Peace of Szeged

The Treaty of Edirne and the Peace of Szeged were two halves of a peace treaty
between Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire and King Vladislaus of the Kingdom of
Hungary. Despot Đurađ Branković of the Serbian Despotate was a party to the proceedings. The
treaty brought an end to the Christian crusade against the Ottomans with significant gains. Within a
month Vladislaus abjured his oath at the urging of the papacy and the crusade continued. On
November 10, 1444 it ended in disaster at the Battle of Varna where the crusaders were wiped out
and Vladislaus killed.
The treaty was started in Edirne with discussions between Murad and Vladislaus' ambassador.
Within a few days, it was sent to Szeged with Murad's ambassador, to be finalized and ratified by
Vladislaus. Once it arrived, complications caused the negotiations to continue for several more days,
and oaths were eventually given in Várad. The ratification took place on August 15, 1444 in Várad.

Background
The Crusade of Varna officially began on January 1, 1443, with a crusading bull published by Pope
Eugene IV. The fighting did not start as planned, however. The Hungarian and
the Karamanid Turkish armies were supposed to attack the Ottoman Empire simultaneously. In the
spring of 1443, before the Hungarians were ready, the Karamanids attacked the Ottomans and were
devastated by Sultan Murad II's full army.[1]
The Hungarian army, led by King Vladislaus, who had come to the throne three years earlier in
contentious circumstances, the Hungarian general John Hunyadi, and Serbian Despot Đurađ
Branković, attacked in mid-October. They won the first encounters and forced Kasim
Pasha of Rumelia and his co-commander Turakhan Beg to abandon their camp and flee
to Sofia, Bulgaria to warn Murad of the invasion. They burnt all the villages on their path of retreat in
a scorched earth strategy. When they arrived in Sofia they advised the Sultan to burn the city and
retreat to the mountain passes beyond, where the Ottoman's smaller army would not be at such a
disadvantage. Shortly after, bitter cold set in.[1]
The next encounter, at Zlatitsa Pass just before Christmas 1443, was fought in the snow and the
Hungarians were defeated. As they in turn retreated they ambushed and defeated a pursuing force
at the Battle of Kunovica, where Mahmud Bey, brother-in-law of the Sultan and brother of the Grand
Vizier Çandarlı Halil Pasha, was taken prisoner. This gave the Hungarians the illusion of an overall
Christian victory, and they returned triumphant. The King and the church were both anxious to
maintain this illusion and gave instructions to spread word of the victories, but contradict anyone who
mentioned the defeats.[1] Murad, meanwhile, returned angry at the unreliability of his forces and
imprisoned Turakhan, blaming him for the army's setbacks and Mahmud Bey's capture.[1]