Black Army of Hungary - Dissolution of The Black Army

Dissolution of The Black Army

Before his death on 6 April 1490, King Matthias asked his captains and barons to pledge an oath to his son John Corvinus and secure his succession to the throne. Though John was the biggest estate holder in Hungary and had the command over the Black Army, his stepmother, Queen Beatrice of Naples, invited two heirs, the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I and Polish prince John I Albert, for an assembly to be held at Buda to discuss who would inherit the throne. The first based his claim on the Peace Treaty of Wiener Neustadt, while the latter on his family ties. Furthermore, the Hungarian barons invited a third pretender, the King of Bohemia and brother of John Albert, Vladislas II. After the barons double-crossed John Corvinus, he escaped from the capital and was moving to Pécs, when he was attacked midway at Szabaton village and suffered a defeat from which he could retreat. No parts of the Black Army were – yet – involved, as their core was stuck in Silesia and Styria. Their famed captains Blaise Magyar and Paul Kinizsi joined the pretenders' side, John Albert and Vladislas, respectively; the latter subsequently became the legitime king.

Maximilian immediately attacked the conquested territories in Austria in 1490. The Black Army fortified itself in the occupied forts on the western border. Most of them were captured by trick, bribery, or citizen revolt in a few weeks without any major battles. The trenchline along the river Enns, which was built by mercenary captain Wilhelm Tettauer, resisted quite successfully for a month. Due to the lack of payment, some of the Black Army mercenaries, mostly Czechs, switched sides and joined the Holy Roman army of 20,000 men in invading Hungary. They advanced in the heart of Hungary and managed to capture the city of Székesfehérvár, which he sacked, as well as the tomb of King Matthias, which was kept there. His Landsknechts were still unsatisfied with the plunder and refused to go for taking Buda. He returned to the Empire in late December but left garrisons of a few hundred soldiers in those Hungarian cities and castles he occupied.

The National Council of the barons decided to recuperate the cities, lost especially Székesfehérvár. The Black Army was put on reserve at Eger, but their payment of 46,000 forints was late again, so they robbed the neighboring monasteries, churches, peasantries and lorddoms. After their dues were paid, appointed captain Steven Báthory gathered an army of 40,000 soldiers and began the siege in June 1491, which lasted for a month. More minor cities were regained, and without further support from the German nobility, Maximilian agreed to negotiate, and in the end, he signed the Peace of Pressburg in 1491, which included ceding the Silesian lands to him. John Haugwitz never recognized this treaty and held their possessions in Silesia afterwards.

Meanwhile, disappointed John Albert gathered an army at the eastern border of Hungary and attacked the vicinity of Kassa (Košice) and Tokaj, also in 1490. John Corvinus accepted Vladislaus as his feudal lord and helped him in his coronation (he personally handed the crown to him). Vladislaus married widowed Queen Beatrice in order to acquire her assets of 500,000 forints. This would have allowed him to cover the expenses of the Black Army stationed in Moravia and upper Silesia and the cost of transporting them home to upper Hungary to defend it from the Polish army of John Albert. John Filipec, on the behalf of the new king, helped to convince Silesian Black Army leader John Haugwitz to return to duty in exchange for 100,000 forints. The Hungarian-Czech army of 18,000 met the Polish troops in December 1491 in the Battle of Eperjes (Prešov), which was a decisive victory for the Black Army. John Albert withdrew to Poland and promised that he had no further claims to the throne.

The Black Army was sent to the south region to fight the Ottoman invasions. While waiting for their wages, they sought plunder in the nearby villages. The National Council ordered Paul Kinizsi to stop the plundering at all costs. He arrived in Szegednic-Halászfalu in late August 1492, where he dispersed the Black Army led by Haugwitz. Of the 8000 members, 2000 were able to escape to western Styria, where they continued to pillage the countryside. The prisoners were escorted to Buda, where the Black Army was officially disbanded and they were allowed to leave abroad under the condition never to come back and claim their payment. They joined the forces already in Austria. They confronted Count Georg Eynczinger on 7 May 1493, at Thaya, where they were all killed or captured and tortured to death. The last remaining mercenaries were integrated into local garrisons, such as the one in Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) under the leadership of Balthasar Tettauer, brother of Wilhelm Tettauer. They were so frustrated about their financial status that they even blackguardly allied with Ottoman Mihaloğlu Ali Bey to handle secretly the fort to his Sultan, Bayezid II. When their plan surfaced, Paul Kinizsi intervened in May 1494 before their act could take place. He arrested the captain and his crew for treason and famished them to death.