What is Lost at Mohács? An Ottoman-Turkish Casualty List of the 1526 Campaign Cover Image

Mi is veszett Mohácsnál? Oszmán-török veszteséglista az 1526. évi hadjáratról
What is Lost at Mohács? An Ottoman-Turkish Casualty List of the 1526 Campaign

Author(s): Pál Fodor, András Mércz
Subject(s): 16th Century
Published by: Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Bölcsészettudományi Kutatóközpont Történettudományi Intézet
Keywords: campaign and battle of Mohács (1526); casualty list; İskender Çelebi; Latin Bible; Budaszentlőrinc; Pauline order

Summary/Abstract: A previously unknown source on the campaign and Battle of Mohács has been found in the codex M 17.3 of the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. The volume is a thirteenth-century Latin Bible, which once enriched the collection of the Pauline monastery in Budaszentlőrinc near Buda, and fell into OttomanTurkish hands when the monastery was sacked in September 1526. On a blank page in the middle of the codex (fol. 247r), there is an Ottoman-Turkish entry which, according to its title, is a list of casualties of the 1526 campaign, or more precisely a copy of it. The 19 line-text gives an itemised list of the losses of the two belligerent parties, from the siege of Pétervárad [Petro varadin] in July to the return of the Ottoman army in October, and completes our knowledge on the campaign at several points. Hungarian losses are exaggerated (in fact, 4.5–5% of the country’s population was killed or taken prisoner), while Ottoman casualties are given realistically (at least 8.5–10% of their army was lost, but even a 15% loss cannot be ruled out). The list also gives authentic figures on the number of villages and towns devastated (2000 and 100 respectively) and the number of animals driven away (400 000 sheep and 50 000 cattle). The compiler of the list is unknown, but several circum stances suggest that it may have been the chief treasurer İskender Çelebi.

  • Issue Year: 2023
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 193-235
  • Page Count: 43
  • Language: Hungarian