Battle of Breadfield
Encyclopedia
The Battle of Breadfield ( ) was the most tremendous conflict fought in Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...

 up to that time in the Hungarian-Turkish Wars taking place on October 13, 1479, on the Breadfield
Breadfield
The Breadfield is a region in southwest Transylvania , between Orăştie and Sebeş in the Transylvanian Saxon land, near the Mureş River. The central settlement is Cugir ....

 Zsibód (Şibot)
Sibot
Şibot is a commune located in Alba County, Romania. It is composed of four villages: Băcăinţi , Balomiru de Câmp , Sărăcsău and Şibot.-References:...

 near the Maros River. The Hungarian army was led by Pál Kinizsi
Pál Kinizsi
Pál Kinizsi was a Hungarian general, legendary commoner commander in the army of king Matthias Corvinus. He was Comes of Temes since 1484 and Captain General of the Lower Parts of the Kingdom of Hungary...

, István Báthory
Stephen V Báthory
Stephen Báthory of Ecsed was a Hungarian commander, 'dapiferorum regalium magister' , judge of the Royal Court and voivod of Transylvania...

, Vuk Branković
Vuk Grgurevic
Vuk Grgurević Branković , also known as Vuk the Fiery Dragon , was the titular Despot of Serbia from 1471 until his death in 1485...

, and Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân
Basarab Laiota cel Batrân
Basarab III cel Bătrân , also known as Laiotă Basarab or Basarab Laiotă was domnitor of the principality of Wallachia in the 1470s, repeating the achievement of his father Dan II in being elected by the boyars as Prince on five different occasions. Moreover, he succeeded the same domnitor on four...

.


The result of the battle was an important victory for the Kingdom of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...

.

Background

Turkish marauders attacked Transylvania and Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...

 several times between 1474 and 1475. The attacks led to the depopulation of some areas with a number of villages abandoned by their inhabitants.

In the spring of 1479, a major Turkish army convened under Szendrő
Szendro
Szendrő is a small town in Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, Northern Hungary, 40 kilometers from county capital Miskolc.-History:Szendrő was first mentioned in 1317. It was named after its owner Szend. Odly enough, Szendro is a Hungarian last name...

, above all Akıncı
Akinci
Akıncı were irregular light cavalry,scout divisions and advance troops of the Ottoman Empire's military. When the pre-existing Turkish ghazis were incorporated into the Ottoman Empire's military they became known as "akıncı." They were one of the first divisions to face the opposing military and...

s. When King Matthias
Matthias Corvinus of Hungary
Matthias Corvinus , also called the Just in folk tales, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458, at the age of 14 until his death...

 was alerted, he ordered Stephen Báthory
Stephen Báthory
Stephen Báthory may refer to several noblemen of Hungarian descent:* Stephen III Báthory , Palatine of Hungary* Stephen V Báthory , judge of the Royal Court and Prince of Transylvania...

, the Voivode of Transylvania and his general Pál Kinizsi
Pál Kinizsi
Pál Kinizsi was a Hungarian general, legendary commoner commander in the army of king Matthias Corvinus. He was Comes of Temes since 1484 and Captain General of the Lower Parts of the Kingdom of Hungary...

 to mobilize.

The Turkish army entered Transylvania on October 9, near Kelnek (Câlnic)
Câlnic, Alba
Câlnic is a commune in Alba County, Romania, composed of two villages, Câlnic and Deal . Câlnic village is known for its castle, which is on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites.-The castle:...

, led by Ali Kodsha bey. The Akıncıs attacked a few villages, homesteads and market town
Market town
Market town or market right is a legal term, originating in the medieval period, for a European settlement that has the right to host markets, distinguishing it from a village and city...

s, taking a number of Hungarians, Vlachs and Saxons captive. On October 13, Kodsha bey set up his camp in the Breadfield (Kenyérmező), near Zsibót. Kodsha bey was obliged into the campaign by the insistence of Basarab cel Tânăr
Basarab Tepelus cel Tânar
Basarab IV cel Tânăr , also known as Ţepeluş , son of Basarab II, was domnitor of the principality of Wallachia, between the years 1477–1481, and again from 1481 to 1482...

, a Wallachian prince, who himself brought 1,000–2,000 footmen to the cause.

The Turks continued pillaging and taking prisoners, while Báthory and Kinizsi made preparations to set forth against the Turks.

The Hungarian and the Ottoman army

The numerical strength of the Turkish army is under debate; one estimate judged them to be a 60,000, while Hungarian sources placed them closer to 30,000. Jan Długosz, the famous Polish chronicler, estimated the Ottoman forces to have been 100 thousand men-at-arms, but Matthias Corvinus estimated there were 43,000 45,000 Ottoman and Wallachian soldiers in his letters.

A more probable number for Ottoman forces was between 6-20 thousand soldiers, and 1,000-2,000 Wallachians. The Ottoman army was almost entirely made up of Akıncıs, rumelia
Rumelia
Rumelia was an historical region comprising the territories of the Ottoman Empire in Europe...

n Spakhs
Sipahi
Sipahi was the name of several Ottoman cavalry corps...

 and Azap
Azap
Azabs were irregular light infantry of the Ottoman Army.The Azaps were also known as "the bachelors", they were volunteers who were paid only during campaigns and had the freedom to leave the army whenever they wanted. The Azaps were initially only Anatolian Turks, though by the late 16th century...

s, with some Janissaries and possibly some cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...

. The Turkish enterprise was not full-fledged war effort, but rather a very substantial raiding one - the largest expedition Transylvania encountered during a century's worth of Hungarian-Turkish conflicts.

Kinizsi's army consisted of Hungarian, Szekler
Székely
The Székelys or Székely , sometimes also referred to as Szeklers , are a subgroup of the Hungarian people living mostly in the Székely Land, an ethno-cultural region in eastern Transylvania, Romania...

, Serbian
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...

, Transylvanian Saxon
Transylvanian Saxons
The Transylvanian Saxons are a people of German ethnicity who settled in Transylvania from the 12th century onwards.The colonization of Transylvania by Germans was begun by King Géza II of Hungary . For decades, the main task of the German settlers was to defend the southeastern border of the...

 forces, and some Vlach volunteers. The latter were commanded by Basarab cel Bătrân, quondam ruler of Wallachia and archrival to cel Tânăr. Accordingly, cel Tânăr insisted on equality with cel Bătrân, with only one being tenable to the Wallachian throne. The combined Christian forces totalled approximated 12,000 to 15,000 men. In the judgement of some, Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...

, Moldavians
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...

, Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

, Lithuanians
Lithuanians
Lithuanians are the Baltic ethnic group native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,765,600 people. Another million or more make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the United States, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Russia, United Kingdom and Ireland. Their native language...

, Germans
Germans
The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 and Bohemians
Czech people
Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 were privy in part to the battle, but rather difficult to substantiate.

The battle

Both armies were composed of three columns. The right flank of the Hungarian army was led by Kinizsi, the left was the Serbian light cavalry under Vuk Branković and Demeter Jakšić with the Saxons and Báthory's forces in the center. On the Ottoman side, Kodsha bey took the left flank, Isa bey the center and Malkoch Oglu the right flank.

The battle commenced in the afternoon, Báthory fell from his horse and the Ottomans nearly captured him, but a valiant Antal Nagy whisked the voivode away.

Having joined battle, the Ottomans were in ascendancy early on, but Kinizsi charged against the Turks with the Hungarian heavy cavalry and 900 Serbs under a Jakšić assisted by "numerous courtiers of the king". Ali bey
Ali Bey Mihaloğlu
Ali Bey Mihaloğlu or Gazı Alauddin Ali Bey Mihaloğlu, was an Ottoman military commander in 15th century and the first sanjakbey of the Sanjak of Smederevo. He was one of the descendants of Köse Mihal, a Byzantine governor of Chirmenkia and battle companion of Osman Gazi...

 was forced to retreat. Kinizsi moved laterally to vigorously smash the Turkish center and before long Isa bey also withdrew. The few Turks who survived the massacre fled into the mountains, where the majority were killed by the local population. The hero of the battle was Pál Kinizsi, the legendary Hungarian general and a man of Herculean bodily strength in the service of Matthias Corvinus' Black Army of Hungary
Black Legion
Black Legion may refer to:*Black Army of Hungary, an army of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 15th century*Légion Noire, an army of French criminals raised for the last invasion of Britain in 1797...

.

Aftermath

Turkish casualties were extremely high with several thousand men killed, among them Malkoçoğlu and Isa bey along with together with two bey
Bey
Bey is a title for chieftain, traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. Accoding to some sources, the word "Bey" is of Turkish language In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh. They are all the same word...

s and a thousand of their Wallachian allies.

Hungarian forces lost approximately 3,000 men in the battle. Scarce few prisoner were liberated and their ransom was immense.

In 1480 Kinizsi raided Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

 and several times defeated Ali Kodsha bey. The Breadfield battle was a great psychological victory for the Hungarians, and as a result the Ottoman Turks did not attack South-Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

and Transylvania for many years thereafter.

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