Here's a discription of the events in 1443 and 1444, from the "Annals of Jan Dlugosz":
A.D. 1443:
"Queen Elizabeth dead, the prelates and nobles of Hungary declare for King Wladyslaw except for those rebel towns and castles occupied by Jan Giskra. The King, ocnsidering that the country has largely recovered from the civil strife, decides to implement the policy, that originally induced him to accept the throne, that of freeing the country from the opression of the barbarous Turks. In this he is encouraged by Cardinal Julian, who, on behalf of Pope Eugenius IV, provides him with a considerable sum of money, and promises the assistance of Catholic kings and princes in the form of armed men. The idea is supported by the exiled ruler of Rasko and Albania, Stephen, who, thanks to the generosity of King Wladyslaw has been living in Hungary with his wife and a large part of his army, since the Sultan has annexed his country with its exeptionally fertile soil and rich gold and silver mines, and deprived Stephen's two sons of their eyes ans instruments of propagation. Cardinal Cesarini also approaches the King of the romans, but frederick refuses to help, being afraid lest at a later stage Wladyslaw attack Austria; but does agree to an armistice to last for two years. Another who refuses to help is the master of the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. All this Cesarini reports to the pope. meanwhile, Wladylsaw spends the summer preparing for war: buying weapons and horses and recruiting in Poland and Wallachia.
With everything prepared and ready, on the feats of St. mary Magdalen, King Wladyslaw and cardinal Julian, who has with him men of many naitonalities who have taken the Cross, march out from Buda. They spend the first night at Pieczki and then head straight for the castle at Alba Nandor. They cross the Danube near Stare Kamienie, capture the town of Sofia, which the troops are allowed to loot; that done, it is burned to the ground. The same is done with a number of castles and towns, which the Turks have occupied in Bulgaria and Rasko. When they reach the river locally known as the Morawa, their intelligence reports the presence of a Turkish army concealed and ready to atack at a propitious moment. The King decides to send a force of several thousand under Janos Hunyadi to stage a night attack. This takes the enemy completely by surprise. Few are not killed or captured. Their camp is captured and looted. After this victory several Bulgarian towns surrender. So, for a considerable time the King's army marches on. Again and again it is attacked, but on each occassion it routs its attackers. Thus, having travelled all Romania it reaches the frontier with Macedonia. The army is now running short of provisions and has already lost so many horses that much of the cavalry has had to be incorporated into the infantry.
Meanwhile, the Sultan has been assembling his forces, which he places under the command of the governor of natolia, who is ordered to defend the Rhodope Mountains between Romania and Macedonia, which are difficult to cross, and not to allow Wladyslaw's army to penetrate into them, but at the same time forbidding him to engage with the enemy. This command the proud Turks cannot obey. Again and again they attack Wladyslaw's army, which they know they outnumber, and are suitably punished by losing their commander, the governor of Natolia and much of his staff. The Turks withdraw to their camps in the mountains, bu Wladyslaw does not leave them in peace. He launches a fierce attack on Christmas Eve. The Turks shower the Poles with arrows to which the King replies with bullets, corssbow bolts and other missiles. The King himself is hit in the chest by several arrows, but his armour prevents them wounding him. It is long since his men have eaten and the King, afraid to let them fight on, withdraws. The Turks think the withdrawal is flight and attack, but the King turns back and routs them. The only voice raised against withdrawal is that of Stephen of Rasko and Albania, who even offers the King 100,000 dicats to replenish their provisions. But it would have been wrong to keep the army in the field in the middle of winter, thus ruining its transport, killing the horses and exposing the debilitated troops to defeat at the hands of an enemy they have just defeated. As it is, many of the King's men die of starvation on the march. They can be seen staggering from side to side as though about to fall; with their pallid faces and sunken eyes, they are more like ghosts then humans. In order to make things easier for his men, the king orders the weaker horses to be killed, armour and weapons to be buried, and everything that is heavier than its usefulness: tents, waggons, saddles, clothes and whatever they cannot carry to be burned and so prevent the Turks getting them and using them against them. They then continue back along the normal route. Bare of foot, the King enters Buda in triumph, the clergy and city-fathers going out in procession to greet him. The captured Turkish standards are placed in the Chruch of the Blessed Virgin in Buda, and the King orders the arms of twenty of the foremost Polish nobles and the same of Hungarian devices to be painted and hung in the same church in honour of their heroism.
A.D. 1444: Learning of Wladyslaw's triumphant return, the Catholic kings and princes send envoys and letters to congratulate and thank him. The Pope send not only cardinal Cesarini, but gifts as well. The kings of france, England, Spain and Aragon; the dukes of Burgundy and Milan and the cities of Venice, Florence and Genoa send envoys to thank him and beg him to organize another expedition, offering their help on land or sea. the Pope, the Venetians, the Genoese and philip of Burgundy offer to provide a fully equipped fleet to guard the coastal waters and prevent Turks corssing over form Anatolia. but, form the kingdom of Poland, come messages that their King should not embark on another such dangerous excercise, but rather think of returning to Poland and stopping the destruction being inflicted on it in his absence by the tatars, who, this year, have again invaded and wreaked havoc as far as the suburbs of lwow. Again the Silesians have been secretely raiding the country.
[...]The purpose of the assembly, which is also attended by all prelates, dukes and nobles of hungary, is to organize the new expedition against the Turks and to restore peace in the country without which any such campaign would be too risky. It is also attended by Stephen of Rasko, as well as by Jan Giskra and representative's of all the rebel towns to whom the king has promised immunity. frederick King of the Romans has no liking for the assembly, which he sees as yet another triumph for Wladyslaw. The King's main concern is to restore peace to Hungary. Various suggestions are made and in the end, Jan Giskra, who alone has espoused the cause of young Laszlo, for all the others have gone over to Wladylsaw, agress a truce. next comes the question of financing the coming war. The royal treasury is empty, for the King has been generous in his rewards and indeed extravagent, for he has given away more than he has received. In the end, it is decided that every town and village is to contribute a certain amount and their every inhabitant will pay a cetain sum to be assessed.[...] Janos Hunyadi is made responsible for the supply of waggons with iron tyres, cannon, firearms, gunpowder, horses and other necessary materials.[...] The Sultan fully informed of the preparations for war against him being made in Hungary and with his defeat at Wladylsaw's hands in the previous year fresh in his memory, becomes convinced that Fate is against him, especially when he learns that the Tatar khan, Karaman, is attacking Natolia witha huge army, and decides that at all cost he must make peace with Hungary. The governor of natolia urges both sides on, for he is eager to obtain his freedom; indeed, he is released even before peace is concluded, being ransomed by the Turks for 70,000 florins. King Wladyslaw informed of all this, is asked to go to Szeged in early August to hear the Sultan's envoys, who are coming to sure for peace.[...]They propose the following terms: that the Sultan surrender al the castles in Rasko that he and his predecessors have captured and garrisoned with Turks (fifteen are named); that the Sultan renounce for ever that part of Albania held by Stephen of Rasko; while the whole of Bulgaria is to remain under Turkish rule. Stephen's two sons are to be freed. That is all.[...] The final decision-one to which cardinal Cesarini does not agree- is that they should conclude peace with the Sultan for ten years, during which time Wladyslaw will be able to remove all civil strife from Hungary and when the ten years are up, will be free to start another was with the Turks.
When the Turks have left with the peace treaty agreed, letter arive from commanders of the fleet of the Apostolic See, the Duke of Burgundy, the cities of Venice and Genoa, as well as the captains of the galleys and other ships, informing the king that they have a powerful army ready to sail with the fleet and that they have been watchful and prevented the Turks corssing from Anatolia to Romania. They now ask the King to keep his promises and send his army overland to Romania, anticipating that it will be possible without great effort to recover the whole of Europe, especially as all the Sultan's forces are busy fighting the tatars. The King also receives letters sent by special messenger by the Emperor of Constantinople, John Palaelogus, assuring him that there was every hope of victory and of liberating Europe. He warns Wladyslaw against false, deceitful peace treaties, for which the Turks may ask, and pleads that he should not allow the desire to heal old wounds to damage the whole of Christendom.[...] Cardinal Cesarini salves their consciences by telling them that what they are doing has the authority of the Apostolic See and that the treaty they made was invalid, since it was made with an enemy of Christendom and without intrsuction from the Holy See. The cardinal even persuades the King and his councillors to swear an oath to wage the war to the best of their ability.[...] Wladyslaw's new army is not so strong or numerous as before, when, about Spetember 20, he moves out from Szeged. His heart is heavy, for he is breaking the treaty he made with the turks and he is without many of his Poles, who had asked far too high a reward and been told that they were not needed. Following the Danube, the great army enters Bulgaria on November 3. The King himself corsses the Danube at Orszawa and reaches Florentinum four days later, and Bidinum two days after that, heading for Adrianopole and then Gallipoli, where he intends to link up with the Venetian and Genoese fleet, which is already in position preventing the transfer of Turkish troopsfrom Asia, where the Sultan, Murad, and karaman, the Tatar khan, are already warring. the shortest route from Bidinum is through themountains, a distance and army could safely cover in a fortnight at the most, but the King and his councillors consider the king's army too small to be able to transport its waggon through the mountains, so it is decided to follow the danube, which will allow them to retain their waggons and provide better access to provisions.[...]While the King and his army are resting outside Nikopol, the Voivode of Transylvania, Dracula, corsses into Bulgaria and comes to beg Wladyslaw's forgiveness for having made friends with the turks. Having inspected the King's army and seen how small it is, he earnestly advises the king to abandon the expedition and return to hungary, insisting that Wladyslaw's army is far too weak, smaller indeed than the number of men with which the Sultan normally goes hunting. If the King should insist on going ahead with the campaign, the Voivode promises to send him his son with his whole army, and aso a pair of very powerful horses and two men who know the country and so can get him out of any tight corner.[...]Cardinal Julian receives a letter from the Cardinal of venice, commander of the fleet of the Apostolic See, telling him that 40,000 Turks have corssed secretly and by night form the lower part of Pharos into Europe inhindered by the fleet and its guards, whom some think may have been bribed, though the pious cannot accept that Venetians and genoese wold go so far as to sell the blood of Christians to the Muslims. Others say that the Apostolic fleet has been withdrawn, because of lack of provisions. Whichever it was, the waters are now open to the Turks. the King remains unperturbed by the news and determined to continue the planned advance to the shores of the Moorish Sea.
The army continues its advance until it reaches Varna, some five hundred paces from galata both of which have already been abandoned by the Turks. At the sight of the Polish standards, Hawerina and several other towns surrender, despite the protection of triple walls and access to the sea. At night the King can see the fires in the camps of those Turks who had corssed from natolia and goe first to Galipoli and then to Adrianopole, and who now together amount to a considerabe army, following the King's army and finally pitching camp some five thousand paces from it.[...] Janos Hunyadi deploys the various units in a wide are acroess a depression between the lake and the mountains, each a thousand paces from the other. On the left, near the lake, he places five standards of his own and Hungarian troops; then the King and his standards, with the Wlachians on the right; then the black Hungarian standard and beyond this the Bishop of Eger's troops, then the Ban of Slavonia's troops under the command of the Ban's brother; beyond them the standard of the Holy Vhurch under command of Cardinal Cesarini, and lastly, at the end of the right wing, some two thousand paces distant, the standard of St. Ladisla under the command of Duke Waradyn. In this array, with the waggons all behind them, they await the turks for the best part of three hours. the weather is fine; the sea calm; but suddenly a wind gets up from the West, a wind so strong hat it breaks the poles of all the standards but that of St. James, of which the King had charge.
Meanwhile the Turks[...] First, they mount a weak attack on the right wing under Duke Waradyn. Why it was, I do not know, but the Hungarians in the first ranks with four standards, i.e. those of Duke Waradyn, the Legate, the Ban of Slavonia's brother and Bishop Simon of Eger, are unable to withstand the Turks' first assault, and retreat towards Galata, which lies between the bay and the lake and the mountains towards Romania. the Turks pursue them for a couple of miles, i.e. ten thousand paces. When he sees this, the King mount his own attack, and so does Hunyadi. The two then link up and rout the Turks, whom they pusure for four thousand paces. However many the King and his men kill, it never looks as if they have achieved much, so great is the number of the enemy, some of whom, many people say, were women, recruited to swell their numbers. The Turks had, too, a number of camels laden partly with silks, partly with arrows and other necessary equipment. Others carry gold and silver coin, which, when they see themselves defeated, they spill on the ground to slacken the pursuit of the enemy, a cunning old trick of the Cossacks. These camels so frighten some of the knights' horses as to make them unmanagable; though the Wlachians and others greedy for money showed themselves brave enough to attack the camels.
the janissaries have now grouped in one place and form behind their tall shields pour such a rian of arrows on the King's men, that the air is filled, as if with hail. many are killed and the air resounds with the cries of dying horses. The King's infantry suffers the most, though he also loses many of his eminent Polish knights. Those whoa re expert in the art of war maintain that the king brought about his own defeat in that, at the begining, he pursued the enemy far too far. If he had shown restraint here, there is no doubt that victory would have been his. The King is always in the centre of the fray; Hunyadi repeatedly send to the King suggesting that he withdraw and save himself; as Hunyadi does later.
For a third time the King renews the attack. When he advances, the Wlachian show themselves more eager to strip the bodies of the fallen than pursue the enemy; and when the King has to withdraw, they take to their heels. So the fight continues until dusk. The King's men have by then driven the Turks thirty thousand paces back from their base at Varna. The King is now in the middle of the fray, surrounded on al sides, and there he dies together with all his knights, a grievous loss to Christendom and Poland.
When night falls, both sides consider themselves defeated. The Hungarians under Hunyadi have left the battlefield, and what is left of the King's army remains halted some distances from the waggons, which they no longer dare approach, in case the Turks are there already, and there they wait for their King to come to them. Nor do the Turks, who, likewise, consider themselves defeated, dare approach the waggons for two whole days. Meanwhile, fear has lent wings to the heels of the retreating Hungarians, Walachians and others, so that they reach the Danube in two days and two nights. Many of them not having eaten for two, three, even five days, nor had anything to drink.
The King was never seen again after night stopped the fighting. No-one has ever been found who saw him being captured of killed. Of the many others who ever returned, definite news came of their having died or been captured, but none of the King's fate. Cardinal Julian eft the battlefield together with Hunyadi, but then the two seperated, no one knows why. The Cardinal reached the danube with a small company, and there was killed by a Walachian who was ferrying him, his sole passenger, in a tiny boat. The Wlachian probably notcied that the cardinal was carrying gold, and this must have weighed down the boat. The Cardinal's naked body was later recovered from the river."
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