TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Battle · 1396
The Battle of Nicopolis took place on 25 September 1396 and resulted in the rout of an allied Crusader army, assisted by the Venetian navy, at the hands of an Ottoman force, raising the siege of the Danubian fortress 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 major Crusades of the Middle Ages, together with the Crusade of Varna in 1443–1444. By their victory at Nicopolis, the Turks discouraged the formation of European coalitions against them. They maintained their pressure on Constantinople, tightened their control over the Balkans, and became a greater threat to Central Europe.
| Date | 25 September 1396 |
|---|---|
| Location | Nicopolis, Ottoman Sultanate, |
| Result | Ottoman victory |
| Territorial changes | Crusader failure to capture Nicopolis from the Ottomans |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Sultanate Moravian Serbia | Crusade: Kingdom of Hungary Holy Roman Empire Kingdom of France Duchy of Burgundy Kingdom of Croatia Principality of Wallachia Knights Hospitaller Republic of Venice Republic of Genoa Tsardom of Vidin Teutonic Knights Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire County of Cilli District of Branković |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Bayezid I Çandarlı Ali Pasha Kara Timurtaş Pasha Evrenos Bey Stefan Lazarević | Sigismund, King of Hungary and Croatia Mircea the Elder Stibor of Stiboricz Nicholas II Garai Philip, Count of Eu (POW) Jean II Le Maingre (POW) John, Count of Nevers (POW) Enguerrand de Coucy (POW) Jean de Vienne † Jean de Carrouges † Leonhard Reichartinger † Stephen II Lackfi Ivan Sratsimir Philibert de Naillac Vuk Branković (POW) |
| Strength | 10,000–20,000 | 17,000–20,000 |
| Casualties | Considerable losses | Most of the Crusader army killed or captured 14,000 knights captured 300–3,000 prisoners executed |
Sigismund would later state to the Hospitaller Master, "We lost the day by the pride and vanity of these French. If they believed my advice, we had enough men to fight our enemies." Chronicler Jean Froissart would declare, "Since the Battle of Roncesvalles when [all] twelve peers of France were slain, Christendom received not so great a damage." Bayezid toured the battlefield later that day, hoping to find the corpse of the King of Hungary. His rage was only heightened by the discovery of the massacred prisoners from Rahovo. He ordered all of the prisoners assembled before him the following morning (26 September).
Took place during the reign of Bayezid I (1389–1402). Bayezid I
Open the reign of Bayezid I on the mapText: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), adapted for the atlas.