1.—Of the first combat between King Sigmund and the Turks.
From the first, King Sigmund appealed in the above-named year, thirteen hundred and ninety-four, to Christendom for assistance, at the time that the Infidels were doing great injury to Hungern. There came many people from all countries to help him;[(1)] then he took the people and led them to the Iron Gate, which separates Ungern from Pulgery and Walachy, and he crossed the Tunow into Pulgary, and made for a city called Pudem.[(2)] It is the capital of Pulgery. Then came the ruler of the country and of the city, and gave himself up to the king; then the king took possession of the city with three hundred men, good horse and foot soldiers, and then went to another city where were many Turks. There he remained five days, but the Turks would not give up the city; but the fighting men expelled them by force, and delivered the city to the king. Many Turks were killed and others made prisoners. The king took possession of this city also, with two hundred men, and continued his march towards another city called Schiltaw, but called in the Infidel tongue, Nicopoly.[(3)] He besieged it by water and by land for XVI days, then came the Turkish king, called Wyasit, with two hundred thousand men, to the relief of the city. When the king, Sigmund, heard this, he went one mile to meet him with his people, the number of whom were reckoned at sixteen thousand men. Then came the Duke of Walachy, called Werterwaywod,[1][(4)] who asked the king to allow him to look at the winds.[2] This the king allowed, and he took with him one thousand men for the purpose of looking at the winds, and returned to the king and told him that he had looked at the winds, and had seen twenty banners, and that there were ten thousand men under each banner, and each banner was separate from the other. When the king heard this, he wanted to arrange the order of battle. The Duke of Walachy asked that he might be the first to attack, to which the king would willingly have consented. When the Duke of Burguny heard this, he refused to cede this honour to any other person, for the just reason that he had come a great distance with six thousand men,[(5)] and had expended much money in the expedition, and he begged the king that he should be the first to attack. The king asked him to allow the Ungern to begin, as they had already fought with the Turks, and knew better than others how they were armed. This he would not allow to the Ungern, and assembled his men, attacked the enemy, and fought his way through two corps; and when he came to the third, he turned and would have retreated, but found himself surrounded, and more than half his horsemen were unhorsed, for the Turks aimed at the horses only, so that he could not get away, and was taken prisoner. When the king heard that the Duke of Burgony was forced to surrender, he took the rest of the people and defeated a body of twelve thousand foot soldiers that had been sent to oppose him. They were all trampled upon and destroyed, and in this engagement a shot killed the horse of my lord Lienhart Richartinger; and I, Hanns Schiltberger his runner, when I saw this, rode up to him in the crowd and assisted him to mount my own horse, and then I mounted another which belonged to the Turks, and rode back to the other runners. And when all the [Turkish] foot-soldiers were killed, the king advanced upon another corps which was of horse. When the Turkish king saw the king advancing, he was about to fly, but the Duke of Iriseh, known as the despot,[(6)] seeing this, went to the assistance of the Turkish king with fifteen thousand chosen men and many other bannerets, and the despot threw himself with his people on the king’s banner and overturned it; and when the king saw that the banner was overturned and that he could not remain, he took to flight.[3] Then came he of Cily,[4] and Hanns, Burgrave of Nuremberg, who took the king and conducted him to a galley on board of which he went to Constantinoppel. When the horse and foot soldiers saw that the king had fled, many escaped to the Tünow and went on board the shipping; but the vessels were so full that they could not all remain, and when they tried to get on board they struck them on the hands, so that they were drowned in the river; many were killed on the mountain as they were going to the Tunow. My lord Lienhart Richartinger, Wernher Pentznawer, Ulrich Kuchler, and little Stainer, all bannerets, were killed in the fight, also many other brave knights and soldiers. Of those who could not cross the water and reach the vessels, a portion were killed; but the larger number were made prisoners. Among the prisoners were the Duke of Burgony[(7)] and Hanns Putzokardo,[5] and a lord named Centumaranto.[6] These were two lords of France, and the Great Count of Hungern. And other mighty lords, horsemen, and foot-soldiers, were made prisoners, and I also was made a prisoner.
[1]This name appears as Martin in edition of 1814; Merter Waywod in edition of 1475; and Merte Weydwod in that of 1549.
[2]To reconnoitre. In the edition of 1814 the term employed is “zu recognosciren”.
[3]The battle of Nicopolis was fought September 28th, 1396.
[4]Herman of Cily. N.
[5]Boucicault, who has described the battle in his Memoirs. H.
[6]Saint Omer. F.