It has always been the case that one particular battle had a particularly great impact on one country or another. Or, on the contrary, its influence was not very great, but in the memory of the people it acquires a truly epic character. There was such a battle in the history of Hungary in the Middle Ages. Moreover, for the Hungarians, it ended in defeat. And it was connected with the campaign of Batu Khan to the west, which began in 1236. The reason why the Mongols were not satisfied with the defeat of only the Russian principalities and then undertook this campaign as well was very simple. They sought to finally destroy the Polovtsian horde, the remnants of which, after the defeat in the southern Russian steppes, hid from their wrath on the lands of the Hungarian kingdom. "The friend of my enemy is my enemy!" - they counted and moved west! In the spring of 1241, they devastated the Galicia-Volyn principality, after which they immediately marched through the Carpathians in several detachments. Batu Khan entered Hungary through the "Russian Gate" from the north, Buri and Kadan - from the south through the lands of Moldavia to Transylvania, and Buchek - also from the south through Wallachia. The main forces of the Mongol army, commanded by Subadey, followed Kadan (moreover, a significant part of it invaded Poland at the same time and passed it without encountering much resistance).
"The arrival of the Tatars in Hungary during the reign of King Bela IV" - a miniature from the first printed edition of "The Woeful Song" by T. Feger and E. Ratdolt in Augsburg in 1488.
The advance detachments of the Hungarians were defeated by the Mongols on March 12, 1241, and already on March 14, a very important event happened. Several Hungarian barons, dissatisfied with the alliance of King Bela IV with the newcomer Polovtsy, killed their main khan - Kotyan, and many other noble Polovtsian nobles. Therefore, the Polovtsians left Hungary and headed for Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the younger brother of Batu Khan, Shiban, went to the camp of Bela IV on March 15. He decided to adhere to defensive tactics, but, having learned that the Mongol army is twice as small as his troops, and a considerable part of Batu Khan's army is made up of Russians forcibly taken into it, he decided to give him a battle. True to their tactics, the Mongols retreated for several days and made about half the way back to the Carpathians, and then, on April 11, 1241, they suddenly attacked Bela's army on the Shayo River and inflicted a crushing defeat on the Hungarians.
Bela IV was forced to flee to Austria, to Duke Frederick II the Warrior, for whose help he gave his treasury and as many as three western committees (districts) of his country. The Mongols, however, managed to seize the entire territory of Hungary to the east of the Danube, appointed their governors in the new lands and began to raid even further west, reaching the outskirts of Vienna. However, through the efforts of the Czech king Wenceslas I One-eyed and the Austrian Duke Frederick the Warlike, all the Mongol raids were repelled. True, Kadan with his detachment even went through Croatia and Dalmatia to the very Adriatic Sea, so the Mongols even visited the Adriatic, but they did not have time to gain a foothold in Hungary. The fact is that in December 1241, the great khan Ogedei died and, according to Mongol customs, all Chingizids had to interrupt all hostilities and come to the kurultai in Mongolia for the entire time before the election of a new khan. Guyuk Khan had the most chances to be elected, with whom Batu Khan had a personal dislike. Therefore, he decided to leave Hungary in 1242.began moving through the not yet devastated territory of Serbia and Bulgaria, first to the southern Russian steppes, and then further to the East.
A still from the BBC film "Genghis Khan".
Hungary, after the withdrawal of the Mongol army, lay in ruins; one could travel around the country for 15 days and not meet a single living soul. People literally starved to death, so even human meat was sold. Epidemics were added to the scourge of hunger, because unburied corpses were everywhere. And the wolves multiplied so much that they even laid siege to the villages. But King Bela IV managed to restore the destroyed economy, invited the Germans (in the north) and the Vlachs (in the southeast) to settle on the deserted lands, let the Jews into the country, and gave the persecuted Polovtsians land for nomads (between the Danube and the Tisza) and made them part of them. new Hungarian army. Thanks to his efforts, Hungary came to life again and became a strong and powerful kingdom of Europe.
Well, the events of the Battle of Shaillot are interesting to us primarily because it was described in detail by Thomas of Split (circa 1200 - 1268), a Dalmatian chronicler, archdeacon of Split from 1230. He graduated from the University of Bologna in 1227 and is the author of the History of the Archbishops of Salona and Split (Historia Salonitana). Thomas's story about the Tatar-Mongol invasion of Western Europe in 1241 - 1242. is one of the main sources of our information on the history of the Mongol conquests.
"In the fifth year of the reign of Bela (1240), the son of King Andrew of Hungary, and in the next year of the reign of Gargan (Gargan de Arskindis - Podesta of Split), the ruinous Tatars approached the lands of Hungary …" - this is how his story begins.
King Bela began by walking to the mountains between Ruthenia and Hungary and to the border of Poland. On all the routes available for the passage of troops, he ordered to arrange cuttings from felled trees, returning to the capital, gathered all the princes, barons and nobles of the kingdom, like all his best troops. Came to him and his brother King Koloman (it would be more correct to call him a duke - ed.) With his soldiers.
Church leaders not only brought untold riches, but also brought troops of soldiers with them. The trouble began when they began to ponder a plan of action to repel the Tatars, spending many days of precious time on it. Someone was shackled by immeasurable fear, and therefore believed that it was impossible to engage in battle with such an enemy, since these are barbarians who conquer the world out of only one passion for profit, and if this is so, then it is impossible to agree with them, as well as to achieve from them mercy. Others were stupid and in their "stupid frivolity" most carelessly declared that the enemy would take flight as soon as he saw their numerous army. That is, God did not enlighten them, and a quick death was prepared for all of them!
And while they were all engaged in pernicious verbiage, a messenger rode up to the king and told him that exactly before Easter, a multitude of Tatar troops had already crossed the borders of the kingdom and invaded Hungarian land. It was reported that there were forty thousand of them, and in front of the troops were soldiers with axes and felling the forest, thus removing all blockages and obstacles from its path. Within a short time, all the graveyards were chopped up and burned, so that all the work on their construction was in vain. Having met with the first inhabitants of the country, the Tatars did not at first show their fierce heartlessness and, although they collected booty in the villages, they did not arrange big beatings of people.
A still from the film "Mongol".
The Tatars, however, sent forward a large cavalry detachment, which, approaching the camp of the Hungarians, urged them to go out and start a battle, apparently wanting to test whether they had enough spirit to fight them. And the Hungarian king gave the order to his chosen fighters to go to meet them and fight the pagans.
The troops lined up and went out to fight the enemy. But as was customary among the Tatars, they did not accept the battle, but threw arrows at the Hungarians and hurriedly retreated. It is clear that, seeing their "flight", the king with all his army rushed to pursue them and, approaching the Tisza River, then crossed it, rejoicing as if he had already expelled the enemy from the country. Then the Hungarians continued their pursuit, and they reached the Solo (Shajo) river. Meanwhile, they did not know that the Tatars were camped behind the river, hidden among dense forests, and the Hungarians saw only part of their army. Having set up camp in front of the river, the king ordered the tents to be pitched as closely as possible. Carts and shields were placed around the perimeter, so that a cramped enclosure was formed, covered on all sides by carts and shields. And the tents, according to the chronicler, were so crowded, and their ropes were so tightly intertwined that it became simply impossible to move inside the camp. That is, the Hungarians believed that they were in a reliably fortified place, but it was this that became the main reason for their imminent defeat.
Death of King Henry II of Silesia. F. Hedwig's manuscript 1451. Library of the University of Wroclaw.
Then Wat * (Batu Khan), the senior leader of the Tatar army, climbed the hill, carefully examined the disposition of the Hungarian army and then, returning to his soldiers, said: “Friends, we must not lose courage: let there be a great multitude of these people, but they will not be able to get out of our hands, since they are ruled carelessly and stupidly. I saw that they, like a herd without a shepherd, are locked as if in a cramped enclosure. He immediately ordered his soldiers to line up in their usual order and on the same night attack the bridge, which was not far from the Hungarian camp.
But there was a defector from the Ruthenes, who, in the darkness that set in, ran to the Hungarians and warned the king that at night the Tatars would cross the river and might suddenly attack you. The king with his troops set out from the camp and at midnight approached the indicated bridge. Seeing that some of the Tatars had already crossed, the Hungarians attacked them and killed many, while others were thrown into the river. A guard was posted at the bridge, after which the Hungarians returned back in stormy jubilation, after which, confident in their strength, they carelessly slept all night. But the Tatars placed seven throwing guns in front of the bridge and drove the Hungarian guards away, throwing huge stones and arrows at them. Then they freely crossed the river, some across the bridge, and some across the fords.
Battle plan.
Therefore, as soon as morning came, the Hungarians saw that the entire space in front of their camp was covered with many enemy soldiers. As for the sentries, when they reached the camp, they could hardly wake up the guards, who slept in a serene sleep. And when, finally, the Hungarians realized that they had enough sleep and that it was time to jump on their horses and go into battle, they were in no hurry, but strove as usual to comb their hair, wash and sew on their sleeves, and were in no hurry to fight. True, King Koloman, Archbishop Hugrin and the Master of the Templars were on the alert all night and did not close their eyes, so that, barely hearing the screams, they rushed into battle at once. But all their heroism did not lead to anything, because there were few of them, and the rest of the army still remained in the camp. As a result, they returned to the camp, and Archbishop Tugrin began to scold the king for his carelessness, and all the barons of Hungary who were with him for inertness and indolence, especially since in such a dangerous situation, when it came to saving the whole kingdom, it was necessary to act with maximum decisiveness. And many obeyed him and went out to battle with the pagans, but there were also those who, struck by sudden horror, went into a panic.
Monument to Duke Koloman.
Once again, having entered into battle with the Tatars, the Hungarians achieved some success. But here Koloman was wounded, the master of the Templars died and the remnants of the soldiers inevitably had to return to the fortified camp. Meanwhile, in the second hour of the day, all the Tatar soldiers surrounded him from all sides and began to fire from their bows with burning arrows. And the Hungarians, seeing that they were surrounded on all sides by enemy detachments, completely lost their reason and all prudence and no longer thought of forming up in battle formations and going into battle, but rushed around the camp like sheep in a corral, looking for salvation from wolf teeth.
Under the shower of arrows, among the flaming tents, among the smoke and fire, the Hungarians fell into despair and completely lost their discipline. As a result, both the king and his princes threw down their banners and turned into a shameful flight.
However, it was not easy to escape. Even getting out of the camp was very difficult because of the tangled ropes and the pile-up of tents. However, the Tatars, seeing that the Hungarian army fled, opened the passage for him and even allowed him to leave. At the same time, they in every possible way avoided hand-to-hand combat, and followed parallel to the retreating column, not allowing them to turn to the sides, but shooting them from a distance with bows. And along the road were scattered gold and silver vessels, crimson clothes and expensive weapons, abandoned by the fugitives.
Memorial site of the battle.
And then the worst thing began. Seeing that the Hungarians had lost all ability to resist and were terribly tired, the Tatars, as the chronicler writes, "in their unheard-of cruelty, not at all caring about the spoils of war, not putting the stolen valuable goods at all," began to destroy people. They stabbed them with spears, cut them with swords, and did not spare anyone, brutally destroying everyone in a row. Part of the army was pressed against a swamp, where many Hungarians were "swallowed up by water and silt," that is, simply drowned. Archbishop Khugrin, bishops Matthew Esztergom, and Gregory of Dyorsk, and many other prelates and clergy also found their death here.
A mound with crosses poured in memory of the battle.
Actually, it is indicative, how civilized life "corrupts" people, isn't it? After all, the same Hungarians, being nomads, easily coped even with the Franks, inflicted defeat on the Germans, Italians and even the Arabs. But … just a few centuries of life in castles and cities, amenities and luxury, even if not available to everyone, led to the fact that they could not hold back the onslaught of exactly the same nomads who came from almost the same places as their distant ancestors!
So the first day of the destruction of the Hungarian army passed. Tired of continuous murder, the Tatars left for the camp. But the defeated did not have time to go all night long. Others were smeared with the blood of the dead and laid down among them, thus hiding from the enemy and dreaming only of how to indulge in rest at any cost.
King Bela flees from the Tatars. "Illustrated Chronicle" 1358 (Hungarian National Library, Budapest).
“As for King Bela,” says the chronicler, “with God's help, barely escaping death, he left for Austria with a few people. And his brother King Koloman went to a large village called Pest, located on the opposite bank of the Danube."
P. S. Well, now, in order of epilogue for all lovers of "folkhistory", it remains to emphasize that Thomas Splitsky refers to the opponents of the Hungarians as Tatars and emphasizes that among them there were people from Russia, that is, that they were by no means Slavic people, and describes them in great detail battle tactics typical for nomads, which they were … And for God's sake, let no one bring a miniature depicting the battle of the Tatars with the knights on the bridge, where the latter are jumping under the flag with a crescent moon. This is not a Muslim flag, by no means, but a coat of arms representing the youngest son!
* According to information from the biography of Subedei, all the main military leaders of the campaign (except for Baidar) participated in this battle: Batu, Horde, Shiban, Kadan, Subedei and Bahadur (Bahatu).
