Gibbon's The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
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A.D. 1444, No. 8.)]
[Footnote 27: A critic will always distrust these spolia opima of a
victorious general, so difficult for valor to obtain, so easy for
flattery to invent, (Cantemir, p. 90, 91.) Callimachus (l. iii. p. 517)
more simply and probably affirms, supervenitibus Janizaris, telorum
multitudine, non jam confossus est, quam obrutus.]
[Footnote *: Compare Von Hammer, p. 463. -- M.]
[Footnote 28: Besides some valuable hints from Æneas Sylvius, which are
diligently collected by Spondanus, our best authorities are three
historians of the xvth century, Philippus Callimachus, (de Rebus a
Vladislao Polonorum atque Hungarorum Rege gestis, libri iii. in Bel.
Script. Rerum Hungaricarum, tom. i. p. 433--518,) Bonfinius, (decad.
-
l. v. p. 460--467,) and Chalcondyles, (l. vii. p. 165--179.) The
two first were Italians, but they passed their lives in Poland and
Hungary, (Fabric. Bibliot. Latin. Med. et Infimæ Ætatis, tom. i. p. 324.
Vossius, de Hist. Latin. l. iii. c. 8, 11. Bayle, Dictionnaire,
Bonfinius.) A small tract of Fælix Petancius, chancellor of Segnia, (ad
calcem Cuspinian. de Cæsaribus, p. 716--722,) represents the theatre of
the war in the xvth century.]
Before I lose sight of the field of Warna, I am tempted to pause on the
character and story of two principal actors, the cardinal Julian and
John Huniades. Julian ^29 Cæsarini was born of a noble family of Rome:
his studies had embraced both the Latin and Greek learning, both the
sciences of divinity and law; and his versatile genius was equally
adapted to the schools, the camp, and the court. No sooner had he been
invested with the Roman purple, than he was sent into Germany to arm the
empire against the rebels and heretics of Bohemia. The spirit of
persecution is unworthy of a Christian; the military profession ill
becomes a priest; but the former is excused by the times; and the latter
was ennobled by the courage of Julian, who stood dauntless and alone in
the disgraceful flight of the German host. As the pope's legate, he
opened the council of Basil; but the president soon appeared the most
strenuous champion of ecclesiastical freedom; and an opposition of seven
years was conducted by his ability and zeal. After promoting the
strongest measures against the authority and person of Eugenius, some
secret motive of interest or conscience engaged him to desert on a
sudden the popular party. The cardinal withdrew himself from Basil to
Ferrara; and, in the debates of the Greeks and Latins, the two nations
admired the dexterity of his arguments and the depth of his theological
erudition. ^30 In his Hungarian embassy, we have already seen the
mischievous effects of his sophistry and eloquence, of which Julian
himself was the first victim. The cardinal, who performed the duties of
a priest and a soldier, was lost in the defeat of Warna. The
circumstances of his death are variously related; but it is believed,
that a weighty encumbrance of gold impeded his flight, and tempted the
cruel avarice of some Christian fugitives.
[Footnote 29: M. Lenfant has described the origin (Hist. du Concile de
Basle, tom. i. p. 247, &c.) and Bohemian campaign (p. 315, &c.) of
Cardinal Julian. His services at Basil and Ferrara, and his unfortunate
end, are occasionally related by Spondanus, and the continuator of
Fleury.]
[Footnote 30: Syropulus honorably praises the talent of an enemy, (p.
117:) toiauta tina eipen o IoulianoV peplatusmenwV agan kai logikwV, kai
met episthmhV kai deinothtoV 'RhtprikhV.]
From an humble, or at least a doubtful origin, the merit of John
Huniades promoted him to the command of the Hungarian armies. His father
was a Walachian, his mother a Greek: her unknown race might possibly
ascend to the emperors of Constantinople; and the claims of the
Walachians, with the surname of Corvinus, from the place of his
nativity, might suggest a thin pretence for mingling his blood with the
patricians of ancient Rome. ^31 In his youth he served in the wars of
Italy, and was retained, with twelve horsemen, by the bishop of Zagrab:
the valor of the white knight ^32 was soon conspicuous; he increased his
fortunes by a noble and wealthy marriage; and in the defence of the
Hungarian borders he won in the same year three battles against the
Turks. By his influence, Ladislaus of Poland obtained the crown of
Hungary; and the important service was rewarded by the title and office
of Waivod of Transylvania. The first of Julian's crusades added two
Turkish laurels on his brow; and in the public distress the fatal errors
of Warna were forgotten. During the absence and minority of Ladislaus of
Austria, the titular king, Huniades was elected supreme captain and
governor of Hungary; and if envy at first was silenced by terror, a
reign of twelve years supposes the arts of policy as well as of war. Yet
the idea of a consummate general is not delineated in his campaigns; the
white knight fought with the hand rather than the head, as the chief of
desultory Barbarians, who attack without fear and fly without shame; and
his military life is composed of a romantic alternative of victories and
escapes. By the Turks, who employed his name to frighten their perverse
children, he was corruptly denominated Jancus Lain, or the Wicked: their
hatred is the proof of their esteem; the kingdom which he guarded was
inaccessible to their arms; and they felt him most daring and
formidable, when they fondly believed the captain and his country
irrecoverably lost. Instead of confining himself to a defensive war,
four years after the defeat of Warna he again penetrated into the heart
of Bulgaria, and in the plain of Cossova, sustained, till the third day,
the shock of the Ottoman army, four times more numerous than his own. As
he fled alone through the woods of Walachia, the hero was surprised by
two robbers; but while they disputed a gold chain that hung at his neck,
he recovered his sword, slew the one, terrified the other, and, after
new perils of captivity or death, consoled by his presence an afflicted
kingdom. But the last and most glorious action of his life was the
defence of Belgrade against the powers of Mahomet the Second in person.
After a siege of forty days, the Turks, who had already entered the
town, were compelled to retreat; and the joyful nations celebrated
Huniades and Belgrade as the bulwarks of Christendom. ^33 About a month
after this great deliverance, the champion expired; and his most
splendid epitaph is the regret of the Ottoman prince, who sighed that he
could no longer hope for revenge against the single antagonist who had
triumphed over his arms. On the first vacancy of the throne, Matthias
Corvinus, a youth of eighteen years of age, was elected and crowned by
the grateful Hungarians. His reign was prosperous and long: Matthias
aspired to the glory of a conqueror and a saint: but his purest merit is
the encouragement of learning; and the Latin orators and historians, who
were invited from Italy by the son, have shed the lustre of their
eloquence on the father's character. ^34
[Footnote 31: See Bonfinius, decad. iii. l. iv. p. 423. Could the
Italian historian pronounce, or the king of Hungary hear, without a
blush, the absurd flattery which confounded the name of a Walachian
village with the casual, though glorious, epithet of a single branch of
the Valerian family at Rome?]
[Footnote 32: Philip de Comines, (Mémoires, l. vi. c. 13,) from the
tradition of the times, mentions him with high encomiums, but under the
whimsical name of the Chevalier Blanc de Valaigne, (Valachia.) The Greek
Chalcondyles, and the Turkish annals of Leunclavius, presume to accuse
his fidelity or valor.]
[Footnote 33: See Bonfinius (decad. iii. l. viii. p. 492) and Spondanus,
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