The Hunyadi Skanderbeg Alliance againt the Ottomans

← Works

The Hunyadi Skanderbeg Alliance againt the Ottomans

Size
70 × 50 cm
Status
Privately owned
Owner
Gjergj Kastrioti National Museum (Skanderbeg), Kruja, Albania

I did not know too much about the relationship between John Hunyadi, the Hungarian warlord and George Kastrioti until I was invited to an exhibition to the Albanian capital, Tirana. Searching however on the internet I learnt much about them as they made active correspondence between each other on Latin language without meeting a single time in person. What might they have written to each other? What was their topic? To make the job of the historians hard enough not a single piece of letter of their correspondence remained for us. This fact did not calm me down of course so I started to speculate by myself. I found eventually two events upon which they must have written to each other according to my way a thinking at least.

The first was the battle of Nis of 1443 when the Christian army lead by John Hunyadi defeated the Ottoman army. Skanderbeg, who happened to get enlisted into the Ottoman army as the child of a nobleman in the capacity of a hostage   deserted together with his 300 fellow horse soldiers made a serious contribution to Hunyadi’s success. There are of course opinions that Skanderbeg’s step was not made by chance only but the two leaders had agreed on this step beforehand. When George Kastrioti arrived back into Albania he reoccupied the family castle, Kruja. Based on this new knowledge of mine I constructed the first letter between them written by John Hunyadi to Goerge Kastrioti to Kruja

The second event was the Nandorfehervar Triumph where the Christian Forces lead by John Hunyadi Michael Szilagyi and Giovanni da Capistrano defeated Sultan Mehmed II’s Ottoman army. According to various sources Skanderbeg warned John Hunyadi in a letter written prior to the battle saying that the Ottoman army would marsh against Nandorfehervar. What exactly this letter might have been saying?

The picture wishes to present there three castles and the two letters as well.

Enquire

Scan the code for the story, the size and the enquiry form.

Print QR code · Download QR (SVG)

Enquiry, commission

Write to me about this picture

Would you buy it, commission a similar one or show it at an exhibition? Write to me and I will reply soon.

More works

Works