of King Albert, the predecessor of Wladislaw. The child, however, was in
the power of the neighboring Prince, Frederick, the Archduke of Austria,
who was not disposed to let him go out of his hands without a heavy
ransom. In these circumstances the more powerful nobles in Hungary took
advantage of the confusion to strengthen each his own position at the
expense of the nation. At first the government of the country was
intrusted to a number of captains, but this proved so evidently
disastrous that the better sort of people succeeded in having them
abolished and Hunyady established as sole governor. For all that,
however, Hunyady had a good deal of trouble with the chief aristocrats,
Garay, Czillei, Ujlaki, who, envying the parvenu his sudden promotion and
despising his obscure origin, took up arms to resist his authority. Thus
Hunyady, instead of blunting the edge of his sword upon foreign foes, had
to bridle the insubordination of his own countrymen. Luckily it did not
take long to force the discontented to own the weight of his arm and his
superiority as a military leader.

Order being thus to some extent reestablished at home, Hunyady was again
able to turn his attention to the Turks. He felt that he had in fact
gained the battle of Varna, which was only lost through the jealous humor
of a youthful king; that it behooved him not to stop half way; that it
was his duty to continue offensive operations. But in so doing he had to
rely upon his own proper forces. It is true that he was governor of the
country, but for the purpose of offensive warfare beyond the frontier he
could not gain the consent of the great nobles.

Luckily his private property had enormously increased by this time. The
Hungarian constitution required the King to bestow the estates of such
noblemen as died without male heirs, or had been condemned for any
offence, on such noblemen as had approved themselves valiant defenders