Editing Subotica (section)

===Late Middle Ages===
[[File:Wiki.Vojvodina VII Subotica 4896 01.jpg|[[Emperor Jovan Nenad]] monument in the downtown|thumb|left]]
Subotica probably first became a settlement of note when people poured into it from nearby villages destroyed during the [[Tatar invasions]] of 1241–42. When ''Zabadka''/''Zabatka'' was first recorded in 1391, it was a tiny town in the medieval [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. Later, the city belonged to the [[Hunyadi family|Hunyadis]], one of the most influential aristocratic families in the whole of [[Central Europe]].

King [[Matthias Corvinus of Hungary]] gave the town to one of his relatives, [[János Pongrác Dengelegi]], who, fearing an invasion by the [[Ottoman Empire]], fortified the castle of Subotica, erecting a fortress in 1470. Some decades later, after the [[Battle of Mohács]] in 1526, Subotica became part of the [[Ottoman Empire]]. The majority of the Hungarian population fled northward to [[Royal Hungary]].<ref>[http://suboticadiversity.weebly.com/regional-history.html Subotica after the Battle of Mohács] Retrieved 8 September 2022.</ref> [[Bálint Török]], a local noble who had ruled over Subotica, also escaped from the city. During the military and political havoc following the defeat at [[Mohács]], Subotica came under the control of Serbian [[mercenaries]] recruited in [[Banat]]. These soldiers were in the service of the [[Transylvania]]n general [[John Zápolya|John I Zápolya]], a later Hungarian king.<ref>Balint Török, in: Géza Gárdonyi, Eger Stars, 2019, {{ISBN|978-1794777330}}.</ref>

The leader of these mercenaries, [[Jovan Nenad]], established in 1526–27 his rule in [[Bačka]], northern [[Banat]] and a small part of [[Syrmia]] and created an independent entity, with Subotica as its administrative centre. At the peak of his power, Jovan Nenad proclaimed himself as Serbian [[tsar]] in Subotica. He named [[Radoslav Čelnik]] as the general commander of his army, while his treasurer and [[palatine]] was Subota Vrlić, a Serbian noble from [[Jagodina]]. When Bálint Török returned and recaptured Subotica from the Serbs, Jovan Nenad moved the administrative centre to [[Szeged]].<ref>Borovszky Samu: Magyarország vármegyéi és városai, Bács-Bodrog vármegye I-II. kötet, Apolló Irodalmi és Nyomdai Részvénytársaság, 1909.</ref>

Some months later, in the summer of 1527, Jovan Nenad was [[assassinated]] and his entity collapsed. However, after Jovan Nenad's death, Radoslav Čelnik led a part of the army to Ottoman [[Syrmia]], where he briefly ruled as an Ottoman vassal.{{Citation needed|date=March 2018}}