Featuring a fully revised translation The fifteenth century marked a decisive moment in world history as the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into southeastern Europe posed a grave threat to Christianity, highlighted by the fall of Byzantium to the Turks in 1453, drawing the attention of the Papacy and of all the states of Christian Europe. Amidst this turmoil, John Hunyadi rose to lead the struggle against the Islamic invaders. As voivode of Transylvania, and later royal governor and captain-general of Hungary, he became the principal defender of Christian Europe from 1441 until his death in 1456. He led several crusading efforts to halt the Turkish advance into Europe, including a remarkable victory over the Turks at the battle of Niš in 1443 that secured his fame as a warrior for the Christian cause. This biography explores the life and times of John Hunyadi. It traces the history of the threat posed by the Ottoman Turks leading up to the great clashes of the fifteenth century and makes critical use of primary sources to tell the story of the man who directed the effort to defend Christian Europe against the Islamic onslaught. As leader of this struggle, John Hunyadi became a hero not only to Romanians and Hungarians, but to all the peoples of the Balkans as well. He led Christian forces in the great battles of the epoch, including Varna in 1444 and Kosovo in 1448. His last great victory occurred when he conducted the successful defense of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456 for which Pope Calixtus III declared him an “Athlete of Christ.”

The fifteenth century marked a decisive moment in world history as the clash between Islamic and Christian civilizations intensified. The expansion of the Ottoman Empire into southeastern Europe posed a grave threat to Christianity, highlighted by the fall of Byzantium to the Turks in 1453, drawing the attention of the Papacy and of all the states of Christian Europe. Amidst this turmoil, a Romanian nobleman named John Hunyadi, Iancu de Hunedoara in Romanian, arose to lead the struggle against the Islamic invaders. As voivode of Transylvania, and later as royal governor and captain-general of Hungary, he would become the principal defender of Christian Europe from 1441 until his death in 1456. He led several crusading efforts to halt the Turkish advance into Europe, including a remarkable victory over the Turks at the battle of Nis in 1443 that secured his fame as a warrior for the Christian cause. This biography explores the life and times of John Hunyadi. It traces the history of the threat posed by the Ottoman Turks leading up to the great clashes of the fifteenth century and makes critical use of primary sources to tell the story of the man who directed the effort to defend Christian Europe against the Islamic onslaught. As leader of this struggle, John Hunyadi became a hero not only to Romanians and Hungarians, but to all the peoples of the Balkans as well. He led Christian forces in the great battles of the epoch, including Varna in 1444 and Kosovo in 1448. His last great victory occurred when he conducted the successful defense of Belgrade against the Turks in 1456 for which the Borgia Pope Calixtus III declared him an "Athlete of Christ."

The book is about John Hunyadi, a Hungarian warlord of Wallachian origin, and his campaigns against the Ottomans.

The life (in fact the lives) of Vlad III the Impaller or Dracula is a Rorschach test. Everybody sees what they want to see in the “documentary stains”. And these “stains” are expanding. Based on research in the archives and libraries of Budapest, Dubrovnik, Genoa, Mantua, Milan, Modena, Munich, Rome, Venice and Vienna, the book focuses on the conflictive medieval, and modern images created by the clash between the classical pictures of Vlad and the still preserved coeval sources.

First published in 1932, this book looks at a period that has often been thought of as a time of general decline in the most characteristic features of medieval civilisation. While acknowledging decline in many areas during this period — the power of the Church, feudalism, guilds, the Hanseatic League, the autonomy of towns and the end of the two Roman empires — the author argues that there was also signs of development. National consciousness, the power of the bourgeoisie and trade and industry all rose markedly in this period alongside intellectual and artistic achievements outside of Italy. This book asserts that in amongst the failure and decline new forces were creating new substitutes.