Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women. Vol. 1: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
one sought to fly. Then it was that Huniades sallied out with his
picked band, while Capistran with a tall cross in his hand and the cry
of "Jesus" on his lips followed with his crowd of fanatics, the cannon
of the fortress played upon the Turkish camp, the Sultan himself was
wounded and swept along by the stream of fugitives. Forty thousand
Turks were left dead upon the field, four thousand were taken
prisoners and three thousand cannon were captured.
According to the opinion of Huniades himself the Turks had never
suffered such a severe defeat. Its value as far as the Hungarians were
concerned was heightened by the fact that the ambitious Sultan was
personally humiliated. There was now great joy in Europe. At the news
of the brilliant victory _Te deum_ was sung in all the more important
cities throughout Europe, and the Pope wished to compliment Huniades
with a crown.
Alas! a crown of another character awaited him--that of his Redeemer,
in whose name he lived, fought, and fell. The exhalations from the
vast number of unburied or imperfectly buried bodies, festering in the
heat of summer, gave rise to an epidemic in the Christian camp, and to
this the great leader fell a victim. Huniades died August 11, 1456, in
the sixty-eighth year of his age. He died amid the intoxication of his
greatest victory, idolized by his followers, having once more
preserved his country from imminent ruin. Could he have desired a more
glorious death?
He went to his last rest with the consciousness that he had fulfilled
his mission, having designed great things and having accomplished
them.
And the result of his lifelong efforts survived him. His great enemy
the Turk for half a century after his death could only harass the
frontier of his native land; and his country, a few years after his
death placed on the royal throne his son Matthias.
[Signature of the author.]
WARWICK, THE KING-MAKER
(1420-1471)
Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, called the king-maker, eldest son of
Richard, Earl of Salisbury and Alice Montacute, was born November 22,
1428. The history of this mighty peer is that of the whole of the
contest between the two houses of York and Lancaster. The house of
Neville had been built up by a series of wealthy marriages, and
Richard made no exception to the rule. While yet a boy he was married
to Anne, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, and through her, after the
death of her brother and niece, he took his place at the age of
twenty-one among the chief earls of the English realm. By this time
the English rule in France had broken down, bringing the reigning
house of Lancaster into great unpopularity, and throwing a
correspondingly greater influence into the hands of the leader of the
opposition, Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York. He was brother-in-law
to the Earl of Salisbury, and so attached to his party the powerful
influence of the Nevilles.
[Illustration: Huniades at Belgrade.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account