Ránki György (szerk.): Hungarian history, world history - Indiana University studies on Hungary 1. (Budapest, 1984)
Joseph Held: The Defense of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) in 1456: A Discussion of Controversial Issues
Joseph Held Hungarian History - World History Gy. Rdnki (ed.) THE DEFENSE OF NANDORFEHERVAR (BELGRADE)* IN 1456: A DISCUSSION OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES The siege of Belgrade by Mehemed II the Conqueror in the summer of 1456 aroused considerable contemporary attention and has remained an event of great interest to historians ever since. Coming within three years of the conquest of Constantinople, this fortress-city was the key to further Osmanli expansion into Central Europe.1 Its fall could have opened the gates of the European heartland to the Osmanli and this would certainly have changed the history of the world. Given the abundance of sources on the siege, one would expect few outstanding problems and controversies to remain for later historians to explore. But this is not so; as in the case of other historical .turning points, the siege of Belgrade continues to generate conflicting interpretations. This paper will not attempt another detailed study of this event; rather, it will be devoted to the examination of some of these controversial issues. They will include the debate about the size of the participating armies, the roles of Hunyadi and Capistrano in the defense, and the activities, or rather inactivity, of the barons of the Kingdom of Hungary. A fourth issue, the role 2 of the peasants in the siege, has been dealt with elsewhere, and will, therefore, be omitted from this paper. One of the continuing controversies concerns the size of the participating armies. Only estimates of these armies were ever given by the participants, and most estimates served pro*We intend to use the current name of this great city in all of our subsequent discussions. 13