Prev | Current Page 371 | Next

Borrow, George Henry, 1803-1881

"The Romany Rye"

I wish to say nothing more
connected with Hungarian history.
Myself. Another word. Did Matyas leave a son?
Hungarian. A natural son, Hunyadi John, called so after the great
man. He would have been universally acknowledged as King of
Hungary but for the illegitimacy of his birth. As it was, Ulaszlo,
the son of the King of Poland, afterwards called Ulaszlo the
Second, who claimed Hungary as being descended from Albert, was
nominated king by a great majority of the Magyar electors. Hunyadi
John for some time disputed the throne with him; there was some
bloodshed, but Hunyadi John eventually submitted, and became the
faithful captain of Ulaszlo, notwithstanding that the Turk offered
to assist him with an army of two hundred thousand men.
Myself. Go on.
Hungarian. To what? Tche Drak, to the Mohacs Veszedelem. Ulaszlo
left a son, Lajos the Second, born without skin, as it is said,
certainly without a head. He, contrary to the advice of all his
wise counsellors,--and amongst them was Batory Stephen, who became
eventually King of Poland--engaged, with twenty-five thousand men,
at Mohacs, Soliman the Turk, who had an army of two hundred
thousand. Drak! the Magyars were annihilated, King Lajos
disappeared with his heavy horse and armour in a bog.


Pages:
359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383