The siege of Esztergom occurred between 25 July and 10 August 1543, when the Ottoman army, led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, besieged the city of Esztergom in modern Hungary. The city was captured by the Ottomans after two weeks.Slovak history: chronology & lexicon Július Bartl p.59
Background The siege was part of a struggle between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans following the death of the ruler of Hungary, John Zápolya, on 20 July 1540. This is part of the "Age of castle wars" in Hungarian history.Ottomans, Hungarians, and Habsburgs in Central Europe by Pál Fodor p.164 Suleiman had captured the cities of Buda and Pest in 1541, giving him a powerful control over central Hungary.Emperor Charles V, impresario of war by James D. Tracy p.206 The Province (Beylerbeylik) of Buda was created in this occasion.
As part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance, French troops were supplied to this Ottoman campaign in Hungary: a French artillery unit was dispatched in 1543-1544 and attached to the Ottoman Army.The Ottoman Empire and early modern Europe by Daniel Goffman, p.111 Firearms of the Islamic world, p.38The Cambridge History of Islam, p.328 Meanwhile, in the Mediterranean Sea, Suleiman had sent his fleet admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa to cooperate with the French, leading to the siege of Nice.
Siege The Siege of Esztergom followed the failed attempt by Ferdinand I of Austria to recapture Buda in 1542.Ground warfare: an international encyclopedia by Stanley Sandler p.387 It would be followed in turn by the capture of the Hungarian coronation city of Székesfehérvár in September 1543. Other cities that were captured during this campaign are Siklós and Szeged in order to better protect Buda. However, Suleiman refrained from moving further on to Vienna this time, apparently because he had no news of the campaigns of his French allies in western Europe and in the Mediterranean.International encyclopaedia of Islamic dynasties by Nagendra Kr. Singh p.516
After the successful Ottoman campaign, a first truce of one year was signed with Charles V in 1545, through the intermediary of Francis I of France. Suleiman himself was interested in ending the hostilities, as he had a campaign going on in Persia as well, the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–1555).The Cambridge history of Islam by Peter Malcolm Holt p.328 Two years later, Ferdinand and Charles V recognized total Ottoman control of Hungary in the 1547 Treaty of Adrianople,Cartography in the traditional Islamic and South Asian societies by John Brian Harley p.245 and Ferdinand even agreed to pay a yearly tribute of 30,000 gold florins for their Habsburg possessions in northern and western Hungary.
Following these conquests, central Hungary was to remain under Ottoman control until 1686.
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See also Little War in Hungary Ottoman wars in Europe Battle of Párkány
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