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In 1543, during Sultân Süleymân’s campaign into Hungary, the Ottoman army took Valpovo, Siklós, and Pécs, and then marched to Buda. During a military Dîvân a decision was made to strengthen the defence of Buda by taking Esztergom and Székesfehérvár,[1] while the Tatar and Akıncı continued to raid and create havoc across western Hungary. Nikola IV Zrinski, the Ban of Croatia, having answered King Ferdinand’s call, has come to the Habsburg camp at Győr with his Croatian horsemen.[2]
While Esztergom fell on August 7, and Tata fell on August 17, the Habsburg army of 40,000 men sat behind the camp fortifications. While reports arrived about Tatar raiders wreaking havoc and taking tens of thousands of captives from western Hungary, Habsburg generals sat and analyzed. As a flood of refugees came to Győr and told their horrific stories, Hungarian nobles begged Ferdinand to lead his mighty army into battle to protect Hungary, as Magyar tradition demands, but, by September 14, Ferdinand was in Linz, 175 km west of Vienna. The commanders of the German, Bohemian, Italian and Spanish armies did not show any willingness to fight the enemy in Hungary, stating that their mandate is the defence of Austria, and Vienna in particular.[3]
When Zrinski learned that the raiders captured Vitányvár [hu], in the hills of the Bakony forest, and then marauded around Somlyó/Somló (Somlóvásárhely), north of Lake Balaton, he could not continue to sit idly. He called his compatriots, Grgur Farkašić, Nikola Katić, Petar Bakić, András Báthory, Imre Verbőczy, and the two Horváth Bertalans to mobilize their men.[4] On September 19, Zrinski and his army rode south to Pápa, where castellan Pál Rátkay and his horsemen joined.[5]
An army of almost 1,000 Croatian and Magyar horsemen rode to Somló and surprised the scattered Tatar raiders that were pillaging and destroying defenceless villages. When Zrinski’s army was spotted, the roving Tatar and Akıncı bands coalesced into a unified force of about 700 men. Zrinski and his horsemen formed a wall and charged at the enemy. The Tatars fired a dense rain of arrows at them, but Zrinski’s line of attack was not broken. During the chaotic battle, the Tatars continuously fired arrows and many Christian horsemen were hit. Grgur Farkašić was hit by ten Tatar arrows, and everyone believed that he is dead, but by the help of physicians he recovered.[6]
On one part of the large field of battle, Pál Rátkay fought fiercely, but, as hundreds of fast-riding raiders arrived, the Tatars gained advantage and threatened to overpower Rátkay’s men. Having noticed the danger, Zrinski and his men rode to Rátkay’s side.[7] Zrinski and Rátkay joined forces and fought so hard, breaking lances in the chests of raiders, that the momentum of battle shifted. Eventually, the tide of battle turned against the Tatars, and they retreated to find refuge, but they were pursued without pause or mercy.[8]
The Tatars scattered, and many tried to escape through the marshes but, slowed by the mud, were easy targets cut down by musket-fire or drowned amidst the reeds. Local peasants, with axes and pitchforks, took great revenge on the Tatars, killing many stragglers they caught in the marsh. Almost 3,000 Tatars were killed, and only a few hundred raiders return to the safety of the Sultân's camp. After the hard battle, Zrinski left the battlefield severely wounded, most likely by an arrow. The Christian army collected much booty, including thousands of horses, which was divided among the victorious soldiers. [5]
Nikola Zrinski, having proven that he is worthy of the honour of being Ban of Croatia, was celebrated for developing the plan and being instrumental and brave in its execution. Unfortunately, the victory was of no operational significance since the loss of a few thousand Tatar and Akıncı raiders was inconsequential to the Sultân's large campaign.
The vanguard of the army arrives at Székesfehérvár, the city where Hungarian kings had been crowned for centuries, on August 20, and two days later the city is fully besieged. After a week of cannonading and battles, Székesfehérvár surrenders on September 3. On September 16, the Sultan's army left Székesfehérvár, marched to Buda, and returned to Istanbul (Constantinople) on November 16.
- ^ Mrkonjić, Ante (2023). A History of The Croats - The Years 1102 to 1606: From the reign of the Árpáds to the end of the Croatian-Ottoman Hundred Years' War. pp. 720–721. ISBN 978-0646880518.
- ^ von Hammer-Purgstall, Joseph (1836). Histoire de l'Empire ottoman, depuis son origine jusqu'à nos jours (in French). Vol. 5. Paris. pp. 360–377.
- ^ Thúry, József (1896). Török történetírók (in Hungarian). Vol. 2. Budapest: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. pp. 282–369.
- ^ Perok, Eduard Slavoljub (1861). Životopisne crte grofa Nikole Šubića-Zrinjskoga Sigetskoga (in Croatian). Zagreb: Narodna tiskarnica dra. Ljudevita Gaja. pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b Gyula, Pauler (8 January 1860). "Zrinyi Miklós, a szigetvári hős" (PDF). Vasárnapi Újság. 7 (2): 13.
- ^ Mesić, Matija (1866). Zivot Nikole Zrinjskoga, sigetskoga junaka (The life of Nikola Zrinjsko, hero of Siget) (in Croatian). Zagreb. pp. 91–92.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Isthvanfi Pannoni (Istvanffy), Nicolai (Miklós) (1622). Historiarum de rebus Ungaricis libri XXXIV (ab anno 1490 - 1606) (in Latin). pp. 256–271.
- ^ Klaić, Vjekoslav (1911). Povjest Hrvata (in Croatian). Vol. 3. Zagreb. pp. 159–160.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)