King Louis I (Lajos) came into conflict with Venice in 1372, and unfortunately, the Venetians were allied with the Turks. He became involved in the Venetian-Genoese wars. Venice had participated in the dismemberment of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, and had gradually taken over land in the Adriatic, entering into conflict with Hungary; on the Italian mainland, its land acquisition had created a rivalry with the nearby largest city, Padua. At the same time, Venice had the support of the Byzantine Emperor John V Palaiologos and hired several thousand Ottoman soldiers.
When Venice threatened Padua in 1372, Hungary and Austria allied with Genoa to defend Padua. We know that King Louis had used Paduan crossbowmen in his army before. Louis sent 4,000 Hungarian and 1,000 Austrian cavalrymen to Padua in 1372. They were led by the Hungarian generals Lackfi István, Himfi Benedek, Czudar György, and the archbishop of Esztergom Telegdi Tamás. They arrived in Padua in May 1373 and joined Da Carrara’s army. Together they defeated the Venetians in an open battle at Piove Sacco.
After that, the Hungarian soldiers began to behave like undisciplined mercenaries and demanded more money from Padua, so Louis had to write a letter and warn his generals that there was no need to get more money as the men had been paid for three months. He added that they could only get money from Da Carrara as a loan.
However, Louis declared a full-scale war on Venice when he was informed that the Venetians had brought 5,000 Ottoman warriors to help the Italians besieging Treviso.
Treviso was defended by Paduan and Hungarian troops. The Turkish reinforcements arrived on July 1st and together with the Venetians they defeated the forces of General Lackfi. The Hungarians had suffered great losses in Treviso, they had many casualties and suffered damages worth 300,000 florins, they also lost 30,000 horses.
A temporary armistice was signed. During the truce, Louis turned against Wallachia. The fact that Venice employed Muslims gave King Louis a reason to attack Wallachia in 1374, which resulted in the third Hungarian-Ottoman clash.
As for Venice, after Louis had ransomed the captured Hungarian soldiers, the war broke out again.
He attacked Venice in 1378 and the army led by General Himfi and Horváthi János gained ground against the enemy. This time the Hungarians softened the enemy with raids and sieges, avoiding large-scale battles. Since King Louis had relied on his Cuman light cavalry as well as his heavy cavalry, Cuman warriors could likely have been used in this campaign as well.
Soon 5,000 Hungarian soldiers marched into Padua. Shortly thereafter they took San Lorenzo.
Despite Venice’s naval victories over the Genoese in 1379, they pleaded for peace with the Hungarians, but Louis’ terms were too harsh.
Meanwhile, Hungarian soldiers plundered the city of Mantua, increasing tensions between the allies. Eventually, the King of Hungary reconquered Dalmatia from Venice, and by 1379 his forces were threatening Venice itself by land from the north.
A small note: Venice was originally built on the water because of the fear of Attila’s Huns. One can imagine how the inhabitants associated the Hungarians with the fearsome warriors of the Huns. At that time it was common in Europe that the Hungarians were considered to be the descendants of King Attila. It is easy to imagine the devastation caused by the Cuman cavalrymen, who must have resembled either Attila’s Huns or the pre-Christianized Hungarians of the 9th and 10th centuries.
As for Venice, the city and its allies claimed to have won the war against their rival Italian states by 1381.
However, Padua was able to maintain its independence. On the other hand, the Venetians lost the war against King Louis of Hungary, which resulted in the Hungarian conquest of Dalmatian cities.
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