Chapter 9: General Meszaros' War
King Karoly III had been murdered, Bela had taken the throne, Vencel Bathory was banished to Greece, General Simon Meszaros has been named Guardian of Hungary, and the capitol has been moved from Pecs to Cantabria. And all of this had occurred in just the last month. With his return to Iberia the new King took with him an army of 20,000 men from Pecs. Leaving the boats on the 14th of June 1455 by the 17th they were already moving south against Portugal. Of all the great powers that had allied themselves with Portugal only the Scots had the guts to try to take on the Hungarian army.
Arriving in Porto at the beginning of July, King Bela and his army quickly took the city before moving on to the rest of northern Portugal. At this time the Portuguese army was busy building a colony in Africa so city by city fell until all of northern Portugal was in the King's grasp. This campaign however had to end mid-August when word came that a Scottish army of 7,000 men had landed in Cantabria and in the east the Ottoman Empire had issued a Jihad against his Hungarian lands. The Ottoman's he didn't worry about to much since they would have to face off against General Meszaros but he feared that Cantabria would abandon his command. So on the 26th of August he made peace with Portugal saying he would return all their lands except for Porto which they were happy to accept.
Hungarian Army moving to deal with the Scots.
It took him until December to get back because of the weather but when he did arrive the Scots quickly fell to the Hungarian sword. Leaving only one man alive King Bela sent him back to his King telling him that if they did not make peace then he would send his army to deal with him. So on the 1st of the new year the Scottish King made peace to avoid the wrath of the Hungarian army which had been considered the best in the world following their victory against the Castilians.
Hearing of this peace the Sultan of the Ottoman's also fearful of the wrath of the new King informed his men that there would be no great Jihad against the Hungarians. They were still to powerful and he would not let his men die for no reason if he could help it. And so the Ottoman's great holy war was ended without a single soldier crossing the Sea of Marmara on either side.
As all this was going on General Meszaros did nothing but enjoy his new position. From a banished General he had moved up to taking over the position of the former King Karoly with a stab of his spear. However this soon began to bore him greatly since he was a man of action. He missed the field of battle and the Ottoman's little teaser the year before had done nothing to quench his thirst for battle. Sadly for Vencel Bathory this was the same time he decided to move from Greece to the land of Montenegro where he had friends and relatives. This action the paranoid General Meszaros took as a threat and marched south with a force of 15,000 men. He then ordered the King of Montenegro that he was going to removed Vencel Bathory from Hungarian lands as he was forbidden from them. The King tried to argue that his lands were not Hungary's but in the end he gave up and Montenegro officially became one of their vassal states.
Pleased with another success against his former commander's son, General Meszaros returned to Pecs and enjoyed the good life while the Hungarian people suffered under him. They were growing tired of warfare and their new leadership but there wasn't anything they could do as whenever even the smallest of groups came together the Hungarian army was soon to follow. The Hungarian people's problems grew even more when General Meszaros decided to declare war against Venice. Even though Venice had not broken the agreement made with King Sigismund in 1414, General Meszaros believed that they did not deserve to have lands in the Balkans.
This enraged many of the powers of northern Italy and so Genoa, Cyprus, Naxos, Ulm, and Avignon all declared war on Hungary who only had the support of their vassal states of Montenegro, Bavaria and Lorraine. The rest of the Hungarian allies informed King Bela that they could not fight with a man who would allow his General's to dictate wars for no reason except for his pride.
At first General Meszaros had planned on moving against the Venetian controlled Greek mainland but when word came that the Genoians were going to fight in this war he had to face them. So instead he sent Ulaszlo Andrassy with an army of 10,000 men to deal with the Greeks while he marched into Edirne to fight the Genoa army of 21,000 battle hardened soldiers. Against such a large force he only brought with him his army of 13,000 men who had been with him for nearly eighteen years now since his attack against Bosnia in 1441. These men had been tested time and time again and each time they walked away victorious. For nearly two months these men fought back and forth with the Genoians, until finally General Meszaros was able to make one last push against them and crushed their forces.
General Meszaros and his army facing the Genoians who greatly outnumbered them.
With the Genoian forces routed the General decided to first take Macedonia since Ulaszlo had left the city as he moved further south past Albania into the heart of Greece. After capturing this city he decided to give his men a short rest before offering the Venetians a chance to get out of this war. Word had come that the Genoians were preparing another army and he knew he could not face them with only his 13,000 tired and worn soldiers. He would need Ulaszlo's men who had proven greatly successfully against the Greeks. And so on the 2nd of May 1460 peace was made with both Ulm and Venice. Venice agreed to cede Albania and Macedonia while Ulm agreed to not send any soldiers against them.
Returning to General Meszaros with his 10,000 men General Andrassy was greeted with cheers and applause. He had taken a small force of new recruits and had taken all of Greece in a matter of a few months. When he was questioned on how he had done such a feat he informed his commanding officer that when he first arrived in Albania he was greeted by a single traveler. This man turned out to be Vencel Bathory who had in his possession detailed maps of all of Greece and reports on the locations of all patrols, soldiers, and anything else a General could hope for. Using these things he was able to easily capture all of Greece. Once his retelling had been finished General Andrassy was shocked to see General Meszaros come towards him and strike him across the face. He was then removed from his command and banished as well for consorting with the enemy.
With his army bolstered to 23,000 men General Meszaros left the former General without horse, food or any other possessions as he marched east to Edirne again. Arriving on the 24th of August 1460 he had the city in his control by the 11th of September before moving on to Thrace and Constantinople. This city took a little longer to take but still by the 26th of October this land was his as well. Now it was just time to wait for the Genoian navy to arrive bringing the army that he had been looking so forward to fighting.
General Meszaros waiting for the Genoian navy.
As General Meszaros waited through the winter the King decided to use this time to take an army of twenty-nine thousand men and march them from Cantabria, through first Aragon controlled northern Castille, Aragon itself, and then southern France to attack Avignon. This trip took many months and many men died from either the travel or the weather but in the end Bela arrived outside of Avignon with an army of 17,000 men at the beginning of April. These men quickly swarmed the castle and for a month the castle held till finally on the 26th it was under Hungarian rule. Bringing the leader of the city Bishop Gregorius XII before him King Bela V forced the Bishop to bow before him and kiss his feet or be killed and all of his people would be killed. Do as the King asked he ended up swearing fealty to the King and Avignon joined amongst Hungary's other vassals as well.
Modern day statue of Bishop Gregorius XII preparing to kiss King Bela's feet in Avignon.
Still waiting for the Genoian navy to arrive with his chance at glory, General Meszaros was greatly insulted when instead a single messenger arrived from the Genoian people requesting peace. Instead of agreeing the General killed the messenger and prepared to march west to the Genoian capital but the Genoian people then sent a messenger instead to King Bela who had returned to Cantabria and he was willing to see wisdom in this case and on the 29th of November 1461 the war was over. Greatly depressed by this General Simon Meszaros returned to Pecs where he wallowed in misery.