One of the forgotten battles between Romanians and Hungarians.
The rulers of the medieval era had a specific thinking of the times and wanted as much bloodshed as possible for the achievement of military glory, everything being put to the account of the divinity.
A war against Romanians of another religion was equivalent to a crusade and would have brought merit in the hope of obtaining a place in Paradise. Carol Robert of Anjou’s expedition against Wallachia in 1330 had ended with the catastrophe at Posada, but the lessons offered for free by history books are quickly forgotten by the kings and the lust for power cannot be dominated by reason. It was an obsession in the age to achieve glory through large-scale battles in which the ruler would personally deliver sword blows, Historia shows.
The son of Charles Robert of Anjou, Ludovic of Anjou, thought he was braver and more skilled than the one left with a nightmare after the catastrophic defeat at Posada, and in 1368 he initiated a campaign against the state led by voivode Vladislav I Vlaicu. The plan was strategically perfect and basically called for a two-pronged encirclement.
A Hungarian army was operating in the Severin area and it would have been normal to attract the main enemy forces since it was led by the king himself. The Transylvanian army, composed of the forces of the Hungarian nobles and mainly of the Szeklers, had to cross the mountains through the Buzău area, carry out a strategic encirclement and capture the main cities of Wallachia. Catholic warriors had helmets, shields and metal plates to withstand the blows of arrows, the kinetic energy of the small projectiles being enough to cause serious injury.
The plans on the parchment were put into action and the enemy seemed to act exactly as predicted. Vladislav I Vlaicu personally took care of the defense from Severin. The army left for defense in the east was led by Dragomir the nobleman, a reliable and experienced boyar in war, and he organized a defensive line on the Ialomita river. The fortifications did not withstand the onslaught of soldiers well protected by helmets, shields and armor, the mountain soldiers being forced to leave the bloody battlefield.
The second Posada
The road to Câmpulung seemed open, but it reached a narrow place in the mountains and those enslaved by the drunkenness of victory fell into the trap. The Hungarian cavalry could not deploy because of the terrain, but neither could the infantry withstand the arrows fired from the heights. Men and horses were hit by the projectiles coming from all directions. The fallen trees were enough to form obstacles difficult to cross. The Posada scenario was somehow being repeated and voivode Nicolae was killed, according to the cited source.
Vice-voivode Petru also perished, so the entire leadership of Hungarian Transylvania was destroyed. Petru Ruffus, the castellan from Cetatea de Baltă, and the Szeklers Petru and Ladislau, renowned in the era for their bravery in close combat, also fell. Some flags managed to escape the ambush, but the fighters reached through narrow and swampy places.
The Romanian attacks continued and many remained forever in the coveted land. The voivode’s body was hardly saved by the faithful for a burial worthy of a feudal ruler. Long-range strikes and unconventional weapons such as rocks shocked the fugitives and convinced them that it was not good to seek military glory south of the Carpathians.
The disaster in the mountains, perhaps on the road between Târgoviște and Câmpulung, was a lesson and the Hungarian king switched to a strategy of corroding the enemy by building the fortress of Severin and, on a black rock, he ordered the construction of Bran castle, the defenders being initially the dreaded archers english people Wasting medieval armies difficult to form and maintain through the Wallachian mountains was no longer desirable. The lesson was learned by King Ludovic of Anjou, but the descendants of the Hungarian throne also made large-scale experiments in Moldavia in 1395 and 1467.
Lust for conquest led to the death of many valuable soldiers and who knows how many families were torn apart. Demographic problems led to a gradual decline in fighting forces and Hungary then came under Ottoman rule. Using mercenaries to fill out the ranks didn’t turn out to be a very good solution since they were too expensive.
The victory of 1368 was a great achievement of the mountain army, but unfortunately it is rarely remembered in the history books, nor is it known where it took place to erect a monument.
