PART THREE
July 26, 1456 (Buda)
Šibenik was a port city on the Adriatic coast of Dalmatia (modern Croatia). Though long an independent commune with deep roots in the region’s history, by the early fifteenth century the city was subject to the Republic of Venice (Italian Sebenico). Both its geographical position on the Adriatic and its importance as a commercial center ensured that the city, like others such as Ragusa (modern Dubrovnik), was a crucial node in the communication networks that ran across the Adriatic coast and its hinterlands to Italy and Western Europe. In this letter, an anonymous ambassador of the bishop of Šibenik reports hurriedly, almost incoherently, of the events of July 1456. The document presents itself as a rapid list of news items and minor details recorded in the days leading up to July 26, some of them at odds with other accounts. It thus captures something of the fluid, confused flow of rumor and partial information that circulated during and after the siege of Belgrade.
Source: Trans. J. Mixson, from L. Thallóczy and A. Antal, eds., Codex diplomaticus partium regno Hungariae adnexarum, Monumenta Hungariae Historica 33 (Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, 1907), 2: 469–71.
A copy of a news report sent by the bishop of Šibenik to our most holy lord Pope Callixtus III, from Hungary, before anything definitive was reported or known regarding the victory over the Turks.
Having written and sealed his letters, an ambassador came in from the field after a harried journey. He carried letters and brought the latest word, and said that he was an eyewitness to these things and was in the fortress itself.
A great multitude of Turks occupies the plain and the hills, but as is reported by those worthy of trust, many are women and their number seems to be greater [than it actually is].
There is a great amount of [money]1 in the Turkish camp; one loaf of bread costs thirty aspers (these are a third of one [Venetian] ducat).
Many are dying from famine in [the sultan’s] army, and many captives are fleeing to our Christian camp.
Even many Turks are being compelled by hunger to come to us.
It is said that when a certain ambassador came from Asia to announce that the eastern regions had been devastated by his enemies, the Great Turk had him killed in his presence, and said he would do the same to others who brought similar news.
The Great Turk is said to have sworn that in the coming month, August, he would celebrate his fast in Buda.2 Perhaps with God’s help this will happen, but in a prison and not in the city.
He [the sultan] is eagerly besieging the fortress, given that he himself is besieged by famine; he has 150 ships on the Danube, but the Christian fleet is unconcerned about them.
In the Christian camp there is an abundance of soldiers. There are one hundred thousand crusaders, according to a letter dated July 18; on that day I believe many thousands arrived from Transylvania; today, on the day of Saint James,3 there ought to be some thirty thousand soldiers positioned in the fortress; as someone reported from Buda, from that day alone some three thousand passed through.
The Turks have vehemently attacked Serbia.
Up to that day the Christian army had two hundred good and large ships. Up to this day they have three hundred.
On the seventeenth day [of July] there was a certain naval conflict. Our side defeated ten ships of the Turks; seven smaller ships were sunk; three large ones were retained, full of spoils. Everything in these ships was taken, and a thousand Turks were drowned. We lost twelve empty ships, and twelve of our men were killed.
In the fortress are twelve thousand men; some say ten thousand. But they are well supplied, and up to now they have had no fear, even though some part of the wall has been knocked down by the blows of the cannons but [it is now?] restored.
At first the Turks besieged the fortress and had ships on the Sava River. But now they have [retreated?] and are downriver on the Danube, such that the fortress is no longer besieged from the Sava or the Danube, and Christians have safe passage to enter and exit; the weary are able to leave the fortress, new troops enter, and so we are able strongly to resist the besieging army.
If there were a greater number of knights the battle could have already been joined; there is a large enough number of foot soldiers – indeed it is a miracle. For just as “the deer pants for streams of water,”4 so this devout and strong people seems to thirst for the blood of the Turks, to save the Christian people and this realm.
After the gathering of the harvest, it is believed that an innumerable multitude will arrive. For that reason, the most reverend lord legate [Carvajal] advised the lord governor and leader of the army [Hunyadi] to wait before joining battle, if he could, until the feast of the Assumption of Mary,5 since any delay would be both harmful to the enemy and useful to the Christians. Those who write from the battlefield say that they do not think the Turks can long bear a delay. Thus, I would not wish that those who are about to depart should be delayed, because they are never more needed than now.
There was a certain fight joined before the fortress by those who struck out from our ranks against the Turks. In that fight we only lost four of our men, but many among the enemy were killed or severely wounded.
On the day of Mary Magdalene, it was proclaimed in Vienna that any who wanted to be paid to fight the Turks should make their way to the Count of Celje, because he will pay well.
Many good and well-armed crusaders have come from Mainz and other parts of Germany and are now in Vienna. Many will come from Vienna and will continue [the journey] the following day. Moreover, the Count Palatine6 has now announced that today seven hundred well-armed students will come to Buda, and that today 150 excellently armed troops will depart from Buda.
Also, from a certain village thirty arrive daily, many [of them?] crusaders, and many women send their men at their own expense.
From Buda, July 26.
1 Here pecuniam, but given the context perhaps originally penuriam, “need” or “scarcity.”
2 Presumably a reference to the end of Ramadan.
3 July 25.
4 Cf. Psalm 41 (42):1.
5 August 15.
6 Frederick I the Victorious (1425–76), regent for his nephew Philip.