Hunyadi had demanded that Vlad II fulfill…
November 1444 CE
Hunyadi had demanded that Vlad II fulfill his oath as a member of the Order of the Dragon and a vassal of Hungary: commanded to join the campaign, Vlad had declined.
Pope Eugene IV had absolved Dracul of his promise but demanded that he instead send his son Mircea II instead (it is likely that Vlad II had originally denied the request in an effort to prevent his sons from being convoked).
Mircea commands an auxiliary unit of four thousand Wallachian cavalrymen.
Further quarrels among the crusade leaders give Murad time to return from Anatolia and organize a new army, with which he marches to Varna and deals a spectacular defeat to the Hungarian army on November 10, 1444.
In the battle, King Wladyslaw and Cardinal Cesarini perish fighting; Mircea leads the remainder of his unit and the Christian forces across the Danube.
Hunyadi escapes and is was blamed by many, including Mircea II and his father, for the debacle.
This ends the last important European crusading effort against the Ottomans and marks the start of hostilities between Hunyadi on one side and Vlad Dracul and his eldest son on the other.
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