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6. The Battle of Kosovo
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90 The Battle of Kosovo 6 THE BATTLE OF KOSOVO 33. A LONG period of time then elapsed in which neither the Hungarians nor the Turks took it upon themselves to challenge the other in combat; the calamity each had experienced kept them at home in a state of shock. The bloody battle of Varna had shattered the strength of both sides, and neither the Turks nor the Hungarians had a king who was ready for war. Hunyadi governed the latter, Halil Pasha the former, in another’s name.154 Hunyadi, the more aggressive and militarily experienced of the two, could not forget the shame he had incurred at Varna and pondered day and night on how to erase the infamy and repair his losses. The inactivity of the Turks, who for a long time had shown no sign of preparing for war, gave him hope of success. Convinced that they lacked both strength and resolution, he considered that the time was ripe for recovering his former glory and destroying the Turks. Even if they had armies, he thought they would lack a commander-in-chief and that an army without a leader was worth no more than a leader without an army. At once, therefore, he mustered troops from Hungary, summoned reinforcements from Bohemia, and assembled a sizable force of mercenaries, whom he resolved to lead against the Turks in the belief that he could attack them and destroy them before they received the news that he had left Hungary: such was the skill and dispatch he brought to all his undertakings.155 As I mentioned before, George, the despot of Serbia, revealed his plans to the Turkish leaders and made out the great danger threatening their people to be greater than it really was. The Turks were dismayed by the news and were at a loss for what to do. Murad was now an elderly man devoted to religion and had relinquished 154. Hunyadi was elected governor at the annual diet of Hungarian nobles in 1446. 155. Hunyadi’s troops marched through Serbia, burning and pillaging, in September and October of 1448; see Setton, Papacy and Levant, vol. 2: 99. The Battle of Kosovo 91 the cares of government.156 Mehmed, who was still a young man, was thought unable to sustain the burden of such a major war. As for Halil Pasha, they considered him incapable of commanding the obedience which is essential in war. And so they trembled and seethed with anxiety, turning their minds this way and that but finding no plan satisfactory. Bogged down in their deliberations, the satraps finally decided the safest course was to recall Murad from retirement, for they believed that the veterans would refuse to serve under anyone else and reckoned that the fortunes of war should be tested under no other leader than one who had made a habit of winning. Halil Pasha was the author of this proposal and thereby thoroughly offended the feelings of Mehmed, who was eager to prove himself a man in this campaign and feared that he would lose power if his father resumed the throne: such is the fickleness of human wishes. Ambassadors were therefore sent to recall Murad, who promptly assembled an army and marched against the enemy. The soldiers followed him as eagerly as if they were going on a plundering expedition. 34. Hunyadi had now crossed over to Sofia with his forces. After overthrowing local governors who had confronted him and ravaging a broad swath of the enemy’s territory, he had just encamped in the region called Basilsa157 when the approach of Murad’s forces was announced. Hunyadi did not wait to be challenged but initiated the fight himself.158 When battle was commenced, the outcome of the struggle long remained uncertain. Where Hunyadi fought, the enemy was routed and turned tail, and a great slaughter was carried out. In the same way, Murad was victorious on his own wing, where he overwhelmed and routed the Hungarians. Finally, when 156. Aeneas is mistaken. Murad had abdicated and left governing of the empire to Mehmed and his adviser shortly after the Battle of Varna, but returned two years later to quell a janissary revolt; in late 1448 he was in control of the government in Edirne. See Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror, 51–53. 157. Van Heck’s trans.: Pelitza. 158. The Second Battle of Kosovo (October 17–19, 1448). [3.92.130.77] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 08:15...