Peace of Szeged - Szeged

Szeged

At the beginning of August, the Ottoman ambassadors Baltaoğlu and Vranas arrived in Szeged. On August 4, 1444, Cardinal Cesarini implemented the solution he had created for the King. With Hunyadi, the barons, and the prelates of the Kingdom of Hungary in attendance, Vladislaus was made to "abjure any treaties, present or future, which he had made or was to make with the Sultan." Cesarini had carefully worded the declaration such that negotiations could continue and the treaty could still be ratified by oath, without cancelling the possibility of a crusade or breaking the terms of the treaty because the oath was invalidated even before it was given.

Despite Cesarini's solution, the negotiations lasted for ten days. The final version of the treaty re-established Serbia as a buffer state and settled its return to Branković, as well as the return of Albania and all other territory conquered, including 24 fortresses, to Hungary. The Ottomans also had to pay an indemnity of 100,000 gold florins and release Branković's two sons. Hungary, meanwhile, agreed to not attack Bulgaria or cross the Danube, and a truce of 10 years was established. It is also suspected that Branković, who gained the most from the treaty, concluded his own private negotiations with Baltaoğlu, though the results are unknown.

On August 12 and 14, Cesarini and De Reguardati sent instructions to the Venetian senate explaining what to do once the treaty was concluded. On August 15, 1444, the treaty was ratified in Várad with oaths by Hunyadi, for both himself and "on behalf of the King himself and all the people of Hungary", and Branković. Vladislaus did not swear to the treaty himself; the broken oath weighed too heavily on his conscience.