Anastasija Ropa, PhD

Imagining the Siege of Belgrade, 1456 in Capystranus

The poem Capystranus, translated into English and printed three times between 1515 and 1530
by Wynkyn de Worde, survives in a fragmentary form, which could, perhaps, testify to its
popularity with the audience. Studies of the poem have tended to concentrate on its literary
qualities, discrediting its historical value as an account of the siege. Bonnie Millar-Heggie (2002)
considers the poem to be an exhortation to a new crusade, playing on the widespread fear of the
Turks. Likewise, scholars of late medieval English literature, among them Philippa Hardman,
Malcolm Hebron, Diane Vincent and Jennifer Fellows discuss Capystranus alongside other
siege poems, pointing out how these poems draw on the chanson de geste tradition, alluding to
Charlemagne and his exploits against the Turks.
In this essay, I build on the works of these scholars, who view the narrative of Capystranus as a
work of fiction, informed by the conventions of crusading romance, rather than as an eyewitness
account. However, I reassess the value of Capystranus for the study of war history: I argue that,
in its description of the siege, the author pictures accurately the spirit of contemporary warfare.
The author of Capystranus draws not only on the convention of crusading romance, but also on
the lived experience of fifteenth-century warfare. The scenes of battle would have found
particularly strong resonance with the English audience, many of whom would have heard
narratives of war told by eyewitnesses or described in romances and chronicles written in the
second half of the fifteenth century. As a result, the importance of Capystranus as a narrative of
war goes beyond establishing the details of the siege of Belgrade in 1456. In difference from
previous studies, I want to show that the poem is representative of the experience of war in late
medieval East Central Europe, where the extensive use of new weapons and strategies of warfare
led to a shift in attitudes to warfare and the level of permissible violence. This new experience,
and the response it generated, may be at the root of the poems popularity on the English soil.
Philippe Contamine has commented that, while there was no clear break between high and late
medieval war ethics, there were important shifts in the discourse on just and unjust war, the
status and identity of combatants and non-combatants and the extent of violence that could be
exercised. The same shifts was taking place in East Central Europe, and, despite alluding to the
ideals of chason de geste, the narrative of Capystranus is informed by the changed attitude
towards war. The present essay explores, for the first time, the experiences, images and
memories of war as represented in Capystranus, comparing the depiction of warfare to
contemporary discourses on the law and ethics of war.