But the celebration was premature. Hunyadi, wearing Simon Kemény’s armor, suddenly appeared with his troops and swooped down upon Mezid’s troops with a vengeance. That was Mezid’s last surprise and ultimate terror, for he died at Nagyszeben, together with his son and many thousands of his soldiers. Mezid’s severed head, along with rich booty, was sent to Buda. Also among the casualties was Hunyadi’s younger brother, also named János. Simon Kemény’s self-sacrifice would be remembered in a poem by the great Hungarian poet Mihaly Vörösmarty.

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Mehmet was furious about the defeat suffered by Mezid and was anxious for vengeance. Later in the same year, he sent an even larger army under the leadership of Beglerbeg Sehabeddin to conquer Moldavia, Wallachia and Transylvania. To ensure victory, the sultan put his entire European army at Sehabeddin’s disposal. Hunyadi’s army stood waiting for the Turks at the Iron Gate, the narrows where the Danube River leaves Hungary. Although his forces totaled only 15,000, they were crack soldiers.

While the Turks enjoyed numerical superiority, they regarded the upcoming clash with great apprehension. Their commander, however, did not share their feelings. ‘My sword is like a menacing cloud,’ he assured them, ‘but instead of rain, blood will pour in its path. Do you think I am like Mezid? Under my wings you have nothing to fear.’

Sehabeddin would soon regret his boasts. This time, Hunyadi placed his troops in a rectangular formation with the sides and rear protected not only by cavalry but also by armored ‘ironside’ battlewagons. An innovation used by the Bohemian Hussite leader Jan Zizka earlier in the century, the wagons were filled with soldiers and chained together to prevent penetration by the enemy. At the height of the battle, the battle wagons were suddenly wheeled into the fray and, executing a crisscross movement, created panic among the Turkish troops.

Just as Sehabeddin had predicted, blood did pour forth from a menacing ‘cloud of swords’ and redden the ground, but it was mostly Turkish, not Hungarian, blood that soaked the earth that day. The few Turks who escaped the battlefield were hunted down by Serb and Wallachian irregulars.

The news of Hunyadi’s victory spread throughout Europe and brought a measure of hope for those countries still suffering under Ottoman rule. In the following year, the Hungarian general fought and won six more battles, liberating Serbia in the process. The Turks felt jinxed in fighting against Hunyadi, and they referred to him as ‘that damned devil, Janko!’

Although other European powers applauded Hungary’s efforts in ousting the Turks, none of them offered any significant aid. Only the Holy See in Rome took seriously the great cause of expelling the Turks from the Continent.

In the ensuing years, peace treaties were signed and broken, alliances changed, and treachery was always afoot. Hunyadi and his troops continued to fight the Turks, winning some battles and losing others. In 1444 at Varna, acting against Hunyadi’s advice, King Ladislas V engaged the enemy in close combat and was killed by Janissaries (elite Turkish infantry, originally recruited from Christian youth who had been seized to form a bodyguard for Mehmet). Hunyadi was captured and imprisoned by Vlad Dracul. He was later released through Hungarian intervention. In 1447, Hunyadi avenged his humiliation when he led an expedition into Wallachia, killed Dracul and his son Mircea, and set up a loyal retainer, Vladislav II, in his place.

In 1448, at Kosovo in the heart of the Balkans, Hunyadi’s troops again lost a battle. A Serbian lord, angered at looting by Hunyadi’s troops in his territory, imprisoned the defeated warlord for a time. Comrades in arms until then, the Hungarians and Serbs now parted ways, never to be united again in struggle against a common enemy.

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