Notes and Documents on the Southern Background of Matthias Corvinus’ Bohemian War
Notes and Documents on the Southern Background of Matthias Corvinus’ Bohemian War

Summary/Abstract: By the end of spring 1468, within just a few months of one another, the anti-Ottoman crusade had suffered two grievous losses, both unavoidable or, at least, expected. In mid-January, Skanderbeg passed away. With the exception of a couple of fortresses and the Venetian possessions, Albania came under Ottoman rule. The difficult Hungarian-Ottoman negotiations of February-April 1468 led to the conclusion of a two-year truce between King Matthias Corvinus and Sultan Mehmed II (twice prolonged, in 1470 and in 1472). John Hunyadi’s soon left on his other crusade, against the heretic king of Bohemia, George Podiebrad, whom he accused, like his fellow crusader leaguer of 1463, Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy, of also conspiring with the Turk. The paper explores – based on archival material – the Hungarian and Wallachian background that led to this change in the policy of Matthias Corvinus, who had been prepared to attack the Turks, not the realm of Bohemia, in mid-1467.

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