The Battle of Nicopolis[11] took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied

crusader army of Hungarian,Bulgarian, Croatian, Wallachian, French, Burgundian, Germanand

assorted troops (assisted by the Venetian navy) at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising of the
siege of the Danubianfortress of Nicopolis and leading to the end of the Second Bulgarian Empire. It
is often referred to as the Crusade of Nicopolis as it was one of the last large-scale Crusades of
theMiddle Ages, together with the Crusade of Varna in 14431444.
Contents
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1Background

2Strength of forces
o

2.1Composition of crusader forces

2.2Composition of Ottoman forces

3Journey
o

3.1To Buda

3.2Buda to Nicopolis

4Siege of Nicopolis

5Battle

6Aftermath
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6.1Captives and ransom

6.2Broader ramifications

7Notes

8References

9External links

Background[edit]
There were many minor crusades in the 14th century, undertaken by individual kings or knights.
Most recently there had been a failed crusade against Tunisia in 1390, and there was ongoing
warfare in northern Europe along the Baltic coast. After their victory at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389,
the Ottomans had conquered most of the Balkans, and had reduced theByzantine Empire to the
area immediately surroundingConstantinople, which they later proceeded to besiege (in 1390, 1395,
1397, 1400, 1411, 1422 and finally conquering the Byzantine capital in 1453).

In 1393 the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Shishman had lost Nicopolis his temporary capital to the
Ottomans, while his brother, Ivan Stratsimir, still held Vidin but had been reduced to an Ottoman
vassal. In the eyes of the Bulgarian boyars, despots and other independent Balkan rulers, this was a
great chance to reverse the course of the Ottoman conquest and free the Balkans from Islamic rule.
In addition, the frontline between Islam and Christianity had been moving slowly towards the
Kingdom of Hungary. The Kingdom of Hungary was now the frontier between the two religions in
Eastern Europe, and the Hungarians were in danger of being attacked themselves. TheRepublic of
Venice feared that an Ottoman control of the Balkan peninsula, which included Venetian territories
like parts ofMorea and Dalmatia, would reduce their influence over theAdriatic Sea, Ionian
Sea and Aegean Sea. The Republic of Genoa, on the other hand, feared that if the Ottomans would
gain control over River Danube and the Turkish Straits, they would eventually obtain a monopoly
over the trade routes between Europe and the Black Sea, where the Genoese had many important
colonies like Caffa, Sinop and Amasra. The Genoese also owned the citadel of Galata, loc