After the defeat of the Crusader forces at the Horns of Hattin in 1187, a little over a hundred years passed before they were finally expelled from the Holy Land. Another Christian power in the East also had a hard time. We are talking about Byzantium, which was attacked from both the West and the East, and which had no one to rely on in the fight against the Muslims. As a result, it turned into an island of Christianity, surrounded on all sides by the possessions of Muslims. And they have not yet begun to get involved with the siege of the capital of the empire, but moved further to Europe by land …
Miniature from Jean Froissard's Chronicle (1470). (French National Library, Paris) Judging by the image, where cannons are firing through the city, and severed heads are rolling on the ground, this depicts the siege of Nikopol and the murder of captured Muslims. Here are just about the guns, the author, most likely, fantasized a little.
However, at the end of the XIV century. these were already slightly different Muslims, namely the Ottoman Turks, who differed in many respects from the Seljuk Turks during the Battle of Khattin. Be that as it may, the Byzantine emperor once again began to beg the West for help, and on June 3, 1394, Pope Boniface IX (1356 - 1404) finally proclaimed a crusade against the Ottomans and at the same time … against another pope, Clement, who was in Avignon in France. One can imagine what this "expedition" would have resulted in if Clement had not also spoken out in favor of a crusade against the Turks. Meanwhile, the Ottomans seriously threatened Constantinople, so the Christian princes had to rush to collect money and soldiers. For a long time it was not possible to decide who would lead the expedition, but the issue was decided in favor of Burgundy, since the Duke of Burgundy collected 700,000 gold francs for her needs. At the same time, he appointed his son, Jean Neversky, the head of the campaign, although a council of more experienced princes should really lead him.
Obviously, 25-year-old Jean dreamed of becoming famous as a formidable commander, that is, he thought more about a private than about a common matter. Nevertheless, the crusade was a real international action and gathered military units from Spain, Italy, Germany and England under the banner of the cross.
Sebastian Mameroth "The Outremer Story". Miniature with a scene of the Battle of Nikopol. (National Library of France, Paris)
The western detachments of the army gathered near Dijon, and there heralds informed the audience about what laws would be in force during the campaign, in order to maintain order and discipline. Then the crusaders set off and entered the land of Hungary, where in the region of Budapest they were joined by Teutonic knights, Poles, Hungarians, Transylvanian and even squads of Wallachian princes. The total number of crusaders reached approximately 16,000 people. To provide the army with everything necessary, a flotilla of 70 river ships was used, which sailed after the army down the Danube.
Although this method of supply seemed to be the most convenient and economical, it had the disadvantage that the army of the Crusaders was tied to the river and could not move away from it for more than one crossing.
Descending from the Carpathian Mountains to the southern bank of the Danube near the Iron Gate, where only some of the largest ships could not follow them, the crusaders found themselves in Bulgaria and began to seize one border town after another, as well as organize raids in a southern direction. Not all of these towns, however, fell, since the Crusaders did not take the siege engines with them. There was a case when the local ruler opened the gates of the city of Vidin for them, which allowed the crusaders to break in there and cut out the Ottoman garrison, and Jean de Nevers himself and 300 of his entourage were chivalrous "on the field of honor."
"The Killing of Captive Christians after the Battle of Nicopolis." Miniature from Jean Froissard's Chronicle.
The next city also withstood the raid, but then surrendered anyway after the arrival of the main forces of the crusader army. The massacre of Muslims began again in the city, but Orthodox Christians also got it, with the exception of the richest, whose lives were saved for the sake of a generous ransom. But the Christians turned out to be co-religionists of many soldiers of the Hungarian contingent, which caused a serious disagreement between the two parts of the crusader army. Finally, on September 12, the army approached Nikopol, where 44 ships of the Hospitallers, Genoese and Venetians, who had arrived by sea from Rhodes and had been waiting for the approach of ground troops for two days, were already waiting for it. Obviously, the Crusader army was well managed, and its commanders had precise plans for the timing of the connection.
The city of Nikopol is located at the confluence of three rivers. The Danube flows here from west to east, the Olt river seems to descend from the north, and Osam, on the contrary, rises to it from the south. The fortress stood on a fortified rocky ledge, and its garrison had received reinforcements before that. The Crusaders set up two camps near the city, dividing the Hungarian part of the army under the command of King Sigismund I of Luxembourg and the western part under the command of Jean de Nevers. Large differences in language, religion and culture did not contribute to the rallying of the crusader army. And each army began to carry out the siege according to its own understanding and by its own means. The Hungarians began a "mine war", that is, they began to dig tunnels under the walls, then their foundation was propped up with piles, and then they were set on fire. The lime burned out and the wall collapsed. Burgundian troops began to manufacture assault ladders. However, all this work did not give any real results. The main purpose of the siege was different - to force the Ottoman army to come to the banks of the Danube, which at that time was besieging Constantinople. And the crusaders coped with this task quite well.
"Battle of Nikopol" Miniature 1523 (Topkapi Museum, Istanbul)
Meanwhile, the Turkish Sultan Bayazid, who received the nickname "Lightning", having learned about everything that was happening, left only a small detachment under the walls of Constantinople and began to transfer his best troops to the North. Gathering reinforcements in Edirne in August, he went to the besieged Nikopol, while on the way more and more troops poured into his army, so that the total number of the Turkish army reached 15,000 people. At Tarnovo, the Sultan sent forward intelligence, which brought him information about the location of the Christians. The Christians learned about his approach only when the Sultan's troops had already reached Tyrnov.
On September 24, the Ottomans approached the city and camped just a few kilometers from Nikopol in a hilly area that sloped gently to the river. Here Bayazid ordered to set up a fence of stakes 5 m wide, behind which the infantry was supposed to be. Given the proximity of the enemy, this was a dangerous business. Because while the Turks were setting up camp, the crusaders, up to 1,000 men with relatively light weapons, recruited from different parts of the army, galloped south and attacked the enemy cavalry covering the working infantry. The battle ended in vain, and it is still unknown whether the crusaders learned about the "fence" being built against them or not.
Jean the Bestrashny. Royal Museum of Antwerp.
Seeing that they were caught between two fires, and that the enemy was now both in the city and in the field, the crusaders decided to kill all the Muslim captives they had captured earlier, so that even those who guarded them could take part in the battle. All this took place in a hurry, so that the bodies of those killed did not even have time to be buried. All night, preparations went on, weapons were sharpened and armor was fitted. In this regard, the Ottomans were inferior to the "Franks", although the most well-equipped of them also wore chain mail with forged details that covered the chest and arms from shoulder to elbow, and legs from the knee and below. Many had helmets, but they did not cover their faces. In contrast, the crusaders had bascinet helmets with a movable visor that covered the face, and forged plate armor that covered the arms, legs, and body. Only in areas such as the neck, armpits and groin was chain mail still used.
The sword of 1400, which could well have been fought by the western knights at Nikopol. Length 102.2 cm. Blade length 81.3 cm. Weight 1673 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Interestingly, until now, the Ottomans, who had practically not met with Western European knights, did not have in their arsenal a sufficient number of arrows with armor-piercing tips, unlike, for example, English shooters from large Welsh bows. The crossbows of the Crusaders, which sent their short and thick arrows with great strength and accuracy, could also be extremely effective weapons against Ottoman armored warriors, as they could tear the weaving of chain mail and pierce deeply into living flesh. At close range, they even pierced forged armor, if, of course, they hit them at right angles.
To imagine what the western knights who came to Nikopol could look like, let us turn to the effigies of those years. Here we have Burkhard von Steinberg, mind. 1397 Museum of Nuremberg.
At night, the leaders of the crusaders also held a council. The Western knights stood for an immediate daring attack on the enemy, while the Hungarian king Sigismund, who had accumulated considerable experience in battles with the Turks, proposed more cautious tactics. He offered to send skirmishers who would engage in battle with the enemy's light cavalry and lure her under the shots of crossbowmen. As a result, the leaders, as it is customary to say today, "did not come to a consensus." The knights demanded the right to launch an offensive and were not going to allow any "peasants" to go ahead of them, even with the aim of clearing the way for them. As a result, the Western crusaders were so eager to show their prowess that they left the camp even before the Hungarians had time to line up for the upcoming battle.
Effigy by Heinrich Bayer. OK. 1399. Berlin, Bode Museum. As you can see, there is practically no armor on him, he is dressed in loose clothes, and even with sleeves.
At the foot of the first hill on the path of the knightly cavalry, a small stream flowed with banks overgrown with trees. And here, at the crossing, she was met by the akyndzhi - Ottoman light-footed warriors who shot from bows from a horse. They showered the Christians with arrows, after which they parted to the sides, clearing the space in front of the fence made of stakes. Behind him stood the Ottoman infantry, armed with bows, spears and shields.
Seeing the enemy, the knights rushed forward, but climbing the hillside slowed their movement. Moreover, on the way to the fence they were met by a shower of arrows. They would have suffered great losses if the British were in front of them, but the Ottoman arrows fired from the short bows were not strong enough to pierce the strong armor of Western Christians. Suffering losses not so much killed as wounded, the knights made their way through the stakes, got to the infantry and began to chop it down, believing that victory was already in their hands.
Robert de Freville, 1400 Little Shelford. Before us is an English knight, but they did not participate in this campaign. But about the same at that time the knights of Burgundy and France were equipped.
Then the knights-crusaders broke through the Turkish infantry, and then a new elevation appeared in front of them, where Bayazid's cavalry men at arms were located, located on an even higher elevation. And the knights again galloped to the enemy, but their horses were already very tired. Here, from both flanks, head-on and simultaneously from the rear, fresh enemy forces attacked them. The knights fought desperately and for a moment it even seemed to them that they had won the battle. But then the howling of a trumpet was heard, the rumble of drums, and the mounted squads of Bayazid's elite warriors appeared from behind the hill. They fell upon the exhausted crusaders, for whom this attack had already become too much of a test. Tired of jumping over the hills and battles with various opponents, the crusaders could not stand it and galloped back. Others considered the retreat shameful and senseless and met the enemy where they were. They either died in battle or were taken prisoner.
Everyone who could run rushed to the Danube, trying to find salvation in boats and get across to the opposite bank. Seeing this, the Wallachian and Transylvanian light cavalry on the flanks also turned around and began to retreat. In addition, her soldiers did not forget the merciless massacre by the Western crusaders over their fellow believers - Orthodox Christians. Now they decided not to get involved in the battle and save themselves, and not the swaggering knights from Europe.
Sigismund, King of Hungary, who prudently remained in the rear at the beginning of the unauthorized action of the Allies, had a small detachment of Hungarian knights in heavy weapons under his command. First of all, he tried to stop the flow of fleeing, and then attacked the Ottoman infantry approaching the shore. Meanwhile, 200 Italian crossbowmen entered the battle, lining up and acting strictly on command. They loaded their crossbows, turning their backs to the enemy, which was protected by pavise shields, then turned, fired a volley and reloaded the crossbows. And they acted this way until the king boarded the ship and left the battlefield. Then the Italians were left to their own fate and in turn rushed to the river to save themselves. Some of the overcrowded and overloaded ships drowned, barely leaving the coast, but others still managed to swim across the river, so that some of the infantry and knights managed to escape. However, the "Franks" had to go back through the Wallachian lands, and even early in the winter, so that in the end only a few made it home.
A cruel fate awaited the captive Christians. Bayazid, out of revenge, ordered the slaughter of more than 2,000 Crusader prisoners. True, only 300-400 people managed to kill, after which the Sultan's temper softened, and he changed his mind about executing everyone. The survivors of this massacre were freed for ransom, or sold into slavery, although, of course, under the then medicine, many died of wounds. Jean de Nevers (received the nickname "Fearless" for his bravery) was also taken prisoner, but returned to Burgundy after a year of imprisonment (and the same amount he got home later!), After the sultan was paid a huge ransom of 200,000 ducats for him!
Modern reconstruction of the armor of a Western European knight from 1390. Rice. Graham Turner.
After this Bayazid returned to Constantinople to continue the siege. But his forces were weakened and in the end he could not take the great city. That is, even so, but the Catholic West still helped Orthodox Byzantium. In any case, its final fall took place only 57 years after these tragic events.
