Kat Cendana – Page 10 – Amazing Bible Timeline with World History

Posted on December 10, 2017October 25, 2017 by Kat Cendana — 1 Comment

Mongols, Christianity Introduced to the

The date when Christianity was first introduced to the Mongols is still a mystery, but a tribe called Keraite became Nestorian Christians in AD 1007. Other Mongol tribes soon followed, but many of them were also followers of other religions. There was no doubt that they terrorized people, but the Mongols were famous for being tolerant of all beliefs. These events are recorded on the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History at that time.

Christianity in China and Central Asia

The Nestorian Stele was one of the proofs that Christianity reached East Asia during the Medieval Period. The limestone block was excavated by local Chinese workers between 1623 and 1625. The words carved on the stele referred to Christianity in China, but it was buried during the Tang campaign against foreign religions in AD 845. Christianity almost disappeared in China, but it found a new and friendly home in Mongolia more than 160 years later.

In 1007, a Mongol khan had himself baptized into Nestorian Christianity along with 200,000 of his people. They were members of the Keraite tribe of the Mongols. Other Mongol tribes, such as the Onguds and Naimans, also became Nestorian Christians around 1200. Many Uighurs, the Mongols’ Turkic neighbors in Central Asia, became Nestorian Christians as well.

Some members of the Mongol royal family married Keraite and Ongud Christians during the domination of Genghis Khan. The early Mongol rulers were generally tolerant of all religions. Christianity and Christians themselves held a special place in Mongol society. For example, Hulagu Khan spared the Christians of Baghdad after his Christian wife Doquz Khatun pleaded on their behalf in 1258. Kublai Khan also placed the Christians in the semuren class (assorted category) which placed them just below the Mongols themselves, but above the native Chinese.

The Mongol expansion in West Asia and Eastern Europe brought them into contact with other Christians. The Church of the East (Nestorian) in China flourished under Kublai Khan. He allowed the Church to appoint metropolitans (the equivalent of a Catholic archbishop) for the Tanguts, the Uighurs, and others in Dadu (Beijing).

The Chagatai Khanate of Central Asia also allowed the appointment of metropolitans in Kashgar (Xinjiang, northwest China), Samarkand (present-day Uzbekistan), and Almaligh (Xinjiang, northwest China). The Issyk-Kul region of present-day Kyrgyzstan also had a Christian community. Unfortunately, the Christians of Central Asia suffered a heavy blow when Tarmashirin Khan (1331 AD – 1334) converted to Islam and started a purge of Christians.

The Golden Horde of Russia were also tolerant of other religions at first. However, just like the Chagatai Khanate of Central Asia, the Golden Horde also became Muslims and Christianity disappeared within the realm.

In Persia, the early Ilkhans allowed Uighur and Assyrian Christians to hold high positions in their court. Everything changed when Ghazan became the Ilkhan and his ally, Nawruz, started a purge of Christians in the land. Ghazan later executed Nawruz for treason and he reinstated the Christians. Christianity was on its way out in the Ilkhanate of Persia by the 15th century when the Timurid ruler Ulugh Beg persecuted the followers of the religion.

Christianity in China died once again when the Mongol Yuan dynasty collapsed in the 1360s. When the Ming Dynasty came to power in the 1360s, its rulers expelled both Nestorian and Roman Catholic Christians from China.

Important Mongol Christians

Princess Sorghaghtani Beki, pictured with her husband in the early 14th century.

Kitbuqa Noyan – Naiman Turk and Christian lieutenant of Hulagu Khan.

Sorghaghtani Beki – Nestorian Christian princess of the Keraite tribe. She married one of Genghis Khan’s sons, Tolui. She was the mother of Mongke, Kublai, Hulagu, and Ariq Boke.

Doquz Khatun – Nestorian Christian and Keraite wife of Hulagu Khan. She was instrumental in saving Baghdad’s Christians during the siege of 1258. She was also the mother of Abaqu Khan.

Sartaq Khan – son of Batu Khan of the Golden Horde who converted to Christianity.

Others

Abaqa Khan – son of Hulagu Khan who married the Byzantine princess Maria Palaiologina. She became his “Despina Khatun.” He never converted to Christianity, but because of his wife Abaqa Khan favored Christians in his realm. Some of the coins he minted contained a cross and the words “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, one God.” He was also active in seeking political alliances with Christian Europe against the Mamluks of Egypt.

Rabban Bar Sauma – the Uighur Marco Polo. A Uighur Turk and Nestorian monk from Beijing who was sent by Kublai Khan to seek an alliance with European kings and the Pope. He was accompanied by Rabban Markos of Kashang to a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, but their path to the city was blocked. They detoured to Baghdad where they were warmly received by Patriarch Mar Denha. The Patriarch of Baghdad died during the duo’s extended stay in the city. Rabban Markos later became the Patriarch of Baghdad in 1281.

Rabban Bar Sauma continued the journey to Europe even though he was an old man. He traveled to Constantinople, and to Italy where he met James II of Aragon and Sicily and Charles II of Naples. Pope Honorius IV died before Rabban Bar Sauma could reach him in Rome, so Kublai’s envoy only talked to the cardinals. He also passed through Tuscany and Genoa. He visited King Philip the Fair in Paris and talked with King Edward I of England in his domain in Gascony.

He was able to meet the newly elected Pope Nicholas IV before he returned to Baghdad in 1288. He never went back to China and died in Baghdad in 1294.

References:

Picture by: Rashid al-Din [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Atwood, Christopher Pratt. Encyclopedia of Mongolia and the Mongol Empire. New York, NY: Facts On File, 2004.

Buell, Paul D. Historical Dictionary of the Mongol World Empire. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 2003.

“Coins of Mongol Empire.” MongolianCoins.com. Accessed January 10, 2017. http://www.mongoliancoins.com/coins_of_mongol_empire_ilkhans.php.

Posted on December 8, 2017October 23, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Mongols Fail to Subdue Japan

Kublai Khan was one of the world’s most ambitious and accomplished leaders. During his reign, the Mongols ruled a vast expanse of Asia, as well as some parts of Eastern Europe. After a struggle with his brother Ariq Boke, Kublai subdued the Southern Song Dynasty of China. The only kingdom that remained out of his reach was Japan, but the Mongols failed to subdue it in 1274 and 1281. Because of this failure, Kublai Khan and the Mongols did not seem as powerful as they were before. These events are recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History during that time.

Korea: The Mongols’ Northeastern Ally

Between 1218 and 1233, Kublai Khan’s grandfather Genghis Khan and his uncle Ogedei subdued a large part of the Korean peninsula. Ogedei’s invasion in 1233 forced the Goryeo Dynasty king to flee to Ganghwa Island. Mongke, Kublai Khan’s brother, completely subdued the Koreans between 1253 and 1258.

When Kublai became the Khagan (Great Khan), the Crown Prince of Goryeo traveled to China and became a vassal to the Mongols. The Khagan accepted him in the royal court, and the Korean Crown Prince stayed in China for many years. When the king of Korea died, Kublai released the prince from the royal court and allowed him to return to his homeland. The Khagan supported the prince’s decision to claim his throne. But he was also prudent enough to send a Mongol administrator to Korea to ensure that the new king would behave. The prince became King Wonjong of Goryeo. His alliance with the Mongols was cemented further when the Khagan arranged the marriage of one of his daughters to the king.

The Mongols were masters of cavalry, but they had no experience in naval warfare. The Khagan knew this, so he enlisted the help of the Koreans in building a naval fleet. Korean sailors also played a large part in his campaigns against the Southern Song and Japan. They, however, paid dearly with their lives in Kublai’s disastrous Japan expeditions in 1274 and 1281.

Japan: The Isolated Kingdom

Kublai Khan shown in a portrait created shortly after his death in 1294.

Just like his grandfather and other relatives, Kublai Khan also wanted to extend his empire. It was only natural that he would look beyond the Korean Peninsula and try to bring the isolated kingdom of Japan to heel. Fresh from his victory against his brother Ariq Boke, the energetic Khagan sent his ambassadors to demand the submission of Japan.

The Korean crew knew that they would gain nothing from the deal, so they tried to dissuade the Mongol ambassadors by frightening them with stories of strong winds and turbulent seas. Unused to traveling by sea, the ambassadors became frightened and told the Korean sailors to return to the peninsula. Kublai Khan sent a harsh letter to King Wonjong when he heard what the sailors said to the envoys.

In 1268, Kublai sent another embassy to Japan. This time, however, the Korean sailors learned their lesson, and they transported the envoys all the way to the royal court in Kyoto. The Japanese were not excited with the arrival of the Mongols, to say the least. The head of the bakufu (military government) Hojo Tokimune refused to submit to the Khagan by sending the ambassadors back to China without any message.

Kublai dispatched ambassadors once again in 1271 with the same demand. The envoys were barred from entering the royal court when they arrived in Kyoto. They had no choice but to sail back to China and tell the Khagan that they were denied. Although Kublai Khan was humiliated with Japan’s refusal to submit, he still sent another ambassador to the islands in 1272. The bakufu refused the ambassadors’ request to see the Japanese emperor. The Japanese even responded harshly to the envoys’ demands. The envoy, Chao Liangpi, went home empty-handed in 1273.

It was the last straw for Kublai Khan. In 1274, he ordered the Koreans to build a naval fleet that they could use in bringing Japan under submission. Thousands of Mongol, Jurchen, and Chinese men joined the army. The Korean soldiers and sailors also joined the expedition because of the Korean king’s alliance with Kublai Khan.

When all the warships were done, Kublai Khan’s navy sailed from a port near Busan to the islands of Iki and Tsushima. They easily defeated the Japanese defenders of the islands, so they sailed to Kyushu on November 19, 1274. The Mongol fleet initially overpowered the samurais, but luck was on the side of the Japanese. As soon as night came, a strong typhoon swept in. The Koreans convinced the Mongol overlords to retreat into the open sea so that their ships would not be swept into the rocky coast and be destroyed. The Mongols agreed to sail away from the coast, but they suffered heavy casualties after many of their ships sank.

The Mongol, Chinese, and Korean troops returned to North China in humiliation. Kublai was furious, but he could not strike back immediately as he was occupied with the war against the Southern Song. For some reason, he sent ambassadors once again to Japan in 1275. The ambassadors, however, reached a grim end when the Japanese executed them. Enraged with his ambassadors’ death but still busy with the Southern Song, Kublai allowed the Japanese a break. It was not until 1281 that he was free to launch another expedition to Japan.

Personal Tragedy and Decline

The years between 1280 and 1290, however, were marked with personal losses for Kublai Khan. His beloved consort, Chabi, died in 1281, and her death was followed by his son and heir, Zhenjin, in 1286. He became depressed when Chabi died. He also gorged himself on food and alcohol which worsened his gout and obesity. He even started the 1280s with the second expedition to Japan which quickly turned into a disaster.

The Second Invasion of Japan and the Kamikaze

The Japanese government knew that the Mongols would invade again, so the bakufu ordered their samurais to occupy the coast of Kyushu. They also built a long stone wall (genko borui) along the Hakata Bay.

Kublai would not give up on Japan, so he sent envoys once again but they, too, were executed by the Japanese. The killing of his envoys only solidified his decision to invade Japan for the second time. Preparations were already in full swing in 1280. Again, he ordered the unhappy Koreans and Chinese to build his ships. Kublai placed the Korean admiral Hong Tagu in charge of his fellow Korean sailors. Meanwhile, General Fan Wanhu led his fellow Chinese soldiers. The Mongol division, on the other hand, was led by Shintu.

As much as 40,000 Korean, Mongol, and Chinese troops sailed from Korea to Japan in mid-1281. The Chinese troops reached as many as 100,000. They sailed from Quanzhou in Fujian Province later to meet up with the Northern troops at Iki island in Nagasaki. Bad omens plagued the expedition from the start, while disagreements between the commanders made the journey more difficult.

On June 10, 1281, the troops from the north went right ahead and attacked Iki without waiting for the fleet from Quanzhou. They also sailed off to Kyushu where the fleet from Quanzhou finally caught up with them. Kublai’s combined fleet then attacked Kyushu in August 1281. It was bound to fail as the stone wall that the Japanese defenders constructed was effective in keeping the invaders out. From the start, the Chinese and Korean troops were unhappy about the expedition because they had nothing to gain from it. Their lack of enthusiasm in fighting the Japanese also made the expedition a failure.

In a case of extraordinary bad luck for Kublai’s troops, a typhoon swept in again and battered the Mongol fleet off Hakata Bay on the 15th and 16th of August. The Korean sailors tried to escape to the open sea, but the move came too late. Thousands of Korean, Mongol, and Chinese soldiers and sailors drowned when their ships sank. Those who were trapped on the coast were killed by the samurais.

The typhoon was a godsend and a morale booster for the Japanese. The “kamikaze” or “divine wind” saved them from the Mongols twice, and it reinforced their belief that they were favored by the gods. For Kublai Khan, however, it was a humiliating and shocking defeat. However, he stubbornly insisted on a third expedition, and the Mongols made preparations between 1283 and 1284. The third expedition was an unpopular idea among his advisers after their devastating loss in 1274 and 1281. He finally accepted his loss only when they vehemently objected to his plan.

References:

Picture by: Araniko – Artdaily.org, Public Domain, Link

Henthorn, William E. Korea: The Mongol invasions. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1963.

Kuehn, John T. A Military History of Japan: From the Age of the Samurai to the 21st Century. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2014.

May, Timothy Michael. The Mongol Empire: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC, 2017.

Robinson, David M. Empire’s Twilight: Northeast Asia under the Mongols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center for the Harvard-Yenching Institute, 2009.

Rossabi, Morris. Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times.
Berkeley: University of California Press, c1988 1988.
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft6g5006zc/

Posted on December 6, 2017October 23, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Pope’s Residence Changes to Avignon

Between 1309 to 1376, the popes lived in the town of Avignon in the region of Provence. It began when Pope Clement V chose to stay in France after his election for fear of the violence between the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy. He was an ally of Philip IV of France, and he became the king’s puppet during his reign as pope. Six more popes stayed in Avignon until Gregory XI finally returned to Rome in 1376. These events are recorded on the Bible Timeline Poster with World History during that time.

Background

In 1285, Philip IV (the Fair) became the king of France. He ruled as an overlord to King Edward I who was the Duke of Aquitaine through his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. In 1294, a conflict broke out between Edward and Philip after a group of Norman and French sailors fought against each other. Philip summoned Edward to appear before his court, but the English king refused to obey.

The French king responded by seizing the duchy of Aquitaine which escalated the conflict into war. The Duke of Brittany and the Count of Flanders sided with Edward, while the King of Scotland, John Balliol, became Philip’s ally. The war with the English for Aquitaine was an expensive venture, so Philip first taxed the Jews to fund his war. When it was not enough, he then imposed a heavy tax on the Catholic Church in France—an act which angered Pope Boniface VIII.

France’s economy hit an all-time low in the years that followed so that Philip was forced to sue for peace with King Edward I in 1299. The war was not yet over as Philip still continued to fight with the Count of Flanders on the northern front. Thus the special taxes imposed on the churches in France remained. If this was not enough to anger the pope, Philip also insisted on controlling the clergy in his kingdom.

Pope Boniface sent the king a letter in 1301 where he made it clear that he alone had the authority over the priests. The king ignored it, but he knew that there would be consequences for his defiance. Another letter from the pope arrived in France in 1302, but Philip once again ignored it. He was finally excommunicated and deposed by the pope in 1303. Philip’s response to his deposition was drastic: he told his men to kidnap the pope before the papal bull could be issued. The pope was rescued by his own men, but he died a month later in the Vatican.

The Avignon Popes

Philip IV of France was king during the time of the papal transition to Avignon.

He was succeeded by Pope Benedict XI who ruled for several months until his death in 1304. The throne of the pope was vacant for several months until King Philip nominated a French-born archbishop named Bertrand de Got. He was elected by the cardinals in 1305, and he adopted the name Clement V. The new pope did not go to Rome as was customary as there was violence between the Guelphs (partisans of the pope) and the Ghibellines (imperialists). Instead, he stayed in France and settled the papacy in the town of Avignon in 1309.

In 1309, he visited the quiet Provencal town owned by the Kingdom of Naples and stayed in a Dominican convent there. He decided to stay in Avignon for good as it was near a papal property in Comtat-Venaissin. The pope was also comfortable in the Provence region since it was owned by the king of Naples (Sicily) who was his vassal.

Since he owed his election to the French king, Clement immediately retracted the deposition and excommunication Boniface issued to Philip. He also assisted the king in driving out the Jews from France and seizing their properties to pay off his debts. The king used the pope in imprisoning the Knights Templar and confiscating their wealth for his own gain. Many Knights Templar died during the inquisition, including their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Pope Clement then dissolved the Order of the Knights Templar in 1312.

The pope died in 1314, and it was quickly followed by Philip IV’s death in the same year. The seat of the papacy, however, stayed in Avignon and continued to be in the town for the next seventy years. Six more popes ruled in Avignon after Clement V. John XXII and Benedict XII planned to return the seat of the pope to Rome but failed. Their stay in Avignon seemed permanent when the episcopal palace was expanded into the Papal Palace during the reign of Benedict XII. Pope Clement VI also bought Avignon from Sicily in 1348. Finally in 1376, Gregory XI and his cardinals returned to Rome. Two antipopes also rose to power between 1378 and 1423.

Popes Who Lived in Avignon After Clement V

John XXII – reigned from 1316 to 1331.
Benedict XII – reigned from 1334 to 1342
Clement VI – reigned from 1342 to 1352
Innocent VI – reigned from 1352 to 1362
Urban V – reigned from 1362 to 1370. He lived in Rome between 1367 to 1370.
Gregory XI – reigned from 1370 to 1378. He finally returned to Rome in 1376.

References:

Picture by: Anonymous – http://www.stupormundi.it/images/filippoilbello.gif, Public Domain, Link

Menache, Sophia. Clement V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Nicholson, Helen J. On The Margins of Crusading: the military orders, the Papacy and the Christian world. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2011.

Ralls, Karen. Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2007.

Toon, Peter. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. Co., 1978.

Zutshi, P.N.R. The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Edited by Michael Jones. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.

Posted on December 4, 2017October 23, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Pope Becomes a Dependent of France

Pope Boniface VIII had issued a papal bull that deposed and excommunicated King Philip IV of France in 1303. The pope died in the same year, but his successor Clement V nullified Boniface’s papal bull. Clement V became a dependent of France in 1309 after he transferred the papal seat from Rome to Avignon. These events are recorded on the Biblical Timeline with World History at that time.

Background

King Edward I of England owned the Duchy of Aquitaine in France after he inherited it from his grandmother, Eleanor of Aquitaine. When a conflict broke out between him and Philip IV of France, the French king immediately seized and occupied the duchy. This act angered Edward, so war flared out between them in 1294. The Count of Flanders and the Duke of Brittany became allies of Edward. Meanwhile, the king of Scotland, John Balliol, sided with King Philip of France.

This war was expensive for Philip IV, so he made peace with Edward I. To pay off his debts, he first imposed a heavy tax on the Jews and the Catholic Church. It was Pope Boniface VIII’s turn to be angry as he thought the tax was unreasonable. Meanwhile, Philip was also engaged in another costly war with the Count of Flanders which meant that he would continue to collect the special taxes.

Pope Boniface sent a couple of letters to Philip warning him to stop the collection of special taxes from the churches in France. Philip, however, refused to heed the pope’s stern warnings. Finally, in 1303, Boniface issued a papal bull that excommunicated and deposed the French king. Before the papal bull could be issued publicly, Philip had the pope kidnapped. The pope was rescued later by his own men, but he died in the same year. Boniface was succeeded briefly by Benedict XI before he, too, died in 1304.

Clement and the Avignon Papacy

Palais des Papes, or Palace of the Popes, located in Avignon France.

The papal seat stayed vacant for several months until Philip nominated a French archbishop named Bertrand de Got. He served in Lyon for several years until the French and Italian cardinals elected him as pope in 1305. He preferred France instead of Rome as Italy, at that time, was a hotbed of violence between the rival parties of the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. Since he owed the king, Clement immediately removed Pope Boniface’s papal bull that excommunicated and deposed Philip.

From the start until the end of his reign, Clement was a puppet of King Philip IV. He removed the papal protection of the wealthy Knights Templar so that they became victims of Philip’s greed. The Knights served as bankers to Europe’s wealthiest, so the king was eager to seize their wealth as his own. Clement allowed many Knights to be arrested and imprisoned by the king’s men after Philip falsely accused them of heresy. Their Grand Master was also captured and tortured until he confessed to trumped-up charges of heresy.

In 1309, Clement traveled to the city of Avignon in Provence (southern France). He stayed in a Dominican convent and decided to remain there permanently. The partisan violence in Italy had not died down, so he found the quiet little Provencal town the perfect place for the papal seat. It was also near a papal property in Comtat-Venaissin. Plus, Provence itself was owned by the king of Naples (Sicily) who was a vassal of the pope.

Clement was dependent on France’s King Philip IV for much of his reign as pope. He did nothing when Philip ordered the execution of the Knights Templar between 1307 and 1314. Philip seized the Knights’ wealth and used the money to pay his war debts. Both Clement and Philip died in 1314—only months after the death of the last Knights Templar Grand Master Jacques de Molay.

Although Clement and Philip died in 1314, the papal seat stayed in Avignon, France for the next seventy years. The six popes who succeeded Clement also ruled the Catholic Church from southern France. Finally, in 1376, Pope Gregory XI left France for good and returned the papacy to Rome.

References:

Picture by: Jean-Marc Rosier from http://www.rosier.pro, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Menache, Sophia. Clement V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Nicholson, Helen J. On The Margins of Crusading: the military orders, the Papacy and the Christian world. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2011.

Ralls, Karen. Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2007.

Toon, Peter. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. Co., 1978.

Zutshi, P.N.R. The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Edited by Michael Jones. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.

Posted on December 2, 2017October 23, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Constantinople Taken by the Ottomans

The great city of Constantinople was founded in AD 324 by the Roman Emperor Constantine. Many enemies tried to invade the city in the past, but none of them succeeded as it was heavily fortified. The Ottoman Turks led by Murad II also tried to invade the city in 1422 but they, too, were unsuccessful. Finally, in 1453, Constantinople was taken by the Ottomans after a successful siege led by Mehmed II. These events are recorded on the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History during that time.

Endings and Beginnings

Murad II’s young son, Mehmed II, reigned as Turkish sultan back when his father abdicated in 1444. However, Mehmed II’s first reign ended several months later when war with the Hungarians and the rebellion of the Turkish elite soldiers (janissaries) threatened the Ottoman Empire. Murad came back to lead the Ottomans in defeating the Hungarians in the Battle of Varna in November 1444. Murad II later died on the 3rd of February 1451 in the Turkish capital of Edirne (formerly Adrianople). His ambitious son, Mehmed II, then came back to rule a stronger Ottoman Empire.

Mehmed had learned his lesson when he was temporarily removed as a ruler in the past. He was still ambitious, but he became cautious and smart. After ordering the death of his younger brother to secure his throne, he allowed his father’s competent vizier Halil Pasha to stay. He also made peace with the surrounding kingdoms early in his reign as he wanted to focus on capturing Constantinople.

To prepare for the siege of Constantinople, Mehmed ordered for a fortress called Boğazkesen to be built on the northwestern shore of the Bosporus. Boğazkesen meant ‘Cutter on the Strait’ in Turkish, and it was located a few kilometers away from Constantinople. The Boğazkesen as well as other smaller camps that surrounded the walls of Constantinople served as a jump-off point for the siege. For several months, the residents of Constantinople watched helplessly as the fortress was being built. They knew that it was only a matter of time before the dreaded siege of the city started.

A Desperate Emperor

Mehmed II shown entering the city of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.

Constantine XI Palaiologos succeeded his brother John VIII as Byzantine Emperor in 1449. Just like the past Palaiologi rulers, he inherited a poor and reduced Empire. Despite the empire’s loss, he still tried to build the defenses of Constantinople by having the city walls repaired. A Hungarian engineer named Orban approached Constantine in 1452. He proposed to make a supergun to counter the Turks, but the emperor refused to hire him as he found Orban’s salary too high. Letting Orban go, however, proved to be a costly mistake.

Orban left Constantinople and offered his services to Mehmed II instead. The sultan then hired him and gave him all the materials that he needed. Orban, with the help of Turkish iron founders, created the cannon that changed the history of Constantinople and of warfare. During the early months of 1453, Mehmed and his troops camped out near the walls of Constantinople. His army (which numbered between 160,000 to 400,000) outnumbered the Byzantines who came up with only a pitiful 5,000 defenders. But it was the supergun (or bombard) designed by the Hungarian engineer Orban that became the game changer.

Constantine asked the rulers of the cities of Genoa and Venice for help. Genoa sent him some troops, and Constantine assigned them to defend the western side of the city. Venice, meanwhile, added to the Byzantine naval fleet but those were not nearly enough. None of the neighboring kingdoms were also prepared to help Constantinople. The emperor’s brothers who ruled in the Peloponnese were unable to help as they, too, were hemmed in by Mehmed’s troops in Greece.

The Fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks

The siege of Constantinople started on the 6th of April 1453. The Turkish troops loaded large round stones inside the bombard designed by Orban and hurled them toward the walls of the city. The bombardment continued for 45 days, but each time the Byzantines repaired the walls so that the Turks could not enter the city—yet. The chain which protected the Golden Horn from many enemies in the past was also deemed useless when the Turks completely bypassed it. The Ottomans knew that they would not be able to breach the chain in a conventional way, so they attached wheels on their ships and pulled them over land and into the sea.

Constantine made another attempt to negotiate for peace with Mehmed, but the sultan refused. Mehmed was simply too determined to wrest Constantinople away from the Byzantines. In the weeks that followed, the Turkish bombardment of Constantinople intensified. They finally breached the city walls on the 29th of May 1453. The Turks attacked the city in full force so that even Constantine XI himself joined the battle and died in 1453. Many of Byzantine soldiers and residents also died with him. The domination of the Eastern Romans in Constantinople started with an emperor named Constantine in AD 324. In 1453, the Eastern Roman Empire went out with a bang with a Constantine on the throne, too.

Mehmed entered the city via the gate of St. Romanus on the morning of May 29, 1453. It took him 54 days of unrelenting siege to capture the city. His visit to the Hagia Sofia and its later conversion to a mosque meant that the city was fully in the hands of Muslims. The Byzantine Empire ended, but Mehmed was not yet done. Since his people now saw him as a capable and independent ruler, he immediately ordered his father’s old vizier Halil Pasha to be executed.

References:

Picture by: Fausto Zonaro – http://www.worldvisitguide.com/oeuvre/O0025022.html, Public Domain, Link

Barbaro, Nicolo. “The Siege of Constantinople in 1453.” De Re Militari. Accessed December 28, 2016. http://deremilitari.org/2016/08/the-siege-of-constantinople-in-1453-according-to-nicolo-barbaro/.

Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books, 2006.

Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic world: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011.

Posted on November 30, 2017October 22, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Clement V

Clement V became the head of the Catholic Church in 1305. Unlike the previous popes, Clement V never set foot in Rome during his reign. Instead, he stayed in the town of Avignon in southern France. He was also known as a puppet of the French king Philip IV the Fair. It was during Clement’s reign as pope that the Order of the Knights Templar was dissolved. Many Knights Templar were also killed because of charges of heresy trumped up by Philip so he could seize their wealth. These events are recorded on the Biblical Timeline Poster with World History during that time.

Background

Bertrand de Got, the man who became Pope Clement V, was born between 1260 and 1264. He was the son of the Lord of Villandraut Beraud de Got by his wife, Ida de Blanquefort. He came from a prominent noble family with strong connections within the church and in politics. He had ten other siblings, and some of his brothers also became priests. He studied at the Grandmontine priory in the town of Agen in France when he was young. He later went to Orleans and Bologna to study canon and Roman law.

He returned to France after studying in a university in Bologna. The de Got family, at that time, was close to Edward I of England and Bertrand even represented the English king in the Capetian court in France. Edward himself persuaded Pope Celestine to send Bertrand to England to negotiate the peace with France in 1294.

Bertrand’s older brother Bernaud also served as the archbishop of Lyon. Bernaud recommended his younger brother as the vicar-general of Lyon and later promoted him as papal chaplain. Bertrand became the bishop of St. Bernard-de-Comminges in 1295. Finally, in 1299, he was promoted by Pope Boniface VIII as archbishop of Bordeaux.

Clement V as Pope

Pope Boniface VIII died in 1303 after a long and bitter conflict with Philip IV of France. He was succeeded by Pope Benedict XI, but the new pope died in 1304 after ruling for several months. After several months of deliberation, the cardinals finally elected Archbishop Bertrand de Got on the 5th of June 1305 as the new pope. Philip IV himself nominated Bertrand, and the archbishop was also close to Pope Boniface VIII when the latter was alive. The cardinals saw him as the perfect candidate who would finally bridge the gap between Rome and France after Pope Boniface VIII excommunicated and deposed Philip IV. The new pope was crowned at Lyon, and he adopted the name Clement V soon after.

Clement V did not succeed in bridging the gulf between Rome and France. Instead, he became Philip’s puppet for much of his reign as head of the Church. Clement also chose to stay in Avignon in Provence rather than return the papacy to Rome. He also feared for his life as Rome (and Italy in general) was beset with violence between the rival parties of the Guelph and the Ghibelline. Clement reigned for only nine years, but France became the home of the popes for the next seventy years.

Clement’s Role as a Puppet for Philip IV

Pope Boniface excommunicated and deposed Philip IV in 1303 after the king imposed high taxes on the church. Philip used the money he collected to pay off his war debts, but Clement promptly nullified the excommunication when he came to power in 1305. Because of this, Philip continued to collect money from the church income without fear of the pope. He also cleared Philip from all wrongdoings in Pope Boniface’s death and accused the dead pope of heresy.

Clement and the End of the Knights Templar

Philip drove out the Jews from France and seized all their properties in 1306. His greed took a grim turn in 1307 when he set his sights on the wealthy Knights Templar who, at that time, served as bankers for Europe’s wealthiest. Whether Clement willingly went along with the king’s plan or he was pressured to follow him remains a question, but the result was the same cruel end for the Knights Templar. The Knights were under the protection of the pope before this, but Philip immediately ordered their arrest when Clement removed his protection in 1307.

The Knights were then accused of heresy and demon worship. Hundreds of Knights were arrested and imprisoned in the years that followed while Philip seized their wealth. Philip also ordered the imprisonment of the elderly Grand Master of the Knights, Jacques de Molay. The king ordered his men to torture de Molay so that he would confess to the alleged heresies the Knights committed.

The Grand Master later withdrew his confession, but it was too late. Many Knights Templar were burned to death as punishment for heresy in 1310. Clement ordered for the Knights Templar to be abolished completely two years later. On the 18th of March 1314, the king also ordered for Jacques de Molay to be burned to death.

Clement V’s death followed swiftly on the 20th of April, 1314, at Roquemaure, north of Avignon. His remains were buried in Uzeste near his hometown of Villandraut. According to the medieval Italian chronicler Agnolo di Tura, Clement’s remains were charred after lightning struck and burned the church where his body lay in state. Philip IV died seven months later when he fell from his horse while hunting.

References:

Picture by: Calixte Serrur – Own work, Public Domain, Link

Menache, Sophia. Clement V. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Nicholson, Helen J. On The Margins of Crusading: the military orders, the Papacy and the Christian world. Farnham, Surrey, UK: Ashgate, 2011.

Ralls, Karen. Knights Templar Encyclopedia: The Essential Guide to the People, Places, Events, and Symbols of the Order of the Temple. Franklin Lakes, NJ: New Page Books, 2007.

Toon, Peter. The New International Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by J. D. Douglas. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. Co., 1978.

Zutshi, P.N.R. The New Cambridge Medieval History: Volume 6, C.1300-c.1415. Edited by Michael Jones. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2000.

Posted on November 28, 2017October 22, 2017 by Kat Cendana — 1 Comment

Slave Trade Begins, European

The European slave trade began after Jean de Bethencourt’s discovery of the Canary Islands for Spain in 1402. He and some of his men captured the native Guanches and took them from their home to become slaves in Europe. Eager to get a colony of their own, the Portuguese, too, ventured to Africa for slave raids. They captured West Africans and sold them in Europe during the mid-1400s. These events are recorded on the Biblical Timeline with World History during that time.

The Canaries: Forgotten Islands

The Canaries are a group of islands located around 62 miles off the coast of Morocco. The Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the islands in his Geography as the “Islands of the Blest.” The Carthaginian sailors visited the islands when they dominated Africa, while Lusitanian sea captains visited the Lanzarote and Fuerteventura islands during the Roman times.

The Numidian king Juba II also sent explorers to the island. After their voyage, they reported to the king that the “Fortunate Islands” were uninhabited but abundant in sugarcane. They also found a stone temple on the island, while explorers of the Canaria reported seeing large dogs. They later brought these dogs back to their king. The island they visited was also abundant in apples, pine nuts, dates, papyrus, and honey.

The Muslim sailors and explorers from Al-Andalus named the islands “Khaledat.” Apart from accidental landings made by sailors and pirates, the Canary Islands were largely forgotten. In 1341, King Alfonso IV of Portugal allowed the Genoese navigator Nicoloso de Recco to explore the Canary Islands. He reported that he saw a lot of goats and other animals in the Canary Islands when he returned to Europe.

He also reported seeing the first inhabitants of the Canary Islands and they would later be called as the Guanches. The Guanches were related to the Berbers of North Africa, and they were ruled by a “prince.” Some of them were friendly and dared to swim out to the ships, but the few brave souls were carried off to Europe by de Recco’s men. They also saw a stone statue which they removed from its place and carried it off to Lisbon.

The Castilian captain Francisco Lopez landed in the Canary Islands after rough seas brought his ship there. He and his men befriended some natives, and they stayed there for seven years. For some reason, the natives turned on them and killed some of the captain’s men. The occasional merchants and pirates were the only ones who ventured into the islands since.

Jean de Bethencourt and the Start of the Slave Trade

Jean de Bethencourt explored the Canary Islands in 1402.

In 1402, the French nobleman Jean de Bethencourt assembled a group of men to explore the Canary Islands. He and his men left La Rochelle in France on May 1, 1402, and sailed to Corunna. From there they sailed to Cadiz, then to Graciosa in the Azores, and finally to the island of Lanzarote where they built the Rubicon fortress. They ran out of provisions and de Bethencourt’s men started to rebel, so their leader decided to leave and return to the continent for provisions. De Bethencourt left one of his men as temporary leader of the crew in Lanzarote.

De Bethencourt traveled to the court of King Henry III of Castile with the Guanches that he captured upon his return to Spain. He also asked to be recognized as the “king” of the Canary Islands, and in return, he would acknowledge the Spanish king as his overlord. Pleased with de Bethencourt’s discovery of the islands, King Henry III agreed to his offer.

The king commanded de Bethencourt to return to the islands and convert the native Guanches to Christianity. De Bethencourt also established colonies in the islands of Ferro and Palma in the years that followed. He returned to Spain where he was given a letter of commendation by the king. He traveled to Rome where the pope received him warmly. He returned to France after his trip to Rome and lived there until his death in 1422 or 1425.

The lucrative Spanish slave trade stopped briefly when Pope Eugene IV issued a papal bull which forbade the capture and enslavement of the Guanches. The papal bull also commanded that the Guanches should be freed and returned to their homes. Anyone who defied the bull would be punished with excommunication.

The Portuguese, too, took part in the European slave trade in the early 15th century. To even up the score, the ambitious Portuguese started their own African campaign by conquering the Marinid-held stronghold of Ceuta in 1415. It was in Ceuta that the Portuguese first heard of the trans-Saharan gold and slave trade. The Portuguese prince Henry (later called the Navigator) became curious. He told his men to go to the Western African trade centers, but crossing the Sahara desert was a big challenge. He then decided that his men should travel by sea. Portuguese ships sailed closely along the northwest coast of Africa in search of these trade centers. The explorers found miles and miles of uninhabited coast until they finally met native Africans.

Motivated by profit, Henry’s sailors captured hundreds of West Africans and brought them to Portugal to be sold as slaves. This practice continued for many years. The slave trade even prospered after Pope Eugene IV granted Prince Henry of Portugal the right to raid non-Christians of West Africa on the pretext of a holy crusade. Muslims and pagans were fair game, and they were all sold as slaves in Europe. By 1444, hundreds of West African men, women, and children landed in Lagos in Portugal after they were captured by the Portuguese and sold into the European slave trade.

References:

Picture by: Baltasar Moncornet (16??-1668), Public Domain, Link

Bontier, Pierre, Jean Le Verrier, and Richard Henry Major. The Canarian: or, Book of the Conquest and Conversion of the Canarians in the Year 1402 by Messire Jean de Bethencourt, Kt. London: Printed for the Hakluyt Society, 1872.

De, Abreu De Galindo Juan, George Glas, James Dodsley, Robert Dodsley, and Thomas Durham. The History of the Discovery and Conquest of the Canary Islands: Translated from a Spanish Manuscript Lately Found in the island of Palma: With an Enquiry into the Origin of the Ancient Inhabitants: to Which is Added, a Description of the Canary Islands, Including the Modern History of the Inhabitants, and an Account of their Manners, Customs, & Trade. London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-mall, and T. Durham in the Strand, 1764.

Gambier, J. W. The Guanches: The Ancient Inhabitants of Canary. 1896.

Saunders, A. C. de C. M, A. A Social History of Black Slaves and Freedmen in Portugal, 1441-1555. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982.

Thomas, Hugh. The Slave trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster, 1997.

Posted on November 26, 2017October 22, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Hohokam Culture in Arizona and New Mexico

The Hohokam people were descendants of the Paleoamericans who migrated from Asia to North America via the Bering Land Bridge. Others remained in Alaska or migrated eastward into the forests of present-day Canada. The Hohokam people continued south into Mexico. Thousands of years after their migration south into Mexico, they traveled northward to Arizona into the Salt and Gila Rivers area (Hohokam Heartland). Other Hohokam people later ventured southeast of Arizona into the Tucson Basin near the banks of the Santa Cruz and Rillito Rivers. The Hohokam culture in Arizona and New Mexico is recorded on the Bible Timeline Chart with World History between 900 – 1150 AD.

The Hohokam people who lived in the Heartland inhabited a harsh environment in the Sonoran desert, but the area became habitable because it received higher rainfall than the neighboring regions. It also had relatively stable water supplies that came from rivers and streams. From Mexico, the Hohokam brought with them the knowledge of irrigation and they built a canal system that reached a thousand miles in their new settlements. The canals channeled water from the river to irrigate fields they planted with the Native American staple food of beans, corn, and squash.

Over at the Tucson Basin settlements, the Hohokam people adapted to their environment and used floodwater farming to water their crops. They planted crops in nearby fields that usually flooded when the river overflowed after a storm. Sometimes, they cultivated crops near the mouth of creeks to take advantage of the natural irrigation. They also carved terraces on the hillsides and check dams to catch rainfall runoff. The Hohokam people built these canals, dams, and terraces with basic tools such as sticks and ceramic hoes.

Hohokam Pit-houses

They were initially hunter-gatherers who relied on mammoths, bisons, and plants during the Pioneer Period. The Hohokam people transitioned from a nomadic to a sedentary lifestyle in 900 AD. They started to live in houses separated by spaces from each other within a village. Just like their neighbors, the Anasazi and the Mogollon people, the Hohokam also constructed shallow pit houses built from brush and then covered with dirt. Pine and mesquite served as posts for these rectangular, square, or oval-shaped pit-houses. Rows of smaller posts were then installed as the framework of the house. Wooden beams were mounted on the posts before these were covered with brush that served as the house’s roof.

hohokam_arizona_new_mexico — “They were initially hunter-gatherers who relied on mammoths, bisons, and plants during the Pioneer Period.”

The walls were made of brush, arrow weeds, and reeds which were then covered with mud plaster (wattle and daub). The Hohokam also used mud plaster as flooring, then finished the house with a hearth and a roasting pit. The Hohokam liked to put spaces between their houses and did not cluster them together like the neighboring Anasazi (Ancestral Puebloans).

Trade

Artifacts recovered from their settlements show that the Hohokam people traded with the inhabitants of New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Northern Mexico. From the Gulf of Mexico came seashells, while exotic birds such as parrots and macaws (their feathers were used as accessories during Hohokam ceremonies) came from west-central Mexico. The people who lived in the Hohokam heartland produced pottery, jewelry, cotton fabrics, and food in exchange for products brought in from the Mogollon Rim in Arizona and Mohave Basin in California.

Mesoamerican Influence

Before the Hohokam came to present-day Arizona, they first lived in Mexico and brought with them the Mesoamerican ballgame when they migrated north. They adapted the game to the environment and instead of one long I-shaped court, the Hohokam people constructed an oblong one. They also built platform mounds for ceremonies which were similar to the ceremonial platforms found in Teotihuacan and other Mesoamerican cities. They cremated their dead and placed the bones in ceramic urns which were then buried in a cemetery along with the deceased’s personal possessions and other funerary objects.

References:
Gregonis, Linda M., and Karl J. Reinhard. “Hohokam Indians of the Tucson Basin.” . Chapter 1. University of Arizona Press. Accessed September 07, 2016. http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/HOHOKAM/CHAP1.HTM.
“THE HOHOKAM: THE LAND & THE PEOPLE – Google Arts & Culture.” Google Cultural Institute. Accessed September 07, 2016. https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/u/0/exhibit/the-hohokam-the-land-the-people/wRnHM1ZB.
United States. National Park Service. “Hohokam Culture (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service. Accessed September 07, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/articles/hohokam-culture.htm.

Posted on November 24, 2017October 21, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Ottomans Take Adrianople

Several years after the death of the Turkish Bey Osman, his people swept westward and entered Europe. Their goal was to conquer the territories the Byzantines still kept in Thrace. The Byzantines had no choice but to watch helplessly as the Turks took these territories away from them during the middle part of the 1300s. One by one, Thracian cities fell into the hands of the Turks until finally, the Ottomans took Adrianople (capital of Thrace) in 1362. This event is recorded in the Biblical Timeline Chart with World History around that time.

From Orestias (Odrysus) to Edirne

The city of Adrianople in Thrace was founded during the antiquity. Its first recorded name was Uskudama. It was also known to the Greeks as Orestias or Odrysus. The Roman Emperor Hadrian (AD 117-138) developed this prosperous Thracian city and named it Hadrianople. The city became the capital of the Roman province of Thracia. Its name later turned to Adrianople. Thrace was given to Byzantium when Emperor Diocletian split the Roman Empire in two.

Its location near Constantinople made it the site of several battles during the Medieval Period. One of the major battles in Adrianople was between the Roman co-emperors Constantine I and Licinius in AD 323. The Roman soldiers led by Emperor Valens were also defeated in Adrianople when they fought against the Goths in 378. It became a battleground once again in 1205 when the Latin Emperor Baldwin I and his troops were defeated by the Bulgarians led by Tsar Kaloyan.

The Latin Empire ended in 1261, but the restored Byzantine Empire still struggled afterwards. It never recovered as Ottoman Turks who settled in Anatolia rose up and pushed their territory westward into Europe. They were led by their bey Osman, and his son Orhan continued his conquests after the bey’s death.

ottomans_take_adrianople — “Ottoman külliye and hospital built by Bayezid II” located in Edirne (Adrianople)

Civil War and Displacement

Orhan made an alliance with the Byzantine ruler John VI Kantakouzenos by marrying the emperor’s daughter Theodora. When his co-emperor John V Palaiologos rebelled against him, John VI immediately called on his new son-in-law Orhan to help him. John V had attacked Adrianople with the help of allied Serbian soldiers, so Orhan sent thousands of Turkish troops to support Thrace’s governor and John VI’s son Matthew Kantakouzenos. However, the Turks led by Suleyman Pasha had more soldiers, so they defeated John V’s troops in Thrace.

While they were in Thrace, the Ottomans started to occupy the fortress of Tzympe near Gallipoli in 1352. The Turks gained a better foothold in Europe after the huge earthquake on the Aegean Sea in 1354. Most of the cities in Thrace were destroyed, and thousands of the Greeks who lived there became homeless after the earthquake. The Turks led by Suleyman Pasha arrived in droves in Thrace and rebuilt the houses. They later declared the Thracian cities as their own and resettled the homeless Greeks into Anatolia.

Suleyman Pasha died in 1357 and was succeeded by his brother Murad as military leader of Thrace. With the help of his tutor, Beylerbeyi Lala Sahin Pasha, they conquered the Greek city of Didymoteicho in 1359. The Ottomans led by Lala Sahin Pasha finally took Adrianople in 1362. They renamed it Edirne. The Turkish Bey Orhan also died in the same year. He was honored with the title of Sultan and succeeded by his son Murad I.

Lala Sahin Pasha ruled Thrace on Murad’s behalf, and the seat of the sultan was later moved to Edirne. The Turks also resettled some Arab nomads from Anatolia to Thrace, while the Greeks were sent to Anatolia. Lala Sahin Pasha also ordered for all the fortifications and castles in Thrace to be destroyed so that these would not be used by the rebels against the Turks.

References:
Pictures By Nevit Dilmen – Own Photograph, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Fleet, Kate. The New Cambridge History of Islam: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by Maribel Fierro. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Lemprière, John, 1765?-1824. Bibliotheca Classica: Or, A Classical Dictionary: Containing a Copious Account of the Principal Proper Names Mentioned In Ancient Authors; With the Value of Coins, Weights, And Measures, Used Among the Greeks And Romans; And a Chronological Table. New York: G. & C. & H. Carvill [etc.], 1833.
Smith, William. “HADRIANO´POLIS.” Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography (1854). Accessed December 21, 2016. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0064:id=hadrianopolis-geo.
Uyar, Mesut, and Edward J. Erickson. A Military History of the Ottomans: From Osman to Atatürk. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Security International/ABC-CLIO, 2009.

Posted on November 22, 2017October 21, 2017 by Kat Cendana — Leave a comment

Ottoman Conquest Reaches as Far as Hungary

After conquering much of the Balkans, the people of Hungary knew that it was only a matter of time before they, too, would be attacked by the Ottomans. The Ottoman conquest had reached as far as Hungary during the reign of Bayezid I (1389-1403) and is recorded on the Bible Timeline Poster with World History during 1402. Over the years, Hungary had to defend itself against the unrelenting Ottoman attacks until its capital, Buda, finally fell in 1541.

The Conquest of Hungary

In 1366, a desperate John V Palaiologos came to Hungary. His goal was to ask the help of King Louis I against the Ottomans who had started to expand from their beylik in Anatolia. No help came after this appeal. The Byzantine territories and Balkan states rapidly fell to the Turks soon after. In 1395, the Turkish Sultan Bayezid I attacked Mircea, the voivode (governor) of Wallachia (a vassal state of Hungary). Mircea and his troops were defeated by the Turks, and he had to flee Wallachia to survive.

Hungary was one of the biggest and strongest Christian kingdoms in eastern Europe at that time. It was also the gateway into central and northern Europe. The Hungarian king Sigismund knew that the Turks would cross into their territory soon. In 1396, he was forced to seek the help of the Pope in Rome (as well as the antipope in Avignon) who then issued a papal bull for another Crusade. French and Hungarian knights fought the Turks in the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, but the Crusaders were slaughtered. King Sigismund of Hungary only escaped the battle by crossing the Danube on a boat.

From then on, the Ottomans controlled the area on the southern bank of the Danube. In the years that followed, they crossed the river and started to launch raids into Hungary itself. The great Turkish sultan Bayezid was captured in 1402 by Timur. His death the following year plunged the Turks into civil war. The Turks recovered from disaster in 1413, and the empire continued to expand as the years passed. In 1427, King Sigismund captured Belgrade after the Turks attacked Wallachia and Serbia. The Turks also took the fortress of Golubac on the Danube in 1428. A peace treaty was signed by both sides in 1428, but it expired in 1431.

The Battle of Varna

The Hungarian king Wladyslaw, Serbian despot George Brankovic, and John Hunyadi of Transylvania signed a 10-year peace treaty with the Turkish Sultan Murad in 1444 (Peace of Szeged). The Hungarians themselves broke this treaty when they launched another Crusade in 1444. On the 18th of September 1444, the Hungarian army marched into the city of Varna on the coast of the Black Sea.

Murad had retired some months before and passed his throne to his teenage son Mehmed II. The Janissaries (Turkish elite soldiers) were beginning to rebel against the young Mehmed, so Murad came out of retirement two years later and led the Ottoman Army to counter the Crusaders at Varna. The two armies met at the Battle of Varna on November 10, 1444. King Wladyslaw was killed during the battle. His soldiers completely lost heart and fled when they saw that he was dead. Those who could not escape were slaughtered. The battle resulted in another victory for the Ottomans.

John Hunyadi and the governor of Wallachia launched another attack on the Ottomans in 1445, but their armies were also defeated. In 1448, another Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi was crushed by the Ottomans in the Second Battle of Kosovo. John Hunyadi, now Hungary’s regent, signed a peace treaty with Sultan Mehmed II in 1451. He, however, continued the resistance against the Turks until his death in 1456.

John’s son Matthias Corvinus succeeded his father in 1458. By that time, however, the Turks had conquered Constantinople from the Byzantines. Just like his father, Matthias resisted the Turks and attacked Ottoman-held Bosnia where he defeated them. He died in 1490, and the conflicts between the Turks and Hungarians continued.

In 1521, the Ottomans led by Suleyman the Magnificent took Belgrade on the Danube so that they were now free to push further into Hungarian territory. On August 29, 1526, Suleyman and the Turks fought King Louis II and his Hungarian troops in the Battle of Mohacs. King Louis II died in the battle, and his soldiers either fled in order to survive or were killed in battle with the king. The Ottomans followed up this victory with the siege of the Hungarian city of Buda (present-day Budapest) in the same year. They finally captured Buda in 1541 and ruled it for the next 150 years.

References:
Picture By Cristofano dell’Altissimo – Sakıp Sabancı Museum website:Embedding web page: http://muze.sabanciuniv.edu/exhibition/exhibition.php?lngExhibitionID=79&bytSectionID=2&bytLanguageID=2Image: http://muze.sabanciuniv.edu/ssm/userfiles/Image/SSM/english/exhibitions/2008/medicis/highlights/big/medicis_big_02.jpg, Public Domain, Link
Finkel, Caroline. Osman’s Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Fleet, Kate. The New Cambridge History of Islam: The Western Islamic World, Eleventh to Eighteenth Centuries. Edited by Maribel Fierro. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Mikaberidze, Alexander. Conflict and Conquest in the Islamic World: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO Interactive, 2011.