48 Chrissis
Poland and Hungary, John Hunyadi, and George Branković. Despite early suc-
cesses, the campaign was bogged down by the bitter winter and the Ottoman
scorched-earth tactics. A truce was made in February 1444, but the young king
was prevailed upon by the papal legate to restart the campaign. In the mean-
time, the allied fleet, consisting of papal, Venetian, Burgundian, Ragusan and
Byzantine galleys, had taken its position at the Straits. The Hungarian army
crossed the Danube again in September and started making its way towards
the Ottoman capital at Adrianople, while local Christian rulers led revolts and
attacks against the Turks. Success seemed to be within the crusaders’ grasp.
However, cooperation between land and sea forces proved less effective than
planned, as the fleet failed to stop the crossing of Murad’s army from Anatolia.
The latter met the crusader land forces at Varna, on 10 November 1444. The
fierce fighting ended in an Ottoman triumph. The losses on both sides were
staggering; King Ladislas was among the dead. Like at Nicopolis, a major cru-
sading effort had come to an end having achieved next to nothing and leaving
Byzantium and south-eastern Europe even more exposed to Ottoman might.69
The new sultan, Mehmed ii, soon turned his attention to Constantinople.
Besides being a possible bridgehead for enemy action, wedged between the
Turkish domains in the Balkans and in Asia Minor, the great Christian city also
constituted a great prize for the ambitious young sultan. In 1452, the fortress of
Rumeli Hisar was built, strengthening Turkish control of the Bosporus, while a
large fleet was prepared at Gallipoli. Emperor Constantine xi (1449–53), made
desperate and urgent contacts with the papacy, Venice and most crowned
heads of Europe.70 At the eleventh hour, some efforts were made to save
Constantinople. In January 1453, Hunyadi and King Ladislas the Posthumous
of Hungary informed the pope that they were ready to participate in a new
crusade against the Ottomans. Frederick iii of Germany sent an ultimatum
to the sultan not to attack Constantinople; otherwise he would move “with
the help of all the Christians kings and princes” to the defence of Byzantium.
69 Translations of major contemporary sources collected in Colin Imber, ed. and trans., The
Crusade of Varna 1443–45 (Aldershot, 2006); see ibid., pp. 36–37 and 209–11, for an over-
view of other sources for the campaign and relevant bibliography. See also: Oskar Halecki,
The Crusade of Varna (New York, 1943); Domenico Caccamo, “Eugenio iv e la crociata
di Varna,” Archivio della società Romana di storia patria 79 (1956), 35–87; Setton, Papacy,
2:66–94; Housley, Later Crusades, pp. 84–89.
70 Rodolphe Guilland, “Les appels de Constantin xi Paléologue à Rome et à Venise pour
sauver Constantinople (1452–1453),” Byzantinoslavica 14 (1953), 226–44; idem, “Αι προς την
Δύσιν εκκλήσεις Κωνσταντίνου ΙΑ ́ του Δραγάτση προς σωτηρίαν της Κωνσταντινουπόλεως”
[“The Calls of Constantine xi Dragatses to the West for the Salvation of Constantinople”],
Επετηρίς Εταιρείας Βυζαντινών Σπουδών 22 (1952), 60–74.