Cont.:
When Wladimir / Ulaszlo arrived at Buda, he had not exactly surfed on a wave of enthusiastic approval, either. The German-speaking majorities of various civitates montanae had been a backbone of Sigismund`s reign, and now they stood loyally by their König Friedrich. The Slovaks, and especially the Hussite missionaries and Bratrici fighters among them, who were quickly gaining new followers after the defeat Sigismund had inflicted upon them, had not been thrilled by the oath of allegiance Wladimir`s men had some Hussitic preachers swear to the King of Poland and the (Avignon-obedient) Hussitic Bishop of Myslenice.
But he had merged with the last surviving forces of the aristocratic rebels in the border region, who accompanied him on his march to Buda now.
Arriving in Buda among the first snowflakes of winter, Ulászlo had to force his entry past Lithuanian guards. This did not bode well for the encounter with Zsigmond. Here were sizable forces of two large European countries, both major leaders of the Reformist camp. United, they would have had a fair chance at defeating Frigyes and pulling Hungary into the Reformist camp.
But Ulászlo struck a commanding tone. He demanded Zsigmond`s recognition of his election, and offered him merely the title of Ban of Slavonia. Zsigmond, apparently struggling to defuse the situation, appealed to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Švitrigaila, for arbitration.
And Švitrigaila came. Legends have it that the first encounter between him and Wladimir / Ulászlo had already happened in Krakow, and that even then, the Grand Duke had disliked the “snotty boy”, while the young King of Poland had held only contempt for the “godless old schemer”. Whether this be true or not, their encounter at Buda was a catastrophe without precedent. Ulászlo`s reaction was reserved, to say the least. Švitrigaila might be Žygimantas` s liege, he snared, but he certainly wasn`t his. Žygimantas / Zsigmond reminded him that he was their elder and doubtlessly a respectable arbiter, but to little avail.
Ulászlo attended the hearing in Buda`s great Gothic-style castle
(castle is on the left)
but instead of contributing to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, things got out of hand.
Švitrigaila questioned a number of Hungarian noblemen on the nature and proceedings of the Diet in Szekesfehervar and the assembly at Babolna, as well as on their opinions about the situation in Croatia. Then, he judged that Wladimir and Žygimantas should continue to fight together on equal terms for the time being, sharing the supreme command, against their common Austrian enemy, until they should have beaten him and brought the entire realm under their control, leaving the question of ultimate kingship pending until an all-Hungarian Diet could be convened, to which he deferred the task of determining Hungary`s legitimate monarch.
Žygimantas was prepared to accept this ruling, but Wladimir wasn`t. He considered his claims as clearly superior, and he feared that increasing Lithuanian intervention in the ongoing war would push him to the margins over time. Explicitly, though, he lost no word about such thoughts. Instead, he resorted to a wild rhetorical attack on Švitrigaila. All throughout his reign, he had done nothing but contribute to the continent´s decadence. The values and ethics of chivalry were being lost; unprincipled, uncivilized, overzealous and untrained hordes were ravaging the lands in this boundless war of confessions, and Švitrigaila, Wladislaw argued, had been instrumental in supporting this. He had made a deal with the most radical elements of the Hussites one and a half decades ago, and ever since, he had not cared whether his fighting forces be brave Christian knights or heretical Strigolniki from Polotsk or heathens from the swamps of Samogitia. It was leaders like Švitrigaila and those with whom he allied, whose barbarity and lack of principles made concordance and reform within the Church of the West impossible. It was fighters like those he and his ilk employed and supported who brought about the downfall of morality in warfare and in peace, which everyone could observe from France over Germany to the East right now, and who would usher in an age of chaos in which everyone would struggle against everyone to come out on top of the heap. He, Wladislaw, on the other hand, and his noble Polish knights, embodied the rebirth of the true values of chivalry, and only they would be able to bring about a reform of the church based on a return to integrity and piety. According to some sources, his endless rant also contained countless references to myths and legends about an alleged Roman ancestry of Lithuanian nobility and an alleged Sarmatian ancestry of the Polish szlachta, and how their legitimacy thus depended on incredibly old foundations in accordance with which they had to act, and how they would have to learn the lessons of classical history to understand why they faced chaos, decadence, and collapse today. Throughout, it was imbued with digs at Švitrigaila, which were meant to undermine the elderly grand duke`s authority. Some of them could be understood as challenges to a duel.
A duel, of course, would not come to pass – but the gathering nevertheless descended into a brawl, nay, a melee, a bloodbath, at the end of which a few dozen of Poland`s and Lithuania`s as well as Hungary`s most influential aristocrats had died or been so seriously injured that they would succumb to their wounds over the course of the next few weeks.
Among the victims of this Blood Night at Buda was the old grand duke Švitrigaila himself, too.
Thus, while the Blood Night certainly produced only losers among its participants, it was nevertheless young Ulászlo who, showing unexpected swordsmanship and survival instinct, not only came out alive from the avalanche of chaos he had started, but also managed to gain control over Buda and Pest for the winter of 1438/9. Most of the Lithuanian combatants hurried to Vilnius now, where the selection of a new grand duke and other important questions concerning the grand duchy`s future would be negotiated, leaving their Transilvanian allies on their own.
Not Žygimantas, though. He rode with a group of Lithuanians until Jászberény, where he changed his mind and parted ways with his compatriots in order to return to Pest and from there, with those who still supported the Union of Babolna, to Kolosvár, where he attempted to stay out of the Lithuanian succession struggle and spent the winter preparing another defense of Transilvania against the twin threats of Frigyes and Ulászlo. For the greatest victim which had died in the Blood Night at Buda was the friendship between Poland and Lithuania, and the concordance within the Reformist camp on the continent.
To be continued.
When Wladimir / Ulaszlo arrived at Buda, he had not exactly surfed on a wave of enthusiastic approval, either. The German-speaking majorities of various civitates montanae had been a backbone of Sigismund`s reign, and now they stood loyally by their König Friedrich. The Slovaks, and especially the Hussite missionaries and Bratrici fighters among them, who were quickly gaining new followers after the defeat Sigismund had inflicted upon them, had not been thrilled by the oath of allegiance Wladimir`s men had some Hussitic preachers swear to the King of Poland and the (Avignon-obedient) Hussitic Bishop of Myslenice.
But he had merged with the last surviving forces of the aristocratic rebels in the border region, who accompanied him on his march to Buda now.
Arriving in Buda among the first snowflakes of winter, Ulászlo had to force his entry past Lithuanian guards. This did not bode well for the encounter with Zsigmond. Here were sizable forces of two large European countries, both major leaders of the Reformist camp. United, they would have had a fair chance at defeating Frigyes and pulling Hungary into the Reformist camp.
But Ulászlo struck a commanding tone. He demanded Zsigmond`s recognition of his election, and offered him merely the title of Ban of Slavonia. Zsigmond, apparently struggling to defuse the situation, appealed to the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Švitrigaila, for arbitration.
And Švitrigaila came. Legends have it that the first encounter between him and Wladimir / Ulászlo had already happened in Krakow, and that even then, the Grand Duke had disliked the “snotty boy”, while the young King of Poland had held only contempt for the “godless old schemer”. Whether this be true or not, their encounter at Buda was a catastrophe without precedent. Ulászlo`s reaction was reserved, to say the least. Švitrigaila might be Žygimantas` s liege, he snared, but he certainly wasn`t his. Žygimantas / Zsigmond reminded him that he was their elder and doubtlessly a respectable arbiter, but to little avail.
Ulászlo attended the hearing in Buda`s great Gothic-style castle
(castle is on the left)
but instead of contributing to a peaceful resolution of the crisis, things got out of hand.
Švitrigaila questioned a number of Hungarian noblemen on the nature and proceedings of the Diet in Szekesfehervar and the assembly at Babolna, as well as on their opinions about the situation in Croatia. Then, he judged that Wladimir and Žygimantas should continue to fight together on equal terms for the time being, sharing the supreme command, against their common Austrian enemy, until they should have beaten him and brought the entire realm under their control, leaving the question of ultimate kingship pending until an all-Hungarian Diet could be convened, to which he deferred the task of determining Hungary`s legitimate monarch.
Žygimantas was prepared to accept this ruling, but Wladimir wasn`t. He considered his claims as clearly superior, and he feared that increasing Lithuanian intervention in the ongoing war would push him to the margins over time. Explicitly, though, he lost no word about such thoughts. Instead, he resorted to a wild rhetorical attack on Švitrigaila. All throughout his reign, he had done nothing but contribute to the continent´s decadence. The values and ethics of chivalry were being lost; unprincipled, uncivilized, overzealous and untrained hordes were ravaging the lands in this boundless war of confessions, and Švitrigaila, Wladislaw argued, had been instrumental in supporting this. He had made a deal with the most radical elements of the Hussites one and a half decades ago, and ever since, he had not cared whether his fighting forces be brave Christian knights or heretical Strigolniki from Polotsk or heathens from the swamps of Samogitia. It was leaders like Švitrigaila and those with whom he allied, whose barbarity and lack of principles made concordance and reform within the Church of the West impossible. It was fighters like those he and his ilk employed and supported who brought about the downfall of morality in warfare and in peace, which everyone could observe from France over Germany to the East right now, and who would usher in an age of chaos in which everyone would struggle against everyone to come out on top of the heap. He, Wladislaw, on the other hand, and his noble Polish knights, embodied the rebirth of the true values of chivalry, and only they would be able to bring about a reform of the church based on a return to integrity and piety. According to some sources, his endless rant also contained countless references to myths and legends about an alleged Roman ancestry of Lithuanian nobility and an alleged Sarmatian ancestry of the Polish szlachta, and how their legitimacy thus depended on incredibly old foundations in accordance with which they had to act, and how they would have to learn the lessons of classical history to understand why they faced chaos, decadence, and collapse today. Throughout, it was imbued with digs at Švitrigaila, which were meant to undermine the elderly grand duke`s authority. Some of them could be understood as challenges to a duel.
A duel, of course, would not come to pass – but the gathering nevertheless descended into a brawl, nay, a melee, a bloodbath, at the end of which a few dozen of Poland`s and Lithuania`s as well as Hungary`s most influential aristocrats had died or been so seriously injured that they would succumb to their wounds over the course of the next few weeks.
Among the victims of this Blood Night at Buda was the old grand duke Švitrigaila himself, too.
Thus, while the Blood Night certainly produced only losers among its participants, it was nevertheless young Ulászlo who, showing unexpected swordsmanship and survival instinct, not only came out alive from the avalanche of chaos he had started, but also managed to gain control over Buda and Pest for the winter of 1438/9. Most of the Lithuanian combatants hurried to Vilnius now, where the selection of a new grand duke and other important questions concerning the grand duchy`s future would be negotiated, leaving their Transilvanian allies on their own.
Not Žygimantas, though. He rode with a group of Lithuanians until Jászberény, where he changed his mind and parted ways with his compatriots in order to return to Pest and from there, with those who still supported the Union of Babolna, to Kolosvár, where he attempted to stay out of the Lithuanian succession struggle and spent the winter preparing another defense of Transilvania against the twin threats of Frigyes and Ulászlo. For the greatest victim which had died in the Blood Night at Buda was the friendship between Poland and Lithuania, and the concordance within the Reformist camp on the continent.
To be continued.
