, 1664) In 1526, the
Ottoman Empire crushed the Hungarian royal army in the
Battle of Mohács and killed King
Louis II. Zápolya was en route to the battlefield with his sizable army but did not participate in the battle for unknown reasons. The Ottomans sacked the royal capital of
Buda and occupied
Syrmia, then withdrew from Hungary. The last three months of the year were marked by a power vacuum; political authority was in a state of collapse, yet the victors chose not to impose their rule. Two candidates stepped into the breach. One was Zápolya,
voivode of Transylvania and Hungary's most prominent aristocrat as well as commander of an intact army. The other was
Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, the late king's brother-in-law and brother of
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who claimed Hungary for the
House of Habsburg.
Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent returns the Holy Crown to John Zápolya. The majority of Hungary's untitled lesser nobility (the gentry) backed Zápolya, who for fifteen years had been playing a leading role in Hungarian political life. Part of the aristocracy acknowledged his leadership, and he enjoyed the enthusiastic support – not always reciprocated – of the lesser nobility. Most of his opponents succumbed at Mohács: the Hungarian branch of the
Jagiellon dynasty became defunct, and its pro-Habsburg following was decimated. The higher nobility of Hungary (the magnates or barons) sided with Ferdinand, and gathered in Pozsony for Ferdinand's election. The German dynasty's main argument – one that many historians would judge to be decisive – was that the Habsburg dynasty could help Hungary fight against the Ottomans. But in 1526, the promise rang empty. Hungary had been fighting the Ottomans for over a century, during which time the Empire and the Habsburgs had offered much encouragement but no tangible help. The likelihood of assistance was further reduced by the conflict of Ferdinand's older brother, Emperor Charles V, and King
Francis I of France that once again flared into open war in the summer of 1526. This circumstance led the Voivode to discount the threat lurking behind the Habsburgs' candidacy: that Zápolya's Hungary would have to contend not only with the Ottomans, but also with an attack from the west. Thus Zápolya took no notice of his rival's protests, nor of those voiced by the few Hungarians who rallied to Ferdinand. On 10 November 1526, Zápolya had himself proclaimed king at the Diet at
Székesfehérvár by the lesser nobles (gentry), and he was duly crowned the next day. Ferdinand was also elected king by the magnates, barons, and the Catholic clergy in a rump Diet in
Pozsony on 17 December 1526. Profiting from nine months of relative calm, John strove to restore state authority. He drew on his vast private wealth, the unconditional support of the lesser nobility, and the assistance of some aristocrats to impose his policies in domestic affairs. However, in the crucial sphere of foreign relations, success eluded him. He sought an entente with the Habsburgs, proposing to form an alliance against the Ottomans, but Ferdinand rejected all attempts at reconciliation. John's envoys fanned out across Europe in quest of support. Only in France did they find a positive response, but even that was ineffective since Francis was intent not on reconciling Hungary and the Habsburgs, but on drawing Hungary into a war against Charles and his family. , 1529. Europe's political balance underwent a major shift in the summer of 1527, when, in a somewhat unplanned operation, mercenary forces of the emperor
occupied Rome and drove
Pope Clement VII, one of France's principal allies, to capitulate. This development freed Ferdinand – who also acquired the
Bohemian throne in late 1526 – from the burden of assisting his brother. By then, Ferdinand had developed a Hungarian policy that was fully in keeping with the interests of his realms. He judged that if Hungary, unable to resist the Ottoman Empire, took action independently of Austria and Bohemia, it might well enter into an alliance with the Ottomans against its western neighbors. It was therefore in the interest of Austria and Bohemia that the Habsburgs gain control of Hungary, by force if necessary. In July 1527, Ferdinand sent an army of German mercenaries into Hungary. The moment was well chosen, for John Zápolya's forces were tied up in the southern
counties of Hungary, where Slavonic peasants, incited by Ferdinand, had rebelled; the revolt was led by the 'Black Man',
Jovan Nenad. In one sweep, the pro-Habsburg soldiers captured Buda. John hurriedly redeployed his army, but on 27 September in the
Battle of Tarcal (near Tokaj), he suffered a bloody defeat. Based on the earlier election of the Diet at Pozsony, Ferdinand was crowned in the
Székesfehérvár Basilica on 3 November 1527. In 1528 John fled Hungary for
Poland, where he stayed with Prince
Jan Amor Tarnowski. After Zápolya received no assistance from European rulers to resolve the ongoing war conflict with Ferdinand (only empty promises), he had no choice but to send his envoy,
Heironymus Łaski, to Istanbul to seek help. Suleiman I, who had not invaded the country in 1526, now did not want it to fall under Habsburg control. Therefore, alongside military support, he began the actual occupation of Hungarian territories and their annexation to the Ottoman Empire. The sultan sought to force Zápolya into a vassal relationship, which he later accomplished with Transylvania. This was an old method used by the Ottoman Empire, which had also been applied against Balkan states, such as Serbia, in the 14th and 15th centuries, where they were first compelled into dependency and then annexed in the following decades. In 1529 John approached the Ottomans, and agreed to make Hungary a vassal state in return for recognition and support. Sultan
Suleiman the Magnificent accepted, and sent Ottoman armies to invade Austria (which included the
Siege of Vienna), a war which lasted till 1533. This allowed John to regain his position in Hungary in 1529, by the efforts of Frater
George Martinuzzi, despite the association with the Ottomans which tainted him at the time. Martinuzzi became royal treasurer and John's most trusted minister. In 1533, the Ottomans made peace and ceded western Hungary to Ferdinand. Ferdinand now began to press John for control of the rest. In 1538, by the
Treaty of Nagyvárad, John designated Ferdinand to be his successor after his death, as he was childless. However, in late January to early February 1539, he married
Isabella Jagiellon, and on 15 July 1540 they had a son,
John Sigismund. King John died seven days later on 22 July 1540 in Szászsebes (
Sebeş). ==Ancestors==