The Battle of Kenyermezo, 1479

It isn't taught in the schools.

I have a pretty big Ottoman source that includes the small victories of Jan Hunyadi and Hungarians-which are not known in Turkey so much-against Ottomans but it doesn't include this one.

And I don't know this battle.

Well it did not surprise me. It was a minor battle. Neither the hungarian nor the ottoman main army participated in it. In Hungary it is well know because of the propaganda of King Matthias's chronicler. I have just read a good description and  assay of the battle, and I was curious the turkish oppinion.

The historians like this battle  since it illustrates well the changing positions in the ottoman-hungarian power relation. The casulties of the ottomans were two or three times bigger than the hungarian�s, but they were able to recover much easier. The ottoman manpower and income was much larger than the hungarian. Altough this victory was a succes in the short round it also indicates that the defense of Hungary is increasingly more and more difficult.

About the battle:

In 1479 a smaller ottoman army (cca. 15 000 men) attacked Transylvania with the unwilling aid of the walachian prince Tepelus Basarab. According to my sources it might be a revenge for the earlier hungarian champaigns in Bosnia or to stop the hungarian continous intervention in Wallachia. This army was led by 3 well-known beys: Isa bey the leader of the army, Mihal-oglu Ali bey, Malkoc-oglu Bali bey (Maybe I misspelled their name.) The hungarian army was led by Istv�n B�thori the voivod of Transylvania and P�l Kinizsi the general-captain of the Lower Parts of Hungary. The hungarians were aided by the serbian despot Vuk Brankovic and maybe (the sources are obscure) Laiota Basarab�s small vlach contingent.

The battle began after duel of a turkish cavalryman and a saxon warrior. At the centre Isa bey rolled back the transylvanian troops. The voivod himself was injured and only saved by one of his soldiers who took him up to his horse. At the ottoman right wing the fight was drawn between Bali bey and the serb-vlach-hungarian troops led by the despot. At the other wing Ali bey frightened by the heavy cavalry of Kinizsi �tacticaly withdrawed� without a fight. So Kinizsi flanked the ottoman center and saved the day.  The cavalry fled, only the wallachian infantry held out. According to the sources they fight so brave that the hungarians forced to use the heavy calvary to beat them.

There are three main sources of the battle:

1.       The Chronicle of Antonio Bonfini (a hungarian court chronicler)

2.       The Chronicle of Kemalpasazade (in the 7th volume)

3.       The narrative of a saxon participant (in german language)

There is a link to a map of the battle. (I did not find any english description) http://crowland.uw.hu/images/csata/kenyermezo.html

Edited by Raider

Is the Kenyermezo equal to Bread Field ? I like this battle very much, mainly due to the Kinizsi's "macabra dance" after battle

This is one of the biggest Hungarian victories against akindji troops. This battle is not found most of the Turkish chronicles, since this is a border conflist, a raid war made by irregular Ottoman troops (called akindji). almost every year (in spring) akindji troops cross the border and raid the neighbouring countries (in case there is no treaty). they were not paid soldiers, they were irregular light cavalry which depend on booty and slaves that they take during raids. In some cases they are trapped by enemy and defeat is unavaoidable since they are light cavalry. In some cases they defeated the enemy which caught them. ın order to avoid from defeats, they brigng with them 2 or 3 horses, when the horse they ride is dead because of exhaustion, they were riding the other one. They ahd to be faster than defenders. There are many victories of European defenders against Ottomans in their history, which are not well known in Turkey, since these are border clashes and defeats. National histories have a tendancy to exaggerate this kind of victories.