Tamás Fedeles: The King and the rebellious Prince. Royal Military Expedition Against Lőrinc Újlaki and his Allied Forces (1494–1495)
Translated by Dóra Czeferner
Summary
One of the well-known incidents of the history of the Jagello Era is connected to the military expedition lead by Ulászló II King of Hungary(1490–1516) against Lőrinc Újlaki and his allied forces. In spite of thisfact, historians have not dealt with the events of the military action so far and have not published any studies concerning the topic. The historian,who takes the responsibility of reconstructing the most important events concerning this action, is in a rather favourable situation, as several historical sources have survived till present day. Segments of the royalbook of accounts which had been written in the years of 1494 and 1495are available. This book covers not only the expenses of the expeditionand the names of the leaders taking part in the campaign, but also thedates of the troop movements. Further more, charters include plenty of data which are in evitable in order to reconstruct the events. Essential pieces of information are given by the writings of the contemporary chronicler Antonio Bonfini as well. These sources provided the opportunity to study and process this expedition. The results of theresearch work can be read in this volume.
Lőrinc was the last male member of the famous Újlaki family. From his father Miklós, who was the Bosnian king and died in 1477, hein herited considerable wealth and estates, including some 30 castles and palaces. Therefore, he became a prominent figure of the chaoticperiod that followed the death of King Matthias. As a direct result of these previously-mentioned factors, he became one of the chief enemies of Ulászló II, who decided to start an expedition against him and hisallied forces. Obviously, the reasons for the outbreak of the armed conflict can be traced back to numerous factors which collectively lead to the war. After the death of Matthias, the primary aim of Újlaki proved to be to extend his authority. Thus, with his confederates he occupied several estates, castles as well as monasteries in the southern part of the country. After the defeat of the Corvinus Party, he joined to the supporters of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1486-1519). Ulászló had a grudge against him as well, as he failed to appear at the coronation ceremony in 1490. Besides, he did not send military forces to the recapture of Fehérvár in 1491, and he did not turn up at the meeting of the Jagelló brothers which took place in Lőcse (present-day Levoča) in in 1494 either. In addition to this, the prince violated the law several times and made fun of the king by often referring to him as an ox. He was also accused of the crime of conspiracy: it was widely believed tha the permitted Turkish troops to pass through his properties so that they could break into the southern regions of the country. More over, Újlaki and his most loyal allies – János Hlapsityi Kishorváti, Lőrinc Garai Bánfi and Bertalan Beriszló (prior of Aurana) – invaded the estates of prominent members of the church such as Péter Váradi (archbishop of Kalocsa and Bács) and Zsigmond Ernust (bishop of Pécs). They occupied the estates belonging to the bishop of Szerém as well as the possessions of the Serbian despot.
The military campaign was preceded by careful preparations, whichincluded mobilization of troops, sending of spies and transportation of ordnance. Bertalan Drágfi Béltelki was elected to become the commissioner of the army. Besides him, Péter Geréb Vingárti Judge Royal, Józsa Somi land-steward of Temes County and János Meziricky lead the major troops. Naturally, this monograph introduces the generalsof the army, the advisory council of the king as well as the allied forces and the familiars of Lőrinc Újlaki. Not only the troops of the king and the nobility participated in the military offensive, but also banderias of the counties and of the church. In addition to this, the citizens of Pozsony and Kassa (present-day Košice and Bratislava) sent troops.Mercenary troops arrived from Vienna as well. The book places a large emphasis on the description of the different contingents (infantry, cavalry, artillery and sloops of the war). It also presents the diverse types of guns which were used during the sieges of castles (various typesof cannons and rifles). Moreover, the organisation of war logistics (the supply of the troops with gunpowder, nitrate, coal and cannon balls) are also discussed. Large-scale maps make the movements of the troops and the shifting of the royal military camp even more expressive.The introduction of the troop movements started with the siege of Újlak which was the residence – and the name-giving place – of the family (nowadays it is called Ilok and it is found in Croatia). Firstly,in November 1494 spies were sent to reconnoitre the castle and theneighbourhood. After that, during the next two weeks military troopsarrived to the settlement. At the same time, the necessary amount of military supply was transported here. In the course of the siege, royaltroops had to capture the lower parts of the town at first. Subsequently, they were able to begin the assault of the fortress which rose above the River Danube. Finally, towards the middle of December, the defenders handed over the fortress. The king and his escorts spent three weeks in Újlak, where they celebrated their military success. After this move, the royal and baronial troops – supplemented by the banderias of the prelates – started to invade other fortresses and castle sof Újlaki and his confederates. Besides Szávaszentdemeter (Sremska Mitrovica), Szata (Sotin), Bakva, Gara (Gorjani) and Darnóc (Slatinski Drenovac), they seized one of Újlaki’s favoured residence, Raholca (Orahovica, Ružica). For the sake of the quick success, the royal military commanders decided on the following strategy: they intended to attack the two most important centres belonging to Lőrinc. The first military target was Kaposújvár in Somogy county (today it is called Kaposvár) and the other proved to be Németújvár, which was situated close to the Austrian border (it is Güssing now adays). The fortress in Somogy County was assaulted by the contingents lead by voivode Drágfi and János Bornemisza. The operations begun at the 5th of January, 1495 and they continued throughout two months. Voivode Drágfi had made attempts to bribe the commander of the castle so that he would surrender thefortress, but his efforts remained fruitless. The siege, which lasted forseveral weeks, proved to be effective. During an attack, the gunfire of the royal troops caught fire and the force of the explosion caused serious damages in the fortress itself. As a result of this fact, Dávid Dombai had to hand over the castle to the king.