John Hunyadi

John (János) Hunyadi
Governor of the Kingdom of Hungary
Voivode of Transylvania
Voivode of Transylvania
Issue
László Hunyadi
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
House Hunyadi family
Father Voyk[1] (Vajk)[2] Hunyadi
Mother Elizabeth Morzsinay
Born c. 1407
Died 1456
Nándorfehérvár, Kingdom of Hungary (now Belgrade, Serbia)
Burial Roman Catholic Cathedral of Gyulafehérvár (now: Alba Iulia)
Signature
The native form of this personal name is Hunyadi János. This article uses the Western name order.

János (John) Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János [ˈhuɲɒdi ˈjaːnoʃ], Medieval Latin: Ioannes de Hunyad or Ioannes Corvinus, Romanian: Iancu (Ioan) de Hunedoara, Slovak: Ján Huňady, Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко / Sibinjanin Janko) (c. 1407[3] – 11 August 1456), nicknamed The White Knight[4] was a general (1444–1446) and Regent-Governor (1446–1453) of the Kingdom of Hungary.[5]

Hunyadi is widely celebrated in Hungarian history[6] as its most prominent, successful and powerful generalissimo. He promoted a revision of dated military doctrine and was an outstanding and iconic military opponent of the Ottoman Empire. Hunyadi was, in a sweeping scope of European military history, the pre-eminent strategist and tactician of the 15th century in Christendom.[5] He was also a Voivode of Transylvania (1440–1456),[7] the and father of the most renowned king in Hungarian history — King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary.

Hunyadi's military genius, prowess and wherewithal to prosecute preventive and aggressive crusading warfare policies welded together many Christian nationalities against the onslaught of the vastly numerically superior Ottoman Muslim forces. Hunyadi's leadership achieved a state of integrity, stalemate and détente for the Hungarian Kingdom and the many European states that lay to its periphery.

Hunyadi's aim to re-organize the military constituents of Hungary from strictly a feudal-based aristocratic levy into an efficient, professional and formidable standing army would bring reform to European military components in a 'post-Roman' European war-making society. These reforms were further developed by his successor and son King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary who took them to their ultimate culmination with the Black Army of Hungary.

Hunyadi is often considered the bellwether of the European "post-Roman" professional "Standing Army". He is renowned as one of the greatest Medieval field commanders of all time: His victory over Mehmed II at the Siege of Belgrade in 1456 against overpowering odds is regarded as a seminal piece of European military history.

He was awarded the title Athleta Christi (Champion of Christ) by Pope Pius II.[8]

Contents

Family

Statue of Hunyadi, Heroes' Square, Budapest, Hungary

The Hunyadi family are a Hungarian[9] noble family — according to most sources — of Romanian[10][11][12] origin. There are also alternative researches suggesting Cuman[13] or Slavic[14][15][16] descendance. According to H. Munro Chadwick John Hunyadi was presumably ethnic Hungarian,[17] while other researchers affirm that the overwhelming evidence supports the view that he indeed was not Magyar.[18] . He was named Valachus or Balachus ("the Wallachian") in some contemporary texts [19]. According to Hugh Seton-Watson "the ethnical origin of Hunyadi may be left to the chauvinist historians of Budapest and Bucharest to fight out between them, but the historical fact is that both Hunyadi and his son considered themselves Hungarians."[20]

Others simply refer to the obscurity surrounding the ethnic origins.[21][22]

The Hunyadis were first recorded in a royal charter of 1409 in which Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary, granted Vojk the Hunyad Castle (in contemporary Hungarian: Hunyadvár, later Vajdahunyad, in present-day Romanian: Hunedoara) and its estates for his distinction in the wars against the Ottomans.

Vojk was described as being of Vlach descent by medieval chroniclers[23] and the majority of modern historians[24][25][26][27][28].

Hunyad Castle, main entrance

Vojk was a nobile from Wallachia[29] and was the son of Şerb (also spelled as Sorb or Serbe) a Vlach Knyaz from the Banate of Szörény (Severin). It is believed that Şerb had three sons - Hunyadi's's father Vojk (a Hungarian pagan name, or a properly Vlach name, or even a Turkic or Slavic one), Magos (Mogoş, also Mogos, the latter meaning "tall" in Hungarian), and Radol or Radul (a Romanian name).[30] Even if Vojk was from Wallachia it is thought that a few Wallachian nobles were of Cuman, Pecheneg or Tatar descent. Another theory developed at the end of the 19th century claiming that Şerb, Hunyadi's grandfather, was originally from Serbia.[31] What is certain is that Hunyadis father Vojk took the family name of Hunyadi in 1409 when he received the estate around the Hunyad Castle from Sigismund and was ennobled as count of Hunyad.

Legendary origins

Sigismund of Luxembourg's royal charter (1409)
John Hunyadi - hand-colored woodcut in Johannes de Thurocz's Chronicle Chronica Hungarorum, Brno, 1488.

The family can be traced back two generations to Vajk's father Şerban (or Şerb), Hunyadi's grandfather. While the family's name and ascent to comital rank (count of Hunyad) were established only by Sigismund granting the title; the lack of evidence for royal descent gave rise to various legends and scholarly constructions about the origins of the Hunyadis. This is especially true of Hunyadi's son Matthias Corvinus and his origin has also been disputed in modern times.[32]

Matthias Corvinus' court historian Antonio Bonfini flattered his king by tracing the family's ancestry to the Roman gens Corvina, or Valeriana, while adding: "for this man was indeed born of a Romanian father and a Hungarian mother"[33] Another contemporary historian, the Hungarian Johannes de Thurocz, similarly flattering his king, wrote in the Chronicle of the Hungarians (Chronica Hungarorum) that the Hunyadi family was of Hunnic origin, even calling Matthias Corvinus the second Attila.[34] The 16th century historian Gáspár Heltai made Hunyadi the illegitimate son of emperor Sigismund and the young noble Erzsébet Morzsinay.[35] John's son, King Matthias, had a statue of Sigismund in Visegrád and claimed him as his grandfather.

Corvinus legend

The epithet Corvinus (referring to the raven) was first used by the biographer of his son Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, but is also applied to John. It is linked to the legend documented by Gáspár Heltai, among others. The legend said that John was the illegitimate son of Hungarian King Sigismund of Luxembourg,[36] and that Vajk was a faithful soldier of his father for two decades. After the death of his wife, King Sigismund met Elizabeth Morzsinai, a virgin noblewoman, and fell in love. In the morning, the king gave a royal ring to the lady, promising her that he would take care of the son. After the boy was born, the family set off to Buda to the palace of Sigismund. During the trip, they took a rest, and baby John started crying. Elizabeth gave him the ring to make him quiet, whereupon a rook stole the ring. Elizabeth's brother took his bow and arrow and shot the rook, whereupon, as if by a miracle, the rook did not die, and the ring was recovered. Arriving at the royal court in Buda, Sigismund filled the baby's cradle with precious stones. Other versions of the legend state that it was the child John himself, about 6 years old, who shot the arrow.

The legend may have some basis in fact, as his presumed father, Vojk, had never before had a coat of arms depicting a raven, and suddenly he changed it for some reason; Moreover Wallachian coat of arms (which changed its appearance trough the Early Modern Age) depicts a raven-like bird (actually a black aquila chrysaëtos[37]) holding a cross in its beak.[38] The family of Vajk received the estates of Hunyad, and John's education was funded by the king. The part of the legend that is most questioned is not the raven and the events surrounding John, but the parentage by Sigismund. The main counterargument is that John was not able to become king of Hungary because he was not considered of royal blood. It is argued that John, his wife Elizabeth, and their son Matthias invented and/or promoted the legend in order to allow John's son to become king.

Mother

John's mother was Elisabeta Morşina (Erzsébet Morzsinay), a lady of the lesser nobility. According to primary sources she was the daughter of a Romanian[39] lesser noble from Hunyad (Hunedoara), Transylvania. Some modern writers suggest she was a Hungarian[40] while others note that her family (also known as the Demsusi Muzsina family) was a family of Romanians ennobled in the second half of the 15th century [41]

Wife

In 1432, John married Erzsébet Szilágyi (c. 1410-1483), a Hungarian noblewoman, also of high rank (Szilágy being the name of a county overlapping with present-day Sălaj County).

Children

John Hunyadi had two children, László and Matthias.

László felt victim to the struggle between Hungary's various barons and its Habsburg king, Ladislaus the Posthumous (also king of Bohemia), in the years after the death of John. After the assassination of Ulrich II of Celje, the king felt threatened by László. The king planned to eliminate him by inviting him to Buda. Suspecting no evil, László accompanied the king to Buda, but on arriving there was arrested on a charge of plotting against Ladislaus, condemned to death without the observance of any legal formalities, and beheaded on 16 March 1457.

His brother, Matthias, was also inveigled to Buda by the enemies of his house, and, on the pretext of being concerned in a purely imaginary conspiracy against Ladislaus, was condemned to decapitation, but was spared on account of his youth. In November 1457 the king died. Matthias was taken hostage by George of Poděbrady, governor of Bohemia, a friend of the Hunyadis who aimed to raise a national king to the Magyar throne. Poděbrady treated Matthias hospitably and affianced him with his daughter Catherine, but still detained him, for safety's sake, in Prague, even after a Magyar deputation had hastened thither to offer the youth the crown. Matthias took advantage of the memory left by his father's deed, and by the general population's dislike of foreign candidates; most the barons, furthermore, considered that the young scholar would be a weak monarch in their hands. An influential section of the magnates, headed by the Palatine László Garai and by Miklós Újlaki, voivode of Transylvania, who had been concerned in the judicial murder of Matthias's brother László, and hated the Hunyadis as semi-foreign upstarts, were fiercely opposed to Matthias's election; however, they were not strong enough to resist against Matthias's uncle Mihály Szilágyi and his 15,000 veterans. On 20 January 1458, Matthias was elected king by the Diet. It was the first time in the medieval Hungarian kingdom that a member of the nobility, without dynastic ancestry and relationship, mounted the royal throne.

Rise of a general

John Hunyadi, contemporary engraving

While still a young enterprising man, Hunyadi entered the retinue of Sigismund, who appreciated his qualities but was also the King's creditor on several occasions. A document describing a loan agreement of 1200 gold florins, dated from 1434 refers to him "János the Wallachian" (John the Wallachian)[42] He accompanied the monarch to Frankfurt in Sigismund's quest for the Imperial crown in 1410, took an active part in the Hussite Wars in 1420, and in 1437 was sent south to successfully raise the Turkish siege of Semendria. The young knight served many powerful magnates and strategists of Sigismund, including Stefan Lazarević and Philippo Scolari. In Milan he made the acquaintance of the condottiere (mercenary captain) Francesco Sforza and studied the new military art of Italy.[43] Later he received numerous landed estates and a privileged position in the royal council of Hungary. His star was soon in the ascendant and in 1438 King Albert II found Hunyadi promoted to Ban of Severin[36] that lay south of the defensible southern frontiers of Hungary; the Carpathians and the Drava/Sava/Danube complex, a province subject to constant Ottoman harassment.

On the untimely death of Albert in 1439, Hunyadi was of the volition that Hungary was best served by a warrior king and lent his support to the candidature of young King of Poland Władysław III of Varna in 1440, and thus came into collision with the powerful magnate Ulrich II of Celje, the chief proponent of Albert's widow Elisabeth of Bohemia (1409–1442) and her infant son, Ladislaus Posthumus of Bohemia and Hungary. Featuring prominently in the brief ensuing civil war, Władysław III's side was thus reinforced by Hunyadi's noticeable military abilities, and was rewarded by Władysław with the captaincy of the fortress of Belgrade, a latter dignity that he shared with Mihály Újlaki.

He became the king's trusted adviser and most highly-regarded soldier, and was put in charge of military operations against the Ottomans. The king recognized Hunyadi's merits by granting him estates in Eastern Hungary. Hunyadi became the greatest landowner in Hungarian history. At the peak of his career he could call himself master of 2.3 million hectares of land, 28 castles, 57 towns and about 1,000 villages.[16] Unlike most of his contemporaries, Hunyadi did not use his great revenues or the military and political weight of his thousands of retainers simply for his personal aggrandizement; for many years, he bore a large share of the cost of fighting the Ottomans.[44]

First Battles with the Ottomans

John Hunyadi's seal
Ioanis de Huniad, Gubernatoris Regni Hungarie

The main frame of the conflict with the Turks now resided in his jurisdiction and Hunyadi soon showed and displayed extraordinary capacity in marshalling its defenses with the limited resources at his disposal. In 1441 he scored a pitched battle victory at Semendria over Ishak Bey. The following year, not far from Nagyszeben in Transylvania he annihilated an invasion force of Ottomans that offered stern battle with an immense host, and recovered for Hungary the suzerainty of Wallachia. In February 1450, he signed an alliance treaty with Bogdan II of Moldavia.

In July 1442, an undaunted and intrepid Hunyadi proceeded march against the enemy with 15,000 Hungarian and Szekler irregulars against a massed formation of a third Turkish invasion force reinforced by the choicest of Ottoman military numbering 80,000 in Wallachia sent in retaliation for subsequent defeats. Hunyadi's engagement at the Iron Gates is one of Hungary's more celebrated victories, Hunyadi's maneuvers of infantry, cavalry and war-wagons performed superbly to the astonishment of the Turkish commander Sehabbedin, who was astounded by the smallness of the Magyar army.

These victories made Hunyadi a prominent enemy of the Ottomans and renowned throughout Christendom, and was a prime motivator to undertake in 1443, along with King Władysław, the famous expedition known as the long campaign. Hunyadi, at the head of the vanguard, crossed the Balkans through the Gate of Trajan, captured Niš, defeated three Turkish pashas, and, after taking Sofia, united with the royal army and defeated Sultan Murad II at Snaim. The impatience of the king and the severity of the winter then compelled him (February 1444) to return home, but not before he had utterly broken the Sultan's power in Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Albania.

No sooner had he regained Hungary than he received tempting offers from Pope Eugene IV, represented by the Legate Julian Cesarini, from Đurađ Branković, despot of Serbia, and Gjergj Kastrioti, prince of Albania, to resume the war and realize his ideal of driving the Ottomans from Europe. All the preparations had been made when Murad's envoys arrived in the royal camp at Szeged and offered a ten years' truce on advantageous terms. Branković bribed Hunyadi – he gave him his vast estates in Hungary – to support the acceptance of the peace. Cardinal Julian Cesarini found a traitorous solution. The king swore that he would never give up the crusade, so all future peace and oath was automatically invalid. After this Hungary accepted the Sultan's offer and Hunyadi in Władysław's name swore on the Gospels to observe them.

The Battle of Varna, as depicted in the 1564 edition of Martin Bielski's Polish Chronicle.

Battle of Varna

Two days later Cesarini received tidings that a fleet of Venetian galleys had set off for the Bosporus to prevent Murad (who, crushed by his recent disasters, had retired to Anatolia) from recrossing into Europe, and the cardinal reminded the King that he had sworn to cooperate by land if the western powers attacked the Ottomans by sea. In July the Hungarian army recrossed the frontier and advanced towards the Black Sea coast in order to march to Constantinople escorted by the galleys.

Branković, however, fearful of the sultan's vengeance in case of disaster, privately informed Murad of the advance of the Christian host, and prevented Kastrioti from joining it. On reaching Varna, the Hungarians found that the Venetian galleys had failed to prevent the transit of the Sultan - indeed, the Genoese transported the Sultan's army (and received, according to legend, one gold piece for each soldier shipped over). Hunyadi, on 10 November 1444, confronted the Ottomans with less than half the Hungarian forces. Nevertheless, victory was still possible in the Battle of Varna as Hunyadi with his superb military skills managed to rout both flanks of the Sultan's army. At this point, however, king Władysław, who up to that point had remained in the background and relinquished full leadership to Hunyadi, assumed command and with his bodyguards carried out an all-out attack on the elite troops of the Sultan, the Janissaries. The Janissaries readily massacred the king's men, also killing the king, exhibiting his head on a pole. The king's death caused disarray in the Hungarian army, which was subsequently routed by the Ottomans; Hunyadi himself narrowly escaped. On his way home, Vlad II Dracul of Wallachia imprisoned Hunyadi; only the threats of the palatine of Hungary brought the voivode, theoretically an ally of Hunyadi against the Ottomans, to release him.[45]

Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary

Brief personal rule

Hunyadi's estates in 1456 (green)

At the diet which met in February 1445 a provisional government consisting of five Captain Generals was formed, with Hunyadi receiving Transylvania and four counties bordering on the Tisza, called the Partium or Körösvidék, to rule. As the anarchy resulting from the division became unmanageable, Hunyadi was elected regent of Hungary (Regni Gubernator) on 5 June 1446 in the name of Ladislaus V and given the powers of a regent. His first act as regent was to proceed against the German king Frederick III, who refused to release Ladislaus V. After ravaging Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola and threatening Vienna, Hunyadi's difficulties elsewhere compelled him to make a truce with Frederick for two years.

John Hunyadi in a Johannes de Thurocz Chronicle woodcut

In 1448 he received a golden chain and the title of Prince from Pope Nicholas V, and immediately afterwards resumed the war with the Ottomans. He lost the two-day Second Battle of Kosovo (7–10 October 1448, owing to the treachery of Dan II of Wallachia, then pretender to the throne, and of his old rival Branković, who intercepted Hunyadi's planned Albanian reinforcements led by Gjergj Kastrioti, preventing them from ever reaching the battle. Branković also imprisoned Hunyadi for a time in the dungeons of the fortress of Smederevo, but he was ransomed by his countrymen and, after resolving his differences with his powerful and numerous political enemies in Hungary, led a punitive expedition against the Serbian prince, who was forced to accept harsh terms of peace.

In 1450 Hunyadi went to Pozsony to negotiate with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III the terms of the surrender of Ladislaus V, but no agreement could be reached. Several of John Hunyadi's enemies, including Ulrich II of Celje, accused him of conspiracy to overthrow the King. In order to defuse the increasingly volatile domestic situation, he relinquished his regency and the title of regent.

On his return to Hungary at the beginning of 1453, Ladislaus named him count of Beszterce and Captain General of the kingdom. The king also expanded his coat-of-arms with the so-called Beszterce Lions.

Belgrade victory and death

Hunyadi's tomb in Gyulafehérvár / Alba Iulia Catholic Cathedral.
Gothic fresco of the Siege of Belgrade in the Church of Immaculate Conception of Virgin Mary in Olomouc (1468)

Meanwhile, the Ottoman issue had again become acute, and, after the fall of Constantinople in 1453, it seemed natural that Sultan Mehmed II was rallying his resources in order to subjugate Hungary. His immediate objective was Nándorfehérvár (today Belgrade). Nándorfehérvár was a major castle-fortress, and a gate keeper of south Hungary. The fall of this stronghold would have opened a clear way to the heart of Central Europe. Hunyadi arrived at the siege of Belgrade at the end of 1455, after settling differences with his domestic enemies. At his own expense, he restocked the supplies and arms of the fortress, leaving in it a strong garrison under the command of his brother-in-law Mihály Szilágyi and his own eldest son László Hunyadi. He proceeded to form a relief army, and assembled a fleet of two hundred ships. His main ally was the Franciscan friar, Giovanni da Capistrano, whose fiery oratory drew a large crusade made up mostly of peasants. Although relatively ill-armed (most were armed with farm equipment, such as scythes and pitchforks) they flocked to Hunyadi and his small corps of seasoned mercenaries and cavalry.

On 14 July 1456 the flotilla assembled by Hunyadi destroyed the Ottoman fleet. On 21 July, Szilágyi's forces in the fortress repulsed a fierce assault by the Rumelian army, and Hunyadi pursued the retreating Ottoman forces into their camp, taking advantage of the Turkish army's confused flight from the city. After fierce but brief fighting, the camp was captured, and Mehmet lifted the siege and returned to Istanbul. A 70 year period of relative peace on Hungary's southeastern border began with his flight. However, plague broke out in Hunyadi's camp three weeks after the lifting of the siege, and he died August 11. (For his final words see section Legacy). He is buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral of Gyulafehérvár (now: Alba Iulia) next to his younger brother, John. Sultan Mehmet II paid him tribute:"Although he was my enemy I feel grief over his death, because the world has never seen such a man."

The Noon Bell

Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the defenders of the city.[46][47] The practice of Noon bell is traditionally attributed to the international conmemoration of the Belgrade victory and to the order of Pope Callixtus III.[48] [49] [50]

Personal Coat of arms – note the raven depicted on the escutcheon, the origin of the name Corvinus.

Legacy

The rise of nationalism has led to hero images of John Hunyadi in the discourse of several local nationalities – each in its own way has claimed him as their own. The majority of English sources consider him a Hungarian national hero.[51][52][53][54]

Along with his son Matthias Corvinus, John is considered a Hungarian national hero and praised as its defender against the Ottoman threat. He was born in and had a career in the Kingdom of Hungary, Hunyadi was a member of the Hungarian aristocracy and a subject of the Hungarian crown. His whole life was dedicated to the Hungarian and Christian cause; he married a Hungarian noblewoman (Erzsébet Szilágyi); and he reared his children as Magyars.[55] He no doubt was born in the Catholic faith, which his father probably had already professed. He has not only become member of the Hungarian nobility but has also risen according to their deserts to the highest positions in the land.[56] John Hunyadi is mentioned in Szózat, a poem which is considered a "second anthem" of Hungary.

On his deathbed Hunyadi said Defend, my friends, Christendom and Hungary from all enemies... Do not quarrel among yourselves. If you should waste your energies in altercations, you will seal your own fate as well as dig the grave of our country.[57]

Romanian historiograpy gives Hunyadi a place of importance in the history of Romania too. He is remembered in Romania as a national hero mostly due to his alleged Romaniannote 1 origin and his role as Voivode of Transylvania (a region at the time part of the Kingdom of Hungary now part of Romania). Hunyadi was also responsible for establishing the careers of both Stephen III of Moldavia and the controversial Vlad III of Wallachia. Probably he spoke the Romanian language only during his youth, because for most of his adult life, he was in a Hungarian-speaking environment. John Hunyadi is mentioned in the national anthem of Romania.

Pope Pius II writes that Hunyadi did not increase so much the glory of the Hungarians, but especially the glory of the Romanians among whom he was born.[58][59][60][61]

The French writer and diplomat Philippe de Commines described Hunyadi as a very valiant gentleman, called the White Knight of Wallachia, a person of great honour and prudence, who for a long time had governed the kingdom of Hungary, and had gained several battles over the Turks[62]

In Bulgarian folklore, the memory of Hunyadi was preserved in the epic song hero character of Yankul(a) Voivoda, along with Sekula Detentse, a fictitious hero perhaps inspired by Hunyadi's nephew, János Székely.[63]

Among John's noted qualities, is his regional primacy in recognizing the insufficiency and unreliability of the feudal levies, instead regularly employing large professional armies. His notable contribution to the development of the science of European warfare included the emphasis on tactics and strategy in place of over-reliance on frontal assaults and mêlées.

His diplomatic, strategic, and tactical skills allowed him to serve his country well. After his death, Pope Callixtus III stated that "the light of the world has passed away", considering his defense of Christendom against the Ottoman threat. The same pope ordered the noon bell to be rung for the memory of Hunyadi's victory in siege of Belgrade, and to mark the resistance to Islamic progression inside Europe.

Notes

^ According to the majority of references, modern historians and mainstream sources. There are also alternative researches suggesting other origin as it is already explained in the article.

  1. ↑ Engel, Pál; Andrew Ayton, Tamás Pálosfalvi (2005). Andrew Ayton. ed. The realm of St. Stephen: a history of medieval Hungary, 895-1526. I.B.Tauris. p. 283. 
  2. ↑ Gwatkin, Henry Melvill; John Bagnell Bury, James Pounder Whitney, Zachary Nugent Brooke. The Cambridge medieval history, Volume 8. Macmillan. pp. 608. 
  3. ↑ János Hunyadi. (2010). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved August 10, 2010, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online: http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277182/Janos-Hunyadi
  4. ↑ White Knight (Clear waters rising: a mountain walk across Europe by Nicholas Crane, Viking, 1996, p. 320), White Knight of Wallachia [1][2] or White Knight of Hungary (Encyclopedia of the undead, p. 67, Career Press, 2006, Jihad in the West: Muslim conquests from the 7th to the 21st centuries By Paul Fregosi, p. 244., Prometheus Books, 1998) depending on sources
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "János Hunyadi". Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. 
  6. ↑ Stephen Sisa (1990). The spirit of Hungary: a panorama of Hungarian history and culture (2 ed.). Morristown, NJ: Vista Books. p. 47. ISBN 0-9628422-0-6. "He regarded himself as a Hungarian nobleman and went" 
  7. ↑ Nicholson, Helen J. (2004). The Crusades. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. p. 115. ISBN 0-313-32685-1. 
  8. ↑ Suttner (2007). Staaten und Kirchen in der Völkerwelt des östlichen Europa : Entwicklungen der Neuzeit. p. 201. 
  9. ↑ http://web.axelero.hu/kesz/jel/01_12/hunyadiak.htm#10
  10. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica "Janos Hunyadi"
  11. ↑ [3] Ronald D. Bachman, ed. Romania: A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1989
  12. ↑ Stoianovich, Traian (2000). The Balkans Since 1453. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. p. 53. ISBN 1-85065-551-0. http://books.google.ro/books?id=xcp7OXQE0FMC&pg=PA53&lpg=PA53&dq=%22white+knight+of+wallachia%22&source=bl&ots=ZMFi3V9rqD&sig=GXAnsPJU_DiGNCTBeV2CczjtrhU#v=snippet&q=%22john%20hunyadi%20was%20a%20rumanian%22&f=false. "John Hunyadi was a Rumanian who had entered the service of Hungary and fought with such success against the Turks that he became a Hungarian national hero" 
  13. ↑ Katolikus Lexikon: Hunyadi János, A M. Nemz. Tört. IV. Bp., 1896. - Elekes 1952. - Teke 1980. - Puskely 1994:279.(Hungarian)
  14. ↑ Molnar, Miklos: A Concise History of Hungary. P. 61
  15. ↑ Frucht, Richard C. (2005). Eastern Europe: an introduction to the people, lands, and culture. ABC-CLIO. pp. 339. ISBN 9781576078006. 
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Lendvai, Paul (2003). The Hungarians: a thousand years of victory in defeat. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 75. ISBN 9781850656821. 
  17. ↑ Chadwick, H. Munro; Nora Kershaw Chadwick (1986). The growth of literature, Volume 2. Cambridge University Press. pp. 317. ISBN 9780521310185. 
  18. ↑ Elteto, Louis J.; Cadzow, John F.; Ludanyi, Andrew (1983). Transylvania: the roots of ethnic conflict. [Kent, Ohio]: Kent State University Press. p. 45. ISBN 0-87338-283-8. "Although some Hungarian historians have tried to disprove that the Hunyadi family was of Vlach (Wallachian) origin, the overwhelming evidence supports the view that they indeed were not Magyars, but rose in the service of the Hungarian king" 
  19. ↑ Hebron, Malcolm (1997). The Medieval Siege, Theme and Image in Middle English Romance. Oxford University Press. p. 86. ISBN 9780198186205. 
  20. ↑ Seton-Watson, Hugh. Eastern Europe between the wars, 1918-1941. Cambridge University Press. pp. 25. ISBN 9781001284781. 
  21. ↑ Nicholson, Helen J. (2004). The Crusades. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 115. ISBN 9780313326851. 
  22. ↑ "János Hunyadi:Defender of Christendom - Hunyadi's Origin Contested". Corvinus Library. http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hunspir/hsp16.htm. "Historians are still in the dark about the year and place of his birth, and even his parentage seems shrouded in mystery." 
  23. ↑ Fejer, Georgius. Genus et incunabula Joannis, regni Hungariae Gubernatoris. Magyar Orszagos Leveltar. Buda, 1844. See link: http://www.arcanum.hu/mol/lpext.dll/fejer/33f4/3598/35fb?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0
  24. ↑ [4] A History of Hungary‎ Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák, Tibor Frank - History - 1994
  25. ↑ Babinger, Franz. et al. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time. Princeton University Press. 2nd Edition. 1992. p. 20. http://books.google.com/books?id=PPxC6rO7vvsC&pg=PA20&dq=
  26. ↑ Engel, Pal. Realm of St. Stephen : A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. London,, GBR: I. B. Tauris & Company, Limited, 2001. p xii.
  27. ↑ Encyclopædia Britannica |"Janos Hunyadi"
  28. ↑ Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages, Vol 1 De André Vauchez,Richard Barrie Dobson,Michael Lapidge p. 705 |http://books.google.com/books?id=qtgotOF0MKQC&pg=PR11&dq=Encyclopedia+of+the+Middle+Ages,+Volumul+1++De+Andr%C3%A9+Vauchez,Richard+Barrie+Dobson,Michael+Lapidge&lr=&hl=ro&cd=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
  29. ↑ Enea Silvius Piccolomini, (Pope Pius II), In Europa - Historia Austrialis, BAV, URB, LAT. 405, ff.245, IIII kal. Aprilis MCCCCLVIII, Ex Urbe Roma
  30. ↑ Petre P. Panaitescu "Istoria Românilor", 7th edition, Editura didactică şi pedagigică, Bucureşti, 1990, p. 109
  31. ↑ Dr. Borovszky Samu, Magyarország vármegyéi és városai, Kiadta az országos monográfiai társaság, Budapest
  32. ↑ Cf. Dr. Borovszky Samu, Magyarország vármegyéi és városai (Hungary's counties and cities), published by: Országos Monográfiai Társaság (the Society for Hungarian Monographies), Budapest.)
  33. ↑ Decad. III, lib. 4, ed. cit., p. 448, in Armbruster, Adolf. The Romanity of the Romanians. Ch 3. Sec 2. p70
  34. ↑ TEKE ZSUZSA: HUNYADI JÁNOS • 1407 k.–1456, 10. évfolyam (1999) 9-10. szám (93-94.) (Rubicon History Magazine, Hungarian)
  35. ↑ http://www.hik.hu/tankonyvtar/site/books/b152/ch12s01s01.html Heltai Gáspár: Krónika az magyaroknak dolgairól (Hungarian)
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "János Hunyady". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07564b.htm. 
  37. ↑ Dan Cernovodeanu. La Science et L'Art Heraldiques en Roumanie. Editura Stiinţifică şi Enciclopedică. http://books.google.com/books?id=tWAoPAAACAAJ&dq=Dan+Cernovodeanu. 
  38. ↑ Thomas Thornton. The Present State of Turkey. University of California. http://books.google.com/books?id=9UpCAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA358&dq=wallachia+raven. 
  39. ↑ "Opulenti Boyeronis (i. e. Valachi nobilis) filiam – ex genere Morsinai – Transalpinus quidam Boyero, nomine Woyk, qui ob simultates valachicas huc (in Transilvaniam) se patriis, ex oris receperat, venustate Morsinaianae captus, duxit. – Elisabetham, vocatam ferunt;" available from: http://www.arcanum.hu/mol/lpext.dll/fejer/33f4/3598/35fb?fn=document-frame.htm&f=templates&2.0
  40. ↑ Hóman Bálint- Szekfű Gyula: Magyar történet II., KMENy, Bp., 1936, 432.
  41. ↑ Makkai, László; Mócsy, András; Szász, Zoltán; Béla Köpeczi (2001). "III. TRANSYLVANIA IN THE MEDIEVAL HUNGARIAN KINGDOM (896–1526), FROM THE MONGOL INVASION TO THE BATTLE OF MOHÁCS". Romanian Voivodes and Cnezes, Nobles and Villeins. HISTORY OF TRANSYLVANIA. 1. Boulder, Colorado: Social Science Monographs, Distributed by Columbia University Press, New York. ISBN 0-88033-479-7. http://mek.niif.hu/03400/03407/html/57.html. "When he [János Hunyadi] served as Transylvania's voivode and Székely count (the first time that the two offices were held by one man), Hunyadi drew into his retinue not only Hungarian and Székely retainers but also several Romanian cnezes...several distinguished Transylvanian families trace their ancestry to cnezes ennobled by Hunyadi: the Nádasdi Ungor, Malomvizi Kenderesi, Kendeffi...and Demsusi Muzsina families...János Hunyadi's mother came from the Demsusi Muzsina family" LCCN 2001-131858
  42. ↑ Molnar, Miklos : A Concise History of Hungary. p. 61
  43. ↑ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277182/Janos-Hunyadi
  44. ↑ http://mek.niif.hu/03400/03407/html/84.html
  45. ↑ "National Geographic Magyarország: A várnai csata" (in Hungarian). http://www.geographic.hu/index.php?act=napi&rov=5&id=742. Retrieved 2008-06-02. 
  46. ↑ Thomas Henry Dyer (1861). The history of modern Europe: From the fall of Constantinople. J. Murray. p. 85. http://books.google.com/books?id=jBAMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA85&dq=Noon+bell+belgrade&hl=hu&cd=5#v=onepage&q=Noon%20bell%20belgrade&f=false. 
  47. ↑ István Lázár: Hungary: A Brief History (see in Chapter 6)
  48. ↑ Kerny, Terézia (2008). "The Renaissance - Four Times Over. Exhibitions Commemorating Matthias’s Accession to the Throne" (in English). The Hungarian Quarterly. Budapest, Hungary: Society of the Hungarian Quarterly. pp. 79-90. http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=36917033-77c7-4622-8f76-dae90f531363&articleId=ca7d4a8b-cee0-4d8b-beab-fb1536ba3597. "On July 22, 1456, John Hunyadi won a decisive victory at Belgrade over the armies of Sultan Mehmed II. Hunyadi’s feat—carried out with a small standing army combined with peasants rallied to fight the infidel by the Franciscan friar St John of Capistrano— had the effect of putting an end to Ottoman attempts on Hungary and Western Europe for the next seventy years, and is considered to have been one of the most momentous victories in Hungarian military history. The bells ringing at noon throughout Christendom are, to this day, a daily commemoration of John Hunyadi’s victory." 
  49. ↑ http://www.hungarianhistory.com/lib/hunyadi/hu01.htm
  50. ↑ http://nq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/CLXVII/sep08/171-d
  51. ↑ Volume 7 of World and Its Peoples: Europe. Marshall Cavendish. 2009. pp. 891. ISBN 9780761478836. "In the war, Janos Hunyadi (1387-1456), subsequently a Hungarian national hero, emerged to lead Hungary's political life." 
  52. ↑ Shaw, Stanford Jay (1976). History of the Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, Volume 1. Cambridge University Press. pp. 51. ISBN 9780521291637. "Hunyadi had suddenly risen as the great Hungarian national hero as a result of his victories over the Turks in 1442." 
  53. ↑ Dupuy, Richard Ernest (1986). The encyclopedia of military history from 3500 B.C. to the present. Harper & Row, original from University of Michigan. pp. 435. ISBN 9780061812354. "John Hunyadi, the national hero of Hungary, and his son Mathias Corvinus, who reigned as King of Hungary" 
  54. ↑ Matthews, John P. C. (2007). Explosion: the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Hippocrene Books. pp. 73-74. ISBN 9780781811743. "One of the most powerful personalities in Hungarian history, Hunyadi established a national unity and order which transcended privileges and special interests and succeeded in raising Hungary to the status of a great power." 
  55. ↑ "János Hunyadi:Defender of Christendom - Hunyadi's Origin Contested". Corvinus Library. http://www.hungarian-history.hu/lib/hunspir/hsp16.htm. 
  56. ↑ Lukinich, Imre. A History of Hungary in Biographical Sketches. Ayer Publishing. 
  57. ↑ Sisa, Stephen (1990). The spirit of Hungary: a panorama of Hungarian history and culture (2 ed.). Vista Books (original from University of Michigan). pp. 56. 
  58. ↑ C. Giurescu, Dinu; C. Giurescu, Constantin (1980). The making of the Romanian national unitary state. Meridiane Pub. House. p. 60. http://books.google.com/books?cd=1&id=edFBAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22In+his+Historia+de+Europa%2C+Pope+Pius+II+states+%22&q=%22In+his+Historia+de+Europa%2C+Pope+Pius+II+states+%22#search_anchor. 
  59. ↑ C. Giurescu, Constantin (1969). Transylvania in the history of Romania: an historical outline. Garnstone Pub. House. p. 82. http://books.google.com/books?id=FLpnAAAAMAAJ&q=%22+Iancu+of+Hunedoara%29+whose+name+overshadows+all+others,+has+enhanced+the+glory+not+so+much+of+the+Hungarians,+but+of+the+Romanians,+out+of+whom+he+came+%22&dq=%22+Iancu+of+Hunedoara%29+whose+name+overshadows+all+others,+has+enhanced+the+glory+not+so+much+of+the+Hungarians,+but+of+the+Romanians,+out+of+whom+he+came+%22&hl=hu&cd=1. 
  60. ↑ Aurel Pop, loan (1997) (in Romanian). Istoria Transilvaniei medievale: de la etnogeneza românilor până la Minai Viteazul. Cluj-Napoca: Presa Universitară Clujeană. p. 82. ISBN 973-9261-24-8. http://www.scribd.com/doc/12693963/ioan-aurel-pop-istoria-transilvaniei-medievale. 
  61. ↑ Burkhard Gotthelf Struve (1717). Rerum Germanicarum Scriptores aliquot insignes. 2. p. 89. http://books.google.ro/books?id=W1M_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA89&lpg=PA89&dq=%22non+tam+Hungaris+quam+Valachis+ex+quibus+natus+erat+gloriam+auxit%22&source=bl&ots=cJ2ffvfW1G&sig=mBd_mfi71EFTefWjcDvVyZXgOSg&hl=ro&ei=NW_NS7ekMs2LOMzLrdcP&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&#v=onepage&q=%22non%20tam%20Hungaris%20quam%20Valachis%20ex%20quibus%20natus%20erat%20gloriam%20auxit%22&f=false. 
  62. ↑ Scoble, Andrew Richard. The Memoirs of Philippe De Commynes, Lord of Argenton (Volume 2); Containing the Histories of Louis Xi and Charles Viii, Kings of France. p. 87. ISBN 9781150902581. 
  63. ↑ Балкански, Тодор (1996). Трансилванските (седмиградските) българи. Етнос. Език. Етнонимия. Ономастика. Просопографии (1 ed.). ИК Знак 94. pp. 102–103. 

References

Further reading

In English:

Additional Books that Mention John Hunyadi:

In Hungarian: