The Ottoman Turks were defeated at the battle of Kunovica by Crusader forces on this day in 1444. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Sultanate in 1453 came as a shock to the whole Christian World. Although Christendom was divided, many in the West understood that Constantinople was the thousand-year-old capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. Despite this, the city, which belonged to Europe and Asia, was taken over by the “Army of Islam”, fulfilling Muhammad’s conquest hadith (saying), “Verily, you shall conquer Constantinople. What a wonderful army will that army be, and what a wonderful commander will that conqueror be.” On January 8, I wrote about the council in Ferrara and Florence, which took place in 1438–1440. This Unionist council helped to mount a Crusade against the Ottomans, which became known as the Crusade of Varna, the last crusade in history. In 1443, Pope Eugene published the Crusading Bull. The crusade consisted mostly of Hungarians and central European powers who were at the frontier of the Ottoman advance into Europe, including: Kingdom of Poland
Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Croatia
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Serbian Despotate
Crown of Bohemia
Principality of Wallachia
Bulgarian insurgents
Kingdom of Bosnia
Papal States
Teutonic Knights The total number was 40,000.
Naval assistance was provided by the:
Duchy of Burgundy
Republic of Venice
Republic of Ragusa
Byzantine Empire
In October 1443, the Crusaders crossed the Danube River and caught Sultan Murad II (Mehmet II’s father) off guard. The factor of the unexpected worked until, in December 1443, the Crusaders had to fight in the snow at Zlatitsa pass (modern-day Bulgaria) against a substantial contingent of the Sultan’s army. The Crusaders were defeated. While the Ottomans did not expect the Crusaders to continue the fight, the Crusaders ambushed the Ottomans on the way home near mount Kunovica (modern-day Serbia). The Serbian Despot Đurađ led the attack from the House of Branković. Đurađ was a vassal of both the Hungarian king and the Ottoman Sultan. (Đurađ’s daughter Mara was a wife of Sultan Murad II, and Mehmet’s stepmother.) Thus, the battle at Kunovica saved the Crusaders’ faces and gave them inspiration to continue fighting the Ottomans.
Source: Venning, T., Harris, J., eds. A Chronology of the Byzantine Empire. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 2006. |
