Poland as the Bastion of Christianity and the Issue of a Union with the Orthodox Church

When the Ottoman Turks began their conquest of further Balkan countries in the second half of the 14th century, they were opposed by Hungary, which came to known as the bastion of Christianity. The article analyses subsequent events of the 15th and 16th centuries when the term was first applied to the Kingdom of Poland. Poland’s greatest involvement in the war against the Muslims was during the reign of Ladislaus III of Hungary, who died in 1444 at the Battle of Varna. Under his successor, Kazimierz Jagiellończyk, Poland managed to avoid military conflict with Turkey, though it waged constant war with their allies, the Tatars. The first Turkish invasions of Poland followed the defeat in Bukovina in the autumn of 1497. In the ensuing decades, Poland was forced to renew truces with Turkey every few years, which drained the state’s coffers yet failed to protect it from the devastating Tartar invasions. After the fall of Hungary at the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Poland found itself on the front line, exposed to direct attack by the armies of the Padishah. The Holy See joined the defense against the Islamic threat, hoping to convince the Grand Duchy of Moscow to go to war with Turkey. Papal diplomacy was also centered on the followers of the Orthodox Church living within the borders of the Republic, which resulted in the Union of Brest in 1596.