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We hid the memorial cache of the Battle of Varna at the Vladislav Varnenchik Memorial Park. Opening hours: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. (except Mondays from April to October; except Sundays and Mondays from November to March). Though it is not necessary to visit the park and/or the museum to find the cache, we recommend it as both are interesting. There is a small entrance fee to the park and/or the museum, in case you are interested to visit. Bus no. 22 takes you from Varna centre near the park.
Many visitors come to Varna especially during summer time. While enjoying the sea and sunshine, we recommend you to take a break and visit a park which commemorates an important historical event - the Bottle of Varna – that strongly influenced all-European history in and after the 15th century and the key figures of the battle Wladislaw III. of Poland (Vladislav Varnenchik) and János Hunyadi (John Hunyadi).
The Battle of Varna took place on November 10, 1444 near Varna in eastern Bulgaria. In this battle the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Murad II defeated the Polish and Hungarian armies under Wladyslaw III of Poland and János Hunyadi. It was the final battle of the Crusade of Varna.
After failed expeditions in 1440-1442 against Belgrade and Transylvania, and the defeats of the "long campaign" of János Hunyadi in 1442/1443, the Ottoman sultan Murad II signed a ten-year truce with Hungary. After he had made peace with the Karaman Emirate in Anatolia in August 1444, he resigned the throne to his twelve year-old son Mehmed II.
Despite the peace treaty, Hungary co-operated with Venice and the pope, Eugene IV, to organize a new crusader army. On this news Murad was recalled to the throne by his son. Although Murad initially refused this summoning persistently on the grounds that he was not the sultan anymore, he was outwitted by his son who on the news of his refusal wrote to him: "If you are the sultan, lead your armies; but if I am the sultan, I hereby order you to come and lead my armies." Murad then had no choice but to reclaim the throne.
A mixed Christian army consisting mainly of Hungarian and Polish forces, with smaller detachments of Czechs, papal knights, Germans, Bosnians, Croatians, Bulgarians, Wallachians, Lithuanians, and Ruthenians (Ukrainians), met with a numerically superior force of Ottoman Turks and their Serb allies.
The Hungarian army was very small, ill-equipped, imbalalanced and promised support from Albania and Constantinople did not arrive. Papal, Venetian and Genoese ships had blockaded the Dardanelles as the Hungarian army was to advance on Varna, where it would meet the Papal fleet and sail down the coast to Constantinople, pushing the Ottomans out of Europe. The Hungarian advance was rapid, Ottoman fortresses were bypassed, while local Bulgarians from Vidin, Oryahovo, and Nicopolis joined the army (Fruzhin, son of Ivan Shishman, also participated in the campaign with his own guard). On October 10 near Nicopolis, some 4,000 Wallachian cavalrymen under Mircea, one of Vlad Dracul's sons, also joined. Refugee Armenians in Hungary also took part in the wars of their new country against the Turks as early as the battle of Varna in 1444, when some Armenians were seen amongst the Christian forces.
Late on November 9, a large Ottoman army of around 60,000 man approached Varna (still held by the Byzantines) from the west. At a supreme military council called by Hunyadi during the night, the Papal legate, cardinal Julian Cesarini, insisted on a quick withdrawal. However, the Christians were closed between the Black sea, Lake Varna, the steep wooded slopes of the Frangen plateau (350 m high), and the enemy. Cesarini then proposed defense using the Wagenburg of the Hussites until the arrival of the Christian fleet. The Hungarian magnates and the Croatian, Bosnian, and Czech commanders backed him, but the young (20-year-old) king Wladyslaw III. of Poland and Hunyadi rejected the defensive tactics. Hunyadi declared: "To escape is impossible, to surrender is unthinkable. Let us fight with bravery and honor our arms." Wladyslaw accepted his position and gave him the command.
In the morning of November 10, Hunyadi deployed the army of some 20,000 crusaders as an arc between Lake Varna and the Frangen plateau; the line was about 3.5 km long. Two banners with a total of 3,500 men from the king's Polish and Hungarian bodyguards, Hungarian royal mercenaries, and banners of Hungarian nobles held the center. The Wallachian cavalry was left in reserve behind the center.
The Ottoman center included the Janissaries and levies from Rumelia deployed around two Thracian burial mounds. Murad observed and directed the battle from one of them. The Janissaries dug in behind ditches and two palisades. The right wing consisted of Kapikulus and Sipahis from Rumelia, and the left wing was made up by Akincis, Sipahis from Anatolia, Arab mercenaries, and other forces. Janissary archers and Akinci light cavalry were deployed in the Frangen plateau.
The light Ottoman and Arab cavalry assaulted the Croats of ban Talotsi. Christians from the left riposted with bombards and firearms and stopped the attack. Christian soldiers chased the Ottomans and Arabs in a disorderly pursuit. The Anatolian cavalry and Arabs on camels ambushed them from the flank. The Christian right wing attempted to flee to the small fortress of Galata on the other side of Varna Bay, but most of them were slain in the marshland around Varna Lake and the river Devnya, where Cesarini also perished. Only ban Talotsi's troops managed to withdraw behind the Wagenburg.
Wladyslaw and Hunyadi deployed two cavalry companies from the center and the Wallachian cavalry against the Arabs and Anatolian Sipahis, who were routed and their commander, the Anatolian beylerbey Karaca Bey, killed. The Christians pursued them for more than 5-6 km and then returned to the battlefield. The Wallachian cavalry continued the chase and broke into the fortified Ottoman camp. After pillaging and looting, the Wallachians overcharged with gold and other booty left the battlefield.
The other Ottoman flank assaulted the Hungarians and Bulgarians of Michael Szilagyi. Their push was stopped and turned back; then Sipahis attacked again. Hunyadi decided to help and advised the king to wait until he returned; then advanced with two cavalry companies against the Sipahis, defeated and pursued them toward the road to Shumen for 5-6 km. The Sipahis were so terrified that some of them reached and crossed the river Kamchiya some 30 km away.
The European army seemed close to victory; the sultan decided to leave the battlefield. The young king, ignoring Hunyadi's advice, rushed 500 of his Polish knights against the Ottoman center. They overran the Janissary infantry and the king attempted to take Murad prisoner. Surrounded by Janissary bodyguards, he was slain, his head cut off and later taken to the Ottoman court. The disheartened Polish cavalry was smashed by the Ottomans.
On his return, Hunyadi tried frantically to salvage the king's body but all he could accomplish was to organize the retreat of the remains of his army. It suffered 11,000 (or 13,000) casualties. The Ottomans lost 8,000 (or 20,000) soldiers. They were so shattered by the smaller Christian army that they were unable to pursue them and continue to Central Europe. Many European prisoners were slaughtered or sold as slaves.
The death of Wladyslaw left Hungary in the hands of the four-year-old Ladislaus Posthumous of Bohemia and Hungary. The defeat also set the stage for the fall of Constantinople in 1453.
In an expression of gratitude, the Bulgarian people affectionately gave Wladyslaw the name Varnenchik (Polish: Warnenczyk), after the city where he fought and died. Vladislaus III of Varna is also known in Polish as Wladyslaw Warnenczyk; in Slovak and Czech as Vladislav I; in Hungarian as I. Ulászló; in Lithuanian as Vladislovas III; in Croatian as Vladislav I. Jagelovic.
In the 1930s, a cenotaph was erected by a Varna civic committee in a park on the former battleground. In the 1960s, a museum containing weapons and armor from the epoch was added, along with symbolic sarcophagi bearing the modern coats of arms of the countries participating in the battle on the European side. Wladyslaw has another grave in the cathedral on the Wawel (castle) hill in Cracow, Poland. But both graves are symbolic. After the battle his body was never found and it probably remained unrecognized and was buried along with the other slain knights. The park museum is currently within city limits; the urban municipality that contains it, as well as a central city boulevard are named after Wladyslaw Warnenczyk. Another avenue is named after John Hunyadi.
Source of information: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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