The Ottomans have come to power with the military backing of numerous marcher-lords, still highly autonomous on the Balkan frontier, while the administration lies in the hands of the Turkish aristocracy, literate in the ways of statecraft, but largely independent of the sultan's authority.Īll this is about to change. These are the famous Janissaries, who will in time grow into a powerful standing army. The sultan's authority is enforced only by his small household of servants, recruited from slaves captured in war and from the 'devshirme', the periodic conscription of Christian youths from the Balkan countryside. The realm ruled by the Ottoman dynasty is not yet a centralized state in 1444.
Further south, Skanderbeg leads Албания in revolt against the Ottomans, supported by Венеция, which still dominates the seas.
The lesser princes in between can survive only by playing the great powers off one another. Византия now lies exposed and Hungary has been forced on the defensive, but with the fortress of Belgrade, still serves as a strong bulwark against further Ottoman expansion.
In Europe, the Ottomans have defeated the Crusaders in the Battle of Varna, killing Wladyslaw, the Polish and Hungarian king.
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