John Zápolya or Szapolyai (Hungarian: Szapolyai/ Zápolya János; Croatian: Ivan Zapolja; Romanian: Ioan Zápolya; Slovak: Ján Zápoľský; 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. He was Voivode of Transylvania before his coronation, from 1510 to 1526.
John came from a prominent Croatian-Slavonian noble family. His father became one of Hungary's wealthiest lords and served as Palatine of Hungary. During the Peasants' Revolt of 1514 led by György Dózsa, John gained influence through his military campaigns and by crushing the revolt, which bolstered his authority and earned him the title of "liberator of the realm." However, his power declined after his sister Barbara's death in 1515. And in 1528, he fled to Poland, later aligning with the Ottomans, leading Hungary to become an Ottoman vassal state.
John was the oldest son of Count Stephen Zápolya and his second wife, Hedwig of Cieszyn. Stephen Zápolya was descended from a Croatian noble family from Slavonia. Their family name was derived from the Croatian phrase "za polje" (literally translated as "behind field"). Stephen became one of the wealthiest lords in the Kingdom of Hungary after inheriting the large domains of his brother, Emeric Zápolya, in 1487. Stephen Zápolya's marriage with the Silesian duchess, Hedwig, who was related to Emperor Maximilian I, increased the prestige of the Zápolya family.
Habsburg-Jagiellon war of succession
Stephen Zápolya had no sons when Matthias Corvinus, King of Hungary, died on 6 April 1490, according to a contemporaneous report, but a charter issued in September 1491 already mentioned John, showing that John was born between the two dates. Stephen Zápolya became Palatine of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1492 until his death in 1499.
Vladislaus's brother, King Sigismund Jagiellon of Poland, came to Hungary to mediate between the royal family and the Zápolyas in late June. Emperor Maximilian had already in September declared war on Hungary, because he wanted to protect his claim (acknowledged in the 1491 Peace of Pressburg) to succeed Vladislaus. The teenager Stephen Zápolya was made one of the commanders of the Hungarian army. During the war, the envoys of King Vladislaus and Maximilian signed a secret treaty on 30 March 1506 about the marriage of Vladislaus's daughter, Anne Jagiellon, and Maximilian's grandson, Ferdinand.
John was born in Szepes Castle (now Spiš Castle in Slovakia), which was an important center of the Zápolyas' domains. At the Diet of Hungary in 1497, Stephen Zápolya's opponents circulated rumours about his intention to have his son crowned king. John and his younger brother, George, inherited their father's vast domains in 1499. Their domains were primarily located in Upper Hungary (now Slovakia), where they held most landed estates in five counties. John could write letters in Latin, showing that his mother provided excellent education to him. Hedwig of Cieszyn wanted to persuade Vladislaus II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, to marry his only child, Anne, to John. However king Vladislaus refused the idea of marriage between princess Anne and John Zápolya.
Zápolya began his public career as a member of the new Diet at Rákos in 1505. On 13 October, the Diet, prompted by Zápolya, passed a bill which prohibited the election of a foreigner as king if Vladislaus died without male issue. The bill was aimed at creating a legal basis for Zápolya's ascension to the throne after the death of Vladislaus, but the king refused to ratify it, and the Diet was closed by the king. Moreover, Vladislaus's wife, Anne of Foix-Candale, gave birth to a son, Louis, on 1 July 1506.
Zápolya's serious conflicts with the royal court had meanwhile made him the leader of a "national party", consisting of the smaller untitled noblemen (the gentry) who were opposed to the pro-Habsburg orientation of the higher aristocracy, the higher clergy, and King Vladislaus. The Diet initially refused to elect the infant crown prince Louis as successor to Vladislaus, but Louis was finally crowned on Vladislaus's demand on 4 June 1508. According to the late 16th-century historian Miklós Istvánffy, when the king returned from Bohemia in early 1510, Zápolya asked Vladislaus for the hand of his daughter Anne, but Vladislaus refused.
Vladislaus II made John Zápolya Voivode of Transylvania and Count of the Székelys on 8 November 1510. He moved to Transylvania and took up residence in Kolozsvár (now Cluj-Napoca, Romania) in March 1511. The Ottomans invaded the southern frontier of the Kingdom of Hungary in April 1511. John regularly held Diets for the representatives of the "Three Nations of Transylvania". He also headed the judicial assemblies of the Székely people.
Vladislaus's brother, Polish king Sigismund I the Old, married John's younger sister, Barbara Zápolya in early 1512. To show off his wealth, John went with Barbara to Poland accompanied by 800 horsemen who wore gilded clothes. This increased the influence of the Zápolyas, but only in the short term, as Barbara died in 1515. John raided Ottoman Bulgaria in summer 1513. After returning to Transylvania, he crushed a revolt in Hermannstadt (now Sibiu, Romania) and forced the townspeople to pay an extraordinary tax.
Crushing the Peasants' Revolt of 1514
Zápolya launched a new campaign into Bulgaria in early May 1514.
Meanwhile, Tamás Bakócz, Archbishop of Esztergom, declared a Crusade against the Turks on 9 April. About 40,000 peasants joined the crusade and assembled near Pest, although their lords had tried to retain them before the harvest. The "crusade" soon turned into a peasant rebellion. As the peasant army marched toward Turkish territory, they took to plundering nearby noble manors. Many villagers refused to pay taxes and duties. On 22 May, Vladislaus and the Archbishop ordered the peasants to disband, but they refused. Peasant bands took control of the southern lowlands along the rivers Danube and Tisza and murdered many nobles.
The main army of the peasants, commanded by György Dózsa, laid siege to Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania). Stephen Báthory defended the town. Zápolya, who had returned from his Ottoman campaign, came to relieve Temesvár. His army routed the peasants on 15 July.
The leaders of the revolt were tortured to death with much cruelty. Dózsa was put on a red-hot iron "throne" with a red-hot iron "crown" on his head, and his accomplices were compelled to eat his flesh before being executed. In October, the Diet deprived the peasants of the right to free movement and obliged them to work on their lords' lands without remuneration one day in every week.
Zápolya's victory over the peasant revolt strengthened his authority in several ways: on the one hand, he had opposed the "crusade" from the beginning, and on the other hand, it gained him support among the petty nobility (gentry).
The Diet hailed Zápolya as the "liberator of the realm" and rewarded him with a payment of 20 denars for each peasant household. Supporters of Zápolya were appointed to the royal council, becoming a majority, and his friend, Gregory Frankopan, Archbishop of Kalocsa, was made chancellor. The previous chancellor, George Szatmári, Archbishop of Esztergom, remained hostile to Zápolya.