Battle of Posada
King Karl I. Robert (right in front with two companions) has to stand by and watch as Wallachian warriors destroy his helpless army in a mountain ravine by shooting with arrows and falling rocks; Miniature from the Hungarian Picture Chronicle
| date | 9. bis 12. November 1330 |
|---|---|
| place | Transylvanian Alps (exact location unknown) |
| output | Wallachian victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| unknown | unknown |
| losses | |
|
unknown, very difficult |
unknown, only slightly |
The Battle of Posada was according to tradition, from 9 to 12 November 1330 between a Hungarian army under the leadership of King I. Charles Robert (r. 1308-1342) and one of I. Basarab (r. 1310-1352) led Wallachian force defeated. The battle ended with a crushing defeat for the numerically much stronger Hungarian army.
Starting position
After 1301 with the death of King Andrew III. the ruling dynasty of the Árpáds had died out, a period of feudal fragmentation and internal turmoil followed in the Kingdom of Hungary . The magnates of the kingdom practically ruled in the following years and regarded the election of kings within the female line of the dynasty as their privilege . The two on Andreas III. The following kings did not succeed in asserting themselves against the magnates and in renewing the central royal power. Only King Charles I Robert from the House of Anjou was able to restore central power after years of disputes with the magnate families.
Due to the long-lasting political crisis of the kingdom, the first tendencies towards independence in the areas claimed by him and not populated or not populated by Magyars were favored. In the country south of the Carpathian Mountains, which was merely a kind of outpost of the kingdom, Basarab I finally succeeded in sheltering various political units that had started to form here at the end of the 13th century and whose consolidation had been facilitated by the internal Hungarian turmoil to unite his rule to the principality of Wallachia . Basarab I's efforts to break away from Hungarian sovereignty finally prompted King Charles I Robert to campaign against the Wallachian ruler in 1330, with the aim of re-establishing Hungarian sovereignty over Wallachia.
Course of the battle
Charles I Robert managed to advance to Curtea de Argeș , the Wallachian capital, without much effort . Basarab I had withdrawn from the Hungarian army, which was far superior to his armed forces, in the direction of the mountains, where he was now followed. However, since Charles I Robert did not succeed in catching his opponent, his army had difficulties with catering and the season was already well advanced and unfavorable for combat operations, he was finally forced to enter into negotiations with Basarab. According to the sources, an armistice was signed and the Hungarian king is said to have undertaken to leave the country by the shortest route if the Wallachians would provide him with guides and show his army a way out of the mountains.
The leaders provided by the Wallachians are said to have lured the Hungarian army into a carefully prepared ambush, the scene of which is still the subject of speculation. In a mountain ravine that was attempted to be located near Loviştea in the valley of the Olt in the Transylvanian Alps , the superior, but largely helpless Hungarian army of knights on the narrow and mountainous terrain was, according to tradition, after several days from all sides from all sides attacked. In the accompanying text of the Hungarian Picture Chronicle (also called Chronicon pictum Vindobonense ) it says:
“The innumerable masses of the Wallachians, high up on the rocks ... let arrows rain down on the Hungarian army in the valley below, along a road that shouldn't even be called a road, but rather a narrow path on which, incapable maneuvering, the best horses and soldiers fell in battle, because because of the steep cliffs ... they could neither attack nor advance or flee the Wallachians on either side of the road ...; the king's soldiers were caught like fish on dry land. Young and old, princes and nobles alike, fell in battle without distinction. "
King Charles Robert managed to escape the inferno with a few companions by, as is reported, giving his robes and royal insignia to one of his captains, who was immediately killed by a hail of stones and arrows. He was finally able to return to Hungary unrecognized in simple clothes.
consequences
The devastating Hungarian defeat not only attracted international attention, but also strengthened Basarab's position and that of his principality in the concert of international powers. Through alliances with the Bulgarian and Serbian rulers, Basarab tried to preserve the de facto independent position of his country after the battle . In the long run, however, Wallachia could not withstand the pressure of its two overpowering neighbors in the north and south, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire , which had expanded into the Balkans since the second half of the 14th century . The politico-military action of these two great powers forced the Wallachian voivodes to adopt a permanent rocking policy in the following two centuries, which was unable to bring the country any long-term internal stability.
swell
- Dezsö Dercsényi (Ed.): Picture Chronicle. Chronicon Pictum. Chronica de Gestis Hungarorum. Vienna illustrated chronicle. 2 vols. Böhlau Verlag , Weimar 1968. ( facsimile print )
References and comments
- ↑ See Kurt W. Treptow (Ed.): A History of Romania. (= Romanian Civilization Studies, Vol. VII). Iași 1995, ISBN 973-9155-72-1 , pp. 60-69.
- ↑ The reference to the alleged betrayal or the broken word of the Wallachians in the Hungarian sources not only diminished the Wallachian victory for recipients who were oriented towards the knightly ethos of ethics and virtues such as bravery and honesty, but also provided a simple explanation for the apparently not possible sustained defeat. In fact, however, a lack of local knowledge, the weather conditions, overestimation of oneself and the resulting wrong decisions by the army command as well as a neglected battlefield reconnaissance are likely to have caused the Hungarian defeat far more than the Wallachian underhandedness.
- ↑ Quoted from Treptow (1995), p. 68. Translated from English into German as precisely as possible. The " Romanians " of the original quote, which sounded a little too "modern" , was reproduced here with "Wallachians".
- ↑ For example, the battle and its prehistory are described in more detail in one of the works of the Polish historian Jan Długosz (1415–1480).
- ↑ Treptow (1995), p. 69.
- ↑ See Treptow (1995), pp. 99-101.