Battle of Szina

Part of the Hungarian campaign of 1527-1528

Date	March 20, 1528
Location	near Seňa (Szina), near Košice, in Slovakia
Result	Decisive Austrian victory

Belligerents

Kingdom of Szapolyai Hungarians; Serb, Transylvanian, and Polish mercenaries

Habsburg Monarchy
Holy Roman Empire and the Habsburg-party Hungarians

Commanders and leaders

János Szapolyai

Johann von Katzianer,
Bálint Török

Strength

15,000

13-14,000

The Battle of Szina (Slovak: Bitka pri Seňa, Hungarian: Szinai csata) took place near Seňa (Hungarian: Szina, now Abaújszina) in present-day Slovakia. The battle was fought on March 20, 1528, between King János Szapolyai of Hungary, and Austrian forces under command of Bálint Török and Johann Katzianer, a Styrian mercenary commander of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. The battle was the second military defeat for Szapolyai.

After the Battle of Mohács, where King Louis II of Hungary was killed, János Szapolyai, voivod of Transylvania, ascended to the Hungarian throne. However, the Austrian Ferdinand also had a claim to the throne via the House of Habsburgs intermarriages with Louis II's Jagiellon dynasty. In 1527 Ferdinand mounted an offensive against King János. He was initially successful, with an early victory in the Battle of Tarcal (near Tokaj).

Szapolyai recruited a new army, and in 1528 advanced into Hungary with an army of approximately 15 thousand men, including Transylvanian, Polish and Serbian forces, but few Hungarians. The Slovenian-born Johann von Katzianer and Bálint Török marched against Szapolyai with a Hungarian-Austrian-German army (approximately 13-14 thousand men) and met Szapolyai's army near Košice.

The presence of Török and Katzianer near Košice prevented Szapolyai's army from marching on the capital city Buda. In the meantime, discord broke out in Szapolya's army between the Serbian and Polish mercenaries. Szapolyai's cavalry and infantry was less skilled than the German infantry (the landsknechts), but the Polish mercenaries fought gallantly against the Austrians. In Szapolyai's army, 300 Polish soldiers and a few thousand other men were killed.

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