25 September 1396
The sipahis
The French climb on, more than half of them on foot by now, unhorsed on the stakes or dismounted to pull them up. On the top of the slope they meet the sipahis, the horsemen Bayezid has kept in reserve behind the crest. The sipahis charge to the sound of trumpets and kettle drums and the tekbir. Some of the French flee back down the slope, and the rest fight on.
A sipahi in the Rålamb costume book, painted in Constantinople before 1657Wikimedia Commons, unknown Ottoman painter, Public domain (Ralamb Sipahi.jpg)
Jean de Vienne, who carries the French banner as the eldest knight, is wounded many times as he rallies his men, and is killed. Jean de Carrouges, Philippe de Bar and Odard de Chasseron also fall. When the Ottomans close in on John of Nevers, his guards throw themselves to the ground to beg for his life, and he is taken prisoner. The other French then yield, and Coucy, Eu and Boucicaut are among the captives.
While the French climb the slope, other sipahis ride down along the flanks of the crusader army. Sigismund advances with the main body to support the French.
Sources
- Jean Froissart, Chronicles, book IV (about 1400).
- Michel Pintoin, Chronicle of the Monk of Saint-Denis (early 15th century).
- Aziz S. Atiya, The Crusade of Nicopolis (1934).
- Barbara W. Tuchman, A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century (1978).
- David Nicolle, Nicopolis 1396: The Last Crusade (1999).
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