On Christmas Eve, 1444, in the city of Rome, Pope Eugene IV returned to his residence in the Vatican Papal Palace, supported by his attendants, after presiding over the Christmas Eve Mass. In the nearly one and a half months since the end of the Battle of Varna, he had witnessed far too many unexpected events.
Therefore, after careful consideration, the elderly Pope decided to record these events and his thoughts on them in his diary on Christmas Eve, to confess his soul. If possible, Pope Eugene IV also hoped that future generations would know the full scope of the events of this era and make more just evaluations—
"On November 10, 1444, the lord became flesh, fifty thousand divine and pious Crusaders and sixty thousand or even eighty thousand blasphemous Ottoman Turks engaged in fierce combat outside the city of Varna, east of Varna Lake…
"As stated above, the outcome of this battle was incredibly tragic: the pious and young King Władysław III Jagiellon of Poland and Hungary, my personally dispatched Cardinal Legate Julian Cardinal Cesarini, and tens of thousands of Christian warriors were defeated and died there. According to the reply later sent to Rome by the 'White Knight' Hunyadi János, only fewer than a thousand Knights followed him back to Transylvania, the rest were presumably all buried in the foreign land of Varna."
Writing this, Pope Eugene IV paused his pen with some pain. Even though he was not an eyewitness, he was not entirely heartless, and whenever he recalled the contents of Hunyadi's reply, the Pope could not help but feel depressed and sad.
After dipping his ink in the blank page next to him for a few seconds, the Pope, having regained his composure, straightened up and continued to write under the bright light of the oil lamp:
"Fortunately, this battle did not end in defeat with the defeat of the believers. Grand Prince Vlad II of Wallachia and Grand Prince Stephen II of Moldavia bravely rushed forward with their remaining five thousand men, making great efforts to delay the Turks. But if it were only this, they would not have been able to resist the pagan army, which might still number thirty or forty thousand at that time.
"Then, the Romans arrived. More precisely, the Romans of the Bosphorus Despotate."
"I do not know the specific situation. According to the replies from those two Wallachian Grand Princes, and the reply submitted by the Roman King of the Bosporus at the beginning of this month, the Bosporus Army that participated in the battle should have numbered nearly twenty thousand. A portion of them remained south of Varna Lake, while another portion deliberately feigned a landing to lure and pressure the large army led by the Turkish Sultan. The true main force of the Bosporus had hidden on the hills north of Varna at some unknown time, awaiting the enemy's approach.
"Thanks to the blessing of the Holy Mother, the Romans' plan succeeded. The pagan army, after a long battle, had shown signs of fatigue, and the strength displayed by the Roman army far exceeded the Turkish Sultan's expectations. Furthermore, Murad II was misled by the Roman autocratic monarch Manuel Gavras and misjudged the battle, causing the Turkish pagans, once considered a nightmare by Christians, to finally collapse under the charge of the Bosporus Romans' heavy cavalry.
"…In the subsequent pursuit, the remnants of the Wallachians, whose lives were saved by the Romans, joined forces with the Roman light cavalry to encircle and annihilate the cavalry unit sent by the Turkish Sultan to the Varna coastline, successfully forcing its General to flee; the Bosphorus Caesar even personally led the heavy cavalry unit to the Ottoman central army, attempting to kill the Turkish Sultan Murad II in battle.
"It is regrettable that he failed. According to the letter sent to me by that Caesar, he was at that time only a step away from the Sultan himself. But then the Sultan's last remaining guards protected their monarch, preventing the Romans' blades from harming this supreme leader of the pagans.
"Afterwards, the Romans never found another opportunity to personally kill the pagan, and the Turkish Sultan thus escaped the battlefield.
"Even so, this Crusade still achieved impressive results. It is said that the Bosporus Romans collected over ten thousand corpses, captured ten thousand people, and seized tens of thousands of various equipment on that day; even the Wallachians captured over a thousand Turks and beheaded several thousand. As for their casualties, although not detailed in Manuel's reply to me, according to the letters from those two Wallachian Grand Princes, the Roman casualties were probably no less than several thousand.
"I just don't know how many of these weapons and equipment captured by the Romans belonged to us Catholics." Writing this, the Pope paused his pen again, smiling bitterly and helplessly.
"…Unfortunately, Basileus Constantine XI of the Roman Empire was defeated by the Turkish garrison in Southern Macedonia during his northern expedition to Macedonia, failing at the last hurdle and fleeing back to Thessaly.
"Is the ultimate victor the 'Black Death of the Turks'?" Writing this, Pope Eugene IV fell into contemplation, no longer speaking. The greatest beneficiary of the Battle of Varna turned out to be the Romans, whom he had been skeptical of before the war. He wondered what kind of changes this outcome would bring to the land of Europe? And for the Papacy, would it be good or bad?
But that was for later, thinking of this, Pope Eugene IV once again cast aside distracting thoughts and picked up his pen to write down the final outcome of this Crusade—
"…Afterwards, on November 22, 1444, the lord became flesh, the Turkish Sultan finally negotiated with me, the Roman Emperor, and the Bosphorus Caesar. After three days of negotiations, the Turkish Sultan, defeated, sought peace and agreed to the following terms:
"Ceding Paphlagonia and Armenian Can and other regions to the Bosphorus Despotate; ceding Thessaly to the Despotate of Morea; returning Bithynia and parts of East Thrace to the Roman Empire; ceding North Thor to the Principality of Wallachia; formally recognizing the independence of the Albanian Despotate and the Aydin Beylik; allowing the exiled Bulgarian Prince Fruzhin to return to Bulgaria and operate without restriction; ceding several border villages to the Kingdom of Hungary; returning the city of Smyrna to the Knights Hospitaller; granting Venice, Genoa, and Ragusa, the three great commercial Republics, more extensive trade privileges; compensating each Christian nation that participated in the Crusade with a large amount of ducats.
"A victory that will be recorded in history."
At this point, Pope Eugene IV finally moved the quill from his diary, preparing to stand up and leave. But at that moment, as if he had perceived something, the Pope sat back down and wrote a final concise and sharp passage in his diary:
"The war is over. But will the end of this war also be the beginning of the next?
"When that time comes, Romans, how will you respond?
"Manuel Gavras, Basileus of the Bosporus and Pontus, this King of the Romans, can he still create miracles?
"The answer to this question, I fear, only God can provide."