Monday, October 13, 2025

Preys and Predators 3 Love Binds, Family Destroy Chapter 12

 

12. 

 

In the Balkans, in the second battle of Kosovo, Hunyadi commanded the centre of his army in the battle, while the crusader right wing was made up of Wallachians. The Hungarians had a long barrage cannon. The Hungarian regent sought to join up with anti-Ottoman Albanian forces, possibly led by Skanderbeg. The battle opened when Hunyadi attacked the Ottoman flanks with mixed cavalry (light and heavy).

The Turkish flanks, consisting of soldiers from Rumelia and Anatolia, were losing until the Turkish light cavalry arrived to reinforce them.

Cavalry skirmishing on the flanks of the stockades while the crusaders attack against the sultan's central position, but no conclusive results. The Christian flanks routed, and the survivors retreated to Hunyadi's main force. Sultan Murad II used his sipahi cavalry from Thessaly to envelop the cavalry on the Crusader left flank, along with a general assault all along the line to distract Hunyadi from the primary effort. The manoeuvre worked, and the enemy there was defeated.

When Hunyadi saw the defeat of his flanks, he attacked with his main force, composed of knights and light infantry. The janissary corps was not successful, but the Turkish infantry regrouped and successfully drove the Hungarian knights back. The aftermath of the retreat had the Wallachians deserting to the Ottoman side after being offered terms from Murad, leaving Hunyadi mostly defenceless.

Hunyadi fled but was later captured by the Serbs.

The Christian Balkan states were unable to resist the Ottomans after this defeat, eventually falling one after the other under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Hunyadi was captured by Branković in retaliation for the damage perpetrated by the Hungarian army in Serbia. Hunyadi's release was negotiated against a ransom of a hundred thousand florins, the return of the domains that Hunyadi had returned to Branković, and the engagement of Hunyadi's heir to Branković's daughter, Hunyadi's elder son László, at Smederevo as a hostage.

Diplomacy calls for a truce, and Vlad did just that before the battle at Kosovo. He sent a letter to Transylvania announcing he would make peace with John Hunyadi. Vlad knew that after losing the throne at Wallachia, his return to the Ottoman Empire was precarious.

“He may be busy at battle.” Vlad reinforced to himself that the non-reply from the Sultan was due to other factors.

However, Vlad held an option to stay away from the Ottoman Empire; he was not there. He regretted that Radu, silenced with no letters, had not been heard.

With no reply, Vlad decided his better option was to go to Moldavia. There, he will take an alliance with Alexander the Young, who was under the protection of Poland, on the throne. Alexander, who was very young at eleven years of age when he had ascended to the throne of Moldavia, could not manage the country’s affairs that were in the hands of the boyars of the Princely Council. He knew some of the council members through correspondence and by their friendship with his father.

With their assistance, Vlad must have obtained the consent to stay in Moldavia. He was received and accepted as a former protégé of the Ottoman power with which the Kingdom of Poland was in peaceful relations.

Moldavia was then to appoint Bogdan II, uncle to Vlad on his mother’s side, as the new ruler. There were intense Polish military actions aiming to re-enthrone Alexander the Young. Bogdan II, who was almost always on the battlefield, liked Vlad.

“You could ride with me in battle.” Vlad was told their relationship was short when Bogdan II fell victim to a plot and was assassinated at Răuseni by a lesser-known pretender, Peter, who was also supported by the Poles through the former Prince Alexander, with whom he was supposed to share the power.

Vlad was in danger for the first time since his arrival in Moldavia. The fidelity towards the dead prince created a barrier between the new power and his claims. He took refuge south of Transylvania.

Back then in Wallachia, Vladislav II resumed his control. He secured the three-year armistice. Wallachia would pay tribute to the Porte, while the other two states would guarantee Vladislav II his reign and non-involvement in domestic affairs. Vlad, without his land, soon arrived in Transylvania under the wing of the great protector of Christian Europe, John Hunyadi.

“Vlad Tepes, I offered you my protection.” John Hunyadi was short of allies and was not keen to create another war. “Soon, you will rule Wallachia. For now, you will ride as leader at one of my divisions.”

Vlad reluctantly accepted the protection and support of the man who had had his father and brother killed. John Hunyadi understood the vengeance, but he placed a small Transylvanian army corps with Vlad to dethrone Vladislav II. It was to protect but also to watch the young pretender in his loyalty.

At the age of twenty-five years, then, Vlad felt his journey was ending. Vlad had defeated Vladislav II the second time and ascended to the throne of Wallachia again. Vlad then held the frame of being stocky and strong, with a cold and terrible appearance, a strong and aquiline nose, swollen nostrils, and a thin and reddish face in which the very long eyelashes framed large, wide-open green eyes; the bushy black eyebrows made them appear threatening. His face and chin were shaven, but for a moustache. The swollen temples increased the bulk of his head. A bull’s neck connected his head, from which black curly locks hung on his wide-shouldered person.

Vlad Tepes was good-looking, but his reputation exceeded his appearance. His next action then was to attest to his reputation. In the spring of 1457, during Easter celebrations, the boyars all gathered at Dracula’s palace. It is said that Dracula had discovered they were responsible for his brother Mircea’s gruesome death. He was told that Mircea II died lying face down, which was customary for those who had been buried alive.

“Bring me the ones responsible.” Vlad had his men surround the boyars and their families in his home. He forced them to work on rebuilding Castle Poenari until their clothes were rags and then impaled them in his palace courtyard. After having taken revenge on those who killed his father and brother, Dracula confiscated their lands and gave them to the peasants in exchange for military service.

The other boyars, who had escaped his wrath, were taxed as Vlad saw fit. Many fled to Turkish lands to await better times. The acts of Vlad, however, won over the peasants, from whom a fanatic devotion arose. Vlad saw this as ridding the land of those who would rob and mooch off more respectable people. He also had a virile, puritanical streak and was known to punish everyone across all classes, sexes, and ages for all manner of crimes. There are tales of him punishing wives who were unfaithful to their husbands by mutilating them and leaving their bodies on public display “until the flesh fell from the body, and the bones detached themselves from their sockets.”

His impalement, typically through the anus, through the heart, navel, stomach, and chest. Women and children were also killed in this way. But aside from impalement, he was also fond of decapitation, cutting off noses, ears, sexual organs, and limbs; blinding; strangling; hanging; burning; boiling; skinning; roasting; hacking; nailing; burying alive; and stabbing, as well as exposure, being left with wild animals, and dropping people through conveniently built trap doors onto stakes below. Some claimed that he forced victims to eat the flesh of their slain fellows.

All this period, Radu was imprisoned at the palace but was later released upon the plea of the viziers. He was given the release upon his conversion to faith and his learned subjects. Murad II was taken to listen and send the Wallachian back to the Janissary. The incident with Aylin was forgotten.

“Radu Tepes is a hostage of ours. He will remain as such. With that, we will pressure the Wallachian ruler to be our ally.” Such was the excuse of the Sultan, but he liked the young Wallachian for his intellectual knowledge.

Lord Gencio Capulet’s luck was not that cheerful in the army. In his role, he had to march with the Hungarian army, watching the supplies. He was not on the front line of the battlefield, but he was there to ensure the army was supplied. He had to source supplies when the needs arose. Or raised his own coins to pay for them.

“I heard John Hunyadi lost the battle at Varna.” Lord Gencio Capulet sat there at the tavern and listened to the news on the war. “John Hunyadi found that the Venetian galleys had failed to prevent the transit of the Sultan; indeed. The Venetians transported the sultan's army for a price per soldier.”

“The traders feared for their trade routes, and loyalty lies with who pays them.” Lord Gencio Capulet heard the accusation. He listened on.

“Hunyadi then confronted the Turks, but King Władysław assumed command and, with his bodyguards, carried out an all-out attack on the elite troops of the Sultan, the Janissaries. It was designed poorly. 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 Turks; Hunyadi himself narrowly escaped.”

“Are we then at the threat of the Turks?” Another of the ones asked who was seated at the table.

“I do not know. Vlad held the seat of Wallachia. He may be our only hope.” In fact, Vlad was equally rebellious.

“The Impaler, you mean. His reputation had created fear among us. Even the Turks feared him.”

“I heard he imprisoned John Hunyadi, who escaped to Wallachia, but the Palatine of Hungary was forced to release the hero.”

Much news evolved then. And Lord Gencio Capulet knew his stay with the army was to be over. The army had lost its battle, and it was time for him to go back to Genoa. He had not gotten his lands, and his coins were depleted with the dues from the army held back or missing. Lord Gencio Capulet decided then to do his own trading. He transacted the supplies with the bandits and retreating armies—anyone who would pay him. He recovered some of his losses and then deserted to the ships. He was going back to Genoa.

The luck did not hold for Shylock. He was with the army in Kosovo. His column was the infantry, though they numbered superior than the Turks, but they were not well armed. Shylock had on him the short spear acquired by him from a dying soldier he met at Genoa and later at the battlefield.

“You can have my spear. Thrust it at the chest and pull out quickly.” Shylock was told. “All I ask in return is to send words to my mother at Genoa that I am not coming back.”

Shylock nodded and then took the spear. He made a deal and held a weapon to protect himself. He was given a dagger and a long stick before this.

“Hear this, men of Hungary, Genoa, and Venice.” It was John Hunyadi then giving a speech. “We are the last bastion of Christianity, defenders against the heathens. I have pledged my life to win this crusade and soon to depose the heathen leader. Fight with me and for God.”

The roar of the infantry was above the riders. The riders were the cavalry with their fancy armour and lances. Their role was to ride as flankers or to rout the enemy where there were gaps in the defence line. The infantry was the main push of the army; their strength broke the enemy's attack and routed the lines.

“We ride now.” The armies met on the battlefield.

The army of John Hunyadi outnumbered the Turks. The latter lined up with the Janissaries at the rear, the coloured uniforms, and their muskets, while the Akinci took the centre and the Sipahi were to the sides. 

 

 


 

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Preys and Predators 3 Love Binds, Family Destroy Chapter 12

  12.    In the Balkans, in the second battle of Kosovo, Hunyadi commanded the centre of his army in the battle, while the crusader righ...