The Battle of Nicopolis took place on September 25, 1396 (some date it of 28) on the right (south) bank of the Danube (today Nikopol in Bulgaria). The Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I ("Bajazet" in French, son of Mourad I) and Prince Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia[2] defeated an unprecedented crusade led by Sigismund of Luxembourg, King of Hungary.
Context
The battle is one of the turning points in the conquest of the Balkans by the armies of the Ottoman Empire. While the Palaiologos vied with the Cantacuzenes for power in Constantinople, the latter twice asked - in 1346 and 1352 - for help from the Ottoman army to fight their rivals. During its last intervention, this army, instead of recrossing the Bosphorus, decided to settle in Thrace. The Ottomans conquer Thrace and enslave Bulgaria and Serbia.
The basileus Manuel II Paleologus and the King of Hungary Sigismund I, relayed by Pope Boniface IX, ask for the organization of a crusade which would push back the Ottoman forces beyond the Bosphorus. France and England, which at that time were observing a truce in the fighting of the Hundred Years' War, initially responded to the call, although in the end only France sent 10,000 soldiers - including 1,000 knights and squires. - to which will be added troops of Germans, Alsatians, Czechs, Transylvanians and Wallachians, as well as Teutonic Knights led by their Grand Prior Frédéric de Hohenzollern.
Main Christian warlords
* Jean sans Peur, count of Nevers, son of Philippe II of Burgundy, commander of the French host,
* Sigismund I of Luxembourg, King of Hungary,
* Jacques II de Bourbon, Count of La Marche, Count of Castres
* Jean de Vienne, Admiral of France,
* Jean II Le Meingre, known as Boucicaut, Marshal of France,
* Philippe d'Artois, Count of Eu, Constable of France,
* Guillaume des Bordes, Banner-bearer of France,
* Enguerrand VII of Coucy
* Guy VI of Trémoille
* Regnault de Roye, King's Chamberlain,
* Philibert de Naillac, Grand Master of the Hospitallers of Rhodes
* Nicolas de Gara, Grand Palatine of Hungary,
* Mircea, Prince of Wallachia,
* Henri de Bar, son-in-law of Enguerrand de Coucy...
Battle preparations
The armies allied to Hungary established their junction at Bud (Buda) in July, after the French host had crossed Germany and the neighboring provinces, looting and ransacking the places they were crossing [3] [4]. The crusaders take and devastate several villages on their way to Nicopolis, in particular the town of Rachova (Oryahovo in Bulgaria) all the inhabitants of which will be killed or held hostage.
Sigismund proposes to the Christian leaders a rather defensive strategy, advising to wait for the army of Bayezid rather than to go before the Ottoman troops:the combatants are tired of their long march through Europe and the season (summer 1396) does not lend itself to a long offensive "to conquer all of Turkey, and to go to the Persian Empire..." to use the words of Enguerrand de Coucy, spokesman for the French knights.
The prince of the Wallachians, Mircea, had obtained permission to go on reconnaissance at the head of a small troop. On his return, Jean de Nevers refuses to take his observations into account and refuses him to let him command the host, despite Sigismond's recommendations and the support of certain Crusader leaders (Boucicaut, Jean de Vienne and Coucy). The army moves towards Nicopolis...
The seat
Nicopolis is a city very well defended by towers and strong walls and the Crusaders brought no siege engine. After trying a few scales, without success, and failing in an attempt to undermine it, it appears to the Crusaders that the city can only be taken by famine after a long siege. As they had already done throughout their journey, the commanders of the Christian army seem to have experienced this beginning of the siege with pomp and pleasure, despite the skirmishes organized not far from their camps by advanced units. of the Ottoman army. Boucicaut even allegedly beat or mutilated the foragers who reported having suffered attacks during their supply mission.
It should be noted that the Christian forces do not actually know where Bayezid and his army are, with some believing he was even on the other side of the Bosphorus and even the Mediterranean. In reality, the sultan besieged Constantinople and was able to come to the aid of Nicopolis as soon as his siege was announced. The Ottomans were all the better informed that the Duke of Milan Gian Galeazzo Visconti had informed them of the movements of the Christian army.
On September 23, Sigismond ended up sending Count Jean de Maroth on reconnaissance; the latter confirms on his return that Bayezid's army is assembled at Turnovo, a day's march from the Crusader camp. When the arrival of the Ottoman troops was announced, the Crusaders, for reasons unknown to this day, decided to execute the 1,000 inhabitants of Rachova whom they had been keeping hostage since the capture of this city.
The battle
Jean de Nevers and the French knights demanded to form the vanguard of the Christian army, for honor and glory while the Wallachian Mircea, who had already fought the Ottomans, was more familiar with their strategy on the battlefield. Sigismond then divided his troops into three parts:Nicolas de Gara in the center, at the head of the Hungarian, German, Czech, Alsatian and Flemish troops as well as the Teutonic Knights; the right flank of this army, the Transylvanians led by Stefan Lazkovitch and the Vlachs on the left flank. Disappointed at not having been listened to in his proposed strategy by the knights of the French host, Sigismond chose to command the reserve.
Opposite, Bayezid aligns his vanguard composed of foot archers (azab) and janissaries, which masks the field of stakes intended to break the assault of the opposing cavalry. The bulk of the Ottoman army, especially its cavalry (archers or akindji and spahis), and its Serbian allies remain hidden behind the hills.
The first charge of the French chivalry comes up against the presence of the stakes and must continue the fight without its horses. The knights, battleships in their armor resist the volleys of arrows of the Ottoman archery and sink the enemy infantry, without armour. The Ottomans have very many victims and the French chivalry intends to push its advantage, attacks and defeats the Ottoman cavalry which flees towards the rear.
Although still on foot, the knights pursue the fugitives towards the hills and eventually come across the bulk of Bayezid's army. They are crushed; many knights are killed - including Jean de Vienne - and the main French warlords are captured - Jean de Nevers, Enguerrand de Coucy, Boucicaut, Philippe d'Artois... - as well as several thousand soldiers.
Seeing the French host in difficulty, Sigismond trained his reserve troops well in the battle, helping to restore the balance. The entry into play of the Serbs of Stefan Lazarevic tipped the balance in favor of the Ottomans and Sigismund, understanding that the outcome of the battle was no longer in doubt, chose to avoid captivity and fled on a ship of the Venetian fleet.
The battle is over and the Crusader host surrenders.
After the battle, review
In retaliation for the execution of Rachova's thousand hostages and the heavy losses that his army had to sustain in this battle, Bayezid had three thousand Crusader prisoners massacred. He will keep about three hundred intended for slavery and will demand enormous ransoms for his wealthiest prisoners:Duke Philip II of Burgundy will have to pay the astronomical sum of 100,000 florins for the release of his son Jean de Nevers. The sum demanded by Bayezid for the release of its 24 distinguished prisoners, including four Flemish knights (Nicolas Uutenhove, Jean de Varssenare, Gilbert de Leeuwerghem and Tristan de Messem), would have reached 200,000 ducats. Some French knights, such as Philippe d'Artois or Enguerrand de Coucy nevertheless died in captivity or on their way back.
In the French and Burgundian courts, beyond the consternation born when the news of the defeat arrived by a Picard knight named Jacques de Helly, we celebrated the return of the ransomed knights as real heroes and we hastened to impute the debacle at Sigismund or the cowardice of certain allies who would have fled the fight - the Wallachians or the Transylvanians... For his part, Sigismond will hardly have to suffer from the defeat of the crusade he had called for since he will be elected Holy Roman Emperor in 1433.
The defeat at Nicopolis marks the end of the Crusades for Western Europe. The fighting will continue in the west - until the complete liberation of the Iberian Peninsula - and in the Mediterranean, but the nations of the Balkans will have to rely on their own forces to stop the Ottoman conquest, with the consequences that we know:the fall of Constantinople half a century later and the presence of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans until the beginning of the 20th century...