Războiul civil din Ungaria 1440-1442 și începuturile carierei lui Iancu de Hunedoara

After the sudden death of King Albert of Habsburg, during the late autumn military campaign of 1439, Hungary plunged into a bloody civil war between the dowager Queen Elisabeth and Wladislas Jagiello, elected by the warring party of the Estates. The war, which ravaged the Realm of St. Stephen for 2 years (1440–1442), was won by King Wladislas’ party, after John Hunyadi, a knight of the royal household,famous for his victorious wars against the Ottoman invaders, pledged allegiance to the elected king. As pointed out by the late Hungarian medievalist Engel Pál, around 30years ago, this event was the turning point in John Hunyadi’s career. Since there is no special study on this topic, the aim of our paper is to analyse the events of the Hungarian Civil War between 1440–1442, and John Hunyadi’s role in their development as well as their consequences on the career of the future crusader hero.