The siege of Szigetvár or the Battle of Szigeth (pronunciation:
�siɡɛtvaːr ; ; ) was an
Ottoman siege of the fortress of
Szigetvár in the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from 1000 to 1946 and was a key part of the Habsburg monarchy from 1526-1918. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coro ...
. The fort had blocked
Sultan Suleiman's line of advance towards
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
in 1566. The battle was fought between the defending
forces
In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the magnitude and directi ...
of the
Habsburg monarchy
The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...
under the leadership of
Nikola IV Zrinski, the former
Ban of Croatia, and the invading
Ottoman army
The Military of the Ottoman Empire () was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. It was founded in 1299 and dissolved in 1922.
Army
The Military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the years ...
under the nominal command of
Sultan
Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...
Suleiman.
In January 1566, Suleiman began his offensive campaign in Hungary. The siege of Szigetvár was fought from 5 August to 8 September 1566 and it resulted in an Ottoman victory. Some historians have viewed the victory as
pyrrhic as there were heavy losses on both sides. Both commanders died during the course of the siege Zrinski during the final charge, and Suleiman in his tent from natural causes. The siege lasted for a total of 33 days.
More than 20,000 Ottomans died during the siege, and almost all of Zrinski's 2,300-man garrison was killed, with most of the final 600 men killed on the last day. Although the Ottomans were victorious, the siege stopped the planned Ottoman push towards
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
that year. Vienna was not threatened again until the
Battle of Vienna in 1683.
The importance of the battle was considered so great that the French clergyman and statesman
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...
was reported to have described it as "the battle that saved (Western) civilization". The battle is still famous in
Croatia
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
and
Hungary
Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
and inspired both the Hungarian epic poem ''
The Siege of Sziget'' and the Croatian opera ''
Nikola Šubić Zrinski''.
Background
Historical events
A peace agreement between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans was in effect until 1552, when Suleiman decided to attack
Eger
Eger ( , ; ; also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is the county seat of Heves County, and the second largest city in Northern Hungary (after Miskolc). A city with county rights, Eger is best known for Castle of Eger, its ...
. The
Siege of Eger proved futile, and the Habsburg victory reversed a period of territorial losses in Hungary. Their retention of Eger gave the Austrians good reason to believe that Hungary was still contested ground and that the Ottoman campaign in Hungary had also ended, until its revival in 1566.
The siege of
Tokaj in 1565 by the
Imperial Army under the command of
Lazarus von Schwendi had angered Suleiman. The latter considered Transylvania to be his realm, and did not consider the peace treaty signed between
John Sigismund Zápolya and the Holy Roman Empire to be valid.
A peace treaty between the Ottomans and Habsburgs had been negotiated in 1565 after Ferdinand's death in 1564. Ottoman officials had sent multiple letters to Emperor Maximilian on the following issues: the payment of tribute, Habsburg infiltration in Ottoman territories, the return of the Ottoman emissary Hidayet Ağa, and the potential invalidity of the 1565 treaty if the Habsburgs did not withdraw their forces from Transylvania. These have been listed as some of the reasons for the Ottoman campaign in Hungary.
Szigetvár, , its commander, and bandits in the fort's vicinity had also been previously infuriating for Suleiman. The Ottomans had already besieged the fort twice in 1555 and 1556. In a letter he had sent to Ferdinand in 1557, he had written "The fortress of Szigetvár... When the ''haydud'' and robbers make trouble and commit evil acts, they take refuge in this fortress." Also, in a remark to the diplomat
Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq in the year 1562, Suleiman had said: "'What', said he, 'might make us conclude peace, if those who are in charge of Sigeth will disturb it and continue the war?'"Suleiman had written to John Sigismund on 7 October 1565 that "he would go to war the following spring, if Maximilian did not send an ambassador with suitable assurances of peace". After the siege of
Nagybanya by Schwendi, Suleiman wrote to John Sigismund that he would personally arrive in Hungary with his army by the following spring.
Geography
Szigetvár was considered important primarily since forces dispatched from there could cut the enemy lines around the Danube river and thus threaten
Buda
Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...
and
Ottoman Hungary
Ottoman Hungary () encompassed the parts of the Kingdom of Hungary which were under the rule of the Ottoman Empire from the occupation of Buda in 1541 until the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699. The territory was incorporated into the empire, under ...
. The fort had also obstructed Ottoman conquests in
Southern Transdanubia because it controlled movement on the
Drava
The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe. river and had also threatened
Virovitica
Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungary, Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). I ...
and
Požega among other Ottoman border forts in the region of
Slavonia
Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...
.
The fort was surrounded by the
Mecsek
Mecsek (; ; Serbian language, Serbian: ''Meček'' or Мечек; ) is a mountain range in southern Hungary. It is situated in the Baranya (region), Baranya region, in the north of the city of Pécs.
Etymology
The Hungarian toponym "Mecsek" deriv ...
range which provided natural defense. The usage of canals ensured that the valley around the fort was always inundated with water. Even if a besieger was to break the canals, the dried waterbed around the fort would be muddy and covered with vegetation, thus preventing infantry charges and the deployment of artillery guns near the walls. The fort did not have defensive
outworks or a
moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...
, partly because the marshland surrounding the fort was greater in width than most such constructions. Crossing the marshland was a complex task for any besieging army. The Szigetvár fort complex had a total of four forts.
Logistics and preparation
Habsburg
On 18 August 1565, Emperor Maximilian wrote to his brothers that the Habsburgs would have to be prepared for a war. However, since they had expected the main focus of the Ottoman campaign to be Vienna, they concentrated on the city and had no plans to lift the siege of Szigetvár. Emperor Maximilian and the
Habsburg army were thus encamped near
Győr
Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...
but did not lift the siege.
Ottoman
For the siege and campaign, soldiers were mobilized from the Hungarian and Balkan provinces administered by the
beylerbey
''Beylerbey'' (, meaning the 'commander of commanders' or 'lord of lords’, sometimes rendered governor-general) was a high rank in the western Islamic world in the late Middle Ages and early modern period, from the Anatolian Seljuks and the I ...
of
Timișoara
Timișoara (, , ; , also or ; ; ; see #Etymology, other names) is the capital city of Timiș County, Banat, and the main economic, social and cultural center in Western Romania. Located on the Bega (Tisza), Bega River, Timișoara is consider ...
. Royal decrees ordering mobilisation were dispatched to multiple beylerbeys in November 1565. The Ottoman government of the
Sublime Porte
The Sublime Porte, also known as the Ottoman Porte or High Porte ( or ''Babıali''; ), was a synecdoche or metaphor used to refer collectively to the central government of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. It is particularly referred to the buildi ...
fed wrong information to Habsburg envoys in order to mislead them about the targets and status of the campaign. Suleiman and his army set out for the campaign on 29 April 1566. The historians Szabolcs Varga and
Nicolas Vatin both provide a figure of 50,000 for the size of the Ottoman army. The Ottoman chief military engineer for the siege was Ali Portuk. The Ottomans used at least 17 bacaluşka (
basilisk guns), majorly of the 14 and 16
oka caliber, during the siege. The chronicler
Mustafa Selaniki noted that 180 ''–'' 280 large guns had been carried along for the siege.
Şeyh Nureddinzade Muslihiddin, a
Sufi
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
of the
Khalwati order, along with Sokollu Mehmed Pasha had persuaded Sultan Suleiman to participate in the campaign to discharge his obligation of a last
jihad
''Jihad'' (; ) is an Arabic word that means "exerting", "striving", or "struggling", particularly with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it encompasses almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with God in Islam, God ...
. Many beys and
mirzas from the
Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate, self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak, and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatars, Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the longest-lived of th ...
, including the
Kalga (deputy khan)
Mehmed II Giray, participated in the campaign. Because of their absence, the khan
Devlet I Giray was unable to pledge an oath on "the whole land" to the
Tsardom of Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721.
...
.
Zrinski
To enhance the defenses of the fort of Szigetvár, Zrinski had started colleting taxes from multiple areas in the vicinity after he was made the captain general. His initiative led to the fort becoming very large in size, the construction of small forts overlooking important inner roads and the placement of a swamp around the city. Zrinski's strategy was to hold the towns and thus not provide an opening for an Ottoman attack on the fort.
Scholars agree that Zrinski's army must have numbered around 2,300 Croatian and Hungarian soldiers, and 2,000 civilians. These troops consisted of his personal forces, and those of his friends and allies, namely Count and the lieutenants Miklouš Kobak, Petar Patačić and Vuk Papratović. Zrinski had sent a letter to the widow of
Tamás Nádasdy on 19 April 1566, four months before the siege began, where he said he was going to defend the fort. Zrinski had also written to Maximilian that he would hold Szigetvár long enough that the defenses of Vienna could be strengthened.
Siege
The fort's defender, Count
Nikola IV Zrinski, was one of the largest landholders in the
Kingdom of Croatia, a veteran of border warfare, and a
Ban (Croatian royal representative) from 1542 to 1556.
Suleiman's forces reached
Belgrade
Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...
on 27 June after 49 days of marching through
Edirne
Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...
,
Plovdiv
Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...
and
Sofia
Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...
. They constructed a bridge over the
Sava
The Sava, is a river in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. From its source in Slovenia it flows through Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally reac ...
river and arrived in
Zemun
Zemun ( sr-cyrl, Земун, ; ) is a Subdivisions of Belgrade, municipality in the city of Belgrade, Serbia. Zemun was a separate town that was absorbed into Belgrade in 1934. It lies on the right bank of the Danube river, upstream from downtown ...
. Here he met with
John II Sigismund Zápolya, whom he had earlier promised to make the ruler of all of Hungary. The Ottoman army arrived in
Osijek
Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...
on 12 July and began crossing the
Drava
The Drava or Drave (, ; ; ; ; ), historically known as the Dravis or Dravus, is a river in southern Central Europe. river. According to the historian
Kenneth Setton, Suleiman had decided to postpone his attack on Eger after learning of Zrinski's success in an attack on a Ottoman encampment at
Siklós, and instead attack Zrinski's fortress at Szigetvár in order to neutralise him. The historian argues that it was the falling water level of the Drava river which led to the attack against Szigetvár and the postponement of the attack on Eger.
Szigetvár was divided by water into three sections: the old town, the new town, and the castle—each of which was linked to the next by bridges and to the land by
causeway
A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...
s. Although it was not built on particularly high ground, the inner castle, which occupied much of the area of today's castle, was not directly accessible to the attackers. This was because two other
baileys had to be taken and secured before a final assault on the inner castle could be launched.
The Ottoman
vanguard
The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force.
...
arrived near the fort on 1 August 1566. The Ottoman army had surrounded the fort and town by 5 August. Suleiman arrived on 9 August and his war tent was erected on Semlék hill. The Sultan stayed in his camp where he received verbal battle progress reports from
Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, his
Grand Vizier
Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...
and the real operational commander of the Ottoman forces.
On 7 August, the preparations for the siege began. Trenches were built, and from behind these lines cannon fire began. The fort's
palisades were targeted first instead of the walls in order to make the defenders to come out. At night the artillery batteries were put up, and the next day artillery firing on the New Town's walls began. The historian József Kelenik argues that only
field guns were used for this effort, and that the long-range
siege guns were used only to bombard the fort. On 9 August, a battery of five guns began firing at the tower in the inner fort and destroyed its top level, because the tower had afforded full view of the Ottoman movements.Bombardment of the New Town and the inner castle continued on 9 August. Trenches and batteries were constructed in an arc stretching from the southeast rampart. The Old Town was surrounded to the east by
janissaries
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted du ...
who were closing in on the walls, and to the west by a battery near the dam, while more batteries were built to bombard it. Preliminary work was initiated to break open the dam while guarded by 600 janissaries. The defenders retreated from New Town in the evening after incurring much damage from the bombardment.
On 10 August, the Ottomans initiated a large artillery offensive against the fort. Ottoman artillery began firing on its two southern parapets, meanwhile, the Old Town was fired upon by four or five batteries. Zrinski and his subordinates disagreed on what course to follow next. Zrinski intended to withdraw from the Old Town, but his subordinates wanted to hold onto it. Zrinski decided to keep holding the town because it would provide more time for the defenders and because evacuating 4,000 people from the town to the fort would be tough.
On 19 August, long sections of the Old Town's walls had collapsed. The defenders began retreating but were attacked by the Ottomans at the entrance of the fort's bridge, and the former lost many of their officers during the fighting. The bulwarks on the southwest and southeast parts of the fort had been under bombardment continuously for ten days, but had not broken, primarily due to the long distance from and constrained angle of fire of the batteries. An additional two batteries were deployed in the Old Town to the south of the fort, where they targeted the weakest and least defensible portions of the bastions. The
cross beams of these structures were more vulnerable to bombardment and crumbled quickly.
Zrinski, advised by his experienced commanders, ordered 200 of his cavalry to prevent the Ottomans form draining the swamp surrounding the fort complex. This initiative failed; other ideas advanced by Zrinski's subordinates in the first two weeks of the siege also ended in failure. After the demise of his lieutenants and the Ottomans taking the towns, Zrinski commandeered the resistance himself.
The fort's walls were partly breached at the Hegy () Bastion, which was the one nearest to the Ottoman cannons. A bigger portion of the walls collapsed six days after the Old Town was taken by the Ottomans. The Ottoman commanders determined that this was the time to mount their first infantry attack. On 26 August, they launched the attack but failed and suffered high losses. The purpose of this attack probably was to expand the breaches they had made by digging through them into the fort walls. On 29 August, the Ottomans initiated another attack to decisively defeat the defenders; however, the attack failed and 4,000 Ottoman soldiers died.
During the following days, the Ottomans suffered great losses due to the spread of
dysentery
Dysentery ( , ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications may include dehyd ...
, which also might have infected Sultan Suleiman. The defenders had sent multiple letters to Emperor Maximilian requesting aid and the lifting of the siege, but the Emperor and his army did not move from their camp. The Emperor, till the end of the siege, was tricked by the Sultan and Grand Vizier into believing that the Ottomans' actual target was Vienna.
After the infantry attacks, the besiegers' cannons began firing at the Nádasdy Bastion in the northeastern part of the fort. Also, siege embankments were raised against the southwestern and southeastern ramparts. Portuk died during the final phase of the siege. On 2 September, taking advantage of the nighttime darkness, the Ottomans fully breached the walls facing the Hegy Bastion, which had the best cannons in the fort. The janissaries placed inflammable substances in an opening they had mined into the Hegy Bastion. On 5 September, they lit the opening on fire using gunpowder. The fire expanded to the other buildings in the fort, and it could not be put out due to strong winds and the constant bombardment of the bastion's vicinity.
Zrinski was at the Nádasdy Bastion and had held out against two attacks there. He retreated to the inner fort, but much of the other troops on the outer fort could not, and the latter was taken by the Ottomans on 5 September. Suleiman had offered Zrinski the opportunity to rule all of Croatia if he surrendered, but Zrinski refused. The fall of the castle appeared inevitable but the Ottoman high command hesitated. On 6 September, Suleiman died in his tent. His death was kept secret with great effort, with only the Sultan's innermost circle knowing of his demise. This was because the Ottomans feared that their soldiers would give up the battle if they knew that their leader had died, so his death was kept secret for 48 days. A courier was dispatched from the camp with a message for Suleiman's successor,
Selim II.
Final battle
The final battle began on 7 September, the day after Suleiman's demise. The Ottoman army swarmed through the city, drumming and yelling. Zrinski then ordered a charge and led his remaining 600 troops out of the castle. At the bridge of the inner castle, he died from bullets fired by the janissaries.
Before leading the final sortie out of the castle garrison, Zrinski had ordered that the fuse of the
powder magazine was to be lit. After cutting down the last of the defenders, the besiegers entered the third fort of the fort complex and fell into the booby trap. The Vizier and his mounted officers had just enough time to escape but 3,000 Ottoman soldiers died due to the explosion.
Almost all of Zrinski's garrison died during the siege, while total Ottoman casualties have been estimated at around 20,000–30,000. Zrinski's corpse was beheaded, and it was believed that his head was sent by Mehmed Pasha to either Sokullu Mustafa, the
Pasha of Budin,
or to the new Sultan Selim II. However, Zrinski's head had actually been sent by Sokollu Mehmed Pasha to a camp in Győr. There, his son-in-law took it so it could be buried by Zrinski's son
Juraj IV Zrinski and the noble
Ferenc Tahy in September 1566 at the
Pauline monastery in
Sveta Jelena near
Šenkovec, Croatia.
Aftermath
The historian argues that cross border raids in Croatia had continued after the siege, and these had led to the
Croatian–Slovene Peasant Revolt. Idris Karačović, a servant of Nikola Zrinski, was taken prisoner after the siege and went on to serve as an Ottoman beylerbey,
sanjakbey and pasha.

After the battle, the Grand Vizier forged bulletins in the Sultan's name, proclaiming victory. His death meant that any advances in Europe were postponed, as the Grand Vizier had to return to Constantinople for the succession of the new Sultan, Selim II. Even if Suleiman had lived, his army could not have achieved much in the short period between the fall of Szigetvár and the onset of winter. The prolonged resistance at Szigetvár delayed the Ottoman push towards Vienna.
Two ambassadors were sent by Emperor Maximilian: the Croatian
Antun Vrančić and the
Styria
Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...
n . They arrived in Istanbul on 26 August 1567 and were well received by Sultan Selim II. An agreement ending the war between the Austrian and Ottoman empires was reached on 17 February 1568, after five months of negotiations with Sokollu Mehmed Pasha. The
Treaty of Adrianople was signed on 21 February 1568. Sultan Selim II agreed to an eight-year truce, and the agreement brought 25 years of (relative) peace between the Empires until the
Long War began between them. The truce was conditional and Maximilian agreed to pay an annual tribute of 30,000 ducats.
Legacy and accounts
In Europe
The siege has been noted as being formative for Hungarian and Croatian national identities.
A first-hand report by , Zrinski's chamberlain and a survivor of the siege, was translated into Latin in 1568, being influential for inspiring epic literature about the siege. The first such work was the ''De capto Zygetho historia'' (''History of the capture of Sziget'') written by
Christian Schesaeus in 1571. Another such work was written by the Croatian
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
poet and writer
Brne Karnarutić, who wrote ''The Conquest of the City of Sziget'' (''
Vazetje Sigeta grada'') sometime before 1573. The long poem ''Pjesma o Sigetu'' (''Song on Siget'') from the ''Cerkvena pesmarica'' (''Church songbook''), written in the
Kajkavian dialect of Croatian, is dated to the late 16th or early 17th century.
The battle was also chronicled in the Hungarian epic poem
''Szigeti Veszedelem'' ("''Peril of Sziget''", 1651), written in fifteen parts by Zrinski's great-grandson
Nicholas VII of Zrin.
Petar Zrinski, the brother of Nicholas VII of Zrin, published the ''Opsida Sigecka'' (''Siege of Siget'') in 1660 in Croatian. Another Croatian poet,
Pavao Ritter Vitezović, wrote about the battle in his poem ''
Odiljenje sigetsko'' ("The Sziget Farewell"), first published in 1684.
Karl Theodor Körner, a German poet, wrote in 1812 a drama titled ''Zriny'' about the battle.
Ivan Zajc's 1876 opera ''
Nikola Šubić Zrinski'' is his most famous and popular work in Croatia.
In Turkey
Szigetvár is intertwined with Sultan Suleiman in both Ottoman and Turkish memory. The first account of the siege was the ''Nüzhet-i Esrarü’l-Ahyar der Ahbar-ı Sefer-i Sigetvar'' (''The Pleasant Secrets from the Trip to Sigetvar'')'','' published in 1568 by
Feridun Ahmed Bey, who had been present in the Ottoman camp at Szigetvár. Agehi Mansur Çelebi, who had also been a participant in the siege, wrote the ''Fetihname-i Kala-i Sigetvar'' (''The Conquest of the Castle of Sigetva''r). The ''Sigetvar Fetihnamesi'' (''Conquest of Sigetvar''), written by Seyfi of Istanbul, is not extant now. Merahi also wrote the ''Fetihname-i Sigetvar'' (''Conquest of Sigetvar'') about the siege in verse. The poet
Aşık Çelebi's ''Sigetvarname'' (''Story of Sigetvar''),
Mustafa Selaniki's ''Tarih-i Selâniki'' (''Annals of Selaniki'') and multiple other illustrated ''Sigetvarname''s are a few other accounts of the siege.
Notes
References
Footnotes
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
**
**
**
**
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szigetvár 1566
Habsburg–Ottoman wars in Hungary (1526–1568)
Conflicts in 1566
1566 in Europe
Sieges involving Hungary
Battles involving Habsburg Croatia
Battles of the Ottoman–Hungarian Wars
Battles involving Moldavia
Sieges involving the Ottoman Empire
Military history of Hungary
Suleiman the Magnificent
Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War
1566 in the Ottoman Empire
1566 in the Habsburg monarchy
Last stands
History of Baranya (region)
Attacks on castles