John Hunyadi (Hungarian: Hunyadi János; Romanian: Ioan de Hunedoara; Croatian: Janko Hunjadi; Serbian: Сибињанин Јанко, romanized: Sibinjanin Janko; c. 1406 – 11 August 1456) was a leading Hungarian military and political figure during the 15th century, who served as regent of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1446 to 1453, under the minor Ladislaus V. According to most contemporary sources, he was the member of a noble family of Wallachian ancestry.

[1] In March 1442, Hunyadi defeated Mezid Bey and the raiding Ottoman army at the Battle of Szeben in the south part of the Kingdom of Hungary in Transylvania.

This was the first time that a European army defeated such a large Ottoman force, composed not only of raiders, but of the provincial cavalry led by their own sanjak beys (governors) and accompanied by the formidable janissaries.

He was popular among the lesser nobility, and in 1445 the Diet of Hungary appointed him one of the seven "Captains in Chief" responsible for the administration of state affairs until Ladislaus V (by that time unanimously accepted as king) came of age.

This Athleta Christi (Christ's Champion), as Pope Pius II referred to him, died some three weeks after his triumph at Belgrade, falling to an epidemic that had broken out in the crusader camp.

[6][10] László Makkai, Malcolm Hebron, Pál Engel and other scholars accept the two chroniclers' report of the Wallachian origin of John Hunyadi's father.

[16][18] In connection with King Sigismund's supposed parentage, both Bonfini and Heltai say that she was the daughter of a rich boyar, or nobleman, whose estates were located at Morzsina (present-day Margina, Romania).

[41] Modern scholars—for instance, Cartledge, Engel, Mureşanu and Teke—say that Hunyadi familiarized himself with the principles of contemporary military art, including the employment of mercenaries, in Milan.

[44][45] In exchange, Sigismund mortgaged Papi—a market town in Csanád County—and half of the royal incomes from a nearby ferry on the Maros River to Hunyadi and his younger brother.

[53] In the same year, Ottoman troops—supported by Vlad II Dracul, Prince of Wallachia—made an incursion into Transylvania, plundering Hermannstadt/Nagyszeben, Gyulafehérvár (present-day Alba Iulia, Romania) and other towns.

[54] After the Ottomans laid siege to Smederevo, the last important Serbian stronghold in June 1439, Đurađ Branković, Despot of Serbia fled to Hungary to seek military assistance.

[70][75] John Hunyadi and his 15,000 men defeated the 80,000-strong army of Begler Bey Sehabeddin at Zajkány (today's Zeicani), near the Iron Gate of the Danube river in 1442.

[101] Đurađ Branković, who was grateful for the restoration of his realm, donated his estates at Világos (present-day Șiria, Romania) in Zaránd County to Hunyadi on 3 July.

[122] Hunyadi was one of the few contemporaneous barons who spent a significant part of their revenues to finance the wars against the Ottomans, thus bearing a large share of the cost of fighting for many years.

[123] Hunyadi persuaded John Jiskra of Brandýs—a Czech commander who controlled the northern regions (in present-day Slovakia)—to sign an armistice for three years on 13 September.

[124] In November Hunyadi proceeded against Frederick III of Germany, who had refused to release Ladislaus V and seized Kőszeg, Sopron and other towns along the western border.

[130] However, Hunyadi stated, in a letter dated 8 September 1448, that he "have had enough of our men enslaved, our women raped, wagons loaded with the severed heads of our people" and expressed his determination to expel "the enemy from Europe".

[151][149] Hunyadi launched a military expedition against Jiskra, but the Czech commander routed the Hungarian troops near Losonc (present-day Lučenec, Slovakia) on 7 September.

[160][153] In a letter of 28 April 1453, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini—the future Pope Pius II—stated that King Ladislaus V's realms were administered by "three men": Hungary by Hunyadi, Bohemia by George of Poděbrady, and Austria by Ulrich of Celje.

[166][167] Having returned to Hungary, Hunyadi convoked, in the name of the King but without his authorization, a Diet in order to make preparations for a war on the Ottomans who had in May 1453 captured Constantinople.

[179][180] At the conference, where the envoys of the Hungarian, Polish, Aragonese and Burgundian monarchs were also present, no final decisions were made, because the Emperor refrained from a sudden attack against the Ottomans.

[188] In a letter addressed to Hunyadi, whom he styled as "the Maccabeus of our time", the papal legate, Cardinal Juan Carvajal made it clear that there was not much chance of foreign assistance against the Ottomans.

[191][192] The Diet ordered the mobilization of the armed forces in April, but most barons failed to obey and continued to war against their local adversaries, including the Hussites in Upper Hungary.

[196] A crusade made up mostly of peasants from the nearby counties, who had been roused by John of Capistrano's fiery oratory, also started to assemble at the fortress in the first days of July.

[204][205] Although wounded during the fights, Sultan Mehmed II, decided to resist, but a riot in his camp forced him to lift the siege and retreat from Belgrade during the night.

Although his strength was failing, he ordered himself to be carried out to church, where he made his confession in Christian way, received the divine Eucharist, and surrendered his soul to God in the arms of the priests.

Fortunate soul to have arrived in Heaven as both herald and author of the heroic action at Belgrade.In 1432, Hunyadi married Erzsébet Szilágyi (c. 1410–1483), a Hungarian noblewoman.

[214] Pope Callixtus III ordered the bells of every European church to be rung every day at noon, as a call for believers to pray for the Christian defenders of the city of Belgrade.

"[226][227][228][229] The French writer and diplomat Philippe de Commines described Hunyadi as "a very valiant gentleman, called the White Knight of Wallachia, a person of great honour and prudence, who for a long time had governed the kingdom of Hungary, and had gained several battles over the Turks".

[236] He was subsidiary to Roger de Flor as the role model for the fictional character of Tirant lo Blanc, the epic romance written by Joanot Martorell, published in Valencia in 1490.