Two separate Crusades were called for to free Bulgaria from the Turks.
In 1393, Tsar Ivan Shishiman’s new capitol of Nikopol, and the critical city of Tarnovo, were captured by Sultan Bayezid and his son Süleyman. The rising powers of Hungary, Venice and Genoa were now threatened by the Ottoman Empire.
With Italian wealth under fire, Rome only recently recaptured and the Pope’s obligations to Hungary, Pope Boniface IX called for a new Crusade. He rallied Rome as the paternal lord of Hungary, the rest of Italy, and the Orthodox Church.
The Hundred Years War had halted as Charles VI had to invest in his conquests and Richard II had to subdue Ireland, so they made a peace in 1396. Duke Philip of Burgundy, his star rising as Burgundy’s influence now decided the war and captured the Netherlands, decided to add a gem in his crown by showing his fealty and martial prowess through a holy war to support Hungary.
Hungary’s king Luxemburgi Zsigmond had tried to become King of Poland but been rejected by Queen Jadigwa and the court. Instead he married Queen Mary, had to fight the rebellion under Archbishop PAul Horvat, and made an alliance with the decisive Czillei and Garai families. He was in dire straits- his wife died pregnant, Ladislaus of Naples challenged him for the throne with the backing of the Horvathys and now the Turks were threatening him. He and his advisor Stibor of Stiboricz agreed to appeal to Charles VI of France, hoping for aid from his veterans. Phillip sent his son Jean sans Peur, Charles sent his nobles-Constable Philip of Artois, count d’Eu, Marshal Jean II Boucicaut Le Maingre, Admiral Jean de Vienne, and Sieurs Enguerrand VII de Coucy and Jean de Carrouges. They were joined by Germans, Hungarians, Philibert de Naillac and the Knights of St John of Rhodes, and they rendezvoused with Bayezid’s archenemy Mircea the Great and his Wallachians, Sigmismund’s archenemy István II Lackfi, and the Serbs sent by defector Vuk Branković. Eastern Europe’s resistance joined with the reinforcements of Central and Western Europe, and volunteers from all over Christendom. All in all over 15,000 men, mostly Hungarians, Wallachians and French.
Bayezid himself led the army to meet the invasion-the veteran vizier Çandarlızade Ali Pasha, the old “Gazi Baba” Evrenos, Uch bey of Thessaly, and loyal Stefan Lazarević of Serbia all rode with him and over 15,000 men.
When the Crusaders arrived at Buda, they began to quarrel. Sigismund’s plan was to make a stand in Hungary, let the Ottomans exhaust themselves in the march, and then fight them with Bela’s old castles at their backs. de Coucy argued that it would be an insult to their valor, and he wanted to ride out and meet the Turks on the march, defeating them in honorable combat on the field. D’Eu agreed, but he was jealous not to lead the assault himself. They marched into the Turkish frontier, sacking and pillaging as they went. They arrived at occupied Vidin, where Ivan Sratsimir opened the gates and the Crusaders massacred the Turkish garrison. When they reached Oryahovo Sigismund managed to negotiate a peace where the city would be spared in exchange for free passage. The French promptly betrayed the promise and sacked the city. Already the Hungarians rankled at the mutiny of their guests, while the French seethed that the Hungarians were trying to rob them of loot and glory.
The army arrived at Nikipol without any siege equipment but ladders. Doğan Bey sighed in relief at this incompetence, having enough supplies to await the Sultan. The Crusaders assumed that the lack of Ottoman attacks was a sign of weakness- soon they would be able to recapture Sofia, then on to Adrianople and finally march into Constantinople to the adulation of the Roman Emperor. Meanwhile Bayezid had marched out of Adrianople and rendevoused with Lazerevic and his Serbian knights. News quickly reached Nikipol, where the garrison celebrated. Boucicaut argued this was a ruse, but de Coucy insisted riding out ahead and successfully ambushed Turkish advance forces. D’Eu promptly turned on him for defying authority.
Sigismund and Mircea laid out their plan: the experienced Wallachians would be the vanguard, engaging the Akinchis and Azaps, with the French in the center and the Hungarians in reserve. Once the Wallachians could sweep aside the Turkish vanguard, that would draw in the Turkish Sipahis and Serbian knights, and the Wallachians would draw them into the arms of the French, with the Hungarians sweeping up the flanks in a counterattack.
D’Eu and Boucicaut were outraged; knights having to follow peasants?! Knights denied their primacy in the position?! The Constable of France waiting to be used as a reserve and denied their glory?! They would spearhead the attack or leave the Crusade there and then. Sigismund reluctantly agreed, the Crusaders drank heavily, then the news broke that Bayezid had arrived. It took a while to restore order, but the Crusaders had already killed the prisoners taken before the leaders could intervene.
As the army formed up, de Coucy and de Vienne suddenly realized Sigismund’s plan was the right one. , D’Eu accused them of siding with the treacherous Hungarian conspiring to rob them of their honor. He led the vanguard, the other French and Burgundians following. The Turks deployed in Roman-style triple layers: first the peasant azaps and akinci irregulars would fortify the front with sharpened stakes under the direction of old Evrenos, then more stakes for the professional Janissaries, then finally in reserve the Sipahis and Serbs, the armored cavalry. The French charged forward in the spirit of the first Crusade, with the banners of Christ and the Saints protecting them-Dieus le vueut!
The initial clash favored the Crusaders- while many horses were impaled by stakes, and the dismounted knights had to remove them, the superior arms and training of the French knights tore through the irregulars and levees, , forcing them to retreat. The advance was just an inexorable but much slower as they had to trudge uphill through more stakes where the Janissaries met them with poleaxe and bow. Again the French triumphed, the Janissaries retreating uphill reluctantly after a fierce fight. At this point Coucy and Vienne argued to hold their positions- they could remount the dismounted knights and form a solid line to maintain their gains while the rest of the army could follow them. However the younger knights had tasted blood and victory, and insisted on charging in. The French staggered uphill more, then suddenly heard a drum. The Kös echoed across the field, a sound heard to Latins since Surena’s destruction of Crassus, and it meant the same thing: the charge of the heavy horsemen. The cry that heralded victories from Badr roared as the Sipahis charged- Allahu Akbar!
The exhausted French met them with defiance, but were tired and disordered and rode down. De Vienne rallied men around his standard, suffering wound after wound before he fell. De Carrouges and many others fell as well. Nevers surrendered and was taken prisoner, causing a wave of surrenders across the vanguard- D’Eu, Boucicaut, Jean of Burgundy (since named Sans-Peu for his headlong charge), the wounded de Coucy and thousands of others . The advancing Hungarians, Wallachians and other knights were suddenly hit by a stampede of riderless horses, fleeing men, pursuing Turks, and dismounted knights. Mircea knew that the day was lost and rallied his men to escape. Sigismund rallied the Hungarians and Germans to meet the charge of the Sipahis, now followed by the rallying Janissaries and azaps. A bloody, desperate melee ensued, finally ending with the charge of Lazerevic. Sigismund and de Naillac barely escaped capture, fleeing on a small fishing boat. Hermann II, Count of Celje led another escape of the other men. The remaining Crusaders were nearly massacred when Miklós Garai met his brother in law Lazervic. and convinced the Turks to spare the army.
This didn’t last- seeing the bodies of executed prisoners, Bayezid decided to keep the high ranking knights for ransom, take the teenage squires and pages as slaves, and massacre hundreds more until his anger abated. The rest he took to Gallipoli, many dying on the way. Brankovic and Sratsimir were arrested on the way home. Sratsimir, Brankovic, De Coucy and D’Eu died in the dungeons, the final two before their ransom could be paid.
Bayezid’s grandson Murad II faced another crusade. Władysław III managed to end both civil wars in Poland and Hungary after each election, and was confronted with the war with the Ottomans. His main ally in court was the military genius Janos Hunyadi, who also had an alliance with the rebel Đurađ Branković (son of Vuk). Pope Eugene IV, aware of this powerful Catholic coalition, called for a Crusade.
His other cause was Ottoman strife. Bayezid had been captured by Timur, and a civil war ensured, with Murad’s father Mehmed managing to ascend. Their enemies in Constaninople hoped to continue the civil war to end Ottoman pressure, claiming that Mehmed’s brother Mustafa was the true Sultan. Murad had to first defeat his uncle. However, as he turned to attack Constantinople in retalation, the Romans had an ace up their sleeve- another pretender, Murad’s own brother Mustafa (called Küçük Mustafa to differentiate himself from the first usurper, Mustafa Çelebi or Düzmece Mustafa)
These civil wars kept the Ottomans at bay, and now the Pope hoped he could drive the Turks from Hungary’s gate and even out of Bulgaria. After Murad finally recaptured Thessalonica, Serbia, and Konya, lost during the civil war, he abdicated in favor of his son Mehmed II. The 14 year old Sultan relied heavily on the wisdom of his Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha.
Back in Hungary, the 20 year old king rallied his army- Poles, Lithuanians, Hungarians, Croats, Serbs, Bohemians, Italians, the Teutonic Knights (now his vassals), Bosnians, and refugee Armenians and with a navy of Greeks and Italians, both Romes united. The King marched with the mighty Hunyadi, Vlad Dracul (a member of Sigismund’s Order of the Dragon)’s son Mircea, Ivan Shishman’s son (and thus Ivan Sratsimir’s nephew) Fruzhin, Cardinal Julian Cesarini (who prompted Wladyslaw to break his treaty with the Turks),Stephen III Báthory, Palatine of Hungary and member of the mighty Bathorys, Hunyadi’s brother in law Michael Szilágyi, Wlayslaw (and Sigismunds) loyal Croatian lord Franko Talovac, and Simon Rozgonyi, Bishop of Eger, and many many volunteers.
News soon hit Adrianople, and the teenage Mehmed called for his experienced father to take command in the crisis- “If you are the sultan, come and lead your armies. If I am the sultan, I hereby order you to come and lead my armies.” Murad reluctantly agreed- he assembled his own, similarly-sized army, and father and son marched forth.
As both sides closed near Varna, suddenly Cesarini had second thoughts. Confronted with the formidable Turkish army, he argued that the Crusaders form a Wagenburg, a fortress made of circled fortified wagons, and wait for naval reinforcement. Hunyadi disagreed- he had won many battles taking the offensive and he didn’t want to lose the initiative. He was very confident of his ability to defeat the Turks. The young king sided with his Hungarian friend, eager to prove his mettle and that God and the saints sided with him. Murad was no less confident, declaring before his army that “Those of us who kill will be ghazis; those of us who die will be martyrs.”. Both the old soldier and young upstart put their faith in destiny and the favor of the almighty.
Janos deployed the Christian army between Lake Varna and the Franga plateau to anchor his flanks. The Bishops of Eger and Varadin, along with Cesarini and ban Franko Talovac commanded the right flank of Germans, Hungarians, Croatians and Bosnians. Opposite them were the Akincis, Anatollian Sipahis, and Janissaries. In the center the Poles and Hungarians faced off against the Janissaries and Rumelian Azaps. The Crusaders had Wallachian reserves. Meanwhile the Turks fortified the Thracian burial mounts in the center with palisades and trenches. On the Crusader left, Szilágyi led his Transylvanians, Fruzin’s Bulgarians, Germans and Hungarians, joined to a lake with a Wagensburg under hetman Ceyka commanding Lithuanians, Bohemians, Poles, Ruthenians and Wallachians. They faced kapıkulu and Rumelian Sipahis under under Hadım Şehabeddin. Each had a very strong anchor on their left and a strong center to fall back on.
Battle began on the Christian right, with Akincis attacking from the Franga plateau, being forced back, and luring the Croats and other Crusaders out where the Sipahis charged their flank. The Christians disintegrated,Rozgonyi and Cesarini chased into the Devnya and cut down, and Talotsi, leading the Croats, barely escaping.
Meanwhile Szilagyi on the left was pressed hard by Sipahis. Hunyadi took the Wallachians to shore up the defenses, telling the young king to wait for further advice. Jan made progress, striking the Rumelians in the flank and driving them back to the center . However, feeling victory nigh Wladyslaw ordered a charge right at Murad’s fortified tent. the King and his elite Hungarian and Polish guard blasted through the Sipahis, fell into pits but bashed through the pallisades and clashed with the Janissaries. In response, Murad got off his horse to pray as the battle raged around him, putting his fate in God’s hands. With the Sultan in sight, Wladyslaw almost reached him, but a young Janissary named Kodja Hazar drew his yataghan and slashed at Wlayslaw’s horse. The badly wounded horse fell, throwing the king to the ground, where Hazar finished the job and took his head. Bathory, carrying the banner, and the other guards fell fighting around the king’s body as the Janissaries rallied to the Sultan.
Driving in the Turkish right and saving Szilagayi, Hunyadi to his horror saw the banners in the center charge home and fall. He tried to push in and save the king’s body, but the Rumelians rallied and he was forced to retreat. After taking thousands of casualties, he managed to restore order and retreat.
It only got worse for him- Vlad Dracul received his son warmly but captured Hunyadi for nearly getting his son killed (and by breaking his alliance with the Turks, risked getting Wallachia sacked in retaliation) . The Hunyadis and Draculestis were forever be fairweather allies at best. The new Palatine Lawrence Héderváry swore revenge, but to appease the Hungarians Vlad released Hunyadi with a train of gifts as an apology. Eventually Hunyadi would reap a bloody revenge,killing Vlad and Mircea, ascend to Regency, and have an ill-fated rematch with Murad at Kosovo (this time captured by the treachery of Branković ). Hunyadi would die on top, successfully defending Belgrade from Murad’s son Mehmed before succumbing to plague.
Wladyslaw’s brother Casimir IV Jagiellon would not inherit Hungary, instead becoming a rival over Bohemia and the borderlands. He expanded Polish power to mixed success.
Murad returned to the throne soon after. He died after failing to defeat Albanian resistance. His young son Mehmed stepped into big shoes, but vowed to end the ultimate instigator of the Crusades: Constantinople. He would finish what Alp Aslan started.