The Christian troops were utterly routed, and nearly all
put to the sword. The emperor with difficulty escaped. In the confusion
of the awful scene of carnage he threw himself unperceived into a small
boat, and paddling down the Danube, as its flood swept through an almost
uninhabited wilderness, he reached the Black Sea, where he was so
fortunate as to find a portion of the fleet, and thus, by a long
circuit, he eventually reached his home.
Bajazet, the sultan, returned exultant from this great victory, and
resumed the siege of Constantinople, which ere long fell into the hands
of the Turks. Amurath, who was sultan at the time of the death of
Sigismond, thought the moment propitious for extending his conquests. He
immediately, with his legions, overran Servia, a principality nearly the
size of the State of Virginia, and containing a million of inhabitants.
George, Prince of Servia, retreating before the merciless followers of
the false prophet, threw himself with a strong garrison into the
fortress of Semendria, and sent an imploring message to Albert for
assistance. Servia was separated from Hungary only by the Danube, and it
was a matter of infinite moment to Albert that the Turk should not get
possession of that province, from which he could make constant forays
into Hungary.
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