In July 1456, a massive Turkish army settled in before Belgrade, an ancient city at the confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. The army’s leader was the twenty-four-year-old Ottoman sultan Mehmed II, "the Conqueror," who sought to take one of the most strategically important fortifications in southeastern Europe. Three weeks later, Mehmed’s army was driven from Belgrade by a Hungarian warlord and his army, along with a ragtag force of ill-equipped crusaders.
In The Crusade of 1456, James D. Mixson gathers together the key primary sources for understanding the events that led to the siege of Belgrade. These newly translated sources challenge readers with their variety: papal decrees, letters, liturgies, and chronicles from Latin, Byzantine, and Ottoman perspectives. An accessible introduction, timelines, and maps help to illuminate this fascinating yet previously neglected story.
Author(s): James D. Mixson
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 324
City: Toronto
Cover
Half-Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
List of Maps
Acknowledgments
A Note on Names and Places
Introduction
Historical Frames: Political and Military Developments
Sources in Scholarly Context: The Middle Ages, the Crusades, and the Problem of “Lateness”
Framing the Sources: Selection, Structure, and Significance
Conclusion: Belgrade as a Fifteenth-Century Event
Part One: Preparations for Crusade, 1453–1456
1. Pope Nicholas V, Etsi Ecclesia Christi
2. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, Constantinopolitana Clades
3. Correspondence of 1455–1456
3.1. The City of Ragusa to John Hunyadi
3.2. John of Capistrano to Pope Callixtus III
3.3. John of Capistrano to Pope Callixtus III
3.4. Juan Carvajal to John of Capistrano
3.5. John of Capistrano to Juan Carvajal
3.6. Juan Carvajal to John of Capistrano
3.7. Juan Carvajal to John of Capistrano
3.8. Juan Carvajal to John of Capistrano
3.9. John Hunyadi to Francis Oddi, Bishop of Assisi
3.10. John of Capistrano to Francis Oddi, Bishop of Assisi
4. Liturgy for Taking the Cross
5. A Pope’s Call to Prayer
5.1. Callixtus III, Cum His Superioribus
5.2. Bulla Turcorum / “Türkenbulle”
6. Pope Callixtus III, Omnipotentis dei misericordia
Part Two: The Earliest Accounts
7. John of Capistrano to Pope Callixtus III
8. John of Capistrano to Pope Callixtus III
9. John Hunyadi to Denis Szécsi, Archbishop of Esztergom
10. John Hunyadi to Ladislaus Garai, Palatine of Hungary
11. John Hunyadi to King Ladislaus V
12. John of Tagliacozzo to a Fellow Franciscan
13. John of Capistrano to Pope Callixtus III
Part Three: News and Propaganda
14. Ambassador of The Bishop of Šibenik to Pope Callixtus III
15. Cardinal Juan Carvajal to Francesco Sforza
16. Letters of John Goldener
16.1. John Goldener to Franz Schlick
16.2. John Goldener to Matthew Schlick
17. Ladislaus V to Duke Francesco Sforza of Milan
18. The City of Nuremberg to the City of Weissenburg
19. Pope Callixtus III to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan
20. Letters of Bernard of Kraiburg
20.1. Bernard of Kraiburg to Sigismund, Archbishop of Salzburg
20.2. Bernard of Kraiburg to Henry Rüger of Pegnitz
21. Pope Callixtus III, Letter to Juan Soler
22. Anonymous (Pseudo-John of Capistrano), to All Christians
23. Anonymous, Letter to Henry of Eckenfelt
24. Liturgical Commemorations of Belgrade
24.1. Pope Callixtus III, Inter Divinae Dispensationis
24.2. John Burchard, Liber Notarum
Part Four: John of Tagliacozzo’s Story of the Victory of Belgrade
25. John of Tagliacozzo, The Story of the Victory of Belgrade
Part Five: Memoir and Chronicle
26. Thomas Ebendorfer, Chronicle of Austria
27. Laonikos Chalkokondyles, The Histories
28. Michael Kritopoulos (Kritoboulos), History of Mehmed the Conqueror
29. Jacopo Promontorio, Recollecta
30. Âşıkpaşazade, Memories and Chronicles of the House of Osman
31. John Thurocz, Chronicle of the Hungarians
32. Tursun Beg, History of the Conqueror
33. The Oxford Anonymous Chronicle
34. Konstantin Mihailović, Memoirs
Cast of Characters
General Timeline
Timeline of the Crusade of 1456
Maps
Index
