This article is about John I of Hungary. For his son, see John Zápolya II.

John I
King of Hungary
Reign	1526–1540
Coronation	11 November 1526
Predecessor	Louis II
Successor	Ferdinand I John II Sigismund Zápolya
Voivode of Transylvania
Reign	1511–1540
Successor	John II Sigismund Zápolya
Spouse	Isabella Jagiellon
Issue
John II Sigismund Zápolya
Father	Stephen Zápolya
Mother	Hedwig of Cieszyn
Born	2 February 1487 Szepesváralja, Kingdom of Hungary (present-day Spišské Podhradie, Slovakia)
Died	22 July 1540 Sebeş, Transylvania (today, Romania)

János Szapolyai royal coat of arms.

John Zápolya (Croatian: Ivan Zapolja, Hungarian: Szapolyai János or Zápolya János, Romanian: Ioan Zápolya, Slovak: Ján Zápoľský, Serbian: Jovan Zapolja/Јован Запоља; 2 February 1487 – 22 July 1540) was King of Hungary (as John I) from 1526 to 1540. His rule was disputed by Archduke Ferdinand I, who also claimed the title King of Hungary between 1526 and 1540.^[1] He was the voivode of Transylvania before his coronation.

Biography[link]

The Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent returns the Holy Crown to John Zápolya.

He was born at Castle of Szepes in Upper Hungary (now known as Spiš Castle in Slovakia). Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary wrote many letters with the same text to many of the Hungarian nobility in the year 1490, before he became the king of Hungary. He wrote that -Beatrice of Naples had written to him that- Matthias Corvinus and Beatrice had decided that Stephen Zápolya, the father of John Zápolya should become the next duke of Austria after Matthias Corvinus. John began his public career in 1505 as a member of the Diet of Rákos; it was upon his motion that the Diet voted that no foreign prince would ever again be elected king of Hungary after the death of King Vladislaus II.^[2] Appointed voivode (governor) of Transylvania in 1511 John Zápolya used the turbulent times of his era to enrich himself and secured a power base in Transylvania. When he was tasked with defeating the peasant rebellion of 1514 led by György Dózsa he used extreme cruelty. On 29 August 1526, the army of Sultan Suleyman I of the Ottoman Empire inflicted a decisive defeat on the Hungarian forces at Mohács. Zápolya was en route to the battlefield with his sizable army but did not participate in the battle for unknown reasons. The youthful King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia fell in battle, as did many of his soldiers. The Ottomans proceeded to invest and ransack the royal capital of Buda and occupied Syrmia, then withdrew from Hungary. The last three months of the year were marked by a vacuum of power; 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, Transylvania's voivode 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 the brother of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. Their contest for power would determine the course of Hungary's history, and that of Transylvania as well.

The majority of Hungary's ruling elite 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.

John Zápolya 18th century depiction

A small minority of aristocrats sided with Ferdinand. The German dynasty's main argument — one that many historians would judge to be decisive — was that it could assist Hungary against the Ottoman Turks, although, in 1526, the promise rang empty. Hungary had been fighting the Ottomans for over a century, during which time the Holy Roman Empire and the House of Habsburg 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 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, Szapolyai had himself proclaimed king by the diet at Székesfehérvár, and he was duly crowned the next day under the name King John I of Hungary.

Profiting from nine months of relative calm, King John I 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 Archduke Ferdinand, who had himself elected king by a rump diet in Pozsony in December 1526, rejected all attempts at reconciliation. Hungary'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 I was intent not on reconciling Hungary and the Habsburgs, but on drawing Hungary into a war against Charles V and his family.

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 Ottomans, took action independently of Austria and Bohemia, it might well enter into an alliance with the preponderant Ottoman Empire against its western neighbours. It was therefore in the interest of the Austrian hereditary provinces and of the Bohemian crown lands that the Habsburgs gain control of Hungary, by force if necessary.

In July 1527, an army of German mercenaries invaded Hungary. The moment was well chosen, for the forces of Szapolyai were tied up in the southern counties, where Slavonic peasants, incited by Ferdinand, had rebelled; the revolt was led by the 'Black Man', Jovan Nenad. In one sweep, the invaders captured Buda. Szapolyai hurriedly redeployed his army, but on 27 September, near Tokaj, at the Battle of Tarcal, it suffered a bloody defeat.

Franco-Hungarian Treaty of alliance, 1529.

In 1528 he escaped Hungary and dwelled in castle in Tarnów in Poland, hosted by Jan Amor Tarnowski.^[3] Szapolyai managed to get a sizable following as King of Hungary, despite the association with the Ottomans which tainted him at the time. In 1538, by the Treaty of Varad, Ferdinand was designated as Szapolyai's successor, after his death. After Zápolya's death in Szászsebes (Sebeş), his son John II Sigismund Zápolya succeeded him as King of Hungary and an Ottoman vassal. He is also well-known among the Turks, who considered him a loyal friend of Suleiman the Magnificent. He led an army in fierce battles against the Habsburgs, most of them waged on Slovak territory, for which reason he was called the "Slovak King" by his contemporaries.^{[4][clarification needed]}

Suleiman receiving Isabella and her infant son Sigismund, circa 1540. Suleymanname, circa 1558.

Married to the Polish Princess Isabella Jagiełło he had a son John II Sigismund Szapolyai of Hungary. As dowager queen, she claimed the throne as electus rex, in order to retain it for their son, until her death in 1559.^{[citation needed]} Their son John II was King of Hungary from his father's death in 1540 until 1570.

Ancestors[link]

See also[link]

• Beatrice of Naples
• Ivan Karlović
• Petar Keglević

References[link]

1. ^ Britannica
2. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/304576/John
3. ^ Zdzisław Spieralski, Jan Tarnowski 1488-1561, Warszawa 1977, p. 124-125.
4. ^ http://books.google.de/books?ei=eqf0TpG_Foj54QSg7byNCA&hl=cs&id=7VciAQAAIAAJ&dq=Zapolya+Slovak+king&q=%22Zapolya%22#search_anchor

External links[link]

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