cathedral was so great that many were nearly crushed to death (Guerard, S. Jean Capistran). 3 Behem: Arm und nackend Uut Die das creut hctcn gnummen. The anonvmous Hungarian calls them mcchanici. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 243 mendicant friars, hermits, day labourers, and such like. Not a sword or a lance was to be seen in the hands of any of them. Slings, cudgels, pitchforks, hatchets, and axes were their only weapons. Yet tkb motley throng, fired by the zeal and enthusiasm of Capistran, was animated by the spirit of martyrs and heroes,27 and was ready to follow to the death the withered little old man whose frail body was worn to a skeleton by ceaseless fastings, watchings, and journeyings, and whose feeble arms leaned heavily ,on the tough oaken staff on which he had carved the name of the Eedeemer. Hunyady, however, was far too experienced a general to trust entirely in this mob of inspired ragamuffins, though too fervent a Christian himself to despise religious enthusiasm in others. After a month of incredible exertions he contrived to get together about 12,000 men- Downloaded from at-arms and 1,000 cavalry as the nucleus of a regular army, and at his camp at Szalanka, At the confluence of the Drave and Theiss, the raw recruits, who came in with irritating slowness, were drilled and exercised day and night. Moreover he hastily im- provised a fleet by appropriating all the riverine craft from Buda http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ to Szeged that he could lay his hands on and converting some two hundred of them into ships of war. These he provided with parapets of the hardest wood, coating them with fire-proof metal plates and manning them with the pick of his army. He was still in the midst of his preparations when a messenger reached him from Szilagyi, the commandant of Belgrade, requesting instant

relief, as the hardly pressed garrison could, hold out only forty- at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 eight hours longer. The fortress of Belgrade, or Nandorfehervar, as the Hungarians call it, lay on an isthmus about seven furlongs in length, at the confluence of the Save and Danube. The place was so strong by nature as to be impregnable, under ordinary circumstances, in the hands of a skilful commandant and a determined garrison. A deep . and swift current, full of dangerous whirlpools, washed on two eides the base of the almost precipitous promontory whereon the city was built, and on the land side it was defended by steep rocks and treacherous morasses. And art had done her best to supplement nature. The city was surrounded by a line of circurrivallation 6,000 paces in circumference, and the citadel, which stood on a rock in the midst of the city, with which it was connected by a little wooden bridge, was of.enormous strength. On arriving opposite the city the sultan at once held a council of war as to the best mode of reducing it. Karaja Pasha, the beglerbeg, or governor- general, of Anatolia, whom all the Greek chroniclers agree in describing as the ablest captain in the Turkish host, strongly dis-

17 Chaloocondylas, whilst dabbing them ifiXof, adds significantly oi xiru ytyr6/imt r

«• Said Eddin. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 245 laboriously brought together to fill up the breaches and repair the ramparts. In the Turkish camp no doubt whatever was felt as to the result. It was at this juncture that Szilagyi's messenger managed to steal through the Turkish Unes to the camp of Szalanka and inform the captain-general of the urgent need of the fortress. Hunyady at once resolved to attempt the apparently hopeless task of relieving it. His forces were miserably, desperately inadequate. His men-at-arms were- scarcely as numerous as the sultan's body- guard, and the sixty-thousand ragged nondescripts who followed Capistran counted for next to nothing in his strategical calculations. But the extremity of the danger and the magnitude of the stake at issue admitted of not a moment's hesitation, and a lifelong expe- Downloaded from rience had taught the hero that well-directed valour may always hope to triumph over adverse circumstances. To attempt a rescue by land, however, was a sheer impossibility. The little band of warriors would have been massacred before they could have reached the gates of the Turkish camp. There was nothing for it but to http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ descend the Danube with the flotilla and force a way into the city by water, while the bulk of the crusaders under Capistran simultaneously marched along the riverbank. So Szilagyi was advertised beforehand of the approach of the relief force and directed to hold the forty small ships belonging to the town in readiness for a com- bined attack.

On 14 July Hunyady set out on his adventurous quest under at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 cover of a moonless night, and his vessels in battle array,59 favoured by the swift current, were borne swiftly down Btream towards Belgrade. The captain-general, with that peculiar combination of daring and discretion which had always characterised him, on this occasion also left as little as possible to chance. In his flotilla, collected haphazard and equipped on the spur of the moment, he had but little confidence ; so, by way of reserve, he had caused to be constructed, on a plan of his own, an enormous vessel which brought up the rear, and after filling it with provisions and ammunition embarked on it with his staff and cavalry. Thus this float- ing monster not only obviated the troublesome necessity of a whole fleet of lighters but acted at the same time as a reserve force and a flag ship. Along the shore, parallel with the fleet, marched the crusaders headed by Capistran, ' the sight of whom inspired visible confidence everywhere.'30 His banner, a huge crucifix, was borne before him by one Peter of whom we only know that he was of noble birth and held it as the highest honour to be the standard- bearer of the saint. The Turks had fastened their ships together by huge iron chains, forming a sort of bridge stretching right acrose the river. On the approach of the diminutive Christian fleet they set up a loud derisive shout, but at the same time serried their

" ChalcoeondyUft. *" Tngliacotlns. 246 THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE April

ranks and prepared for boarding. Hunyady, on coming in sight of the fortress, had disembarked from his argosy •with his cavalry, so as to interpose between the Turkish fleet and camp and at the same time prevent the fugitives from the fleet escaping ashore. With loud cries of ' Jesu ! Jesu! '".the Christian flotilla fell upon the Turkish fleet, and Szilagyi's forty ships issuing from the town at the same instant, the action became general. For five hours the battle raged. It was a band-to-hand melee, and for a long time victory was doubtful. The garrison, in an agony of suspense, prayed assi- duously to Heaven, while Capistran with clasped hands and uplifted eyes incessantly invoked the name of Jesus, or running hither and

thither ' with all the vigour of a robust youth,' stretched out his Downloaded from crucifix against the enemy. At length the Hungarians prevailed, and, bursting asunder the iron chains, forced their way into the town. The Turkish fleet was annihilated. Three of the largest galleons sank with all their crews; four more were captured; a few,

with their crews hors dc combat, contrived to reach their old moor- http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ ings ; the rest, disabled and driven ashore, were burnt next day by order of the sultan to prevent them falling into the hands of the Christians.32 On entering the city Hunyady found the garrison utterly dejected. They were as men who had already felt the chill of death. His presence, however, somewhat restored their confidence. What fear ye ? [the brave old man is reported to have said.] Is this the first time you have seen the Turks ? Are not these the very same we at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 have so often put to flight,an d who have sometimes put us to flight also ? Why should their familiar aspect disturb you now ? Surely you know by this time what manner of men they are ! Be of a. stout heart then, my dear sons. Put your trust in Christ. Did He not die for us ? And should we, then, account it .a hardship to die for Him ? Be valiant, then, and strive manfully. If God be with us the foe will prove a coward. What more need I say to you when you have already proved the truth of my •words so many times beneath my banner ? Then he refortified the camp, admitted the pick of the crusaders to man the -walls, enlisted all the able-bodied inhabitants as re- serves, and patiently awaited the general assault, which was now every day expected. From 14 July (the day of the naval engagement) to the 21st the Turks battered away incessantly at the walls of the city. By the end of that time the larger part of the ramparts was level with the ground,33 though fragments of the undermined bastions and a few tottering towers still remained standing.34 The day on which the 3h Ibid. " Chalcocondylas. " Tagliacotius and Kritoboulos. Compare also the official report of Hunyady: In tantum enim ipsiim castnim jwr ictus bvmbardantm dcstrtixit quod ipsum castrum non ett castrum sed camput, quia usqtie ad terrain mums at destructus. " Tagliacotius. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 247 sultan had vowed to take the city had now arrived, and from early dawnM he made elaborate preparations for the assault. The sudden death of the valiant and experienced Karaja Pasha,30 who was killed by a bullet while reconnoitring the fortress, threw a gloom at first over the Turkish camp, and was interpreted by the deeply afflicted sultan as a very evil augury; but Muhammad inspired his troops with fresh confidence by a spirited harangue, in which he declared, amidst unbounded enthusiasm, that he would lead the attack in person at the head of the lions of combat,37 the invincible janissaries. Accordingly, shortly after vespers,38 when the fierce heat of the day39 had somewhat abated, the sultan gave the signal, and the janissaries, drowning with their shouts of ' Allah ! Allah !' the din Downloaded from of the horns and kettledrums, rushed headlong into the city through the three great breaches which yawned open before them, quite outstripping their master, who was with difficulty restrained by his suite from following them. The janissaries found the whole space between the outer walls and the citadel deserted and the ramparts http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ unmanned, for Hunyady had commanded his men to allow the enemy free access into the town, and both those with him in the citadel and those who guarded the city walls were to lie in ambush till the trumpet sounded, when they were to rush forth simultaneously upon the scattering Turkish forces. The ruse succeeded. The janissaries, meeting with no opposi- tion, imagined that the town was already theirs, and fell to plunder- ing it, when, at the preconcerted signal, the crusaders, led by at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 Capistran, appeared behind them on the walls, while ' the hellish Janko,' as Said Eddin politely calls Hunyady, issuing forth from the citadel at the head of his men-at-arms, caught them suddenly between two fires. A terrible struggle ensued. The Turks, though taken at an advantage, were as ten to one and armed to the teeth, whilst most of their antagonists were scarcely armed at all. A hand-to-hand melee went on in every street, but the fight was fiercest on the narrow bridge40 leading from the citadel to the town, where Hunyady *l commanded in person, and on the bastions, which were

u Chalcocondylas antedates the assault to the morning, but he was not an eye- witness. *" Chaloocondylfts calls him &pis iav Ir TOJJ fiaatXiai 6ip

space for a single example, as illustrating the boundless confidence Downloaded from of the soldiers in Capistran. While the fight was at its hottest a sturdy young janissary scaled the top of the highest tower, and, waving the crescent banner above hiB head, called to his hesitating comrades to come up after him. At that moment a young Hun- garian squire, Titus Dugonics, attracted by the shout, rushed to http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ the spot and attempted to tear the flag from the Turk's grasp. A desperate struggle began. The youths were so equally matched that neither could prevail against the other, and when Dugonics, closing with his opponent, attempted to pitch him into the ditch below, the muscular Moslem embraced him with such an iron grip that it was plain neither of them could fall without the other. In this dilemma Dugonics happened to look up, and beheld Capis-

tran on the walls, crucifix in hand, urging on his crusaders to at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 redoubled efforts. 'My father,' exclaimed the panting youth, 'if I hurl myself down from the tower with this pagan shall I be saved ?' ' Saved thou shalt be in very deed, my son ! ' replied Capistran. ' My blessing follow thy heroic deed and the holy crown of martyrdom be thy everlasting guerdon !' Dugonics needed no more. Tightening his grasp round the Turk, he plunged down with him from the top of the tower, and both of them were dashed to pieces on the rock below. All night long raged the contest. Hour after hour the Turks poured forth fresh thousands into the city from their inexhaustible camp, and where one fell a dozen seemed to spring up instantly to take his place," while the splinters of their darts and javelins strewed the ground like straw. The Christians still strove manfully, but the fight was evidently going against them. Here and there on the outer walls ' the spangled banners, like flaming tulip-beds,'4S showed that the Turks, who fought ' like ravening beasts,' ** had at last got a firm footing there, and on the bridge, where Hunyady,

" Wann ainer vid da nieder to kommen noOff [t noOlf] hin wider in ditet sturmt gttrang.—Behem. •' Skid Eddin. " Tagliacotitw. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 241) after doing all that became a good captain, fought at the head of his devoted little band like a common soldier, the distress of the wearied Christians was fast becoming exhaustion. It was plain that the limits of human endurance had very nearly been reached. Only Capistran on his lofty watch-tower seemed incapable of either fatigue or despair. • 0 Jesu,' he cried, as though he would storm heaven with his supplications, ' 0 Jesu, where are Thy tender mercies which Thou hast shown to us of old ? Ob, come and aid us, and tarry not. Save, oh, save Thy redeemed, lest the heathen Bay, " "Where is now their God ? " ' What followed next is best told in the vivid language of Tagliacotius, the constant com- panion of Capistran all through the fight. Downloaded from

Now when it began to dawn, and the crusaders who were in the circuit of the onter camp both saw and heard how the fight on the bridge was waxing exceeding fierce, and how the whole plain was filled with a vast multitude of Turks ; when, moreover, they saw how the fosses were full of the heathen and the numbers of those who entered increased http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ incessantly, they began to fear that they would be usable any longer to withstand them. Then it was that, taught by the Holy Ghost, they got them innumerable osiers, fagots, dried branches, and other combustibles, and with one accord setting fire thereto, cast them down, mingled with burning pitch and sulphur, both upon the Turks who were in the ditches and upon those who were scaling the walls, just as a man might cast one large handful at a single throw. None could flee from the face of the fire. All who were in the ditches, the multitude whereof no man can at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 number, were consumed by the fire; not one of them remained alive. Those who were about to descend into the ditches fell back in terror, and those who were in the camp and strove, furiously fighting, to occupy the bridge, seeing themselves every way encompassed by the flames of an exceeding great fire, gave up fighting, and loudly shouting, strove to escape, who, smitten with blind terror and full of confusion, and thinking to escape by leaping from the walls, plunged again into the fire and were there consumed. But they who feared to take the leap were cut down by the crusaders in the open ppace within the outer wall, and they who had not yet descended into the ditchss, but ministf red to those who entered with their diabolical engines, sent up yell after yell to heaven, and taking to their heels sheltered themselves in the placo of the bombards, which was to them as a fortress strong and sure.44

Thus when the morning dawned not a single living Turk was to be seen within the Hungarian camp, but the ditches and the whole

° According to Kiss (Hunyadi utolto hadjdrata) this last ruse of war was planned and carried oat by Hunyady himself, who supported it by a fierce sortie from the citadel, and no doubt Tagliacotias is over eager to glorify the crusaders. Bat it is probable that this saving expedient occurred to both leaders simultaneously. The crusaders too, being much more numerous and less occupied than the men-at-arms would naturally take the lion'i share in the simple labour of hurling down the flaming fascines. 250 THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE April space between the outer walls and the citadel were filled with their scorched and bleeding corpses. Thousands of them had perished there. The janissaries in particular had suffered so terribly that the survivors of them were thoroughly cowed, while the sultan's body-guard, which had led the attack, was well-nigh annihilated. So, after a twenty-hours' combat, the Christian host was able to breathe freely once more. But the bulk of the Turkish host still remained intact, and a second assault was therefore the next thing to be expected. Hunyady therefore, ' lest the glory of the day should be turned to confusion,'46 issued a general order that no one was to quit his post on any pretext whatever under pain of death. 'He well knew,' says Downloaded from Chalcocondylas,' that the Turk is never so dangerous as when he ifl in difficulties;' and the bitter experiences of Varna47 and Kossova *s had taught him that the rash depreciation of such a foe was a fatal mistake. But now an extraordinary accident confounded the pre- cautions of the prudent captain. From early morn till late at http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ noon on the 22nd the garrison of Belgrade and the crusaders on the opposite bank ** of the river remained unmolested. Towards evening half a dozen of these crusaders, armed with bows and arrows, weary of doing nothing, ventured out into the open, and mounted a hillock to inspect the Turkish camp, the nearest point of which was about 1,600 yards off. A band of spahis, or Turkish light horse, espied and swooped down upon them, and although repulsed presently returned with reinforcements. At this sight the crusaders at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 within Belgrade could also be restrained no longer and, despite the urgent remonstrances of Capistran, poured forth en masse, their brethren on the opposite bank immediately imitating their example. The saint perceiving that his word had, for the moment, lost its magic power, and seeing in the exaltation of his followers' the finger

« Tagliacotius. " At Varna (1444), although the Hungarians only numbered 12,000 against 100,000, the viotory was already theirs, when a headlong charge by the young king, against Hnnyady's express command, ruined the Christian cause. The Hungarians were cut oft almost to a man. The number of the Turkish Blain, however, was no less than 84,000. ' May Allah never grant me another such victory I' cried Mur&d II as he went over the field. " Kossova (1448) was the bloodiest battle ever fought between the two nations. On the eve of the fight Murad offered Hunyady a six years' truce, an annual tribute of 100,000 sequins, and all the expenses of the war, which unprecedented^ favourable termB the over-confident regent nevertheless haughtily rejected, though he had only 24,000 against 150,000. The battle lasted two days, but the foolhardy venturesomeness of John Szekely, the master of the horse, and the defection of Vlad, hospodar of Wal- lachia, again lost Hunyady the day. 13,000 of the Christians, including the flower of the Hungarian nobility, perished on the battle-field, but the Turks lost 40,000 and were too crippled to follow up their advantage. ° Part of the crusaders who had not yet entered the city had formed a new camp on an island at the junction of the Save and Danube and opposite the fortress, so as to be ready at hand on the first emergency. Kiss: Hunyadi uiolsd liadjarata. 1892 BY MUHAMMAD II 251 of God,' followed them with his crucifix and his attendant friars, whereupon Hunyady, to shield the crusaders as much as possible, was forced to order a general sortie, and at six o'clock the whole Christian host fell suddenly on the Turkish camp. Here, however, they encountered the most stubborn resistance. Thrice the Turkish artillery was lost and won, the sultan, ' with no other helmet and cuirass than belief in Allah and confidence in the ascendency of the star of Islam,' *° leading his troops in person and ' illuminating the dark day with the flashes of his dazzling scimitar.'31 Singling out the biggest and fiercest of the Hungarian captains, he cleft him at one blow from his skull to his breast-bone, and drove the

Christians back headlong to the very walls of Belgrade. But this Downloaded from last rally came all too late. The trembling janissaries refused to follow the padishah himself a second time into the ' place of corruption.' Their aga, the valiant Hassan Beg, unable to endure the taunts of the sultan, rushed into the thickest of the fight and died beneath the very eyes of bis master, and at last Mu- http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ hammad, unsupported, bewildered, severely wounded (Kritoboulos, himself a surgeon, tells us it was in the thigh, and deep, but not large), and foaming at the mouth with impotent rage, yielded to the tearful entreaties of his staff and ' turned his stately steed into the path of safety,'M though ' his hand never let go the bridle.' By nightfall all was. over. The defeat had become a rout, and after pursuing the panic-stricken fugitives for eight miles M through the darkness the victors returned and spoiled the camp. It is said at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 that the sultan never drew rein till he had reached Sophia, and, feeling insecure even there, fled next day to Adrianople after massacring those of his troops who had deserted him at Belgrade. He had lost more than 50,000 killed and wounded, 800 guns, and 27 war vessels. ' Never before,' wrote Hunyady to the king three days after the battle, ' never before has a Turkish sultan been so ruinously defeated, and never have the chroniclers recorded a deeper humiliation.' He was for instantly following up his advantage, and declared that if only Christendom would now loyally unite with Hungary it would be an easy matter to obtain possession of the whole Turkish realm, as the sultan had lost the sinews of his might beneath Belgrade. And indeed under such a leader anything was possible; but unfortunately for Europe the great captain had now run his high, heroic course. Popular superstition saw in the twin comets6J which terrified Europe during that eventful month calamitous portents, and the deaths of the two Johns in rapid succession seemed to bear out the evil forebodings of the astrologers. Twenty days after

» Said Eddin. " Id. " Id. u Anonymous in Magyar Begestdk, No. 1G2. " Servian lyetopisi, which say more about these portents than about the siege itself. 252 THE SIEGE OF BELGRADE BY MUHAMMAD II April his victory, while all Europe was ringing with his name and bon- fires in his honour were blazing in every city in Hungary, Hunyady fell sick of the plague which had broken out in the camp, and was conveyed for greater comfort to Semlin, where his faithful comrade Capistran stayed with him till he died. Old age had scarcely affected him, but his naturally robust constitution had been utterly worn out by the exertions, the privations, and the anxieties of the last six weeks, and left him no strength to resist the disease. His death was of a piece with his whole Life. Feeling his end approaching, he begged Capistran to have him conveyed to the parish church, that he might there communicate for the last time. The saint assured him that the viaticum should be brought to hirn where he lay. ' Not so,' Downloaded from replied the dying hero : ' 'tis not meet that the Master should come to Hia servant; 'tis for the servant to go and seek his Lord.' Accordingly they conveyed him to the church, and there at the high altar he received the sacrament from the hands of his friend, and then expired in his arms (11 Aug. 1456). He had just reached http://ehr.oxfordjournals.org/ his seventieth year. Capistran64 only survived him ten weeks. All Christendom naturally mourned the death of the champion whom the pious gratitude of the age not unnaturally regarded as a martyr for the faith;w but perhaps the most flattering tribute to his memory is contained in the words of his bitterest foe, while still smarting beneath the shame of defeat. It is said that when the news of Hunyady's death was first told to the sultaD, Muhammad long remained silent, with his eyes fixed on the at University of Exeter on July 15, 2015 ground. At length, raising bis head, he said to those about him, 4 He was my foe, but would that I had not lost him ! His equal is not to be found among the subjects of princes.' The victory of Belgrade gave Hungary a respite of seventy years, but it was a warning rather than a benefit. The narrow- ness of the deliverance might have impressed upon the nobles of the apostolic kingdom the necessity of unity and concord, for a nation whose fate depended upon the isBue of a single battle must needs be strong at home, and it was too much to expect the saving interposition of a great man at every crisis as a matter of course. But the lesson was lost upon the Hungarians, and at the fatal battle of Mohacz in 1526 tJie Turk was more than revenged for his humiliation at Belgrade. R. NISBET BAIN.

** Capistran was regarded as a saint in his lifetime, and was venerated as such in Hungary immediately after his death. He was not canonised, however, till 1690. ** Quern (tji. Honjady) congruU tUulis ac diademate decorare decrtveravna; Dominus tamen exercituum in coelettibus immortaii diademaU dteoravil, gut ut fdix inter martyrts computari potest (EncyL of CeLUtus).