Battle of Varna (1444): The Crusade That Ended in Disaster

The Battle of Varna was fought on 10 November 1444 near the Black Sea port of Varna in today’s Bulgaria, between a crusader army led by King Władysław III of Poland and Hungary and the Ottoman army of Sultan Murad II. The young king was killed, the crusade collapsed and the Ottomans confirmed their hold on the Balkans. Varna is often called the last great crusade to rescue Byzantium, and its failure cleared the way for the fall of Constantinople nine years later.

Background

By the 1440s the Ottoman Empire controlled much of south-eastern Europe. Earlier Christian efforts to stop it had ended in defeat, most famously at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396. The Byzantine Empire had shrunk to little more than Constantinople and a few territories, and Emperor John VIII had travelled to Italy to seek help, accepting the union of the Greek and Latin churches at the Council of Florence in 1439.

Pope Eugenius IV called for a new crusade. The main response came from the kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, which were united under one ruler: Władysław III, king of Poland since 1434, who had also been elected king of Hungary in 1440 and was known there as Ulászló I. His leading general was John Hunyadi, a Transylvanian commander who had already won several victories against Ottoman raiders.

In 1443 Hunyadi and Władysław led an army deep into Ottoman territory in what is known as the Long Campaign. Together with the Serbian ruler Đurađ Branković they won battles near Niš and pushed towards Sofia before winter weather and Ottoman resistance in the mountain passes forced them to turn back early in 1444. The campaign raised hopes in Europe that the Ottomans could be driven back.

The Peace of Szeged and its breach

In the summer of 1444 Murad II, facing a revolt in Anatolia, agreed a ten-year truce with Hungary. Negotiated at Edirne and confirmed at Szeged, it restored Serbia to Branković and secured other concessions. Soon afterwards Murad abdicated in favour of his 12-year-old son, Mehmed II, and withdrew to Anatolia.

Many in the West saw a unique opportunity. The papal legate, Cardinal Julian Cesarini, argued that an oath sworn to non-Christians was not binding, and a papal and Venetian fleet was sent to the Dardanelles to prevent Ottoman troops from crossing from Asia into Europe. Władysław agreed to resume the war, and in September 1444 the crusading army crossed the Danube.

The plan depended on the fleet. It failed: Murad returned from retirement, and his army crossed the straits, probably at the Bosphorus, with help said to have come from Genoese ships. The exact circumstances of the crossing are still debated. The sultan then marched north quickly to meet the crusaders.

The battle

The crusaders reached the coast near Varna in early November, expecting to meet their fleet. Instead they found Murad’s army close by. Estimates of the armies are uncertain: the crusaders are usually put at about 16,000 to 30,000 men, including Hungarian, Polish, Wallachian and Bohemian contingents, while the Ottoman army was probably considerably larger, with estimates ranging from about 40,000 to 60,000 or more.

Hunyadi drew up the Christian army with its back towards Varna and Lake Varna, protected partly by a laager of wagons. On 10 November the battle opened with heavy fighting on both wings. Ottoman cavalry pressed the crusader flanks, but Hunyadi’s counter-attacks drove back parts of the Ottoman army and, for a time, the Christians appeared to have the upper hand.

At this point Władysław, then 20 years old, led a charge with his guard, a body of several hundred mainly Polish horsemen, directly at the sultan’s position, where the Janissaries, the elite Ottoman infantry, were stationed. The charge broke down. The king was unhorsed and killed, and his head was taken as a trophy and displayed to the crusaders.

The death of the king caused panic. The crusader army broke apart and many were killed in the rout or in the attempt to defend the wagon camp. Cardinal Cesarini died during the retreat in circumstances that are not clear. Hunyadi escaped with part of his troops but was briefly detained in Wallachia by Prince Vlad II Dracul before returning to Hungary.

Key people

• Władysław III (1424–1444): King of Poland and of Hungary, who died at Varna and is remembered as Warneńczyk.
• Murad II: Ottoman sultan who came back from abdication to command at Varna.
• John Hunyadi: Hungarian commander and the most experienced Christian general in the battle.
• Cardinal Julian Cesarini: Papal legate who urged the breaking of the truce and died in the retreat.

Consequences

Varna was a turning point. After the battle, Murad II resumed the throne in 1446, and his rule was secured. In 1448 he defeated Hunyadi again at the Second Battle of Kosovo. No Western coalition of comparable size would again march into the Balkans to rescue Byzantium, and in 1453 Mehmed II captured the city in the fall of Constantinople.

In Hungary the king’s death left the throne to the infant Ladislaus V, and Hunyadi was elected regent in 1446. In Poland the throne stood empty until Władysław’s brother Casimir IV was crowned in 1447. Hunyadi’s reputation survived the defeat, and he went on to win his greatest victory at the siege of Belgrade in 1456.

In Albania, Skanderbeg’s revolt continued, and Albanian forces had been expected to join the crusade, although they never reached the battlefield. His wider struggle is covered in the article on Skanderbeg’s revolt.

Myths and facts

Myth: Władysław survived the battle. Because his body was never identified, legends grew that the king had escaped. One story placed him on the Portuguese island of Madeira as a knight under another name. Historians regard these stories as legends.

Myth: The crusaders were doomed from the start. Contemporary and modern accounts agree that the battle was closely fought for several hours, and the outcome turned largely on the failed royal charge.

Timeline

• 1443, autumn – 1444, January: Hunyadi and Władysław lead the Long Campaign into the Balkans.
• 1444, summer: A ten-year truce is agreed with the Ottomans, known as the Peace of Szeged.
• 1444, summer: Murad II abdicates in favour of Mehmed II.
• 1444, September: The crusading army crosses the Danube.
• 1444, October: Murad II returns and leads his army across the straits from Asia.
• 1444, 10 November: Battle of Varna; Władysław III and Cesarini are killed.
• 1446: Murad II resumes the throne; Hunyadi becomes regent of Hungary.
• 1448, October: Hunyadi is defeated at the Second Battle of Kosovo.

Legacy

In Poland and Hungary, Varna became a symbol of sacrifice in defence of Christian Europe. Jan Matejko’s large painting of the battle, completed in 1879, shaped the popular image of the king’s last charge. In Varna itself a memorial park with a symbolic mausoleum, built in 1935 on an ancient burial mound, commemorates the king and the fallen.

Why it matters

The Battle of Varna ended the last serious crusading effort to save Byzantium and stop the Ottomans in the Balkans. It confirmed Ottoman power in south-eastern Europe, sealed the isolation of Constantinople and shifted the front line of the conflict to Hungary and the Danube for the next century.