c. 1464
Nikolaos Chalkokondyles was born in Athens sometime after 1430. His father, one of the most prominent aristocrats in Athens, petitioned Murad II for the title of Duke of Athens. His bid failed, and the family was sent into exile at Mistra and the court of the despots of the Peloponnese. Young Nikolaos was raised there, and he soon became a disciple of the renowned Platonist philosopher George Gemistos (d. 1452). Under Gemistos’s tutelage Nikolaos became deeply enamored of classical Hellenic culture, and he set for himself the task of writing a new history of his own day. Laonikos Chalkokondyles, as he soon styled himself, completed that work around 1464. His Histories (Apodexis Historion,the “result of inquiries”) cast the story of the rise of the Ottoman empire in a classical light. But it maintained a broad vision, extending even to England and France and the story of Joan of Arc. And as this representation of the Belgrade campaign suggests, for all of its imitation of Herodotus and Thucydides, the author of the Histories was able to capture contemporary events vividly.
Source: Laonikos Chalkokondyles, The Histories, vol. 2: Books 6–10, trans. Anthony Kaldellis, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library Vol. 34 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 227–45. Copyright © 2014 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
When the ruler of the Serbs [Đurađ] learned that Sultan Mehmed was coming against him, he departed and crossed over to the Hungarians and to Hunyadi, fearing that the Sultan might come to Smederevo and besiege it. He asked Hunyadi, as his friend and relative, to defend him, and he decided to avenge him. At Smederevo the latter negotiated with the sultan to achieve peace. The ruler of the Serbs did not live on much longer, and when he died his principality went to Lazar, his youngest son. But upon the death of the ruler, his blind sons filched away as much money as they could and went to the sultan. The latter provided them with land suitable to maintain them. When Lazar paid him a substantial tribute of twenty thousand gold staters, the Sultan made a treaty with him.
The following year Mehmed marched against Belgrade, the city of the Hungarians. As I said earlier regarding Murad, this city is located by the Danube on one side, but on the other side the river Sava flows past it and joins the Danube; thus, this city is washed on both sides by these two rivers that flow past it. Mehmed, the son of Murad, now marched against Belgrade, having first sent armies against the Illyrians [Bosnians] under the command of Firuz and Ali Mihaloglu. Moreover, a war had broken out in Asia between him and the king of Kolchis, that is, of Trebizond. He dispatched triremes to plunder Kolchis by land and by sea, under the command of Hizir, the prefect of Amaseia. Meanwhile, he sent a herald around to announce that his armies should assemble at Adrianople, and he too marched out with the Porte and the janissaries. A full contingent of bronze for the cannons was conveyed for him by ships and camels as he marched through the land of the Serbs. The ruler of Smederevo provided hospitality for the sultan and his lords, sending them magnificent gifts, but he too made his own preparations: should Belgrade fall, he himself would then be besieged.
Mehmed advanced and besieged the city. There is an isthmus between the two rivers, whose width is about seven stades. He took up his position there, made camp, and besieged the city, bombarding the walls with cannons. The janissaries, under their shelters, approached the walls and shot at the Hungarians. This camp of the sultan was very large. His plan was to gain control of the river and prevent the Hungarians from being able to cross to the defense of the city from the opposite shore; then it would be easy for him to subject the city to himself and for the city to be captured by him. So he prepared a large fleet which had been equipped for him in his territories along the Danube, about two hundred ships strong. He manned the ships with the intention of controlling the river and preventing Hungarian forces from crossing over to the city, so as to cut off the inhabitants of the city and besiege them inside. He brought his ships up to the river from the city of Vidin and within a few days gained control of this part of the river.
As for the king of the Hungarians1 – for he too had encamped across from Belgrade with a large army – he also manned the most powerful ships that he had in Buda and brought them down the river with the intention of engaging in a naval battle with the sultan’s ships. The ships of the sultan sailed upriver far into the land of the Hungarians, and they raided, burned, and plundered. Shortly afterward the Hungarian fleet arrived and attacked the sultan’s ships, sinking some and capturing about twenty. The Hungarians killed the crews, placed the bodies of the slain victims in the empty ships, arranging the bodies in a crosswise formation, and let them be conveyed by the current of the river down to the sultan’s camp. That, then, was how they perished, while the remaining ships fled in haste back to the sultan’s camp. They grounded the ships and disembarked at the camp. The sultan immediately set fire to them to prevent the Hungarians from sailing against them and capturing them.
From that point on the Hungarians held the river and were able to make conveyances from the opposite shore to the city, to strengthen its defenses. Present were Hunyadi and his men as well as the monk Capistrano, a wise man held in great religious esteem by the western peoples. Because of his reputation the pontiff had sent him to the inhabitants of Prague, the great city of the Bohemians, who worshiped the religion of Apollo, for he was a persuasive preacher of the religion of Jesus. He converted many people there to belief in Jesus, and he roused many, including Germans, Hungarians, and Bohemians, to fight against the barbarians, who were the enemies of Jesus. When he came to this war, he brought them with him, but most of them were lightly armed.
When it was announced that the city walls had been demolished by the cannons and the city was at risk of being captured, these men then crossed over to the city – at their leisure, since they controlled the crossing – but they did not despise the sultan’s army. As for the sultan, when the city walls had been torn down sufficiently and could be scaled, he prepared to make an attack that would enslave the city. The Turks lit the customary fires on the next day and made their preparations, bringing up their engines and shelters in order to capture the city. It was there that Karaja, the general of Europe and a most excellent man of the sultan’s Porte, was killed by the cannons in the city. The sultan took the death of Karaja to heart, and mourned him greatly.
When the sultan decided to make the attack, he sounded the assault at dawn with trumpets, cymbals, and flutes. He led the janissaries and attacked the walls. The janissaries immediately scaled the walls, climbed down from them, and poured into the city. As they attacked the city, they believed that they had already taken it. But the inhabitants of the city and those with Hunyadi were prepared and waiting for the janissaries to enter. For those stationed on the acropolis had arranged for a signal so that when the trumpet sounded it, they should engage with the janissaries. Those on the battlements and the walls had withdrawn, for they had been instructed to do so by Hunyadi, so as to allow the janissaries to freely enter the city. And when the trumpeter sounded the signal on his trumpet, each of them was to race back and take his assigned position; having cut the janissaries off, they would have them at their mercy.
So when the janissaries made their attack at dawn, they immediately entered the city with no one opposing them – the Hungarians had already withdrawn from there, awaiting the signal – and they believed that the enemy had fled. As I already said, they poured into the city and each of them turned in a different direction in order to plunder it. Then the signal was given and the trumpet sounded, and those who were previously on the walls ran to the battlements and cut the janissaries off inside, while those with Hunyadi engaged with the janissaries. When the janissaries saw the Hungarians from the acropolis coming against them, they withdrew to the wall. In this retreat, the Hungarians pressed upon them fiercely and killed a large number of them. But the rest of the Turks, as they rushed to the walls and saw the Hungarians there too on the battlements, forced their way through the Hungarians, ran over the walls, and reached the moat. In this way, then, did the Hungarians repel the janissaries and overcome the barbarians.
Then the men with Capistrano and the other Hungarians made a joint sally against the men at the sultan’s cannons, fought them, routed them, and took control of the cannons. When the sultan saw that his cannons were now in the hands of the Hungarians, he was distressed and attacked there and fought fiercely, but was unable to dislodge the Hungarians from the cannons, and was routed. The Hungarians had already encamped there and turned the cannons to fire into the sultan’s camp. It was about the middle of the day and the events and turns of the battle had been reported to the Hungarians across the river, whereupon many of their sailors now crossed over not to the city but to the camp. Those in the city came out too and, in elation, they attacked the sultan’s camp from both sides and fought. They tore down many of the tents in the camp while the azaps were plundering the camp market. But the sultan shouted that he would tear their eyes out. Then he and his men made an attack and routed the Hungarians. He personally killed a Hungarian, but was wounded in the thigh; yet he would not retreat. Later, as he was about to take back the cannons, the Hungarians regrouped and pressed hard against the barbarians, and turned the sultan’s men back, all the way to the camp. When this happened for the third time, the sultan was distressed, as he did not have the janissaries present in this battle, and other elements of his camp had gone out to forage and gather supplies.
In the midst of this furor, the sultan summoned the lord of the janissaries, who was named Hasan, and said the following: “You evil man, where have our janissaries gone? Why are they not here with you, for the battle? Or don’t you remember what sort of person you were when I appointed you to such a high command? Come then, if I survive I will exact a punishment which all will say was most just.” Hasan said in response: “O sultan, most of the janissaries are wounded, while the rest are unwilling to obey. But I am here at your disposal. Instead of being angry at me, watch me now fighting in the midst of the Hungarians and dying on your behalf.” With those words he threw himself into the midst of the Hungarians, proving his valor before the sultan, and died at the hands of the Hungarians. Some of his attendants also died there.
When the Hungarians had routed the Turks back to their camp and were pressing hard upon them, having prevailed in the battle, about six thousand of the sultan’s cavalry raiders arrived. He had previously sent them to guard his Danubian lands, specifically to guard places where the Hungarians might land with their ships and hinder them from making those landings. They came upon this scene of furor and battle, surrounded the Hungarians, and killed many of them. Then they routed the Hungarians and expelled them from the camp back to the cannons. That was where the battle drew to a close, as it was already evening.
The sultan realized that this had been a disaster for him, with the janissaries wounded and terrified and his armies attempting to desert him. During the night he instructed the camp to pack up and follow wherever he might lead them. He left at night and advanced in fear that the Hungarians might cross over with the rest of their army and press hard upon him, and then his withdrawal and return home would become difficult. It seems to me that the Hungarians would indeed have followed the sultan’s army closely had Hunyadi not discouraged and forbidden them to do it, as he knew well that Turks always become stronger by a wide margin and hold up better whenever they are threatened with danger. It seems also that it may have been due to the plague that had broken out in the Hungarian camp and was weighing them down, so that they did not recover from it for a long time.
Janko [John Hunyadi] himself was wounded there and died shortly afterward. It seems to me that this was the chief reason why the Hungarians did not pursue the sultan’s army. Janko did not survive for long after the sultan departed, and he died soon after that. He was a man excellent in all respects, having risen from insignificance to a position of great power, performing great deeds against the Germans and Bohemians, and was held in great esteem while he was managing the affairs of the Hungarians. His achievements against the Turks were also numerous. And it does not seem that he would have prevailed over the sultan’s power, if it were not for the number and valor of his feats, when the sultan, attacking at dawn, overcame the Hungarian forces. He was hated by the other powerful men of Hungary, who did not want to be ruled by him; nevertheless, he mastered the situation and obtained their consent as they were in no position to resist a man held in such universal esteem, who strengthened the realm and made it much more secure. This man seems to have accomplished everything with ardor, and he handled all situations properly by being present wherever he was required. It is also said that he was carried off by the plague and died that way.
Regarding Capistrano, I will record for posterity what I know. He was a follower of Bernardino of Siena, a great preacher in the religion of Lord Jesus, and he himself attained great fame and glory throughout almost the entire west, reaching the highest degrees of wisdom and contemplation. When Bernardino died, the Italians bestowed on him the honors of a hero and built shrines for him. There are many statues of him throughout Italy that are sanctified as to a holy and supernatural man. It is said also that the man performed verifiable miracles. Giovanni [John of] Capistrano, then, was his follower, as I said, and he traversed many lands and went around preaching in public. Among other places, he came also to the Bohemians who believed in a heretical cult, in that they mostly worshiped fire; they still did not at all accept the religion of the others in that region as they had different beliefs, and they were not persuaded by the others who lived in the weak parts of Bohemia.2 Capistrano came to them and brought them over to the doctrines of the rest of the Bohemians. He was greatly esteemed for wisdom and prudence and was on close terms with the king of the Hungarians [Ladislaus V], which is why he joined the war against the Turks, as I said earlier.
1 Not Ladislaus V, but Hunyadi.
2 This clause is obscure.