Battle of Varna in the context of "Crusade of Varna"

The Treaty of Edirne and the Peace of Szeged were two halves of a peace treaty between Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire and King Vladislaus of the Kingdom of Hungary. Despot Đurađ Branković of the Serbian Despotate was a party to the proceedings. The treaty brought an end to the Christian crusade against the Ottomans with significant gains. Within a month Vladislaus abjured his oath at the urging of the papacy and the crusade continued. On 10 November 1444 it ended in disaster at the Battle of Varna where the crusaders were wiped out and Vladislaus killed.

The treaty was started in Edirne with discussions between Murad and Vladislaus' ambassador. Within a few days, it was sent to Szeged with Murad's ambassador, to be finalized and ratified by Vladislaus. Once it arrived, complications caused the negotiations to continue for several more days, and oaths were eventually given in Várad. The ratification took place on 15 August 1444 in Várad.

The Crusade of Varna was an unsuccessful military campaign mounted by several European leaders to check the expansion of the Ottoman Empire into Central Europe, specifically the Balkans between 1443 and 1444. It was called by Pope Eugene IV on 1 January 1443 and led by King Władysław III of Poland, John Hunyadi, Voivode of Transylvania, and Duke Philip the Good of Burgundy.

The Crusade of Varna culminated in a decisive Ottoman victory over the crusader alliance at the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444, during which Władysław disappeared and the expedition's papal legate Julian Cesarini was killed.

Władysław III of Poland (31 October 1424 – presumably 10 November 1444), also known as Ladislaus of Varna, was King of Poland and Supreme Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1434, as well as King of Hungary and Croatia as Vladislaus I from 1440 until his presumed death at the Battle of Varna. He was the eldest son of Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) and the Lithuanian noblewoman Sophia of Halshany.

Władysław succeeded his father shortly before turning ten in 1434 and was, therefore, deemed unfit to rule until coming of age. Cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki acted as regent and a temporary provisores council executed power in the king's name. However, Władysław's legitimacy to the crown was contested by Lesser Polish nobles favouring the candidacy of Siemowit V of Masovia, who was of Piast lineage. In the aftermath of the coronation, Spytko III of Melsztyn accused Oleśnicki, the council and the Catholic Church of exploiting the king's youth to hold authority. A sympathiser with the Czech Hussites, Spytko was killed at the Battle of Grotniki in 1439, thus ending the hostilities.

The Hungarian–Ottoman wars (Hungarian: magyar–török háborúk, Turkish: Macaristan-Osmanlı Savaşları) were a series of battles between the Ottoman Empire and the medieval Kingdom of Hungary. Following the Byzantine Civil War, the Ottoman capture of Gallipoli, and the inconclusive Battle of Kosovo in 1389, the Ottoman Empire was poised to conquer the entirety of the Balkans. It also sought and expressed desire to expand further north into Central Europe, beginning with the Hungarian lands.

Since 1360s Hungary confronted with the Ottoman Empire. The Kingdom of Hungary led several crusades, campaigns and carried out several defence battles and sieges against the Ottomans. Hungary bore the brunt of the Ottoman wars in Europe during the 15th century and successfully halted the Ottoman advance. The Ottomans won a significant victory at the Battle of Varna in 1444, but suffered a defeat at the 1456 Siege of Belgrade. One notable figure of this period was Vlad the Impaler, who, with limited Hungarian help, resisted Ottoman rule until the Ottomans placed his brother, Radu the Handsome, on the throne of Wallachia. Ottoman success was once again halted at Moldavia due to Hungarian intervention, but the Turks finally succeeded when Moldavia and then Belgrade fell to Bayezid II and Suleiman the Magnificent, respectively. In 1526 the Ottomans crushed the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohács, where King Louis II of Hungary and more than 20,000 of his soldiers died.

Çandarlı Halil Pasha (died 10 July 1453), also known as the Younger, was the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 1439 to 1453 under the sultans Murad II and, for the first few years of his reign, Mehmed II. A member of the Çandarlı family, he was the son of Grand Vizier Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Elder and father of Grand Vizier Çandarlı Ibrahim Pasha the Younger.

He was appointed Grand Vizier in 1439 after the deposition of Nizamüddin Pasha. When Murad abdicated in 1444 in favor of the young Mehmed, Halil Pasha urged Murad to return to the throne. Murad returned, marched against the Crusaders, and won the Battle of Varna on 14 November. In 1445, Murad again left the throne to Mehmed. In 1446, during the Buçuktepe rebellion, Halil Pasha again organized the return of Murad, who remained on the throne until his death in 1451.

Julian Cesarini the Elder (It.: Giuliano Cesarini, seniore) (1398 in Rome – 10 November 1444 in Varna, Ottoman Empire) was one of the group of cardinals appointed by Pope Martin V upon the conclusion of the Western Schism. His intellect and diplomacy made him a powerful agent first as part of the Council of Basel and then, after he broke with the Conciliar movement at Basel, of papal superiority against the Conciliar movement. The French bishop Bossuet described Cesarini as the strongest bulwark that the Catholics could oppose to the Greeks in the Council of Florence.

One of five brothers of a well-established Roman family of the minor nobility; his brother Giacomo was appointed papal Podestà of Orvieto and Foligno in 1444; his great-nephew, also Giuliano Cesarini Giuliano (1466–1510) was made a cardinal in 1493. He was educated at Perugia, where he lectured on Roman law and had Domenico Capranica among his pupils. When the schism was ended by the general recognition of Martin V as pope, Giuliano returned to Rome, where he attached himself to Cardinal Branda da Castiglione.