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The Second Mongol invasion of Hungary ( hu, második tatárjárás) led by
Nogai Khan Nogai, or Noğay (; also spelled Nogay, Nogaj, Nohai, Nokhai, Noqai, Ngoche, Noche, Kara Nokhai, and Isa Nogai; died 1299/1300) was a general and kingmaker of the Golden Horde and a great-great-grandson of Genghis Khan. His grandfather was Bo'al/ ...
and Tulabuga took place during the winter of 1285–1286.


Prelude


The first invasion

In 1241, a
Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member of ...
army under
Subutai Subutai ( Classical Mongolian: ''Sübügätäi'' or ''Sübü'ätäi''; Modern Mongolian: Сүбээдэй, ''Sübeedei''. ; ; c. 1175–1248) was a Mongol general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ögedei Khan. He directed ...
and
Batu Khan Batu Khan ( – 1255),, ''Bat haan'', tt-Cyrl, Бату хан; ; russian: хан Баты́й was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. ...
invaded central and eastern Europe, including Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and the
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the coronation of the first king Stephen ...
. The Hungarian attempt to halt the invasion at the
Battle of Mohi The Battle of Mohi (11 April 1241), also known as Battle of the Sajó River''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', Vol. I, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 279; "Although Mongol losses in t ...
failed catastrophically. The
light cavalry Light cavalry comprised lightly armed and armored cavalry troops mounted on fast horses, as opposed to heavy cavalry, where the mounted riders (and sometimes the warhorses) were heavily armored. The purpose of light cavalry was primarily ra ...
that made up most of the Hungarian mounted forces had proven ineffective against the Mongol troops, though the few heavily armored knights (mostly those of the
Knights Templar , colors = White mantle with a red cross , colors_label = Attire , march = , mascot = Two knights riding a single horse , equipment ...
) performed significantly better when engaged in close quarters combat. The Mongols decisively crushed the Hungarian army, and proceeded to ravage the countryside for the next year. By the end of their campaign, around a quarter of the population of Hungary had been killed, and most of the kingdom's major settlements had been reduced to rubble. The wooden, clay, and earth defenses that made up the walls of most towns and forts fell easily to the Mongol siege engines. Many Hungarian settlements didn't have any fortifications at all. One German chronicler observed that the Hungarians "had almost no city protected by walls or strong fortresses". However, stone castles had significantly better fortunes; none of the few Hungarian stone castles fell, even those deep behind the Mongol lines. When the Mongols tried to use their siege engines on the stone walls of the Croatian
Fortress of Klis ) from Vrana, in the name of Bosnian King Tvrtko I * 1394–1401 Ban Nikola II Gorjanski in the name of Sigismund * 1401–1434 Croatian noble Prince Ivaniš Nelipić * 1434–1436 Croatian noble and Ban of Croatia Ivan Frankopan, at that ...
, they did absolutely no damage, and were repelled with heavy casualties. A similar thing happened when they attempted to capture the citadel of
Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Da ...
, despite having overwhelming numerical superiority and 30 siege machines which they had just used to reduce the wooden towers of the city.


Military reforms

King Béla IV took note of this, and spent the next few decades reforming Hungary in preparation for possible future invasions. He used a variety of methods to do this. First and foremost, he amalgamated the ''servientes'' and ''iobagiones castri'' into a new class of heavily armored, well-trained knights of the western type, where previously Hungary's defenses had relied almost entirely on wooden castles and light cavalry.Ertman, Thomas. "Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe." Cambridge University Press (January 13, 1997). Page 273. In 1247 he concluded a feudal agreement with the Knights of St. John, giving them the southeastern borderland in exchange for their help in creating more armored cavalry and fortifications. In 1248, he declared the country's middle strata could enter a baron's service, on the condition that the barons lead the men on his land properly equipped (in armor) into the king's army. Documents from the time state that "the nobles of our country can enter into military service of bishops in the same way in which they can serve other nobles". After 1250, free owners of small or middle sized estates serving directly under the king were included (along with barons) in the nobility. Finally, new settlers were given "conditional" nobility in exchange for the requirement of fighting mounted and armored at the king's request. In 1259, he requested that the Pope put him into contact with Venice, as he wanted to hire at least 1,000 crossbowmen (
crossbows A crossbow is a ranged weapon using an elastic launching device consisting of a bow-like assembly called a ''prod'', mounted horizontally on a main frame called a ''tiller'', which is hand-held in a similar fashion to the stock of a long fire ...
having also proven a very effective weapon against the Mongols, despite the relatively small numbers of them actually deployed by the Hungarians in 1241). To cement his new defense doctrine, the king offered grants and rewards to cities and nobles in exchange for the building of stone fortifications. The reforms ultimately paid off. By the end of his reign, Béla IV had overseen the building of nearly 100 new fortresses. Of these 100, 66 were stone castles built on elevated sites. This was a major upgrade from 1241, when the kingdom only possessed 10 stone castles, half of which were placed along the border with the
Duchy of Austria The Duchy of Austria (german: Herzogtum Österreich) was a medieval principality of the Holy Roman Empire, established in 1156 by the '' Privilegium Minus'', when the Margraviate of Austria ('' Ostarrîchi'') was detached from Bavaria and elevat ...
.


Lead-up to the second invasion

In 1254,
Batu Khan Batu Khan ( – 1255),, ''Bat haan'', tt-Cyrl, Бату хан; ; russian: хан Баты́й was a Mongol ruler and founder of the Golden Horde, a constituent of the Mongol Empire. Batu was a son of Jochi, thus a grandson of Genghis Khan. ...
demanded a marriage alliance with Hungary and a quarter of its army for a drive into central and western Europe. In exchange, Hungary would be spared from tribute obligations and any further destruction. Béla ignored the message. Additional ultimatums were sent in 1259 and 1264, this time by Batu's brother and successor,
Berke Khan Berke Khan (died 1266) (also Birkai; , tt-Cyrl, Бәркә хан) was a grandson of Genghis Khan and a Mongol military commander and ruler of the Golden Horde (division of the Mongol Empire) who effectively consolidated the power of the Blue ...
. Berke made similar demands: if Hungary would submit to the Mongols and grant them a quarter of its army for the planned invasion of Europe, it would receive tax exemption and 1/5 of the plunder. Again, Béla refused. Letters exchanged between Béla and the Pope circa 1259 imply that the Mongols had been well known to be untrustworthy for decades, with the Pope saying that any agreements made by the "perfidious" conquerors were worthless.


Invasion


Forces

In the winter of 1285, Mongol armies invaded Hungary for a second time. As in the first invasion in 1241, Mongols invaded Hungary in two fronts. Nogai invaded via
Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the Ap ...
, while Töle-Buka (
Talabuga Talabuga Khan, Tulabuga, Talubuga or Telubuga was the Khan of the Golden Horde, independent division of the Mongol Empire from 1287 until 1291. He was the son of Tartu, great-grandson of Batu Khan, and great-great-great-grandson of Genghis Khan ...
) invaded via Transcarpathia and
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The ...
. A third, smaller force likely entered the center of the kingdom, mirroring Kadan's earlier route. The invasion paths seemed to mirror those taken by Batu and Subutai 40 years earlier, with Talabuga going through
Verecke Pass Veretskyi Pass or Verecke Pass ( uk, Вере́цький перевал, translit=Veretskyi pereval, more formally: uk, перевал Середньоверецький, translit=pereval Serednoveretskyi, label=none, also known as: uk, В� ...
and Nogai going through Brassó to enter Transylvania.Salagean, p. 135 Much like the first invasion, the Mongols emphasized speed and surprise and intended to destroy the Hungarian forces in detail, invading in winter for hope of catching the Hungarians off guard and moving fast enough that it was impossible (at least until their later setbacks) for Ladislaus to gather enough men to engage them in a decisive confrontation. Because of the lack of civil war in the Mongol Empire at the time, as well as the lack of any other major conflicts involving the Golden Horde, Nogai was able to field a very large army for this invasion, with the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle describing it as "a great host" but its exact size isn't certain. It is known that the Mongol host included cavalry from their vassals, the Ruthenian princes, including Lev Daniilovich and others from among their Rus′ satellites.Jackon, p. 205 Stefan Krakowski indirectly places the Mongol invasion force a fair bit above 30,000 men by estimating the smaller Mongol invasion of Poland two years later as having about that many soldiers, stating that Nogai and Talabuga personally leading an invasion suggests it is a massive force by definition. Peter Jackson, using contemporary Hungarian charters, concludes that the Mongol army was very large, but is unsure if it was larger, smaller, or comparable in size to the 1241–42 invasion force. A contemporary letter from Benedict, the provost of
Esztergom Esztergom ( ; german: Gran; la, Solva or ; sk, Ostrihom, known by alternative names) is a city with county rights in northern Hungary, northwest of the capital Budapest. It lies in Komárom-Esztergom County, on the right bank of the river Da ...
, estimates the size of the Mongol army at 200,000. This is almost certainly an enormous exaggeration, as the Mongols almost never fielded armies larger than 100,000 men. The Austrian chronicler of Salzburg recorded that the Mongol military camp covered an area of in width and in depth (whether this was Nogai's or Talabuga's army, or how this chronicler got his information, is unknown). The Galician-Volhynian Chronicle puts the size of the Mongol army in the hundreds of thousands, saying that Talabuga's column alone lost 100,000 men during the march through the Carpathians. Such numbers are considered inflated by modern historians. In 1255, William of Rubruck wrote that the Hungarians could gather at most 30,000 soldiers, a situation that probably hadn't drastically changed in the last three decades.William of Rubruck. "The journey of William of Rubruck to the eastern parts of the world, 1253-55." Translated by William Woodville Rockhill. Page 281. "It would be very easy to conquer or to pass through all these countries. The King of Hungary has not at most XXX thousand soldiers." It is unknown how many of these men were mustered during the period of the Mongol invasion.


Central/Northern Hungary, Transcarpathia, and Western Transylvania

Talabuga, who led the main army in Northern Hungary, was stopped by the heavy snow of the
Carpathians The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals at and the Scandinavian Mountains at . The range stretches ...
. On the march up, his force was devastated by logistical factors, namely a shortage of food which caused the deaths of thousands of his soldiers, as attested to by the Galician-Volynian Chronicle and certain contemporary Polish sources. This was likely the result of the traditional tactics of castle warfare, which involve starving out the invaders by hoarding all available food stocks, while launching small raids and sallies from the castles. Polish chroniclers hostile to the Hungarian king stated that Ladislaus was too cowardly to face the Mongols in a straight battle, very likely a misinterpretation of successful battle avoidance and
scorched earth A scorched-earth policy is a military strategy that aims to destroy anything that might be useful to the enemy. Any assets that could be used by the enemy may be targeted, which usually includes obvious weapons, transport vehicles, communi ...
tactics. At the beginning of the campaign the invading force devastated central Hungary and entered the town of Pest. They burned it, but the town had long since been abandoned by its population, who fled south and west of the Danube. During this event, members of Queen Elizabeth's household launched a spirited and effective sally against the Mongols, while she watched from the safety of the walls of Buda. Talabuga's forces encountered great difficulties with the density of fortifications and failed to capture any castles or fortified cities. However, they caused major damage to the civilian population, and raided as far as the Danube. Local Hungarian forces fought the Mongols in many defensive battles, for which the king had promoted several lesser officials who had distinguished themselves, including George Baksa,
Amadeus Aba Amadeus Aba or Amade Aba ( hu, Aba Amadé; sk, Omodej Aba; ? – 5 September 1311) was a Hungarian oligarch in the Kingdom of Hungary who ruled ''de facto'' independently the northern and north-eastern counties of the kingdom (today parts of ...
his relative, Peter Aba from the clan's Somos branch. One such battle took place near the castle of Turusko (Trascău), where the Mongols suffered a sharp defeat with heavy casualties, including 1,000 taken prisoner. Talabuga's weakened army was ultimately defeated when met head-on in battle by the hastily assembled royal army of Ladislaus IV, in the hills of western Transylvania. The army had benefited from the reforms and had a higher proportion of
knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...
s than the army the Mongols had defeated a few decades earlier at Mohi. After the defeat, Talabuga ordered a retreat from Hungary, but his army was ambushed on the return by the Székely people, who fought as light cavalry. By the time he made it back to friendly territory, his army had effectively ceased to exist, with the majority of the soldiers he brought dying in the failed raid. By the hyperbole of one chronicler, Talabuga arrived back in Ruthenia with only his wife and one horse. Once he finally reached
Volynia Volhynia (also spelled Volynia) ( ; uk, Воли́нь, Volyn' pl, Wołyń, russian: Волы́нь, Volýnʹ, ), is a historic region in Central and Eastern Europe, between south-eastern Poland, south-western Belarus, and western Ukraine. The ...
, his starving soldiers plundered the towns of his allies and vassals.


Transylvania and the Hungarian Plains

Nogai stayed in Transylvania until the spring of 1286. Here he plundered some towns and villages, such as Szászrégen (Reghin), Brassó (Braşov) and Beszterce (Bistrița). He also managed to destroy a few forts and walled towns. However, like Talabuga, he failed to take any major fortifications, with the exception of the
Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
castle of Ban Mikod in the Aranyos Valley, the former royal stronghold of Torda (today Turda, Romania). After the defeat of Talabuga's main column, King Ladislaus IV led an expedition to expel Nogai's forces from Transylvania. His army arrived too late to make a significant difference, as Nogai's forces had already suffered a serious defeat at the hands of local Hungarian troops--mostly the Saxons,
Vlach "Vlach" ( or ), also "Wallachian" (and many other variants), is a historical term and exonym used from the Middle Ages until the Modern Era to designate mainly Romanians but also Aromanians, Megleno-Romanians, Istro-Romanians and other Eastern ...
s, and
Székelys The Székelys (, Székely runes: 𐳥𐳋𐳓𐳉𐳗), also referred to as Szeklers,; ro, secui; german: Szekler; la, Siculi; sr, Секељи, Sekelji; sk, Sikuli are a Hungarian subgroup living mostly in the Székely Land in Romania. ...
, commanded by Voivode Roland Borsa. Ladislaus settled for harassing their withdrawal.


Aftermath

The results of the invasion could not have contrasted more sharply with those of the 1241 invasion. The invasion was repelled handily, and the Mongols lost much of their invading force due to several months of starvation, numerous small raids, and two major military defeats. This was mostly thanks to the new fortification network and the military reforms. No major invasion of Hungary would be launched after the failure of the campaign of 1285, though small raids from the Golden Horde were frequent well into the 14th century. Less than two years later, the
Third Mongol invasion of Poland The third Mongol invasion of Poland was carried out by Talabuga Khan and Nogai Khan in 1287–1288. As in the second invasion, its purpose was to loot Lesser Poland, and to prevent Duke Leszek II the Black from interfering in Hungarian and R ...
occurred. This invasion was also repulsed, with the Poles using a similar strategy to the Hungarians in 1285. They were aided by a Hungarian force under George Baksa (also known as George of Sóvár). It was probably in reprisal for this event that in late 1288, a Mongol force launched an attack on the
Szepes Szepes ( sk, Spiš; la, Scepusium, pl, Spisz, german: link=no, Zips) was an administrative county of the Kingdom of Hungary, called Scepusium before the late 19th century. Its territory today lies in northeastern Slovakia, with a very small are ...
(Spiš) region, albeit on a small scale. They were repelled, with George again distinguishing himself. While a victory for Hungary overall (albeit with heavy civilian casualties), the war was a political disaster for the king. Like his grandfather before him, many nobles accused him of inviting the Mongols into his lands, due to his perceived ties to the Cumans. Possibly more disastrously, the invasion was fended off by local barons and other magnates with little help from the king. After proving their military skills, the efficiency of their fortifications and armed forces, and their ability to ensure the safety of their subjects to a greater degree than the king or his dignitaries, various local elites expanded their net of supporters and deemed themselves entitled to rule large regions of the kingdom. The crisis brought to light the king's lack of significant military resources and inability to compensate for such via political skills. The heavy losses suffered by the Mongols in this war, combined with their defeat in Poland shortly after (though they did successfully re-vassalize Bulgaria between these expeditions), contributed to the lack of major Golden Horde operations in central Europe outside of the 1280s. From then on, Mongol attacks on Hungary and Transylvania would be limited to raids and pillaging along the frontier lines.Salagean, 137 By the 14th century, the Golden Horde and much of the Mongolian Empire posed no serious threats thereafter to Hungary, despite frontier raids continuing under
Öz Beg Khan Öz is a Turkish surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Doğan Öz (1934–1978), Turkish prosecutor assassinated during his investigation of the Turkish deep state. * Emanuel Öz (born 1979), Swedish politician * Mehmet Öz, Turk ...
. In fact, in 1345, a Hungarian army under Count Andrew Lackfi took the initiative and launched an invasion force into Mongolian territory, defeating a Golden Horde force and capturing what would become
Moldavia Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Cent ...
.Kortüm, Hans-Henning. ''Transcultural Wars: from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century'' Akademie Verlag (March 22, 2006). p. 227


Notes


References

* Chambers, James -- ''The Devil's Horsemen: The Mongol Invasion of Europe'' * Peter F. Sugar, Péter Hanák, Tibor Frank -- ''A History of Hungary.'' 1990 Indiana University 448p. * Pow, Stephen Lindsay -- ''Deep Ditches and Well-built walls. Calgary, 2012.''https://prism.ucalgary.ca/bitstream/handle/11023/232/ucalgary_2012_pow_lindsey.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y * Pál Engel, Tamás Pálosfalvi, Andrew Ayton: ''The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526'', I.B.Tauris & Co Ltd, London. 2001. 471.p * Stefan Krakowski -- ''Polska w walce z najazdami tatarskimi w XIII wieku'', Wyd. 1956 * Jackson, Peter -- ''The Mongols and the West: 1221–1410.'' 2005 Routledge, 448p * Z. J. Kosztolnyik -- ''Hungary in the 13th Century'', East European Monographs, 1996 * Salagean, Tudor. ''Transylvania in the Second Half of the Thirteenth Century: The Rise of the Congregation System'' Brill, 2016, pages 134-138 * * {{Mongol Empire
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...
Conflicts in 1285 Conflicts in 1286 1285 in Europe 1286 in Europe Wars involving Hungary
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...