Kósa László (szerk.): A Companion to Hungarian Studies (Budapest, 2001)
Chapter Three. András Gergely: The History of Hungary
when fighting against the Turks. His estates lay in the southern part of the realm, and he spent his wealth on organising the defence of the country. He assembled a modern mercenary army, mobilised his familiares and, if the need arose, also recruited the village population. In 1443 he launched a winter campaign, which saw the 35,000 strong army of Hungarians, Serbs, Bosnians, Bohemians and Poles advance as far as the Balkans. Following the victories, both the pope and Venice promised their support. The next campaign, led by King Vladislas I (1440-1444) clashed with the Turkish army at Varna on the Bulgarian coast in 1444. However, the promised support never came, the Hungarian army was routed, and the king himself fell in battle. There followed the only interregnum period in the history of Hungary. János Hunyadi was elected regent (1446-1452), and a few years later the all-conquering sultan, Mehmed II, marshalled a mighty army of 150,000 and set out northwards against Hungary. He besieged Nándorfehérvár, the kingpin in the Balkan defences, which was held by a garrison of 5,000 soldiers. The pope called for a crusade against the Turks, and Giovanni di Capistrano, a monk, recruited thousands of crusaders. An army of 50,000 assembled, but the majority of them were not trained in the art of warfare. After breaking the naval blockade of the Turks, Hunyadi's army joined the defenders of the castle. The Turks launched their final assault against the castle on July 21, 1456, but were finally beaten after a long and exhausting battle, and the next day, the defenders overran the Turkish camp and captured their guns and cannons. This key stronghold was saved, and Hungary, along with the rest of Central Europe, was relieved of the Turkish menace for many decades. Hunyadi died of the plague shortly after the siege. Hunyadi's fame, his vast estates and the consent of the baronial cliques and the lesser nobility secured the election of his fifteen-yearold son, Matthias, to the throne. Matthias was the first ruler of nonroyal lineage to sit on the Hungarian throne. Even as a youth he refused to become the puppet of the magnates; having overthrown the baronial cliques which opposed him, he began to restore a strong, centralised rule. He imposed new and heavy, but not excessive taxes, and the revenues of the royal treasury, which had previously amounted to 250,000 forints, now swelled to over 800,000 through new taxes primarily the "extraordinary military tax", which was levied regularly. The magnates were outraged by his tax policy, which, they felt, placed the burden of the peasantry at their expense. Mattthias' firm control of state power, the peasantry's right of free movement and his encouragement of urban growth were coupled with the modernisation of the state apparatus. He allocated the chief offices to his most trustworthy and loyal followers, who were chosen from the ranks of130