Editing Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (section)

==Hungary and the Ottomans==
{{see also|Little War in Hungary}}
[[File:Anonym Kaiser Ferdinand I.jpg|thumb|Ferdinand as a young boy]]

According to the terms set at the [[First Congress of Vienna]] in 1515, Ferdinand married [[Anne of Bohemia and Hungary|Anne Jagiellonica]], daughter of King [[Vladislaus II of Hungary]] and Bohemia on 22 July 1515.{{sfn|Rasmussen|2018|p=65}} Both Hungary and Bohemia were [[elective monarchies]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martyn Rady |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XsQeBAAAQBAJ&q=%22purported+to+be+elective+monarchies%22&pg=PA47 |title=The Emperor Charles V |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1317880820 |page=47}}</ref> where the parliaments had the sovereign right to decide about the person of the king. Therefore, after the death of his brother-in-law [[Louis II of Hungary]] and Bohemia, at the [[Battle of Mohács]] on 29 August 1526, Ferdinand immediately applied to the parliaments of [[Diet of Hungary|Hungary]] and [[Bohemian Diet|Bohemia]] to participate as a candidate in the royal elections. On 24 October 1526 the Bohemian Diet, acting under the influence of chancellor [[Adam of Hradce]], elected Ferdinand king of Bohemia under conditions of confirming traditional privileges of the estates and also moving the Habsburg court to [[Prague]]. The success was only partial, as the Diet refused to recognise Ferdinand as hereditary lord of the kingdom.

The throne of Hungary became the subject of a dynastic dispute between Ferdinand and [[John Zápolya]], [[Voivode of Transylvania]]. They were supported by different factions of the nobility in the Hungarian kingdom. Ferdinand also had the support of his brother, the Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]].

On 10 November 1526, John Zápolya was proclaimed king by a Diet at [[Székesfehérvár]], elected in the parliament by the untitled lesser nobility (gentry).

[[Nicolaus Olahus]], secretary of Louis, attached himself to the party of Ferdinand but retained his position with his sister, Queen Dowager [[Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)|Mary]]. Ferdinand was also elected [[King of Hungary|King of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia]], etc. by the higher aristocracy (the magnates or barons) and the Hungarian Catholic clergy in a rump Diet in [[Bratislava|Pozsony]] (''Bratislava'' in Slovak) on 17 December 1526.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Robert A. Kann |url=https://archive.org/details/monarchsofrenais0000pott |title=A History of the Habsburg Empire, 1526–1918 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |year=1980 |isbn=978-0520042063 |page=611}}</ref> Accordingly, Ferdinand was crowned as King of Hungary in the [[Székesfehérvár Basilica]] on 3 November 1527.

The Croatian nobles unanimously accepted the Pozsony election of Ferdinand I, receiving him as their king in the [[1527 election in Cetin]], and confirming the succession to him and his heirs.<ref name="archive.org">{{Cite book |last=R. W. Seton-Watson |url=https://archive.org/stream/southernslavques00seto/southernslavques00seto_djvu.txt |title=The southern Slav question and the Habsburg Monarchy |year=1911 |page=18}}</ref> In return for the throne, King Ferdinand promised to respect the historic rights, freedoms, laws and customs of the Croats when they united with the Hungarian kingdom and to defend Croatia from [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] invasion.<ref name="Cetin"/>

[[Brendan Simms]] notes that the reason Ferdinand was able to gain this sphere of power was Charles V's difficulties in coordinating between the Austrian, Hungarian fronts and his Mediterranean fronts in the face of the Ottoman threat, as well as in his German, Burgundian and Italian theatres of war against German Protestant princes and France. Thus the defense of central Europe was subcontracted to Ferdinand as well as many responsibilities involving the management of the empire. Charles V abdicated as archduke of Austria 1522, and nine years after that he had the German princes [[1531 Imperial election|elect]] Ferdinand as [[King of the Romans]], who thus became his designated successor. "This had profound implications for state formation in south-eastern Europe. Ferdinand rescued Bohemia and Silesia from the Hungarian wreckage, making his north-eastern flank more secure. He told the Austrian Landtag, the assembled representatives of the nobility, at [[Linz]] in 1530 that 'the Turks cannot be resisted unless the Kingdom of Hungary was in the hands of an Archduke of Austria or another German prince'. After some hesitation, [[Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)|Croatia]] and the Hungarian rump joined the Habsburgs. In both cases, the link was essentially a contractual one, directly linked to Ferdinand's ability to provide protection against the Turks."<ref>{{cite book |last=Simms |first=Brendan |title=Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy, from 1453 to the Present |date=30 April 2013 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-06595-0 |page=1737 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GypWDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1737 |access-date=30 August 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

The Austrian lands were in miserable economic and financial conditions, but Ferdinand was forced to introduce the so-called Turk Tax (''Türkensteuer'') to finance his campaign against the Ottoman threat. In spite of the huge Austrian sacrifices, he was not able to collect enough money to pay for the expenses of the defence costs of Austrian lands. His annual revenues only allowed him to hire 5,000 mercenaries for two months; thus Ferdinand asked for help from his brother, Emperor Charles V, and started to borrow money from rich bankers like the [[Fugger family]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Berenger |first1=Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rWQSBAAAQBAJ&q=%22turkish+tax%22+habsburgs&pg=PA160 |title=A History of the Habsburg Empire 1273–1700 |last2=Simpson |first2=C.A. |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2014 |isbn=978-1317895701 |page=160|author1-link=Jean Bérenger}}</ref>

Ferdinand [[Hungarian campaign of 1527–28|defeated]] Zápolya at the [[Battle of Tarcal]] in September 1527 and again in the [[Battle of Szina]] in March 1528. Zápolya fled the country and applied to Sultan [[Suleiman the Magnificent]] for support, making Hungary an Ottoman vassal state.

This led to the most dangerous moment of Ferdinand's career, in 1529, when Suleiman [[Balkan campaign of 1529|took advantage]] of this Hungarian support for a massive but ultimately unsuccessful assault on Ferdinand's capital: the [[Siege of Vienna (1529)|Siege of Vienna]], which sent Ferdinand to refuge in Bohemia. A further Ottoman invasion was repelled in 1532 (see [[Siege of Güns]]). In that year Ferdinand [[Treaty of Constantinople (1533)|made peace]] with the Ottomans, splitting Hungary into a Habsburg sector in the west (Royal Hungary), and John Zápolya's domain in the east ([[Eastern Hungarian Kingdom]]), the latter effectively a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.

Together with the formation of the [[Schmalkaldic League]] in 1531, this struggle with the Ottomans caused Ferdinand to grant the [[Nuremberg Religious Peace]]. As long as he hoped for a favorable response from his humiliating overtures to Suleiman, Ferdinand was not inclined to grant the peace which the [[Protestants]] demanded at the [[Diet of Regensburg (1532)|Diet of Regensburg]] which met in April 1532. But as the army of Suleiman drew nearer he yielded and on 23 July 1532 the peace was concluded at [[Nuremberg]] where the final deliberations took place. Those who had up to this time joined the Reformation obtained religious liberty until the meeting of a council and in a separate compact all proceedings in matters of religion pending before the imperial chamber court were temporarily paused.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=H3NBAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22The+formation+of+the+Smalcald+League+in+1531%22&pg=PA351 article on the Nuremberg Religious Peace], p. 351 of the 1899 Lutheran Cyclopedia</ref>

[[File:Coat of arms of Ferdinand, Infant of Spain, Archduke of Austria, KG.png|thumb|left|Arms of Ferdinand, Infante of Spain and Archduke of Austria, KG, at the time of his installation as a knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter]]

In 1538, in the [[Treaty of Nagyvárad]], Ferdinand induced the childless Zápolya to name him as his successor. But in 1540, just before his death, Zápolya had a son, [[John Sigismund Zápolya|John II Sigismund]], who was promptly elected king by the Diet. Ferdinand invaded Hungary, but the regent, Frater [[George Martinuzzi]], [[Bishop of Várad]], called on the Ottomans for protection. Suleiman marched into Hungary (see [[Siege of Buda (1541)]]) and not only drove Ferdinand out of central Hungary, he forced Ferdinand to agree to pay tribute for his lands in western Hungary.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Imber |first=Colin |title=The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0333613863 |location=New York |page=53}}</ref>

John II Sigismund was also supported by the King of [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Poland]] and Grand Duke of [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] [[Sigismund I the Old|Sigismund I]] of , his mother's father, but in 1543 Sigismund made a treaty with the Habsburgs and Poland became neutral. Prince [[Sigismund II Augustus|Sigismund Augustus]] married Archduchess [[Elisabeth of Austria (1526-1545)|Elisabeth of Austria]], Ferdinand's daughter.
[[File:Nádasdy Mausoleum - I. Ferdinánd király.jpg|left|thumb|King Ferdinand I of Hungary ([[Nádasdy Mausoleum]], 1664)]]
Suleiman had allocated Transylvania and eastern Royal Hungary to John II Sigismund, which became the "[[Eastern Hungarian Kingdom]]", reigned over by his mother, [[Isabella Jagiellon]], with Martinuzzi as the real power. But Isabella's hostile intrigues and threats from the Ottomans led Martinuzzi to switch round. In 1549, he agreed to support Ferdinand's claim, and Imperial armies marched into Transylvania. In the [[Treaty of Weissenburg]] (1551), Isabella agreed on behalf of John II Sigismund to abdicate as king of Hungary and to hand over the [[Holy Crown of Hungary]] and regalia. Thus Royal Hungary and Transylvania went to Ferdinand, who agreed to recognise John II Sigismund as vassal Prince of Transylvania and betrothed one of his daughters to him. Meanwhile, Martinuzzi attempted to keep the Ottomans happy even after they responded by sending troops. Ferdinand's general Castaldo suspected Martinuzzi of treason and with Ferdinand's approval had him killed.

Since Martinuzzi was by this time an [[archbishop]] and [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|Cardinal]], this was a shocking act, and [[Pope Julius III]] [[excommunicated]] Castaldo and Ferdinand. Ferdinand sent the Pope a long accusation of treason against Martinuzzi in 87 articles, supported by 116 witnesses. The Pope exonerated Ferdinand and lifted the excommunications in 1555.<ref name="NCE">[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09735a.htm George Martinuzzi] entry in the [[Catholic Encyclopedia]]</ref>

The [[Ottoman–Habsburg wars|war in Hungary]] continued. Ferdinand was unable to keep the Ottomans out of Hungary. In 1554, Ferdinand sent [[Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq]] to [[Constantinople]] to discuss a border treaty with Suleiman, but he could achieve nothing. In 1556 the Diet returned John II Sigismund to the eastern Hungarian throne, where he remained until 1570. De Busbecq returned to Constantinople in 1556, and succeeded on his second try.

The Austrian branch of Habsburg monarchs needed the economic power of Hungary for the Ottoman wars. During the Ottoman wars the territory of the former [[Kingdom of Hungary]] shrank by around seventy percent. Despite these enormous territorial and demographic losses, the smaller, heavily war-torn Royal Hungary had remained economically more important to the Habsburg rulers than Austria or Kingdom of Bohemia even at the end of the 16th century.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Evans |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rSON55zorLsC&q=Austria+Moh%C3%A1cs+revenues+%22kingdom+of+hungary%22+population&pg=PA263 |title=The Holy Roman Empire, 1495–1806: A European Perspective Volume 1 van Brill's Companions to European History |last2=Wilson |first2=Peter |publisher=Brill |year=2012 |isbn=978-9004206830 |page=263 |name-list-style=amp}}</ref> Out of all his countries, the depleted Kingdom of Hungary was, at that time, Ferdinand's largest source of revenue.<ref>Dr. István Kenyeres: The Financial Administrative Reforms and Revenues of Ferdinand I in Hungary, English summary at p- 92 Link1: [http://www.tti.hu/images/kiadvanyok/folyoiratok/tsz/tsz2003-1-2/061-092_Kenyeres.pdf] Link2: [https://archive.org/details/061092Kenyeres1]</ref>