Europe (c. 1400-1458)
344
Europe (c. 1400-1458)
344Paperback(Reprint)
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Overview
Shortly before his election in 1458 as Pope Pius II, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini produced a history of recent events in Europe. Europe (c. 1400-1458) provides students and scholars alike with a rich array of famous and lesser known figures and events spanning from Scandinavia to Italy and Iberia, and from Scotland to Lithuania and Greece. Aeneas focused on the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, who began his rule in 1440, creating a frame narrow enough to allow the author to move with ease across the continent. Despite this stated focus, Aeneas makes frequent digressions into ancient and medieval history, revealing his sense of how the deeper past affected the present character of cities and regions. Among the people and events Aeneas addresses are the rivalries of German princes, struggles between Eastern Europeans and the Ottoman
Turks, including the fall of Constantinople (1453), challenges to the powerful Teutonic Order, the last battles of the Hundred Years War, dynastic wrangling in Spain, the post-schism papacy's efforts to reclaim its former dominance, and a lengthy discussion of recent politics and wars in Italy, culminating in the campaigns of Alfonso of Naples. Amidst his descriptions of powerful men, Aeneas also frequently pauses to discuss notable women, customs of the peasantry, religious beliefs of heretics and pagans, and economic issues.
This popular text circulated widely in manuscript form and was printed in several editions between the late 15th and the early 18th centuries, in Latin, German, and Italian. The present volume represents the first time this work has been translated into English, bringing its colorful narrative to the attention of a wider audience. This edition also provides extensive footnotes, an appendix of rulers, and a lengthy introduction to Aeneas's life and the context and relevance of this work.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780813232638 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | The Catholic University of America Press |
| Publication date: | 08/02/2019 |
| Edition description: | Reprint |
| Pages: | 344 |
| Product dimensions: | 6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d) |
About the Author
NANCY BISAHA is professor of history at Vassar College. ROBERT BROWN is the Sarah Mills Raynor Chair of Classical Studies, Department of Greek and Roman Studies
Read an Excerpt
EUROPE
(c. 1400–1458)
By AENEAS SILVIUS PICCOLOMINI, ROBERT BROWN
The Catholic University of America Press
Copyright © 2013 The Catholic University of America PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8132-2182-3
CHAPTER 1
As briefly as I can, I wish to record for posterity what, to my knowledge, were the most memorable deeds accomplished among the Europeans and the islanders who are counted as Christian during the reign of Emperor Frederick III. I will also include earlier material from time to time, when the explanation of places and events seems to demand it.
1 HUNGARY
1. HUNGARY, which lies next to Frederick's native land of Austria and stretches eastward, will furnish the starting point of my narrative. Some call this country Pannonia, as though the Hungarians succeeded the Pannonians. But Hungary does not occupy the boundaries of Pannonia, nor was Pannonia ever so extensive as Hungary is today. For Pannonia was confined between the Danube and the Alps which face Italy and the Adriatic Sea, while to the west it bordered Noricum and the Inn River and to the east the Mysians, Triballians, and the Sava River. These borders include a large part of Austria, inhabited by Germans; Styria too, which was once called Valeria, is contained within the same boundaries. But Hungary, though it embraces lower Pannonia from the Leitha River to the Sava, extends beyond the Danube River toward Poland and occupies the lands once held by the Gepids and Dacians. The empire of the Hungarian nation is much broader than Hungary itself. For the Dalmatians whom they call Slavs; the Illyrians known as Bosnians; the Triballians or Mysians, who are called both Serbians and Rascians; and the Getes, of whom some are named Vlachs and others Transylvanians, submitted to the rule of the Hungarians. Some, however, have defected in our time after suffering defeat by the forces of the Turks. The Romans first acquired this province, up to the Danube River, under Caesar Octavian, when they subdued Bato, king of the Pannonians, and laid low the Amantians between the Sava and the Drava. Across the Danube, the Emperor Trajan conquered Dacia, which is now part of Hungary, and created a province on barbarian soil; it was lost under Gallienus and recovered by Aurelian. After the Romans, the Huns (a Scythian race) and the Goths (people who came from the islands of the Baltic Sea) occupied Pannonia at different times, and then the Lombards, who originated in Germany. Finally, the race of Hungarians flooded in from the farthest regions of Scythia. They have held sway until this day and exercise sovereignty far and wide on both sides of the Danube.
Not far from the source of the Don River there still exists another Hungary, the mother of that Hungary of ours of which I am speaking. It is quite similar in language and customs, although ours, which worships Christ, is more civilized; the other one observes a barbaric way of life and bows down to idols.
2. In Hungary, through which flows the Danube, Sigismund, the son of the Roman Emperor Charles IV, a Bohemian native of German descent, reigned in our time with mixed success for over fifty years. He was a prince of remarkable wisdom and magnanimity, renowned for his beneficence and liberality. He was a man, too, of striking physical majesty and good looks but was thoroughly unlucky in war. Not only the Turks but also the Bohemians often routed him in battle. His first wife was Maria, daughter of King Louis, and along with her he received the kingdom. For her sake, he put to the sword thirty-two leading Hungarian chieftains who had rebelled at some time previously. This led soon after to his being cast into prison himself, when the queen passed away. He was entrusted to the safekeeping of a widow whose husband he had killed, until the nobles of the kingdom should decide upon his punishment. But Providence did not fail him, even as a prisoner in desperate straits; and through his powerful eloquence he proved to the woman that it was better to preserve royal blood than to shed it. When she had released him, he married Barbara, daughter of Count Herman of Cilli, and not long afterward he raised a supporting force, won back the kingdom, and punished his betrayers. In the presence of the foremost nobles of the kingdom, he heaped honors and riches upon the sons of the widow. The son of one of them is still alive—Ladislas Garai, count palatine of the realm.
3. Many illustrious deeds of this Sigismund have been entrusted to memory. The most glorious was his restoration of the unity of the Catholic Church, then split into three parts, at the general council which he convened in Constance; to achieve this, he traveled throughout Italy, France, Spain, and England. He indulged Duke Vytautus of Lithuania by sending him a crown so that he could call himself king; however, Vytautus died before celebrating the coronation ceremony. He ordered the restoration of Prussia, which the king of Poland had taken from the Brothers of St. Mary with German arms. With Pippo of Florence in command, he waged fierce wars with the Venetians. He imprisoned his brother, Wenceslas, king of Bohemia, because he was unfit to rule; he was carelessly guarded, however, and some Bohemians smuggled him out of prison, to the great detriment of the state. Sigismund received the imperial crown from Pope Eugenius IV in Rome. After many misfortunes, he finally took possession of Bohemia. He bestowed the margravate of Brandenburg upon Frederick, burgrave of Nuremberg. His daughter Elizabeth, whose mother was Barbara, was joined in marriage by him to Duke Albert of Austria, and, as his last wish, while he lay dying in the Moravian city of Znojmo, he bequeathed to Albert the kingdoms which he had ruled. His bones lie in Varád.
4. When Albert was crowned with his wife at Székesfehervár, he also received the crown of Bohemia. Marveling at his success, the leaders of Germany also decided to elevate their own flesh and blood by entrusting him with the Roman Empire. Albert was not permitted to assume this position unless the lords of Hungary acquiesced, and to them it seemed disadvantageous for their king to rule the Germans; they had therefore bound Albert by oath not to accept the empire without their approval. However, after being summoned to the king, who was then in Vienna, they were overcome by his pleas and granted their consent. Promoted to emperor, he returned to Hungary with the intention of marching against the Turks, who had then invaded Serbia. But while he paused at Buda (which is where the kings reside), a German-born judge of that city had a certain Hungarian drowned in the river for a crime he had committed. The Hungarians, who hate the German race, took great exception to this and immediately provoked a riot, seizing arms and indiscriminately slaughtering any Germans in their path. There was a flight to the castle, where the king was keeping himself confined. The houses of merchants, the majority of whom were Germans, were ransacked.
At that time, Jacopo della Marca, a Minorite friar famous for his erudition and piety, was preaching the Gospel to the people of Buda. In order to quell the riot, he faced the armed and raging populace with an image of the crucified Savior in his hand and begged them humbly to refrain from slaughter, cease pillaging, and lay down their arms. Not in the least understanding his words (for the occasion did not allow for an interpreter) and thinking that the leadership of Christ would benefit their undertaking, they raised Jacopo and his Crucifix aloft in their arms and rampaged through the city plundering one house after another. However, the spoliation was reduced and the bloodshed mitigated to some extent by the presence of Jacopo, who, now with pleas, now with tears, attempted to allay the frenzy of the inflamed mob.
After the suppression of this riot, the death of George de Palocz—the bishop of Esztergom and custodian of the kingdom's precious treasure—occurred. Together, the king and queen headed for Esztergom. In the presence of the queen and selected barons of the realm, the coffers were opened and the treasure was observed. The queen secretly removed the crown which they call "holy" and, after entrusting it to a faithful old woman, closed the coffers and sealed them.
5. A little later, Albert marched up to the Tisza River. There he encamped and waited for larger forces with which he could attack the Turks besieging Smederevo. However, the town was taken by storm before reinforcements arrived. Upon returning to Buda, he fell ill with dysentery and decided to head back to Vienna, either to die among his own people or because he hoped that the air in which he had been nurtured would contribute something toward his recovery. But on the journey, he grew sicker and sicker and, after sealing his will, he died at Neszmély on the 27th of October, survived by his pregnant wife. He was a God-fearing prince and a man excelling in both liberality and justice. He was a bold and decisive warrior, too: he subjugated the Moravians and Bohemians by force of arms and confined the Poles inside their own kingdom when they roamed abroad. He seemed to hold out great prospects for Christendom, and the people expected no less of his valor. The shortness of his life prevented the fulfillment of his splendid promise. His power, which so rapidly had reached its summit, collapsed in an instant, for he reigned as emperor for not even two full years. His stature was tall, his body muscular and strong, his face awe-inspiring, his beard shaved in the fashion of his race, his upper lip unshorn. His modest clothing was cinched at the waist by a heavy golden belt, and he always had a sword at his side. His body was buried in Székesfehervár.
6. When they learned of the king's death, the Hungarians in assembly deemed it shameful and dangerous for so great a kingdom to lie beneath a woman's jurisdiction. With fervent pleas, they urged the queen to take as her husband King Wladyslaw of Poland, who could protect the people with his army. The woman agreed on the condition that the rights of her son would not be compromised if she bore a male. Prelates of the churches and the eldest and most prestigious leaders of the realm were sent as ambassadors to Poland. While they were on their way, Albert's posthumous son Ladislas was born. At Székesfehervár, on the same day that he made his appearance, he received his baptism, which is the seal of Christian faith, the belt of knighthood, and the holy crown of Hungary, which his mother held in her possession.
Taken away from there, he remained for almost twelve years under the guardianship of Emperor Frederick III, to whom his mother entrusted both him and the crown. Despite the queen's prohibition, the ambassadors approached Wladyslaw and after overwhelming him with generous promises brought him to Hungary, where they crowned him and hailed him king. For a long time, and with varying fortune, the mother of Ladislas fought against him, and the Hungarians were divided into two factions. Ulrich, count of Cilli, while supporting his cousin [the queen] and defending the right of Ladislas to the throne, was captured by the Poles and long tormented in prison. Dénes, archbishop of Esztergom, who was later granted the honor of a cardinalate, a man of illustrious family and character, crowned both kings, one voluntarily, the other by compulsion. For he was summoned to the Pole [Wladyslaw] and, although he had journeyed to Buda under an official guarantee, was not set free until he crowned him in Székesfehervár. Returning home as soon as he could, he opposed the efforts of the Poles with the utmost zeal.
7. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini was sent to Hungary by Pope Eugenius. He was a man of the highest intelligence, remarkable eloquence, and outstanding erudition. Although he arranged a temporary truce in the war between Wladyslaw and Elizabeth, he was unable to secure peace. When the queen died, almost all the nobles of Hungary defected to the Poles. Only Jiškra the Bohemian, a skillful and effective warrior, defended the side of Ladislas [Postumus] in Hungary. With a small band of soldiers, he often defeated, put to flight, and destroyed huge forces of Hungarians and Poles and twice robbed John Hunyadi of his camp when Hunyadi was surrounded by great armies.
This John was a Vlach by birth—not highly born, but a man of supple intelligence and lofty spirit who loved virtue. He fought many successful battles with the Turks and enriched the churches of Hungary with the enemy's spoils. He was the first of all the Hungarians to show that the armies of the Turks could be broken and vanquished. Inspired by these deeds, Wladyslaw himself also ventured into battle with Murad, the commander of the Turks. I will speak of this later in its proper place.
8. Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini arranged a treaty between Emperor Frederick and Wladyslaw, who called himself king of Hungary, stipulating that the emperor had permission to restrain the Hungarians if they inflicted any injury on Austria or Styria; the same license was granted to Wladyslaw against the subjects of Frederick who were harassing Hungary. The town of Günz is in Hungary, very close to Styria and Austria. This place and many surrounding castles were seized by brigands, who forayed from them into Austria and drove off a large quantity of livestock and people. Disturbed by this, Frederick rapidly put together an army and crossed into Hungary, where he sacked the strongholds and hanged eighty of the brigands on the gallows.
9. After Wladyslaw had fallen in battle, an assembly of the Hungarians was held in Pest. This place faces Buda across the Danube. It is neither encircled with walls nor adorned with fine houses but has the look of a village. Here Ladislas, the son of Albert, was appointed king by general consensus of the nobles and at once began to war against the Turks on his own authority. However, his battles were no more successful than those of Wladyslaw.
John Hunyadi was chosen as governor of the kingdom in the absence of the king. He governed the country with an iron rod, as they say, and while the king was away he was regarded as his equal. After routing the Turks at Belgrade (as I will relate when I come to the affairs of Serbia), he survived for a brief time before dying of disease. When he was ill, they say that he forbade the Body of Our Lord to be brought to him, declaring that it was unworthy for a king to enter the house of a servant. Although his strength was failing, he ordered himself to be carried into church, where he made his confession in the Christian way, received the divine Eucharist, and surrendered his soul to God in the arms of the priests. Fortunate soul to have arrived in Heaven as both herald and author of the heroic action at Belgrade!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from EUROPE by AENEAS SILVIUS PICCOLOMINI, ROBERT BROWN. Copyright © 2013 The Catholic University of America Press. Excerpted by permission of The Catholic University of America Press.
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Table of Contents
Contents
List of Illustrations, xi,Acknowledgments, xiii,
Introduction, 3,
EUROPE,
Dedication Letter, 49,
1. Hungary, 51,
2. Transylvania, Valachia, 64,
3. Thrace, Romania, Constantinople, 69,
4. Origin and History of the Turks, 72,
5. The Battle of Varna, 79,
6. The Battle of Kosovo, 90,
7. The Fall of Constantinople, 93,
8. The Battle of Belgrade, 101,
9. Macedonia, Thessaly, 103,
10. Boeotia, 106,
11. Attica, 107,
12. The Peloponnese, the Isthmus, Achaea, 108,
13. Acarnania, 111,
14. Epirus, 111,
15. Albania, 113,
16. The Illyrian Nations, Bosnia, 115,
17. Dalmatia, Croatia, Liburnia, 116,
18. Istria, 117,
19. Carniola, 119,
20. Carinthia, 120,
21. Styria, 124,
22. Austria, 127,
23. Moravia, 135,
24. Silesia, 136,
25. Poland, 138,
26. Lithuania, 141,
27. Ruthenia, 147,
28. Livonia, 147,
29. Prussia: The Teutonic Brothers, 148,
30. The Saxon Nation, Pomerania, 156,
31. Thuringia, Halberstadt, 158,
32. Brunswick, Saxony, 160,
33. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, 165,
34. Bohemia, 170,
35. Frisia, 171,
36. Holland, Utrecht, Dordrecht, Westphalia, 173,
37. Hesse, 179,
38. The Franks, 180,
39. Franconia, 186,
40. Bavaria, the Palatinate, Swabia, 191,
41. The Margravate of Baden, the Tyrol, Switzerland, 196,
42. Alsace, the Vogtland, Savoy, Arles, 197,
43. France, 201,
44. Ghent, 208,
45. England, 209,
46. Scotland, Ireland, 211,
47. Spain, Castile, Navarre, Portugal, 212,
48. Italy: Genoa, 216,
49. Italy: Milan, 219,
50. Italy: Venice, 231,
51. Italy: Mantua, 234,
52. Italy: Ferrara, 235,
53. Italy: Bologna, 237,
54. Italy: Florence, Lucca, San Casciano, 241,
55. Italy: Siena, 251,
56. Italy: Piombino, 255,
57. Italy: Viterbo, 258,
58. Italy: Rome, 259,
59. Italy: Umbria, the Marches, 274,
60. Italy: Ascoli Piceno, 283,
61. Italy: Urbino, 284,
62. Italy: Rimini, 285,
63. Italy: Faenza, Fabriano, 286,
64. Italy: Aquila, 287,
65. Italy: Naples, 288,
Appendix: Reigns of Selected Rulers, 311,
Bibliography, 317,
Index, 335,