TARTAR INVASION OF HUNGARY. 147 course with demons ; and this last supposition was strengthened by their having, or being said to have, the art of raising clouds of smoke and flame in the midst of battles.* This was an additional reason why recourse was often had to solemn prayer and fasts, in the hope of escaping the fearful scourge of their invasion. The banner of the cross was now displayed, and all nations called on to unite in the defence of the Christian name. The country where the Tartar in- vasion raged with most implacable fury was Hungary ; a kingdom which, at that time, extended to the Adriatic, and which had been for five years under the rule of Bela IV. The Mongol general Batou had written to him, to demand his submission to the Mongol sovereign, if he wished to save his own life, or that of his subjects. The letter had been brought by an Englishman banished for life from his native country, and who had been taken into the service of the Tartars. The Hungarian king Bela was a gentle and pious prince, but by no means a warrior, and he imagined he could arrest the course of the torrent that was pre- cipitating itself upon his frontiers. He refused, there- fore, to pay homage to the Mongols, but unfortunately neglected the precautions that his refusal rendered indispensable. His only measure of defence was, to send a handful of troops into the passes of the Car-
- "It has been customary to explain this fact by saying that the
Tartars were in the habit of setting fire to the dry grass and the brushwood of the forests, as the natives of New Holland do. But in that case it would have been easy for the Christians to perceive the cause of the fires. It is more probable that the fires proceeded from some kind of artillery and inflammable powder, with which, it is certain from Chinese history, the Mongols of that epoch were ac- quainted." — A. Remusat. l 2
