The story of Hungary 24

The story of Hungary 24

Meanwhile Stephen Lazarevitch, the Prince of Servia, became weary

of the Turkish alliance, and with a view to securing to his nephew,

George Brankovitch, the succession in Servia, he sought the aid of

Sigismund, offering to surrender to him several important fortified

places along the Danube for his services. The Prince of Servia died in

1428, and Sigismund claimed the possession of the places promised to

him. The Servian commander of Galambócz, one of the strongest of these

fortresses, however, treacherously allowed it to pass into the hands

of the Turks. It was to re-possess himself of this fortress, which he

could not permit to remain in Moslem hands, that Sigismund marched

against the enemy. He had nearly succeeded in capturing it, when news

reached him that Sultan Murad II. was approaching. Sigismund did not

dare to engage in battle with such overpowering numbers, and having

stipulated for himself and his army free passage, he pusillanimously

gave up the siege. Yet the Hungarians were just beginning to cross

the Danube, when the Turks, breaking faith, attacked them. Sigismund

himself was in great danger, and he owed his escape only to the heroism

of Cecilia Rozgonyi, the wife of the captain-in-chief, who facilitated

his flight in a galley steered by herself. This was Sigismund’s last

armed encounter with the Turks, and its issue did by no means add to

his laurels.

 

The remaining years of Sigismund’s reign were taken up with the

organization of the defences of the country and with continual warfare

against the Czech Hussites in the north. Wenceslaus, the king of

Bohemia, died in 1419, and Sigismund endeavored to obtain his brother’s

crown. The Czechs hated the executioner of their beloved spiritual

teacher, and conceded to Sigismund the Bohemian crown only after a hard

and protracted struggle. Hungary had to suffer for the ambition of her

king, for, during these struggles, the exasperated Czechs, on more than

one occasion, laid waste her territories in the north-west. Sigismund,

however, did not allow himself to be deterred from pursuing his aim.

Acting upon the principle of _divide et regna_, he very sensibly

conciliated a portion of the Czechs by granting them religious reforms,

and whilst the people were desperately fighting among themselves he

succeeded in securing the crown of Bohemia.

 

Sigismund may be said to have reached the goal of all his wishes.

He united on his head the crowns of imperial Germany, Hungary, and

Bohemia. Yet, on the whole, he was not a happy man. His wife Barbara

had regained her freedom and was embittering the last days of the

sickly monarch. This ambitious woman coveted the crown of Hungary,

and in order to obtain it she was scheming, first of all, to hinder

the succession of Albert, the son-in-law of the emperor-king. With

this view she entered into negotiations with Ladislaus III., the

king of Poland, the purport of which was that he should marry her

after Sigismund’s demise, and thus unite the dominions of the king of

Hungary with Poland. The arrangement was nearly concluded when these

intrigues were discovered by Sigismund. He deprived his wife once

more of her liberty, and hastened from Bohemia to Hungary to prevail

upon the Estates to accept Albert’s succession, and then to turn his

steps towards Transylvania to put down the rebellion that had broken

out there. The peasantry of Transylvania, having a leaning towards

the teachings of Huss, were exposed to constant persecutions. They

were also oppressed by burdensome taxes, and finally, goaded on by

their unhappy condition, they rose in arms against their tyrants.

The massacred nobility and burning villages bore witness to the

exasperation of the peasantry. Fate prevented Sigismund from either

meeting the estates or quelling the Transylvanian rising. He was

overtaken by death at Znaym, in Moravia, in December, 1437. His dead

body and the captive queen arrived in Hungary one week later. His

remains were conveyed from Presburg to Grosswardein to be placed there

by the side of his first wife, Mary, and at the feet of St. Ladislaus.

It is rather saddening to reflect that, after a reign of fifty years,

his funeral procession should have been lighted by the glare from the

burning villages of Transylvania, set on fire by her own peasantry.

 

[Illustration]

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER IX.

 

JOHN HUNYADI (HUNIADES), THE GREAT CHAMPION OF CHRISTIANITY.

 

1456.

 

 

Very little, if any thing, is known of the father of John Hunyadi, or

of the pedigree of his family; indeed, the very circumstances of his

birth are shrouded in dim legendary light, and yet he looms up all at

once in the proud position of governor of Hungary, the adored idol of

his country, and the admiration of all Christian Europe. It was owing

to his exertions that his family became great, rich, and powerful, but,

at the same time, he guarded Hungary against the evils of domestic war,

and saved her from Moslem rule. He served his country in the capacity

of a brave soldier, an eminent general, and a cautious and energetic

statesman, lending her the aid of his strong arm, his undaunted

courage, and his clear understanding.

 

[Illustration: HUNYAD CASTLE.]

 

In his time, during the fifteenth century, through all Europe, and

especially in Hungary, that man was most respected who had earned

the repute of a distinguished soldier. If any one wished to become

conspicuous amongst his countrymen he had to be, first of all, an able

general and a military hero. According to the views of that day,

only he was looked upon as a true man who was a free man, or, in the

nomenclature of that period, a noble man, but every noble was a born

soldier, and soldiering was both his duty and privilege. Martial merit

was recognized as the only real merit, and military service as the

only honorable occupation. By this means every man had the chance of

becoming the possessor of land, and of acquiring nobility, for bravery

was rewarded by the king with a grant of lands, and with the rank of a

noble. As a consequence wars were longed for by many. The common man

(or as he was then styled, the bondman) hoped to acquire land and to be

created a noble, the noble to add to his landed estate, and to rise in

rank. The more land a noble owned, and the greater the number of his

bondmen, the larger the number of the soldiers he was able to equip,

and the greater the military power wielded by him, the better his

prospects of promotion to a higher position in the state, in society,

and about the person of his king. The first games of childhood were

martial games, and the first tasks of youth were military tasks.

 

Such, no doubt, had also been the early training of John Hunyadi; by

such means he rose, acquired a large fortune, and was able to support a

great army. In truth, however, there is no information whatever extant

as to his early education, for when he first entered upon the stage of

war, in 1437, he was already an accomplished general. In this year the

Turkish sultan, who was constantly attacking, harassing, and laying

waste the vassal states of Hungary, Bosnia, Servia, Wallachia, and

Bulgaria, turned his arms against Servia. The general of the Hungarian

king met the enemy near the fortress of Semendria, where the decisive

battle was to be fought. During this engagement a knight with a coat of

arms, familiar to no one, made his appearance. A black raven, holding

a gold ring in his beak, was painted on his shield. Never before had

they witnessed fighting as gallant as that of the Raven Knight at the

head of his small troop. He was seen now in one place, now in another,

but wherever he showed himself the enemy either fled before him or

was slain. To the Hungarians it seemed as if the god of war himself

had descended to fight under their banners, and they were seized

with wild enthusiasm. The Turkish general, with the remnant of his

army, fled in dismay, and from this day forward the name of the raven

knight continued to be the terror of Turkish warriors. This mysterious

knight was John Hunyadi. To be sure, men like Pongrácz, Szentmiklóssy,

Thalloczy, or Maróthy, had before this day proved themselves heroes

in the many struggles against the Turks. After this memorable battle,

however, the splendor of Hunyadi’s name dimmed the glory of all. With

the people, whose chief delight was martial exploits, and in whose eyes

the Turks were the most dreadful enemy of their country, his prestige

increased from year to year. For Hunyadi, like his powerful antagonist

the Turk, never knew what it was to rest. No other enemy was like

this one he had to cope with. The Turkish state was so organized that

it could not exist without fresh conquests and incessant wars. The

Janissaries wanted occupation and glory, the mounted Spahis new lands,

the immense hordes which marched at the distance of a day’s walk in

advance of the Turkish army were hungry after booty, and the sultans

themselves longed to win fresh conquests and military glory against the

infidels, as the followers of the cross were styled by them.

 

An enemy like this was a most dangerous neighbor. It is true that

Hungary was divided from the Turkish empire by her vassal states,

Bulgaria, Wallachia, Servia, and Bosnia, but the Turkish sultans

already looked upon these territories as their own, and were constantly

organizing inroads into Hungary from them. Hunyadi had passed his

early life near the border; and, accustomed to the perpetual fighting

going on there, he was also familiarized with the magnitude of the

danger. With an iron will he determined to devote his whole strength to

the struggle against the Turks. By his gallantry he gradually acquired

the fortune necessary for this purpose, for the kings were lavish in

granting to him again and again large estates as a compensation for his

bravery. Nor was he wanting in opportunities against the Turks, for,

having been successively created Count of Temes, ban of Szörény, and

vayvode of Transylvania, it became his duty to defend the border with

the money and army placed in his hands. If the Turks appeared at any

point on a marauding expedition, or to provoke hostilities, Hunyadi

was quick to meet them at once, and did not rest until he had achieved

victory.

 

In one such expedition, Ishak, the pasha of Semendria, fared badly.

This overbearing Turk, issued from the fortress of Semendria, and,

having overrun the country, left behind him nothing but desolation

and the tears of widows and orphans. Hunyadi, with a small troop,

started in his pursuit, and, coming up with him, he took away from him

the prisoners and the booty he had captured, and drove him and his

army back to the very walls of Semendria. The sultan, upon hearing

the news of this defeat, at once despatched Mezid Bey with an army

of 80,000 men against Hunyadi. Orders were issued to destroy every

thing—property and human life alike; neither the young nor the old

nor the women were to be spared. Hunyadi was well informed as to the

enemy’s movements. He knew that in this campaign the special aim would

be to kill or capture him, for his person stood almost alone in the way

of the Sultan’s conquests and glory. The Turkish commander offered,

on the eve of the battle, an enormous reward to the soldier who would