It was a signal victory. Miraculous almost, when one considers the great
disproportion of numbers. The works of the invaders, mounted with three
hundred cannon, and their camp, which contained an immense booty, fell
into the hands of the Christians, and the power of Mahomet II. was so
crippled that years passed before he was in condition to attempt a
second invasion of Europe.
The victors were not long to survive their signal triumph. The valiant
Hunyades died shortly after the battle, from wounds received in the
action or from fatal disease. Capistrano died in the same year (1456).
Hunyades left two sons, and the King of Hungary repaid his services by
oppressing both, and beheading one of these sons. But the king himself
died during the next year, and Matthias Corvinus, the remaining son of
Hunyades, was placed by the Hungarians on their throne. They had given
their brave defender the only reward in their power.
If the victory of Hunyades and Capistrano--the nobleman and the
monk--had been followed up by the princes of Europe, the Turks might
have been driven from Constantinople, Europe saved from future peril at
their hands, and the tide of subsequent history gained a cleaner and
purer flow.
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