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
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 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 () of , 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 and Romania. His name appears in one of the stanza of the Romanian national anthem.
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
1. Hunyadi's entries in the he Pallas' Great Lexicon
2. Dr. Borovszky Samu, ''Magyarország vármegyéi és városai'', Kiadta az országos monográfiai társaság, Budapest
3. according to the History sections of the Hunedoara Castle guides
4.
References
★
★ 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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