Battle of Posada

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Battle of Posada
Part of the Hungarian-Wallachian Wars
Carol Robert fleeing from Posada
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Carol Robert fleeing from Posada
Date November 1330
Location somewhere near Olt, Romania
Result Major victory for Wallachia
Combatants
Kingdom of Hungary Wallachia
Commanders
Charles I Robert Basarab I
Strength
30,000 possibly 10,000
Casualties
Almost all killed minimum

The Battle of Posada (November, 1330) was a battle between the Wallachian Prince Basarab I and Charles I Robert, which resulted in a major Wallachian victory. The Hungarian defeat would be a turning point in the politics of Hungary, as they had to abandon their hopes of extending their kingdom to the Black Sea. For Wallachia, the victory meant the continual survival of the young state. Some historians claim that the Cumans aided the Wallachians in the battle, while the Avars aided the Hungarians. The location of the battle is still debated among historians. One theory gives the location of the battle at Loviştea, in some mountain gorges, in the valley of Olt, Transylvania.[1] In 1324, Wallachia was a vassal of Hungary, and Basarab referred to Robert as "our Transalpine Voivode."[2] The war started with encouragement from the Voivode of Transylvania[3] and a certain Dionisie, who later bore the title Ban of Severin.[4], In 1330, Robert captured the Wallachian citadel of Severin and handled it to the Transylvanian Voivode.[5] Basarab sent envoys that asked for the hostilities to cease, and in return offered to pay 7,000 marks in silver, submit the fortress of Severin to Robert, and send his own son as hostage.[6] According to the Viennese Illuminated Chronicle, a contemporary account, Robert would have said about Basarab: "He is the shepherd of my sheep, and I will take him out of his mountains, dragging him off his beard". Another account writes that Robert said "that he will drag the Voivode from his cottage, as would any driver his oxen or shepherd his sheep."[7]

The King's councillors begged him to accept the offer or give a milder reply, but he refused and lead his 30,000-strong army deeper into Wallachia "without proper supplies or adequate reconnaissance."[8] Basarab, owing to the poor state of his troops, was unable to hold an open field battle against a large army, and decided to retreat into the mountains (somewhere in the Transylvanian Alps). Robert entered the Curtea de Argeş, the main city of the Wallachian realm, and learned that Basarab had fled in the mountains, deciding to give chase. After many days of difficult marching in the Carpathian Mountains, with his troops beginning to starve, the King made Basarab to agree to an armistice, with the condition that the latter would provide guides who knew the way out of the mountains and would lead the army back to the Hungarian plain by the shortest route.[9] The guides, however, were ordered to lead the Hungarians into an ambush. When the army entered a ravine, the Wallachians started attacking them from all sides, shooting arrows and pelting them with stones.[10]

The army of Charles Robert Anjou ambushed by Basarab's army at Posada from Vienna Illuminated Chronicle manuscript
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The army of Charles Robert Anjou ambushed by Basarab's army at Posada from Vienna Illuminated Chronicle manuscript

The Wallachian army, led by Basarab himself, probably numbered less than 10,000 men - the miniatures in the mentioned chronicle may indicate that these were mostly shepherds, perhaps locally recruited. When Robert saw his best knights being killed, without being able to fight back, he gave his royal roves and insignia to one of his captains — "who dies under a hail of arrows and stones" — and with a few loyal subjects made a difficult escape to Visegrad "clad in dirty civilian clothes."[11] Robert later recounted in detail, in a charter of December 13, 1335, how one Nicholas, son of a Radoslav, saved his life by defending him from the swords of five Wallachian warriors, giving him enough time to escape.[12] Most of the Hungarian army — which included many nobles — was destroyed; among the casualties counts the Voivode of Transylvania and the priest that accomponied the King,[13]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History - from prehistoric times to the present day, Oxford 1941 p.59
  2. ^ A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History - from prehistoric times to the present day, Oxford 1941 p.59
  3. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  4. ^ A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History - from prehistoric times to the present day, Oxford 1941 p.59
  5. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  6. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  7. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  8. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  9. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  10. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  11. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278
  12. ^ A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History - from prehistoric times to the present day, Oxford 1941 p.59
  13. ^ The Annals of Jan Długosz, p. 278

[edit] References

  • Długosz, Jan. "The Annals of Jan Długosz" ISBN 1-901019-00-4
  • Ghyka, Matila. "A Documented Chronology of Roumanian History - from prehistoric times to the present day, Oxford 1941"
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