Battle of Nicopolis

The Bataille of Nicopolis took place the September 25th 1396 (some date it from the 28) on Right Bank (southern) of the the Danube (today Nikopol in Bulgaria). The Othoman Sultan Bayezid Ier (" Bajazet" in French, wire of Mourad I {{er}}) and Prince Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia demolished a crusade of width without precedent carried out by Sigismond of Luxembourg, King of Hungary.

Context

The battle constitutes one of the turnings of the conquest of Balkans by the armed with the Ottoman Empire. Whereas the Paléologues compete with the Cantacuzène S for the capacity with Constantinople, the latter require by twice - in 1346 and 1352 - the Othoman assistance of the army to fight their rivals. At the time of its last intervention, this army, instead of refranchir the the Bosphorus, decides to settle in Thrace. The Othomans conquer Thrace and control Bulgaria and Serbia.

The Manual Basileus II Paleologist and the king of Hungary Sigismond Ier, relayed by the pope Boniface IX, ask for the organization of a crusade which would push back the Othoman forces beyond the Bosphorus. France and England, which at that time observes a truce in the combat of the Guerre One hundred Year old, answer initially call although ultimately only France sends 10.000 soldiers - including 1.000 knights and rider S - to which will come to be added German troops, the Alsatian ones, Czechs, of Transylvains and of Valaques, as well as Chevaliers Teutoniques carried out by their Large Prior Frederic de Hohenzollern.

Christian main leaders of war

: * Jean without Fear, count de Nevers, wire of Philippe II of Burgundy, ordering Ost French,

* Sigismond Ier of Luxembourg, king de Hongrie,

* Jacques II of Bourbon, count of Walk, count de Castres

* Jean of Vienna, Admiral de France,

* Jean II Meingre, known as Boucicaut, Marshal of France,

* Philippe d' Artois, count of Have, Connétable of France,

* Guillaume of Bordes, Carry-streamer of France,

* Enguerrand VII of Coucy

* Guy VI of Trémoille

* Regnault de Roye, chamberlain of the king,

* Philibert de Naillac, Large-Master of the Hospital of Rhodos

* Nicolas de Gara, Palatine Grand of Hungary,

* Mircea, Prince de Valachie,

* Henri de Bar, son-in-law of Enguerrand de Coucy…

Preparations of the battle

The allied armies in Hungary establish their junction with Bud (Buda) in July, after the French ost had crossed Germany and the provinces bordering, by plundering and ransacking the places which they crossed. The cross take and devastate several villages on their road towards Nicopolis, in particular the town of Rachova (Oryahovo in Bulgaria) of which all the inhabitants will be killed or kept as an hostage.

Sigismond proposes to the Christian chiefs a rather defensive strategy, advising to await the army of Bayezid rather than to go to the front of the Othoman troops: the combatants are tired of their long walk through Europe and the season (be 1396) hardly lends itself to a long offensive to conquer all Turqui, and to go in the Empire of Persia… to take again the words of Enguerrand de Coucy, spokesperson of the French knights.

The prince of the Wallachians, Mircea, had obtained to leave in recognition to the head a small troop. On his return, Jean of Nevers refuses to take account of his observations and refuse to him to let it order the ost, in spite of the recommendations of Sigismond and the support of certain cross chiefs (Boucicaut, Jean of Vienna and Coucy). The army moves towards Nicopolis…

The seat

Nicopolis is a city extremely well defended by tourts and strong walls and the Crusaders did not bring any machine of seat. After having tried some échellades, without success, and having failed in an attempt at sap, it appears to the Crusaders who the city could be taken by the famine only after one long seat. As they had already done it throughout their voyage, the commanders of the Christian army seem to have lived this beginning of seat in ostentation and the pleasures, in spite of the skirmishes organized not far from their camps by advanced units of the Othoman army. Boucicaut would have even made beat or mutilate the fourrageurs who paid to have undergone attacks during their mission of supply.

It should be noted that the Christian forces really do not know where Bayézid and its army are, of aucuns thinking that it was even on the other side of the the Bosphorus and even of the the Mediterranean. Actually, the sultan besieges Constantinople and is able to run to the help of Nicopolis as of the advertisement of his seat. The Othomans were of as much better well informed than the duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Visconti had informed them of the movement of the Christian army.

September 23rd, Sigismond ends up sending the count Jean de Maroth in recognition; this last confirms on its return that the army of Bayezid is gathered in Tirnovo, to one day of walk of the cross camp. With the advertisement of the arrival of the Othoman troops, the Crusaders, for reasons ignored to date, decide to carry out the 1.000 inhabitants of Rachova which they kept as an hostage since the catch of this city, Sigismond involved well its troops of reserve in the battle, contributing to restore balance. The entry concerned of Serb of Stefan Lazarevic tips the scales in favor of the Othomans and Sigismond, understanding that the exit of the battle is not any more a doubt, chooses to avoid the captivity and escapes on a vessel of the Venetian fleet.

The battle is finished and the ost Crusaders capitulates.

After the battle, assessment

In reprisal of the execution of the thousand hostages of Rachova and heavy losses which its army had to wipe in this battle, Bayezid makes massacre three thousand cross prisoners. It will preserve approximately three hundreds intended for slavery and will require of them enormous ransoms for its most fortunate prisoners: the duke Philippe II of Burgundy will have to pay the astronomical sum of 100.000 Florin S for the release of his Jean son of Nevers. The sum claimed by Bayezid for the release of its 24 prisoners of mark, including four Flemish knights (Nicolas Uutenhove, Jean de Varssenare, Gilbert de Leeuwerghem and Tristan de Messem), would have reached 200.000 Ducat S. Certains French knights, such Philippe d' Artois or Enguerrand de Coucy will die nevertheless in captivity or on the way of the return.

In the courses Frenchwoman and Burgundian, beyond consternation born when the news of the defeat arrived by a Picardy knight of the name of Jacques de Helly, one will celebrate the return of the knights held to ransom like true heroes and one will hasten to charge the rout with Sigismond or the cowardice of some allied which would have fled the combat - the Wallachians or the Transylvanian ones… For its part, Sigismond will have to hardly suffer from the defeat of the crusade which it had called of its wishes since it will be elected Germanic Roman Emperor in 1433.

The defeat of Nicopolis marks the end of the crusades for Western Europe. The engagements will continue in the west - until the complete release of the Iberian peninsula - and in the Mediterranean but the nations of Balkans will have to count on their own forces to stop the Othoman conquest, with the consequences which one knows: the fall of Constantinople one half-century later and the presence of the Ottoman Empire in Balkans until the beginning of the 21st century…

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