Ladilaus,

Hungary, marches against them.

CHAP. Of the Polish and Hungarian diets, a religious war was LXVII. the unanimous cry; and Ladislaus, after paffing the Danube, led an army of his confederate fubjects as far as Soking of Po- phia, the capital of the Bulgarian kingdom. In this exFand and pedition they obtained two fignal victories, which were juftly afcribed to the valour and conduct of Huniades. In the firft, with a vanguard of ten thousand men, he furprifed the Turkish camp,; in the fecond, he vanquished and made prifoner the most renowned of their generals, who poffeffed the double advantage of ground and numbers. The approach of winter, and the natural and artificial obftacles of mount Hamus, arrefted the progrefs of the hero, who measured a narrow interval of fix days march from the foot of the mountains to the hoftile towers of Adrianople, and the friendly capital of the Greek empire. The retreat was undisturbed, and the entrance into Buda was at once a military and religious triumph. An ecclefiaftical proceffion was followed by the king and his warriors on foot: he nicely balanced the merits and rewards of the two nations; and the pride of conquest was blended with the humble temper of Chriftianity. Thirteen bafhaws, nine ftandards, and four thousand captives, were unquestionable trophies; and as all were willing to believe, and none were prefent to contradict, the crufaders multiplied, with unblufhing confidence, the The Turk- myriads of Turks whom they had left on the field of ith peace. battle (22). The moft folid proof, and the moft falutary

༤་

confequence, of victory, was a deputation from the divan. to folicit peace, to reftore Servia, to ranfom the prifoners, and to evacuate the Hungarian frontier. By this treaty, the rational objects of the war were obtained: the king, the defpot, and Huniades himself, in the diet of Segedin, were fatisfied with public and private emolument; a truce of ten years was concluded; and the followers of Jefus and Mahomet, who fwore on the Gofpel and the Koran, attefted the word of God as the guardian of truth and the avenger of perfidy. In the place of the Gofpel, the Turkish minifters had propofed to fubftitute the Eucharift,

the

(22) In their letters to the emperor Frederic III. the Hungarians flay 30,000 Turks in one battle; but the modeit Julian reduces the flaughter to 6000, or even 2000 infidels (Ancas Sylvius in Europ. c. 5. and epift. 44 1. apud Spondanum.).

the real prefence of the Catholic deity; but the Chriftians C H A P. refufed to profane their holy myfteries; and a fuperftitious LXVIL confcience is lefs forcibly bound by the fpiritual energy,

than by the outward and visible fymbols of an oath (23).

During the whole tranfaction, the cardinal legate had violation of obferved a fullen filence, unwilling to approve, and unable the peace. to oppofe, the confent of the king and people. But the A. D. 1444 diet was not diffolved before Julian was fortified by the welcome intelligence, that Anatolia was invaded by the Caramanian, and Thrace by the Greek emperor; that the fleets of Genoa, Venice, and Burgundy, were mafters of the Hellefpont; and that the allies, informed of the victory, and ignorant of the treaty, of Ladislaus, impatiently waited for the return of his victorious army. "And is "it thus," exclaimed the cardinal (24)," that you will "defert their expectations and your own fortune. It is

to them, to your God, and your fellow-Chriftians, "that you have pledged your faith; and that prior obli"gation annihilates a rafh and facrilegious oath to the "enemies of Chrift. His vicar on earth is the Roman "pontiff, without whofe fanction you can neither promife "nor perform. In his name I abfolve your perjury and fanctify your arms: follow my footsteps in the paths of glory and falvation, and if ftill ye have fcruples, devolve on my head the punishment and the fin." This mifchievous cafuiftry was feconded by his refpectable character, and the levity of popular affemblies: war was refolved, on the fame fpot where peace had fo lately been fworn; and, in the execution of the treaty, the Turks were affaulted by the Chriftians; to whom, with fome reafon, they might apply the epithet of infidels. The falfehood of Ladislaus to his word and oath, was palliated

f

by

(23) See the origin of the Turkish war, and the firft expedition of Ladiflaus, in the vth and vith books of the iiid Decad of Bonfinius, who, in his divifion and ftyle, copies Livy with tolerable fuccefs. Callimachus lii. p. 487-496.) is still more pure and authentic.

(24) I do not pretend to warrant the literal accuracy of Julian's speech, which is variously worded by Callimachus (1. iii. p. 505-507.), Bonfinius (Dec. iii. 1. vi. p. 457, 458.), and other hiftorians, who might indulge their own eloquence, while they reprefent one of the orators of the age. But they all agree in the advice and arguments for perjury, which in the field of controverfy are fiercely attacked by the Proteftants, and feebly defended by the Catholics. The latter are difcouraged by the misfortune of Warna.

1

CHAP. by the religion of the times: the most perfect, or at leaff LXVII. the most popular, excufe would have been the fuccefs of

his arms and the deliverance of the Eaftern church. But the fame treaty which fhould have bound his confcience, had diminished his ftrength. On the proclamation of the peace, the French and German volunteers departed with indignant murmurs: the Poles were exhaufted by diftant warfare, and perhaps difgufted with foreign command; and their palatines accepted the firft licence, and baftily retired to their provinces and caftles. Even Hungary was divided by faction, or reftrained by a laudable scruple; and the relics of the crufade that marched in the fecond expedition, were reduced to an inadequate force of twenty thoufand men. A Walachian chief, who joined the royal ftandard with his vaffals, prefumed to remark that their numbers did not exceed the hunting retinue that fometimes attended the fultan; and the gift of two horses of matchlefs fpeed, might admonish Ladislaus of his fecret forefight of the event. But the defpot of Servia, after the reftoration of his country and children, was tempted by the promife of new realms; and the inexperience of the king, the enthusiasm of the legate, and the martial prefumption of Huniades himself, were perfuaded that every obftacle muft yield to the invincible virtue of the fword and the cross. After the paffage of the Danube, two roads might lead to Conftantinople and the Hellefpont; the one direct, abrupt, and difficult, through the mountains of Hamus; the other more tedious and fecure, over a level country, and along the fhores of the Euxine; in which their flanks, according to the Scythian difcipline, might always be covered by a moveable fortification of waggons. The latter was judiciously preferred: the Catholics marched through the plains of Bulgaria, burning, with wanton cruelty, the churches and villages of the Chriftian natives; and their laft ftation was at Warna, near the fea-fhore; on which the defeat and death of Ladiflaus have beltowed a memorable name (25).

It

(25) Warna, under the Grecian name of Odeffus, was a colony of the Milefians, which they denominated from the hero Ulyffes (Cellarius, tom. i. p. 374. d'Anville, tom. i. p. 32.) According to Arrian's Periplus of the Euxine (p. 24, 25. in the firft volume of Hudfon's Geographers), it was fituate 1740 ftadia, or furlongs, from the mouth of the Danube, 2140 from Byzantium, and 360 to the north of a ridge or promontory of mount Hamus, which advances into the fea.

1

LXVII.

Battle of

Warna,

Nov. 10.

It was on this fatal fpot, that, instead of finding a con- CHA P. federate fleet to fecond their operations, they were alarmed by the approach of Amurath himself, who had iffued from his Magnefian folitude, and tranfported the forces of Afia to the defence of Europe. According to fome writers, A.D. 14442 the Greek emperor had been awed, or feduced, to grant the paffage of the Bofphorus; and an indelible stain of corruption is fixed on the Genoefe, or the pope's nephew, the Catholic admiral, whofe mercenary connivance betrayed the guard of the Hellefpont. From Adrianople, the fultan advanced by hafty marches, at the head of fixty" thousand men; and when the cardinal, and Huniades, had taken a nearer survey of the numbers and order of the Turks, these ardent warriors propofed the tardy and im-1 practicable measure of a retreat. The king alone was refolved to conquer or die; and his 'refolution had almost been crowned with a glorious and falutary victory. The princes were oppofite to each other in the centre; and the Beglerbegs, or generals of Anatolia and Romania, commanded on the right and left against the adverfe divifions of the defpot and Huniades. The Turkish wings were broken on the first onfet: but the advantage was fatal; and the rash victors, in the heat of the purfuit, were carried ́ ́ away far from the annoyance of the enemy or the fupport of their friends. When Amurath beheld the flight of his fquadrons, he defpaired of his fortune and that of the empire a veteran Janizary feized his horfe's bridle; and he had magnanimity to pardon and reward the foldier who dared to perceive the terror, and arreft the flight, of his fovereign. A copy of the treaty, the monument of Chriftian perfidy, had been displayed in the front of the battle; and it is faid, that the fultan in his distress, lifting his eyes and his hands to heaven, implored the protection of the God of truth; and cailed on the prophet Jefus himself to avenge the impious, mockery of his name and religion (26). With inferior numbers and disordered ranks, the king of Hungary rufhed forwards in the confidence of victory, till his career was stopped by the impenetrable phalanx of the Jani

(26) Some Chriftian writers affirm, that he drew from his bofom the hoft or wafer on which the treaty had not been fworn. The Moflems fuppofe, with more fimplicity, an appeal to God and his prophet Jefus, which is likewife infinuated by Callimachus (1. iii. p. 516. Spondan. A. D. 1444, No 8.).

CHAP. Janizaries. If we may credit the Ottoman annals, his LXVII. horfe was pierced by the javelin of Amurath (27); he fell Death of among the fpears of the infantry; and a Turkish foldier Ladislaus. proclaimed with a loud voice," Hungarians, behold the

The cardi

head of your king!" The death of Ladislaus was the fignal of their defeat. On his return from an intemperate. purfuit, Huniades deplored his error and the public lofs: he ftrove to refcue the royal body, till he was overwhelmed by the tumultuous crowd of the victors and vanquished; and the last efforts of his courage and conduct were exerted to fave the remnant of his Walachian cavalry. Ten thoufand Chriftians were flain in the difaftrous battle of Warna: the lofs of the Turks, more confiderable in numbers, bore a fmaller proportion to their total ftrength; yet the philofophic fultan was not afhamed to confefs, that his ruin must be the confequence of a fecond and fimilar victory. At his command a column was erected on the fpot where Ladinaus had fallen; but the modeft infcription, instead of accufing the rafhnefs, recorded the valour, and bewailed the misfortune, of the Hungarian youth (28).

Before I lofe fight of the field of Warna, I am tempted nal Julian. to paufe on the character and ftory of two principal actors, the cardinal Julian and John Huniades. Julian (29) Cæfărini was born of a noble family of Rome: his ftudies had embraced both the Latin and Greek learning, both the fciences of divinity and law; and his verfatile genius was equally

(27) A critic will always diftuft these fpolia opima of a victorious general, so difficult for valour to obtain, so easy for flattery to invent (Cantemir. p. 99, 91.) Callimachus (1. iii. p. 517.) more fimply and probably affirnis, fupervenientibus Janizaris, telorum multitudine, non tam confoffus eft, quani obrutus.

(28) Befides fome valuable hints from Æneas Sylvius, which are diligent-> ly collected by Spondanus, our best authorities are three hiftorians of the xvth century, Philippus Callimachus (de Rebus a Vladislao Polonoruní atque Hungarorum Rege geftis, libri iii. in Bel, Script, Rerum Hungarica rum, tom. i, p. 433518.), Bonfinius (decad iii. 1. v. p. 460-467.), and Chalcondyles (1. vii. p. 165-179.). The two firft were Italians, but they paffed their lives in Poland and Hungary (Fabric. Bibliot. Latin. med. et infimæ Ætatis, tom. i. p. 324. Voffius de Hift. Latin. 1. iii. c. 8. 11. Bayle, Dictionnaire, BONFINIUS). A fmall tract of Fælix Petancius, chancellor of Segnia (ad calcem Cufpinian, de Cæfaribus, p. 716—722.), represents the theatre of the war in the xvth century.

(29) M. Lenfant has defcribed the origin (Hift. du Concile de Baffe, tom. 1. p. 247, &c.), and Bohemian campaign (p 315, &c.), of cardinal Julian: His fervices at Bafil and Ferrara, and his unfortunate end, are occasionally related by Spondanus, and the continuator of Fleury.