The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II, proclaimed in the autumn of 1441 that a raid into Hungarian Transylvania would take place in March 1442. In early March 1442, the marcher lord Mezid Bey led 16,000 akinji cavalry raiders into Transylvania, crossing the Danube to Wallachia at Nicopolis and marching north in formation.

John Hunyadi was taken by surprise and lost the first battle near Marosszentimre (Sântimbru, Romania).Bey Mezid lay siege to Hermannstadt, but the united forces of Hunyadi and Újlaki, who had in the meantime arrived in Transylvania, forced the Ottomans to lift the siege. The Ottoman forces were annihilated. This was Hunyadi's third victory over the Ottomans after the relief of Smederevo in 1437 and the defeat of Ishak Beg midway between Semendria and Belgrade in 1441.