page_title: John Hunyadi
section_title: Belgrade victory and death (1455–1456)
hierarchical_section_title: John Hunyadi / General and politician / Belgrade victory and death (1455–1456)
caption_attribution_description: English: The cover of John Hunyadi's tomb. Edited by: Báró Forstner Gyula. Volume I; Hornyánszky Viktor Udvari Könyvnyomdája, Budapest, 1905, table I; Cathedral of Alba Iulia; Photograph: Hollenzer és Okos
context_page_description: John Hunyadi was a leading Hungarian military and political figure in Central and Southeastern Europe during the 15th century. According to most contemporary sources, he was the son of a noble family of Romanian ancestry. He mastered his military skills on the southern borderlands of the Kingdom of Hungary that were exposed to Ottoman attacks. Appointed voivode of Transylvania and head of a number of southern counties, he assumed responsibility for the defense of the frontiers in 1441.
  Hunyadi 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. 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 in 1456, against troops led personally by the Sultan established his reputation as a great general.
context_section_description: 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. 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. With the Ottomans' support, Vladislav II of Wallachia even plundered the southern parts of Transylvania in late 1455.
  John of Capistrano, a Franciscan friar and papal inquisitor, started to preach an anti-Ottoman crusade in Hungary in February 1456. 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. Before departing from Transylvania against the Ottomans, Hunyadi had to face a rebellion by the Vlachs in Fogaras County. He also supported Vlad Dracula—a son of the late Vlad Dracul—to seize the Wallachian throne from Vladislav II.
  King Ladislaus V left Hungary for Vienna in May. 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. The Ottoman forces marched through Serbia and approached Belgrade in June. 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. The Ottoman siege of Belgrade, which was personally commanded by Sultan Mehmed II, began with the bombardment of the walls on 4 July.
  Hunyadi proceeded to form a relief army, and assembled a fleet of 200 ships on the Danube. The flotilla assembled by Hunyadi destroyed the Ottoman fleet on 14 July. This triumph prevented the Ottomans from completing the blockade, enabling Hunyadi and his troops to enter the fortress. The Ottomans started a general assault on 21 July. 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. 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.
  The crusaders' victory over the Sultan who had conquered Constantinople generated enthusiasm throughout Europe. Processions to celebrate Hunyadi's triumph were made in Venice and Oxford. However, in the crusaders' camp unrest was growing, because the peasants denied that the barons had played any role in the victory. In order to avoid an open rebellion, Hunyadi and Capistrano disbanded the crusaders' army.
  Meanwhile, a plague had broken out and killed many people in the crusaders' camp. Hunyadi was also taken ill and died near Zimony (present-day Zemun, Serbia) on 11 August. He was buried in the Roman Catholic St. Michael's Cathedral in Gyulafehérvár.
  [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.
  — Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini: Europe
caption: Hunyadi's tomb in Gyulafehérvár / Alba Iulia Catholic Cathedral.
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