HUNYADI, JANOS. - Brilliant strategist and Hungarian hero in the struggles against the Turks, b. at Hunyad Castle in Transylvania c. 1387, d. at Zemun on 11 Aug. 1456.
Of Romanian origin, he first served King Sigismondo in the Hussite wars; then, in the years 1433–35, he served in the pay of Filippo Maria Visconti, lord of Milan, where he thoroughly learned the art of war and was introduced to humanistic culture.
Having returned to Hungary, on behalf of King Ladislao I he conducted numerous victorious campaigns against the Turks, driving them back beyond the Balkans (1443). But the advantageous situation was reversed by the disastrous battle of Varna (1444), undertaken by the King against H.’s instructions; the King perished there together with the cardinal legate G. CESARI, ANTONIO (v.), the chief promoter of this new expedition. In the period 1446–53 H., captain of the Kingdom and regent, successfully defended the succession rights of Ladislao Postumo, under whose reign he continued the struggle against the Turks; and in 1456, with his troops—kindled by s. Giovanni da Capestrano (v.)—he liberated besieged Belgrade. But, struck by the epidemic, he died at Zemun. His second son, Mattia H., called Corvino, became king of Hungary in 1458.