Holy Wars of King Wladislas and Sultan Murad

John Jefferson received his M.A. from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (2002), and his Ph.D. from Mainz University (2011) where he is a guest lecturer. He works as a consultant and translator in several languages, including Polish, Arabic and Turkish.

• List of Maps and Tables . . . xiAcknowledgements . . . xiiiIntroduction . . . 1The Final Charge . . . 1The Historiography of the Conflict . . . 8Purpose and Scope . . . 16PART ONE: THE CONFLICT TO 1440 AND ITS CONTEXT1. The Church, the Council and the Crusade . . . 25Defining Crusade . . . 25Eugene IV, Cardinal Cesarini and the Council of Basel . . . 28The Contest to Achieve Union . . . 38The Crusade Project at the Council of Florence . . . 552. The Reign of Murad II and Renewed Ottoman Expansion . . . 69The Reign of Murad II . . . 70The Ottoman Porte at the Time of Murad II . . . 76The Kul/Slave Institution . . . 82The Timar System and the Provincial Government . . . 94The Marcher Lords . . . 96The Transition in Ottoman Expansionist Policy . . . 102Ottoman Relations with Karaman . . . 1113. Three Kings of Hungary—Sigismund, Albert and Wladislas . . . 119Familiaritas—The Lord and His Retinue . . . 119Sigismund of Luxembourg . . . 130The Ottoman-Hungarian Conflict to 1437 . . . 134The Bufffer States . . . 139Serbia . . . 140Wallachia . . . 142Bosnia . . . 143The Raid on Kruševac . . . 144Albert II, the Bohemian Wars, and the Politicization of theOttoman Threat . . . 146The Ottoman Campaigns of 1438–39 . . . 157The Election of Wladislas . . . 168PART TWO: THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1440–14444. Strategy, Tactics and Order of Battle . . . 181Ottoman Order of Battle . . . 181The Timarli Sipahis or Provincial Landed Cavalry . . . 183Slaves of the Porte . . . 188Enlisted Troops . . . 193Mobilization . . . 199Christian Forces . . . 200Tactics . . . 209Intelligence and Reconnaissance . . . 216The Crusader Fleet . . . 222Gunpowder . . . 227Siege Warfare . . . 2305. The Rise of Hunyadi, 1440–1442 . . . 235The 1440 Siege of Belgrade . . . 235The Hungarian Civil War . . . 246The Rise of Hunyadi . . . 255Hungarian Civil War—Phase Two . . . 259The Church and the Crusade—1442 . . . 263Attempts to End the Hungarian Civil War . . . 272The Turkish Wars of 1442 . . . 279Şehabeddin’s Defeat . . . 2866. The Long March . . . 295The Church and the Crusade—1443 . . . 295Political Developments in Hungary . . . 306The Revolt of Ibrahim Bey . . . 309Preparations for the Crusade . . . 315The Battles of Nish and Aleksinac . . . 323The Ottoman Mobilization . . . 334The Battle at Zlatitsa Pass . . . 340The March Home . . . 3487. The Crusade of 1444 . . . 357After the Long March . . . 357Wladislas’ Position in Hungary . . . 367Ibrahim Bey’s Insurrection . . . 371Proponents of Peace . . . 377Advocates of War . . . 381Fleet Preparations . . . 393The Attack on Ibrahim Bey and Murad’s Abdication . . . 398The Ratifijication of the Peace Treaty . . . 406Operations Begin . . . 422The First Weeks of the Campaign . . . 426The Crossing of the Straits . . . 432The Land Expedition Continues . . . 443The Battle of Varna . . . 455Phase One . . . 460Phase Two . . . 464Phase Three . . . 467Aftermath . . . 482Summary and Conclusion . . . 489Bibliography . . . 497Index . . . 505

"...Relying on his extensive knowledge of a number of foreign languages, successfully combining the various and diverse available sources, John Jefferson has managed to produce the most comprehensive account of events regarding the Ottoman-Christian conflict between 1438 and 1444 to date. His book will certainly represent essential reading for anyone interested in the research of Ottoman expansion during the 15th century, and it will surely come to be considered as the standard work for the study of the Long Campaign and the Battle of Varna. Because of the way in which it is structured and how the arguments and the story in it are presented, the book will be of interest not only to specialists, who will find a wealth of new material in it, but also to the more casual reader seeking to understand the broader context of the conflict between the Ottomans and Christians in the Late Middle Ages."Emir O. Filipović, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju (Contributions to Oriental Philology), Vol. 63, Sarajevo, 2014