John Hunyadi, as imagined by a 17th century artist
John Hunyadi (Medieval Latin: Ioannes Corvinus, Hungarian: Hunyadi János, Romanian: Iancu or
Ioan de Hunedoara) (c. 1387–August 11, 1456), nicknamed the White Knight, was a Voivode of
Transylvania (from 1441), captain-general (1444–1446) and regent (1446–1453) of the Kingdom of Hungary, with a distinguished
military career. He was the father of Matthias, one of the most renowned
kings of Hungary.
Names in other languages
- Albanian: Janosh Hunjadi
- Bulgarian: Ян (Янош) Хуниади (Yan Huniadi or Yanosh
Huniadi); in Bulgarian epic songs: Янкул(а) войвода (Yankul(a) Voyvoda)
- Croatian: Janko Hunjadi --also: Ianco or (later tradition) Ivan
Hunjadi
- German: Johann Hunyadi
- Greek: Ιωάννης Ουνιάδης
- Polish: Jan Hunyadi
- Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко (Sibinjanin Janko)
- Slovak: Ján Huňady
- Slovenian: Ivan Hunyadi
- Turkish:Hunyadi Yanoş
Origin
Hunyadi Castle, main entrance
John was born into a noble family in 1387 (or
1400 according to some sources) as the son of Vojk (alternatively spelled as Voyk or
Vajk in English, Voicu in Romanian, Vajk in Hungarian), a boyar from
Wallachia[1], son of
Serb (also spelled as Sorb or Serbe), a Vlach[citation needed] Knyaz
from the Banate of Szörény (Severin).
A theory issued at the end of the 19th century claims that Serb, John's grandfather, was originally from Serbia,[2] an origin not attested by
contemporary sources. Serb had three sons - Vojk, John's father, Magos, and Radol. What is certain is that
Vojk took the family name of Hunyadi when he received the estate around the Hunyad
Castle from King Sigismund, in 1409, apparently ennobled as count of Hunyad.
John's mother was Erzsébet Morzsinay (Romanian:
Elisabeta Mărgean) of Cinciş, the daughter of a small noble family from Hunyad -
Hunedoara. [3]
John married Erzsébet Szilágyi (cca. 1410-1483), a Hungarian noblewoman, also of
high-rank (Szilágy being the name of a county, one overlapping with present-day Sălaj).
The epithet Corvinus was first used by the biographer of his son Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, but is sometimes also applied to John. The epithet is also
related to a legend: during a trip with his parents, as they slept, a six- or seven-years old John was said to have been playing
with a precious medallion that the emperor Sigismund had given his father. According to legend, when a rook stole the medallion,
young John used a bow and arrow to shoot the bird.
Another legend, thought to be discreetly distributed by John himself, was that he was the son of Sigismund of Luxembourg,[4] whose faithful soldier his father was for two decades. This tale helped him secure more legitimacy
for his descendants to the throne of the Kingdom, to which John, despite all his services, could not accede – having no royal
origin. Widely respected in Europe, he still gathered rivals throughout his lifetime, and was the object of the Ottoman Empire's hatred.
Hunyadi has sometimes been confused with an elder brother or cousin John, himself a Severin Ban (the elder John died
about 1440).
Rise
With Sigismund and in the disputed elections
While still a youth, the younger John Hunyadi entered the retinue of Sigismund, who
appreciated his qualities. (He also was the King's creditor on several occasions.) He accompanied the monarch to Frankfurt, in Sigismund's quest for the Imperial crown in
1410, took part in the Hussite Wars in 1420, and in 1437 drove the Ottomans from Semendria. For these services he received numerous estates and a seat in the royal council. In
1438 King Albert II made Hunyadi Ban of Severin. Lying south of the defensible southern frontiers of Hungary, the
Carpathians and the Drava/Sava/Danube complex, the province was subject to constant harassment by
Ottoman forces. Upon the sudden death of Albert in 1439, Hunyadi, arguably feeling Hungary needed a
warrior king, lent his support to the candidature of young King of Poland
Władysław III of (1440), and thus came into
collision with the powerful Ulrich II of Celje, the chief supporter of Albert's widow
Elizabeth and her infant son, Ladislaus V. He took a prominent part in the
ensuing civil war and was rewarded by Władysław with the captaincy of the fortress of Belgrade
and the governorship of Transylvania. He
shared the latter dignity with Mihály Újlaki.
First battles of the Balkans
The burden of the Ottoman War now rested with him. In 1441 he delivered Serbia by the victory of Semendria. In 1442, not far from Sibiu, on which he had been forced to retire, he annihilated an immense Ottoman presence, and recovered for
Hungary the suzerainty of Wallachia. In February 1450, he signed
an alliance treaty with Bogdan II of Moldavia.
In July, he vanquished a third Turkish army near the Iron Gates. These victories
made Hunyadi a prominent enemy of the Ottomans and renowned throughout Christendom, and
stimulated him in 1443 to undertake, along with King Władysław, the famous expedition known as the
"long campaign". Hunyadi, at the head of the vanguard, crossed the Balkans through the
Gate of Trajan, captured Niš, defeated three Turkish
pashas, and, after taking Sofia, united with the royal army and
defeated Sultan Murad II at Snaim. The impatience of the king and the severity of the winter then compelled him (February
1444) to return home, but not before he had utterly broken the Sultan's power in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania.
No sooner had he regained Hungary than he received tempting offers from Pope Eugene IV, represented by the Legate Julian Cesarini, from Đurađ Branković, despot of Serbia, and Gjergj Kastrioti, prince of Albania, to resume the
war and realize his ideal of driving the Ottomans from Europe. All the preparations had been made when Murad's envoys arrived in
the royal camp at Szeged and offered a ten years' truce on
advantageous terms. Branković bribed Hunyadi -he gave him his vast estates in Hungary- to support the acceptance of the peace.
Cardinal Julian Cesarini found a traitorous solution. The king swore that he would never
give up the crusade, so all future peace and oath was automatically invalid. After this Hungary accepted the Sultan's offer and
Hunyadi in Władysław's name swore on the Gospels to observe them.
Battle of Varna
The Battle of Varna, as depicted in the
1564 edition of
Martin
Bielski's
Polish Chronicle
Two days later Cesarini received tidings that a fleet of Venetian galleys had set off for the Bosporus to prevent Murad (who, crushed by his
recent disasters, had retired to Anatolia) from recrossing into Europe, and the cardinal
reminded the King that he had sworn to cooperate by land if the western powers attacked the Ottomans by sea. In July the
Hungarian army recrossed the frontier and advanced towards the Black Sea coast in order to
march to Constantinople escorted by the galleys.
Branković, however, fearful of the sultan's vengeance in case of disaster, privately informed Murad of the advance of the
Christian host, and prevented Kastrioti from joining it. On reaching Varna, the Hungarians found
that the Venetian galleys had failed to prevent the transit of the Sultan, who now confronted them with four times their forces,
and on November 10 1444 they were utterly routed in the
Battle of Varna, Władysław falling on the field and Hunyadi narrowly escaping.
Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
Brief personal rule
At the diet which met in February 1445 a
provisional government consisting of five Captain Generals was formed, with Hunyadi receiving Transylvania
and four counties bordering on the Tisza, called the Partium or Körösvidék, to rule. As the anarchy resulting from the
division became unmanageable, Hunyadi was elected regent of Hungary (Regni Gubernator) on
June 5 1446 in the name of Ladislaus V and given the powers of a regent. His first act as regent was to proceed against
the German king Frederick III, who refused to release Ladislaus V.
After ravaging Styria, Carinthia, and
Carniola and threatening Vienna, Hunyadi's difficulties
elsewhere compelled him to make a truce with Frederick for two years.
In 1448 he received a golden chain and the title of Prince from Pope Nicholas V, and immediately afterwards resumed the war with the Ottomans. He lost the two-day
Second Battle of Kosovo (October 7-10 1448, owing
to the treachery of Dan, pretender to the throne of Wallachia, and of his old rival
Branković, who intercepted Hunyadi's planned Albanian reinforcements led by Gjergj Kastrioti,
preventing them from ever reaching the battle. Branković also imprisoned Hunyadi for a time in the dungeons of the fortress of Smederevo, but he was ransomed by his countrymen
and, after resolving his differences with his powerful and numerous political enemies in Hungary, led a punitive expedition
against the Serbian prince, who was forced to accept harsh terms of peace.
In 1450 Hunyadi went to the Hungarian capital of Pozsony to
negotiate with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III the terms of the surrender of Ladislaus V, but no agreement could be
reached. Several of John Hunyadi's enemies, including Ulrich II of Celje, accused him
of conspiracy to overthrow the King. In order to defuse the increasingly volatile
domestic situation, he relinquished his regency and the title of regent.
On his return to Hungary at the beginning of 1453, Ladislaus
named him count of Beszterce and Captain General of the kingdom. The king also expanded
his coat-of-arms with the so-called Beszterce Lions.
Belgrade campaign and death
Meanwhile, the Ottoman issue had again become acute, and, after the fall of
Constantinople in 1453, it seemed natural that Sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate
Hungary. His immediate objective was Belgrade. Hunyadi arrived at the siege of
Belgrade at the end of 1455, after settling differences with his domestic enemies. At his
own expense, he restocked the supplies and arms of the fortress, leaving in it a strong garrison under the command of his
brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László. He proceeded to form a relief army, and assembled a fleet of
two hundred ships. His main ally was the Franciscan friar,
Giovanni da Capistrano, whose fiery oratory drew a large crusade made up mostly of peasants. Although relatively ill-armed (most were armed with farm equipment, such as
scythes and pitchforks) they flocked to Hunyadi and his small
corps of seasoned mercenaries and cavalry.
On July 14 1456 the flotilla
of corvettes assembled by Hunyadi destroyed the Ottoman fleet. On July 21, Szilágyi's forces in the fortress repulsed a fierce
assault by the Rumelian army, and Hunyadi pursued the retreating forces into their camp, taking
advantage of the Turkish army's confused flight from the city. After fierce but brief fighting, the camp was captured, and Mehmet
raised the siege and returned to Istanbul. With his flight began a 70 year period of relative
peace on Hungary's southeastern border. However, plague broke out in Hunyadi's camp three weeks after the lifting of the siege,
and he died August 11. He was buried inside the (Roman
Catholic) Cathedral of Alba Iulia
(Gyulafehérvár), next to his elder brother John.
Legacy
Personal Coat of arms – note the
raven depicted on the
escutcheon, the origin of the name
Corvinus
The rise of nationalism has led to hero images of John
Hunyadi in the discourse of several local nationalities – each in its own way has claimed him as their own. Along with his son
Matthias, John has acquired a presence in modern Romania's political culture (images that focus on the Vlach origin rather than
their careers within Hungary or on their presence as outsiders in the politics of
Wallachia and Moldavia, although Hunyadi was responsible for
establishing the careers of both Stephen III of Moldavia and the controversial
Vlad III of Wallachia). John Hunyadi is traditionally considered a national hero in
Hungary.
Among John's noted qualities, is his regional primacy in recognizing the insufficiency and unreliability of the
feudal levies, instead regularly employing large professional armies. His notable contribution to the development of the science of European warfare
included the emphasis on tactics and strategy in place of over-reliance on frontal assaults and
mêlées.
Although he remained illiterate until late in life (something not uncommon during the age he
lived in), his diplomatic, strategic, and tactical skills allowed him to serve his country
well. After his death, Pope Callixtus III stated that "the light of the world has
passed away", considering his defense of Christendom against the Ottoman threat.
Notes
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia
Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public
domain.
- Sources cited by the Encyclopædia Britannica:
- R.N. Bain, "The Siege of Belgrade, 1456", in Eng. Hist. Rev., 1892.
- Antonio Bonfini, Rerum ungaricarum libri xlv, editio septima (in Latin;
~contemporary source).
- J. de Chassin, Jean de Hunyad, (in French), Paris, 1859.
- György Fejér, Genus, incunabula et virtus Joannis Corvini de Hunyad (in Latin),
Buda, 1844.
- Vilmos Fraknói, Cardinal Carjaval and his Missions to Hungary, (in Hungarian),
Budapest, 1889.
- P. Frankl, Der Friede von Szegedin und die Geschichte seines Bruches (in German), Leipzig, 1904.
- A. Pcr, Life of Hunyadi (in Hungarian), Budapest, 1873.
- József Teleki, The Age of the Hunyadis in Hungary (in Hungarian), Pest, 1852-1857; (supplementary volumes by D. Csinki 1895).
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