Battle of Breadfield

The Battle of Breadfield (Kenyérmezei csata, Schlacht auf dem Brodfeld, Bătălia de la Câmpul Pâinii, Ekmek Otlak Savaşı) was the most tremendous conflict fought in Transylvania up to that time in the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars, taking place on October 13, 1479, on the Breadfield near the Saxon village of Alkenyér (also Zsibód, Unterbrodsdorf, Șibot) next to the river Maros (Mureș). The Hungarian army was led by Pál Kinizsi, István Báthory, Vuk Branković, and Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân. The result of the battle was an important victory for the Kingdom of Hungary and the Serbian Despotate. From his ascendence to the Hungarian throne in 1458, King Matthias fought with the Turks, and in 1463, he occupied the northern parts of Bosnia. However, this was not a full-scale war. Turkish marauders attacked Transylvania and Vojvodina several times between 1474 and 1475. The attacks led to the depopulation of some areas with a number of villages abandoned by their inhabitants. After the Ottoman–Venetian War (1463–79) in the spring of 1479, a major Ottoman army convened under Szendrő (today Smederevo, Serbia), above all, Akıncıs. When King Matthias was alerted, in the Edict of Gragnica (July 11), he ordered Stephen V Báthory, the Voivode of Transylvania and his general Pál Kinizsi to mobilize. The Ottoman army entered Transylvania on October 9, near Kelnek (Câlnic), led by Ali Koca Bey. The Akıncıs attacked a few villages, homesteads, and market towns, taking a number of Hungarians, Vlachs, and Saxons captive. On October 13, Koca Bey set up his camp in the Breadfield (Kenyérmező), near Zsibót. Koca Bey was obliged into the campaign by the insistence of Basarab cel Tânăr, a Wallachian prince, who himself brought 1,000–2,000 infantry to the cause. The Turks continued pillaging and taking prisoners, while Báthory and Kinizsi made preparations to set forth against the Turks. The numerical strength of the Ottoman army is under debate; one estimate judged them to be 60,000, while Hungarian sources placed them closer to 30,000.