Second Mongol invasion of Hungary

Mongols in Hungary, 1285 depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle

Date	1285–86
Location	Transylvania and Transcarpathia, Kingdom of Hungary
Result	Decisive Hungarian victory; Mongol invasion repulsed

Belligerents

Golden Horde

Kingdom of Hungary

Commanders and leaders

George Baksa

Strength

30,000-200,000

Casualties and losses

50,000 [19th century source; no contemporary source]

Light

The Second Mongol invasion of Hungary (Hungarian: második tatárjárás) led by Nogai Khan and Tulabuga took place during the winter of 1285/1286.

In 1241, a Mongol army under Subutai and Batu Khan invaded central and eastern Europe, including Poland, Bulgaria, Croatia, and the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian and Croatian attempt to halt the invasion at the Battle of Mohi failed catastrophically. The light cavalry that made up most of the Hungarian mounted forces had proven ineffective against the Mongol troops, though the few heavily armored knights (mostly those of the Knights Templar) performed significantly better. Despite heavy casualties and some close calls, the Mongols decisively crushed the Hungarian army, and proceeded to ravage the countryside for the next year. By the end of their campaign, around a quarter of the population of Hungary had been killed, and most of the kingdom's major settlements had been reduced to rubble.

The wooden, clay, and earth defenses that made up the walls of most towns and forts (much like those of the Khwarazmian dynasty) fell easily to the Mongol siege engines. Many Hungarian settlements didn't have any fortifications at all. One German chronicler observed that the Hungarians "had almost no city protected by walls or strong fortresses". However, stone castles had significantly better fortunes; none of the few Hungarian stone castles fell, even those deep behind the Mongol lines. When the Mongols tried to use their siege engines on the stone walls of the Croatian Fortress of Klis, they did absolutely no damage, and were repelled with heavy casualties. A similar thing happened when they attempted to capture the citadel of Esztergom, despite having overwhelming numerical superiority and 30 siege machines which they had just used to reduce the wooden towers of the city.

King Béla IV took note of this, and spent the next few decades reforming Hungary in preparation for possible future invasions. He used a variety of methods to do this. In 1247 he concluded a feudal agreement with the Knights of St. John, giving them the southeastern borderland in exchange for their help in creating more armored cavalry and fortifications. In 1248, he declared the country's middle strata could enter a baron's service, on the condition that the barons lead the men on his land properly equipped (in armor) into the king's army. Documents from the time state that "the nobles of our country can enter into military service of bishops in the same way in which they can serve other nobles". After 1250, free owners of small or middle sized estates serving directly under the king were included (along with barons) in the nobility. Finally, new settlers were given "conditional" nobility in exchange for the requirement of fighting mounted and armored at the king's request. In 1259, he requested that the Pope put him into contact with Venice, as he wanted to hire at least 1,000 crossbowmen (crossbows having also proven a very effective weapon against the Mongols, despite the relatively small numbers of them actually deployed by the Hungarians in 1241).

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