Download PDF | David Nicolle, Christa Hook - nicopolis 1396 the last crusade-Osprey Publishing (2001).
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ORIGINS OF THE CAMPAIGN
rapid spread of Ottoman Turkish conquests, particularly in the southern Balkans during the second half of the 14th century. More specifically, an Ottoman threat to Hungary following the failure of a Hungarian attempt to promote an uprising against Ottoman domination in Bulgaria, provoked action. At this time the Byzantine Empire consisted of Constantinople (with some adjoining coastal areas),
Ts background to the Nicopolis Crusade is to be found in the
southern Greece and some northern Aegean islands. Little was left of the Crusader States in Greece while Bulgaria had fragmented into smaller kingdoms which soon fell under Ottoman domination. The fragile Serbian Empire had similarly fragmented as the Ottomans thrust into the heart of the Balkans.
It proved almost impossible for the Orthodox Christian Balkan states to join forces with the Catholics to the north. Although the ruling elite often looked northward for help, most ordinary people seemingly
preferred Ottoman Islamic domination to that of the Catholic Hungarians. There s similar friction between the Orthodox Rumanians of Wallachia and Moldavia and their Catholic Hungarian overlords.
Within the fragmented relics of the Byzantine Empire this confusion reached epidemic proportions. More often than not the Emperors were now vassals of the Ottoman ruler and everywhere there was hostility between military and civilians, ruling elite and common people. Although the peasant and urban revolts of the mid-I4th century had been crushed, they left large parts of Thrace and Macedonia almost uninhabited, except for a few fortified towns which were little more than fortified citadels surrounded by vegetable plots to feed their largely unpaid garrisons.
Meanwhile Ottoman expansion seemed carefully planned and was carried out with utter conviction. Some of the first Turks to seize territory in the Balkans were not actually Ottomans, but these arrivals were rapidly absorbed by the more powerful Ottoman state. Its first capital wa: at Bursa in Anatolia but, perhaps after briefly using Didimotihon as their first European capital, the Ottomans made Edirne the base from which the greatest wave of Ottoman conquests was launched. Constantinople would not, of course, fall to the Ottomans until 1453. The Ottoman advance may have seemed inexorable but in the 1380s they did suffer setbacks. Most fighting was done by armies based upon three frontier Uc or marches: one thrusting north-east through Thrace being under the command of the ruler; one moving north-west through Bulgaria under Qara Timurtash; one forging west into Greece commanded by Gazi Evrenos.
Meanwhile Prince Vlad of Wallachia thought of using Ottoman help in winning independence from Hungary, but his rival Mircea was more wary. Instead he seized the old Bulgarian Despotate of Dobruja to give his principality access to the Black Sea and made a treaty with Poland in 1389. In response the Ottoman commander Ali Pasa Candarli seized Nicopolis on the Danube and in 1391 the Ottomans launched their first raid north of the river. This forced Mircea back into an alliance with King Sigismund of Hungary and, perhaps in 1392, Mircea and Sigismund jointly retook Nicopolis. A new Balkan-Christian coalition seemed to be in the making but the following year Bayazid, the Ottoman ruler, re-imposed his authority in a lightning campaign. The Bulgarian Kingdom of Tarnovo was absorbed while Vidin and Serbia returned to their status as Ottoman vassals, though Bayazid also cultivated Serb friendship as a buffer against Hungary.
During this period the virtually empty plains of Thrace and eastern Macedonia were settled by the surplus population of Anatolia. These included several nomadic groups who became the yii { sain
warrior-herdsmen of several mountainous regions. The role of Bektashi dervishes who accompanied many Ottoman armies was also more important than is generally realised; not only acting as Islamic missionaries but also promoting the
colonisation and re-cultivation of land devastated
by war. The Bektashis’ relaxed attitude towarc
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wine and the mixing of the sexes also eased
relations with their Christian neighbours, so that by the end of the I4th century, Muslims, both Turkish newcomers and local converts, were a majority in Thrace.
The importance of Italian colonial outposts in the Black Sea during the Nicopolis campaign has not been fully recognised. The Black Sea itself was one of the world’s major trade arteries with the Crimea at the centre of this network of communications. Italians dominated the sea and, although they frequently fought each other, this meant that Latin Crusader expeditions enjoyed naval superiority well into the 15th century. By the late 14th century Genoa was the major maritime power, with Genoese outposts forming a commonwealth of largely autonomous colonies. From here merchants and adventurers penetrated far up the great rivers of eastern Europe. In fact, an island fortress near Giurgiu, only a hundred kilametres from Nicopolis, may have been of Genoe: ‘ailed up river as far as the Iron Gates
e!
origin and Genoese ships probably s on the border of Hungary.
The Kingdom of Hungary was unlike its western allies on the Nicopolis Crusade, Cultural differences between its regions were huge, ranging from the Catholic Magyars (Hungarians) in the centre and west, to Catholic Slovakian Slavs in the north, assorted Catholic and Orthodox
Slavs in the south, and the mixed Catholic and Orthodox region of Transylvania in the east. Transylvania actually retained _ its xon immigrants and the
autonomous status but settlement by rs who tried to impose Catholic Christianity on the ising tension. Some local voivodes, or
semi
activities of f
Orthodox population led to incr princes, accepted Hungarian culture and Catholicism but others emigrated with their military retainers to Moldavia and Wallachia, The southern border was even more fluid with Hungarian rule in Croatia, Dalmatia and the Macso region of Serbia usually being effective while Hunga
Moldavia and Wallachia sometimes accepted Hungarian suzerainty.
un authority in Bosnia was more superficial.
Here in the mountains and foothills Rumanian-speaking leaders held sway but on the adjoining plains nomadic peoples of Turkish origin had only recently accepted Moldavian or Wallachian rule. The same was true of Slav communities living along some great rivers
Both Moldavia and Wallachia had grown important trade routes and while Moldavia expanded north-eastwards into what had been Mongol Golden Horde territory, Wallachia wanted direct access to the Black Sea, By the late 14th century Wallachia also wched its cultural and political peak under the voivode Mircea the Elder, Nevertheless its status remained unclear; its political and mil structures fragile.
Even Hungary was weaker than it appeared. When Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland died in 1382 he left a formidable widow, Elisabeth, and two daughters: Maria aged eleven and Hedwig aged nine. Maria was crowned the day after Louis was buried but the Poles refused to cepted
recognise her as their Queen, After prolonged argument they : Hedwig instead; thus ending the brief union between Hungary and Poland, After Hedwig married Prince Jagiello this union was replaced Poland and Lithuania. Unfortunately Ma was already engaged to Sigismund of Luxembourg, Margrave of Brandenburg and son of Emperor Charles [IV of Germany. He never really accepted the loss of Poland, which he had hoped to rule along igismund and Maria were in no hurry to marry, Hungary was ruled by the Queen Mother, Elisabeth. To further complicate the issue King Charles of Naples, ruler of southern Italy and adopted son of Louis the Great, maintained that he should be King of Hungary. In 1385 he invaded Dalmatia, Maria was forced to abdicate but Charles was assassinated by followers of Queen Mother Elisabeth.
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