I have improved my article on the history of Murány Castle (Muránsky Hrad, Slovakia) with a short passage about an unlucky Ottoman raid in December 1556 near the castle. Location: https://tinyurl.com/2wary23p
Something unusual happened in the winter of 1556 in the Kingdom of Hungary. The Turkish raids didn’t stop even after the first frosts and snowfalls. Among the raiders, some Turkish irregulars attacked the castle of Murány.
However, Captain Dominics Gáspár gave them a severe beating. On 3 December 1556, the captain sent a letter to King Ferdinand reporting his victory. He also sent four Turkish flags, sixty noses, and a captured captain of the pillagers.
Dominics wrote to the king that the Ottoman (Turkish or Serbian, perhaps Albanian) captain had done much harm to Christians and should not be pardoned but sent back to be impaled.
King Ferdinand, as usual, was pleased to receive the noses. It is a pity that in his grateful reply to Dominics, the King did not mention what he had done with the sixty noses of the bandits. The King should have mentioned it for our sake.
My note: taking heads was a gruesome habit on the Borderland, practiced by Christians and Muslims alike. The soldiers usually received a gold Forint for each severed head from the king. It was almost a month's pay. However, noses and scalps were also accepted as proof of the victory.
(Source: Szerecz Miklós)
You can read more about the history of Murány Castle on my page, it was one of the most formidable fortresses in the northern part of the Hungarian Kingdom:
https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/kingdom-of-hungary/murany/
