Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 2. szám)
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On the Political History of Transylvania in 1440-1443 197 from 8 to 12 September Újlaki stayed at Buda41. Since the royal charter is explicit in saying that Hunyadi's action against the bey took place while Újlaki was staying in the castle42, we should place it either before or after 12 September. The second solution is slightly more probable, for on 16 October the two voivodes are still in arms in the county of Timiş43. In their letter sent from Unip (Temesújnép) on 16 October 1441, Hunyadi and Újlaki inform the city of Braşov about their intention to go there sixteen or seventeen days later, for they were commissioned by the king and the whole kingdom to negotiate with the voivode of Wallachia44. We know nothing about this legation, but it is by no means improbable that the two voivodes were commissioned by the king to negotiate an alliance with the neighbouring Wallachian principality in view of the expected Ottoman attack45. This would also explain why both voivodes disappear from our eyes and do not emerge again before the first days of the year 1442. The events of the first half of the year 1442 are still far from definitively clarified despite the considerable literature they generated. The reason of this obscurity should be looked for in the scarcity of the evidence which, moreover, includes some pieces of highly questionable authenticity. To put things in order it would be necessary to collect all the available sources, determine their historical value and then use only those among them (with a strong preference for original charters), whose authenticity proves beyond doubt. Although it is obvious that this work cannot be done within the framework of this study, we will nevertheless raise some problems that seem to us worthy of further, more thorough, investigation. According to the ruling scholarly opinion, in the spring of 1442 Mezid bey invaded Transylvania at the head of some 16.000 troops, defeated the Transylvanian army led by János Hunyadi and bishop György Lépes somewhere near Alba Iulia, but was routed by the voivode five days later while withdrawing from the province46. Then Hunyadi, profiting from his unexpected victory, 41 8 September: Hazai Okmánytár, I-VIII. Győr, Budapest, 1865-1891, II, no. 220. 12 September: Zichy (see note 12), IX, no. 33. 42 Thallóczy-Áldássy, loc. cit. (see note 40) "...ipsisque utroque waywoda in antelato castro constitutis..." 43 Zimmermann-Werner, Urkundenbuch (see note 33), V, no. 2426. Újlaki's reference to exercitum generalem nuper contra Tureos promulgatum in his charter of 8 September clearly refers to the general mobilisation which took place in the summer of 1440. See Dl. 13.574 (4 August 1440). 44 Ibidem.: "...ad annotatum vaivodam Transalpinum in plurificatis legacionibus ipsius domini nostri regis, praelatorum etiam et baronum ac totius regni suae serenitatis ire deputati...sumus accessuri pariter et accessuri..." 45 On this attack see infra. 46 See Ferenc Szakály, A török-magyar küzdelem szakaszai a mohácsi csata előtt (1365-1526), in Mohács. Tanulmányok a mohácsi csata 450. évfordulója alkalmából, ed. by Lajos Rúzsás and Ferenc Szakály, Budapest, 1986, p. 32. The most detailed narratives are: Ottokár Székely, Hunyadi János első török hadjáratai (1441-1444), in Hadtörténelmi Közlemények, 1921, pp. 2-64 and L. Elekes, op. cit. (see note 35), pp. 148-170.
