Siege of Belgrade (1456)
John Hunyadi and the preacher John of Capistrano held the Hungarian border fortress of Belgrade against the army of Mehmed II, who had taken Constantinople three years earlier; the wounded sultan retreated.
- Date
- 4–22 July 1456exact date · duration: 18 daysDate in the Julian calendar
- Place
- Belgrade Fortresstoday: Belgrade, Serbia · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Mehmed II the Conqueror, John Hunyadi, John of Capistrano, Ottoman Empire, Kingdom of Hungary
- Threads
- Europe and the Ottoman Empire: the end of the Middle Ages
- Also known as
- Белградская победа; Осада Нандорфехервара
The Ottomans began bombarding the fortress on 4 July 1456. On 14 July Hunyadi’s flotilla broke the blockade on the Danube and brought reinforcements and supplies into the city. After a failed night assault on 21–22 July, peasant crusaders rallied by Capistrano’s preaching spontaneously attacked the besiegers; Hunyadi struck from the fortress, and the Ottoman camp was captured along with its guns. Mehmed II, wounded in the fighting, lifted the siege.
Belgrade held out for another 65 years, until 1521. Soon after the victory, however, an epidemic broke out in the camp, killing Hunyadi on 11 August; Capistrano died on 23 October. Tradition links the noon bell rung in Catholic churches with the prayers for the defenders of Belgrade ordered by Pope Callixtus III.
Connections
Causes and preconditions
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatoliahaving taken Constantinople, Mehmed II moved against Hungary
Related events
- Battle of Mohács29 August 1526 · Western and Central EuropeBelgrade fell only in 1521, and its loss opened the road to Mohács for Suleiman I
Same participants
- Battle of Mohi11 April 1241 · Western and Central Europevia Kingdom of Hungary
- Battle of Otlukbeli11 August 1473 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Mehmed II the Conqueror
Adjacent events in the thread
- Gutenberg Biblebetween 1454 and 1455 · Western and Central Europe
- Wars of the Roses22 May 1455 – between 1485 and 1487 · Western and Central Europe
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Gutenberg Biblebetween 1454 and 1455
- Battle of Castillon17 July 1453
- Wars of the Roses22 May 1455 – between 1485 and 1487
Eastern Europe
- Accession of Ivan III27 March 1462
- Marriage of Ivan III and Sophia Palaiologina12 November 1472
- Construction of the Kremlin’s Dormition Cathedral1475 – August 1479
- Muscovite–Novgorodian War (1477–1478)9 October 1477 – 15 January 1478
- Great Stand on the Ugra River8 October – 11 November 1480
Africa
- Sonni Ali takes Timbuktubetween 1468 and 1469
Central and Northern Asia
- Founding of the Kazakh Khanatebetween 1465 and 1471
South Asia
- Afanasy Nikitin’s Journey Beyond the Three Seasbetween 1466 and 1468 – between 1472 and 1474
East Asia
- Tumu Crisis1 September 1449
- Ōnin War1467–1477
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Đại Việt crushes Champa: the fall of VijayaNovember 1470 – March 1471
Latin America
- Reign of Pachacuti — birth of the Inca Empire1438–1471
- Construction of Machu Picchubetween 1420 and 1450
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Siege of Belgrade (1456)
- Wikipedia (Russian): Осада Белграда (1456)
- Babinger F. Mehmed the Conqueror and His Time / Ed. W. C. Hickman; transl. R. Manheim. — Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1978.
- Wikidata: Q244980