In October 1444, Vlad Dracul arrived near Nicopolis and tried to dissuade Vladislav III, king of Poland and Hungary, from continuing the Crusade of Varna. Polish historian Callimachus tells that the leaders of the crusade would not listen, so Vlad II went back to Wallachia, but not before he had left Mircea II in command of an auxiliary unit of 4,000 Wallachian cavalrymen. The unit participated in the Battle of Varna on 10 November 1444 and after the defeat, Mircea led the remainder of his unit and the Christian forces across the Danube.