page_title: John Sigismund Zápolya
section_title: Accession
hierarchical_section_title: John Sigismund Zápolya / Childhood / Accession
context_page_description: John Sigismund Zápolya or Szapolyai was King of Hungary as John II from 1540 to 1551 and from 1556 to 1570, and the first Prince of Transylvania, from 1570 to his death. He was the only son of John I, King of Hungary, and Isabella of Poland. John I ruled parts of the Kingdom of Hungary, with the support of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman; the remaining areas were ruled by Ferdinand I, who also claimed Hungary. The two kings concluded a peace treaty in 1538 acknowledging Ferdinand's right to reunite Hungary after John I's death, but shortly after John Sigismund's birth, and on his deathbed, John I bequeathed his realm to his son. The late king's staunchest supporters elected the infant John Sigismund king, but he was not crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary.
  Suleiman invaded Hungary under the pretext of protecting John Sigismund against Ferdinand. The capital of Hungary, Buda, fell to the Ottomans without opposition in 1541, but Suleiman allowed the dowager queen, Isabella, to retain the territory east of the river Tisza on John Sigismund's behalf. Isabella and John Sigismund moved to Lippa. Before long, they took up residence in Gyulafehérvár in Transylvania.
context_section_description: Soon after John Zápolya died, his treasurer, George Martinuzzi, hurried to Buda to secure John Sigismund's inheritance. On Martinuzzi's proposal, the Diet of Hungary elected John Sigismund king on 13 September 1540, but he was not crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary. The Diet proclaimed Queen Isabella and George Martinuzzi, along with two powerful lords, Péter Petrovics and Bálint Török, the guardians of the infant monarch.
  In August, Ferdinand's envoys had demanded the transfer of the late John Zápolya's realm to Ferdinand in accordance with the Treaty of Várad. Peter Perényi, who had been the commander of Zápolya's troops in Upper Hungary, and Franjo Frankopan, Archbishop of Kalocsa, soon deserted to Ferdinand. The wealthy Stephen Majláth expelled most of John Sigismund's supporters from Transylvania in an attempt to seize the province for himself. Ferdinand's envoy, Hieronymus Łaski, informed Suleiman of the Treaty of Várad, asking the sultan to consent to the unification of Hungary under Ferdinand's rule. Instead, the sultan stated that he supported John Sigismund and had Łaski arrested.
  Ferdinand's army seized Visegrád, Vác, Pest, Tata and Székesfehérvár in October, but could not capture Buda. His military commander, Wilhelm von Roggendorf, again laid siege to Buda on 4 May 1541. Suleiman left Istanbul at the head of a large army in June to take advantage of the new civil war in Hungary. On his command, Petru Rareș, Prince of Moldavia, captured Stephen Majláth and forced the Transylvanian Diet to swear fealty to John Sigismund in late July. Roggendorf lifted the siege of Buda before Suleiman reached the town on 26 August.
  Suleiman said that he had come to protect John Sigismund's interests, but also announced that he wanted to see the infant king, because he had heard rumours about Isabella's having actually given birth to a daughter. Six Hungarian lords (including George Martinuzzi and Bálint Török) accompanied John Sigismund to the sultan's camp on 29 August. During the meeting, janissaries entered Buda, saying that they wanted to see the town. This turned out to be a trick that enabled them to seize the capital of Hungary without opposition. Bálint Török was captured in the sultan's camp. Suleiman declared that John Sigismund could retain the territories to the east of the river Tisza in exchange for a yearly tribute of 10,000 florins.
caption: The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent receives Queen Isabella and John Sigismund at Buda on 29 August 1541
exif: {"Image Make": "HP", "Image Model": "HP Scanjet G3110", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2012:11:10 11:54:41", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ReferenceBlackWhite": "[0, 255, 128, 255, 128, 255]", "Image ExifOffset": "276", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1054", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8143", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:10:28 08:32:22", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2029", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3174", "EXIF Saturation": "Soft", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF DeviceSettingDescription": "[1, 0, 19, 0, 32, 32, 32, 48, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 55, 65, 48, 32, 32, 32, 56, ... ]"}