The battle of Bonefield () in other sources battle of Bone Hill () was fought between the army of

John Corvinus John Corvinus (, Croatian language, Croatian: ''Ivaniš Korvin'', Romanian language, Romanian: ''Ioan Corvin''; 2 April 1473 – 12 October 1504) was the illegitimate son of Matthias Corvinus of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, and his ...

and an army of the Kingdom of Hungary (the party of queen Beatrice of Naples) under Pál Kinizsi and Stephen V Báthory after the death of

Matthias Corvinus Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and ...

king of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the Monarchy, ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

, on 4 July 1490, in the Bonefield, a part of

Tolna county Tolna (, ; ) is an administrative county (Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary), comitatus or vármegye) in present-day Hungary as it was in the former Kingdom of Hungary. It lies in central Hungary, on the west bank of the river Danube. It shares borde ...

near the extinct village Szabaton (nowadays Kölesd in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

.Csatahelyek
- IziTravel

Background

King Matthias never had children from his legal marriages. Because of this, he wanted to inherit the kingdom to his illegitimate son John Corvinus. After father's death the Hungarian rule quickly collapsed in the Habsburg lands (

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

, Carniola,

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

). The Bohemians ( Vladislaus Jagiellon) and Poles ( John I Albert and the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I also claimed the Hungarian throne. Due to the foreign wars of Matthias in Austria and Bohemia and his extraordinary taxes, the lords (just like Kinizsi) did not support his son.

The battle

The 17-year-old John did not inherit his father's brilliant talent. His stepmother Beatrice was also against him. Báthory and Kinizsi, Matthias's great generals, also supported the queen. John was supported only by two ecclesiastical dignitaries and two lords. John was in 13 July 1490 induced formally to resign his claims to the throne, on the understanding that he was to be compensated with the royal title of

Kingdom of Bosnia The Kingdom of Bosnia ( / Краљевина Босна), or Bosnian Kingdom (''Bosansko kraljevstvo'' / Босанско краљевство), was a medieval kingdom that lasted for nearly a century, from 1377 to 1463, and evolved out of the ...

and title of Ban of Croatia. A some days later John's supporters, Sigismund Ernuszt bishop of

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

, Lawrence of Ilok and Bertalan Beriszló recruited an army and entered

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

. John changed his mind, but did not stay in the capital. His supporters suggested John that he march to the Southern land and fill your own army with other supporters of the Corvin-party. John also took with him the stock of the king's treasury. Báthory and Kinizsi immediately pursued John's army. Their troops catch up John's forces in Tolna county. During that time, John hesitated and wanted to return to the capital, but his supporters blackmailed him and forced him to fight the battle with Kinizsi and Báthory. The troops of Kinizsi and Báthory (6–7 thousands men) discovered John's army (7000 men) by the river Sárvíz on the Bonefield (Csontmező). John's troops tried to initiate on the battlefield, but the inexperienced peasant soldiers were easily repulsed by the experienced troops of Kinizsi and Báthory. Lawrence of Ilok rescued John from the battle. The enemy no longer pursued them, but he was busy robbing the vagons.

Aftermath

After the losing battle John lost all chance of getting the throne of Hungary. He was also recognized as duke of Slavonia and Opava, but compelled to relinquish both titles five years later. In 1498 he was created perpetual Ban of Croatia and Slavonia.

References

Sources

Corvin János vereséget szenved a csontmezei csatában
– Rubicon Online (Hungarian)
Az apa árnyékában: az ismeretlen Corvin János
– Magyar Nemzet (Hungarian)

Background

The battle

Aftermath

References

Sources

Further reading