Hunyadi

Hunyadi, John Corvinus, a noted Regent of Hungary and general (d. 1456), was born in Wallachia. Having married a rich heiress he became a man of mark, and was chief of the party which bestowed the crown of Hungary upon Ladislas of Poland (1440). Ladislas made him Voyvode of Transylvania and commander of the southern provinces, in which capacity he carried on a successful warfare against the Turks, and concluded the peace of Szegedin in 1444, the breaking of which by Ladislas in the same year cost that king his life at the battle of Varna. After being defeated by the Turks at a later period, and captured by the ruler of Servia, who lost his ransom through the intervention of the Pope, Hunyadi was appointed for a second time (the first having been in 1445 afterthe battle of Varna) Regent of Hungary in 1452, and in 1455 drove the Turks across the Danube. In 1456 he defended Belgrade against Mahomet II., who was compelled, to raise the siege, but a pestilence in his army forced Hunyadi to retreat, and was the cause of his death at Seniliru