In the year 1396, one of the largest allied armies Medieval Christendom
had ever assembled was mobilized and ready to march upon the House of Osman.
The fate of the Ottoman presence in the Balkans, and perhaps the Empire as a whole,
was on the line. In this episode of our series on the history of the Ottoman Empire,
we will cover one of the most critical military engagements in Ottoman history:
The Battle of Nicopolis, the crowning achievement of Sultan Bayezid I the Thunderbolt.
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Two years after initially declaring the anti-Ottoman crusade, King Sigismund of
Hungary was finally ready to face the forces of “the Thunderbolt.” During the late summer of 1396,
the crusader army paraded out of Buda and began their march down south alongside the left bank of
the Danube. Knowing that he could not supply his large army in one spot for any length of time, the
Hungarian King opted for a more mobile solution, the pre-emptive invasion of Ottoman Bulgaria. This
would be the first phase of his anti-Ottoman crusade, as re-establishing Christian rule in
the region would serve as a buffer to his kingdom against Ottoman aggression. After taking Bulgaria,
the Crusaders likely planned to move further south and lift the blockade of Constantinople.
Alongside the main crusader contingent heading south, a smaller eastern contingent was sent
through Transylvania into Wallachia to restore Mircea I to his throne.
Capturing the region would give Sigismund control over the northern bank of the Danube, which would
play an essential role in his future invasion of Ottoman Bulgaria. Meanwhile, the crusader
fleet supplied by Genoa, Venice, and the Knights Hospitaller had begun their naval operations in
the Aegean Sea, resulting in the harassment of Ottoman shipping in the region. In addition to
these developments, the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits were also blockaded by the crusader navy,
thus permanently cutting off Bayezid from his Anatolian holdings. After Constantinople was
resupplied with goods and additional troops, a small contingent of the crusader navy sailed into
the Black Sea and then into the Danube River to rendezvous with the main crusader army.
Back in the west, the main crusader army under Sigismund crossed into the lands of Bayezid’s
vassal, the Tsardom of Vidin, through the coastal town of Orșova. After spending eight days crossing
over the Danube, the army found itself at the gates of the regional capital of Vidin.
Seeing that a large crusader army was at his gates and witnessing the death of a Bulgarian monarch
at the hands of Bayezid the previous year, Tsar Ivan Sratsimir of Vidin opened the gates of his
kingdom to the crusaders. What followed would be the massacre and imprisonment of the local
Ottoman garrison in the capital town. During the aftermath of the bloody event,
Sratsimir resupplied the crusader army and gave Sigismund free passage into
Ottoman Bulgaria through his realm. While the main crusader army began its operations in the local
region, the smaller crusader force marching into Wallachia had also secured some gains of its own.
The forces of the pro-Ottoman Wallachian usurper, Vlad I, had been pushed back into
the eastern portions of Wallachia while Mircea I regained his capital of Curtea de Argeș. This
gave the Hungarian King access to large sections of the northern bank of the Danube, which would
be vital in resupplying his vast mobile host, which marched on the opposite bank of the river.
However, despite these early successes, not all would go as intended for the crusader army.
Tensions between the Western Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches had been ongoing since the days
of the East-West Schism of 1054 and the Fourth Crusade of 1204. Both groups often saw the members
of the opposing church as untrustworthy and, in some cases, heretical, on par with Muslims.
These sectarian tensions between the members of the two churches would rear their ugly heads
during Sigismund’s crusade. In the following days after Vidin’s submission, crusader forces fanned
out across the countryside of the tsardom and plundered the region indiscriminately.
As the main crusader army marched west alongside the Danube, they arrived at the strongly fortified
town of Oryahovo. Seeing that the odds were heavily against them, the local Ottoman garrison
of the town offered King Sigismund terms of surrender in return for their lives and
the lives of the Muslim populace of the town. The Hungarian King accepted the offer as he had plans
for the region after the crusade; however, after the surrender of the town, the Franco-Burgundian
element of the crusader army, in an act of open defiance, disregarded the terms of peace.
The local Ottoman garrison was massacred alongside the town’s Muslim and Eastern Orthodox populace,
much to the horror and frustration of Sigismund.
Despite the internal religious tensions bubbling up within his army, King Sigismund
continued toward the Ottoman fortress town of Nicopolis. In the year after its capture,
the former Bulgarian capital had been strengthened with new fortifications and a well-supplied
garrison led by the Ottoman marcher lord, Doğan Bey. The town stood on a high position overlooking
the Danube and had been a vital ferry location for the Ottomans going into Wallachia. According
to Sigismund, Nicopolis had to be captured if Christian rule were to return to Bulgaria.
As a result, during the first weeks of September, the fortress of Nicopolis was put under siege.
This time around, the Ottoman defenders stood their ground, for they had most likely heard
about the brutal fates of their brethren in Vidin and Oryahovo. Seeing that Nicopolis would
not surrender, the crusader army constructed siegeworks and mines over the next few days
while supplies and reinforcements from Wallachia and the crusader fleet arrived from the Danube.
During the Crusader’s advance, the Sultan had been personally overseeing the blockade of
Constantinople. Now, he focused on the advancing enemy and began mustering forces to confront his
foe directly. Seeing that he had to strike the crusader army before they could gain a
significant foothold in Bulgaria, Bayezid gave out orders for his armies in the Balkans, including
his vassal Stefan Lazarevic, to gather in Edirne and Plovdiv. The sultan planned on catching the
crusader army off guard by assembling his army behind the Balkans Mountains, far from the prying
eyes of crusader scouting parties, then force marching said army to Nicopolis. In the first
weeks of September, Bayezid would leave a small force to continue the blockade of Constantinople
while he and his 20,000-strong Ottoman host began his march north to meet the forces of Sigismund.
The Ottoman response to the crusade would be a swift one. In later centuries, it took an
Ottoman army up to six weeks to assemble its ranks and another three weeks to travel from
Edirne to the Danube. However, completing this journey took “the Thunderbolt” only two weeks.
Much to the surprise and panic of the crusaders, on the 22nd of September,
Bayezid’s host was spotted near Tarnovo by their scouting parties in the region.
Only two days later, the Ottoman Sultan had established a war camp several kilometers south
of Nicopolis. According to Ottoman chronicles, under the shroud of darkness, Bayezid rode to
the walls of Nicopolis to inform the local Ottoman garrison of the arrival of his army. The sultan
promised Doğan Bey and his men that come the next day, he would shatter the crusader army beneath
the walls of their fortress. In retaliation to the sudden arrival of the Ottoman army at Nicopolis,
thousands of the remaining Muslim prisoners from Vidin and Oryahovo were rounded up near
the crusader camp and executed. The gruesome struggle for Nicopolis had just begun.
Even though they had defeated a minor Ottoman scouting party in the days before Bayezid’s
arrival, many in the crusader camp were skeptical about how to approach their current situation.
The crusader host was now stuck between the local garrison of Nicopolis and Bayezid’s large host,
and worst enough, they had the impassable Danube River to their rear. In one swift move,
the Ottoman Sultan had managed to besiege the besiegers of Nicopolis. As a result of their
situation, a war council was called by Sigismund during the evening of the 24th of September.
The decision to face the Ottoman host the following morning was agreed on; however,
the Hungarian King advised to take a more cautious approach. He wanted the Wallachian
and Transylvanian contingents of his army to head the crusader assault as they had the most
experience in fighting against the Ottomans. After all, the veteran Voivode Mircea of Wallachia had
defeated Bayezid on two separate occasions in the years before the crusade. Meanwhile,
Sigismund also advised the Franco-Burgundian and Hungarian elements of the army to support
the main attack in the case of an Ottoman counterattack. This advice fell on deaf ears,
as Sigismund’s thoughtful strategy was ignored due to internal divisions within the crusader camp
once again resurfacing. Many Franco-Burgundian leaders were outraged with Sigismund’s plan,
seeing it as dishonorable to enter battle behind the Wallachians and Transylvanians,
whom they regarded as peasants. The Constable of France, Philip of Artois, even accused the
Hungarian monarch of trying to steal the honor and glory of the battle for himself.
After many hours of shouting and fussing, Sigismund would cave into the demands of
the Franco-Burgundian leaders; their western knights would now head the crusader assault.
During the morning of September 25th, the numerically even Ottoman and crusader armies
deployed for battle south of Nicopolis. On the crusader side, the mounted Franco-Burgundian
knights made up the first line, while King Sigismund and his mainly Hungarian contingent made
up the second line behind them. Wallachian troops led by Mircea were stationed on the crusader left
wing, while Transylvanian troops led by Stephen Lackfi were stationed on the crusader right wing.
A small contingent of crusaders was left behind to continue the siege on Nicopolis.
Unlike their crusader counterparts, the Ottoman army was far more centralized in its command
structure. Ottoman Akinci light horsemen made up the front line, while behind them was a mix
of irregular light infantry from Anatolia and the Balkans called “azabs.” Behind them were Bayezid’s
household troops, also known as the Kapikulu, which comprised several thousand elite Janissaries
and Kapikulu Sipahi heavy cavalry. They were led by the Sultan himself and his Grand Vizier,
Candarlizade Ali Pasha. Meanwhile, the Ottoman right wing consisted of Balkan Timarli Sipahi
heavy cavalry led by the Sultan’s eldest son, Suleyman Çelebi. On the Ottoman left wing were
the Anatolian Timarli Sipahi heavy cavalry led by Kara Timurtaş Pasha. Lastly, on the extreme
Ottoman right wing were the mounted Serbian knights led by their prince, Stefan Lazarevic.
In the hours leading up to the battle, King Sigismund sent scouting parties to locate
Ottoman positions south of Nicopolis to find the camps Bayezid had concealed from the crusaders.
Due to this situation, the battle was delayed for another two hours, much to the annoyance of the
Franco-Burgundian element of the army. Soon, the waiting became too much for the Frenchmen to bear.
Then a battle cry by Philip of Artois was heard as he seized a banner of the Virgin Mary:
”Forward in the name of God and St.George, today you shall see me a valorous knight.”
Before a general order to advance was given, Franco-Burgundian knights under their eager
commanders unexpectedly charged forward to seek out the enemy themselves, much to the horror of
many senior leaders in the crusader camp. After some time advancing forward, off in the distance,
the Franco-Burgundian line spotted Ottoman Akinci light horsemen scouting their positions.
Seeing an opportunity to gain glory on the battlefield, the mounted western
knights of Europe proceeded to charge into the lightly armored ranks of the Ottoman Akıncıs,
resulting in heavy losses for the Muslims. With the remaining Akinci retreating back
towards the Ottoman camp and believing they had won a great victory, the Franco-Burgundian
mounted knights continued moving forward to make contact with the main Ottoman line.
However, as the knights continued riding forward, they encountered a steep slope
topped by a forest of sharpened stakes. Behind the stakes lay the main Ottoman line of azabs,
who were armed with various weapons ranging from axes, maces, bows, and spears. Under immense arrow
fire from the enemy, many knights dismounted from their horses to get through the Ottoman
defenses uphill, but many Franco-Burgundians were wounded alongside their steeds. Despite this,
the poorly armored azabs were no match against the mighty knights of Europe, and many were
killed in hand-to-hand combat. Seeing that his front line was in grave danger of collapsing,
Bayezid ordered for his Timarli Sipahi heavy cavalry to hit the flanks of the Franco-Burgundian
host while his Janissaries reinforced the Ottoman front line. This stabilized the Ottoman line,
but the fierce, bloody conflict for the slope continued as the best knights of Western Europe
went toe to toe with the Sultan’s own elite troops. As the battle raged on, King Sigismund’s
contingent of the crusader army, made out of infantry, had finally arrived on the battlefield.
Wanting to prevent the two crusader contingents from uniting their forces at this critical moment
in the battle, the now anxious Bayezid played his last hand. Sending forth his remaining Timarli
Sipahi cavalry and the remnants of his Akinci and azab units, the Ottoman Sultan ordered the
creation of a new battle line to be formed between the two crusader hosts. Meanwhile,
the Sultan’s own Kapikulu Sipahi cavalry was sent forward to flank around and charged into the rear
of the Franco-Burgundian knights. The latter move brought about heavy casualties for the
Western knights as they were now surrounded on both sides by Bayezid’s elite household troops.
As the battle for the slope continued, the newly formed Ottoman line crashed into Sigismund’s
contingent of the crusader army. Although taking heavy losses, the Ottoman line successfully
prevented the Hungarian monarch from uniting his forces with the Franco-Burgundians, who
were at this point in the battle exhausted after hours of fighting under the burning morning sun.
With Sigismund unable to break through Ottoman lines to reach the Franco-Burgundians, panic began
to spread in the crusader army. Perhaps seeing the day was lost and wanting to preserve their
troops for future wars against the Ottomans, both Wallachian and Transylvanian contingents of the
crusader host began to withdraw from the battle. Before long, Sigismund’s host was now stranded,
and the remaining Franco-Burgundian were surrendering to Ottoman troops in droves.
At this critical junction, Bayezid delivered the final flow of the battle. The Ottoman
Sultan ordered his mounted Serbian knights, led by Stefan Lazarevic, to charge the flank
of the remaining Hungarian army. The following Serbian charge would be decisive as it left many
dead on the battlefield, thus resulting in the complete rout of the remaining crusader army.
The remnants of Sigismund’s army that survived the Ottoman onslaught made their way up north
to the Danube as Venetian and Genoese ships began preparations for evacuation operations. In full
panic, many crusaders drowned in the deep waters of the Danube while the Hungarian King barely
escaped with his own life as he was pushed into the river before being saved onto a local fishing
vessel by his personal guard. On his way back to Hungary, Sigismund would place the blame for the
crusader defeat on the Franco-Burgundians, stating that their pride and vanity had cost them the day.
The Battle of Nicopolis ended in a decisive Ottoman victory and was the crowning achievement
of Sultan Bayezid I’s reign. Having suffered a few thousand casualties,
the Ottoman Sultan had defeated and scattered a great European crusader army in a single battle.
The following morning after his victory, in retribution for the massacre of Muslim
prisoners of Vidin and Oryahovo, “the Thunderbolt” ordered all those he had
taken prisoner in the battle to be killed. What followed would be a general massacre
of thousands of crusader soldiers in which many were stripped of their clothing and decapitated.
Only a handful of high-ranking noblemen were spared from the onslaught, such as John of Nevers.
They were ransomed off to their respective European holdings in the following years.
The defeat at Nicopolis caused a wave of shock around Europe, as for the first time,
the wider continent was personally made aware of the impending threat of the Ottoman Sultanate.
It would take half a century for European powers to recoup and launch another major crusade against
Edirne. As a result of the battle, the Ottoman political and military presence in the Balkans
was secured. In the following years, Bayezid ramped up his blockade on the Byzantine capital
of Constantinople as no support from Europe now dared to intervene in his military matters.
In the next episode, we will look go through the last years of the Thunderbolt’s reign as
a new power in the east would come knocking on the gates of his sultanate. To ensure
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