Treaty of Nagyvárad

The Treaty of Nagyvárad (or Treaty of Grosswardein) was a secret peace agreement between Emperor Ferdinand I and John Szapolyai, rival claimants to the Kingdom of Hungary, signed in Grosswardein / Várad (modern-day Oradea, Romania) on February 24, 1538.^[1] In the treaty, they divided Hungary between them according to the actual possession.

Ferdinand recognized Zápolya as John I, King of Hungary and ruler of two-thirds of the Kingdom, while Zápolya conceded the rule of Ferdinand over western Hungary, and recognized him as heir to the Hungarian throne, since Zápolya was childless.^[2]

But in 1540, just before Zápolya's death, his wife bore him a son, John Sigismund Zápolya, and the agreement failed. John Sigismund was elected King of Hungary^[2] as John II by the Hungarian nobility. Isabella asked Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I to help in the fight with Ferdinand and his successors that ensued, only to see Suleiman to prevail, declare John II a king, and placing himself as a regent. A large portion of Hungary became essentially a Turkish province, complete with Ottoman governor and garrison in Buda.^[2]

See also

• List of treaties

References

1. István Keul, Early modern religious communities in East-Central Europe: ethnic diversity, denominational plurality, and corporative politics in the principality of Transylvania (1526–1691)], Brill, 2009, p. 40
2. Bohnstedt 1968, p. 8.

Sources

• Bohnstedt, John W. (1968). "The Infidel Scourge of God: The Turkish Menace as Seen by German Pamphleteers of the Reformation Era". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 58 (9). American Philosophical Society: 1–58. doi:10.2307/1006112. ISSN 0065-9746. JSTOR 1006112. Retrieved 2024-04-06.