General Chronology of Hungarian-Ottoman Wars until 1552

Now let me show you the chronology up to 1552 to make the events a little clearer; I have included some dates from European history just for better understanding. Please note that I am using the Oriental name order for the Hungarians, where the family names come first. Also, note that I call the Ottoman Turks simply “Turks” according to Hungarian tradition. However, according to Ottoman payrolls, 96% of the Ottoman mercenaries stationed in Hungary were not Turks at all, but Albanians, Serbs, and South Slavs. However, more Turks and Easterners were in the Sultan’s main army.

1342-1382 The reign of King Louis I of Hungary;
1352 Ottoman Turks arrived in Europe;
1354 The castle of Gallipoli fell to the Turks;
1365 Edirne (Drinápoly) was established as the capital of the Ottoman Empire in Europe;
1366-1367 The first Hungarian-Ottoman war was launched by King Louis I of Hungary;

1371 Turkish victory over the Serbs, the Serbian king was defeated at the river Marica;
1372 Venetian-Hungarian war, King Louis I lost at Treviso (the Turks helped the Venetians);
1375 King Louis I’s army was ambushed and defeated by the Wallachians, but the Turkish raiders who appeared in Transylvania were scattered;
1377 King Louis defeated the Wallachians, then the army of the Bulgarian ruler Sisman, vassal of Sultan Murad;
1381 Wat Tyler’s peasant revolt in England;
1387-1437 The reign of King Sigismund of Luxembourg (Zsigmond);

1388 The Peninsula of Peloponnesus fell to the Turks;
1389 First Battle of Kosovo-Polje (Rigómező), Turkish victory over the Serbs;
1391 Turkish raiders on the Lower Danube pillaged the Hungarian border;
1391 The Turks took the castle of Galambóc (Golubac), but Perényi Péter took it back;
1394 The Caliph of Cairo accepted Bajazid I as Sultan, the only head of the Muslim world;
1394 Voivode Losonci László lost to the Turks in Wallachia;
1395 King Sigismund struck back and established a bridgehead on the Danube in Bulgaria;
1396 Battle of Nikápoly – Ottoman victory over the Crusaders and King Sigismund;

1397 The Hungarian Diet obliged landlords to provide a horse archer for every 20 peasant houses;
1398 Turkish raiders penetrated the center of Hungary, the Great Plain (Alföld);
1402 Sultan Bayazid was beaten by Timur Lenk in Ankara;
1411 Sigismund (Zsigmond) became king of Germany;
1415 Sultan Mehmed I and his Bosnian vassal state invaded Hungary and Croatia;
1418-1433 The Bohemian Hussite Wars;
1419 Sigismund (Zsigmond) became king of Bohemia; Hussite uprising in Prague, peace signed with the Turks;

1420 The Turks invaded Wallachia and attacked Transylvania;
1421 Sultan Murad II took the throne;
1422 Sultan Murad II failed to take Constantinapolis;
1422-1461 The reign of King Charles VII of France;
1423 Murad took Corinthos;
1423 Pipo of Ozora successfully led a Hungarian army in the Lower Danube region, with two more campaigns to follow;
1425 Sultan Murad II recovered a third of Anatolia;

1427 Serbian despot Stefan Lazarevic died;
1427 King Sigismund obtained the castle of Galambóc (Golubac) by treaty, but its Serbian captain sold it to the Turks for 12,000 ducats;
1427 Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) fell into Hungarian hands, becoming the gateway to the kingdom;
1428 King Sigismund was defeated in his attempt to retake Galambóc Castle;
1428-1477 the life of Vlad the Impaler, ruler of Wallachia;
1430 Thessaloniki fell to the Turks;
1431 Sigismund became king of Lombardy;

1432 Huge Ottoman raid into Transylvania, several thousand taken into slavery;
1433 Sigismund was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome;
1435-1436 Several minor raids into Transylvania;
1437-1439 Habsburg Albert reigned as King of Hungary;
1437 The castle of Szendrő (Sedorovo) was besieged by the Turks but forced to retreat;
1437 The great peasant uprising in Transylvania weakened the country;
1438 The Turks plundered and pillaged in Transylvania;

1439 The Serbs lost the castle of Szendrő (Smederevo) to the Turks;
1440-1444 The reign of King Ulászló in Hungary1441 The Ottomans captured the silver mines of Novo Brdo (Crna Gora);
1441 Hunyadi János (John) defeated the Turks in Serbia;
1442 Hunyadi defeated the Rumelian Begler Bey at Gyulafehérvár (Transylvania);
1443 Hunyadi’s victorious winter campaign;
1443-1468 the reign of the Albanian Skanderbeg;
1444 Peace of Edirne with the Ottomans;
1444 the combined Christian forces were defeated by the Turks at Várna; the Hungarian king died;

1446-1453 János Hunyadi was governor of Hungary;
1448 Hunyadi’s army ventured deep into Macedonia but failed to join Skanderbeg’s army, the second defeat of Kosovo Polje (Rigómező);
1448 Emperor Frederick III made peace with Pope Nicholas V;
1450 Guttenberg invented book printing in Europe;
1451-1506 Life of Christopher Colombus;

1453-1457 The reign of King László V of Hungary;
1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottomans;
1453 The Hundred Years’ War between France and England ended;
1455-1485 the Wars of the Roses in England;
1456 the siege of Nádorfehérvár (Belgrade), the Turks were defeated, Hunyadi and St. Capistrano died of the plague after the victory;

1456 Moldavia became a vassal state of the Ottomans;
1457 Hunyadi László (elder son of Hunyadi János) was executed by the king;
1458 Hunyadi Mátyás (Matthias, younger son of Hunyadi János) was elected king of Hungary;
1458. Galambóc fell to the Turks, but Matthias recaptured it;
1461-1483 the reign of King Louis XI of France;
1462-1505 the reign of Tsar Ivan III of Russia;
1463 Peace treaty between King Matthias and Emperor Frederick III;

1463 Jajca Castle was taken back by King Matthias Corvinus along with the bigger part of Bosnia;                                                            1466 the Teutonic Order accepted the rule of Poland;

Here is more about Jajca Castle: https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/ottoman-occupied-lands/jajca/

1469-1524 the life of Vasco da Gama;
1475 the Turks reached Várad (Oradea) Castle in Transylvania but stopped;
1475 Voivode Stefan III of Moldavia beat the Turk-Crimean Tatar-Wallachian-Bulgarian army with Hungarian-Polish help;
1476 the Turks lost Szabács (Sabac) Castle to the Hungarians;

1479 Battle of Kenyérmező (Breadfield) in Transylvania, Kinizsi Pál defeated the Turks;
1479 Castile and Aragon were united;
1480 The Russians got rid of the Tartar yoke;
1480 The Hungarians helped to free Otranto (Italy) from the Ottoman attack;
1481 King Matthias’s campaign against the Turks;
1482 Hungarian success, the Bey of Szendrő (Smederevo) was defeated;
1482-1551 the life of Prior György Martinuzzi, the “White Monk”;
1483-1546 the life of Marton Luther;


 1485 King Matthias Corvinus took Vienna;
1487 Bartolomeo Diaz reached Cape Horn in Africa;
1490 the death of King Matthias, a bigger Turk unit looted Transylvania until Várad (Oradea);

1490-1516 the reign of King Ulászló II of Hungary;
1491 King Henry VIII was born;
1491-1556 the life of Ignatius of Loyola;
1491 the Bosnian Turks took Koszorúvár (Vinac), the key to Jajca Castle;
1492 January, the Arabs were driven out from Spain;
1492 spring, unsuccessful Turk attack against Nándorfehérvár, Szabács, and Jajca, but Kinizsi stops them;
1492 August Colombus set sail to India;
1492 summer, General Kinizsi’s army relieved the siege of Szörény Castle;
1493 February, the troops of the Transylvanian German Saxons of Szeben (Sibiu) defeated the raiding Turks;


 1493 September, the Bosnian Pasha returned with rich booty from Austria but he was hindered by Croatian Bán Derencsényi Imre at Ubdina; Large Croatian defeat, Derencsényi died;
October, Turk raiders hit the Barcaság Region in Transylvania; Chief Captain Kinizsi Pál attacked the area of Szendrő Castle with 10,000 men;
1494 September, a large Turk assault on Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade), Kinizsi stops them; Turks raids in Slavonia and in the Szerémség (Sirmium) Region at the same time; Kinizsi attacks Serbia, and Bulgaria with 14,000 men. He dies on 24 November;
1495 peace treaty between King Ulászló II and Sultan Bajazid II for three years;
1499 Prince Corvin János (illegitimate son of Matthias) scatters the Turks at Sebenico but cannot take Bisztrica Castle;
1500 August: Hungarian troops raid the region of Szendrő Castle at the Lower Danube; other Croatian troops of Prince Corvin János reach Mostar and defeat a bigger Turk army;
1501 March, Prince Corvin János attacked the Bosnian Turks and defeated them at Blata; the troops of Croatian Vice Bans Kozsulics and Zsarko raided along the Bistrica River;

October, Chief Captain Somi Józsa destroys 600 villages in Serbia with his 14,000 men, and returns to Belgrade with thousands of prisoners;
November, Prince Corvin relieves Jajca Castle, 4,000 Ottomans are killed in the battle, then he raids Serbia;
1502 June, a Hungarian army led by Tárczay János relieves Jajca Castle again;
September, Turk raids in the Szerémség Region and in Pozsega County;
October, forces of Voivode Szentgyörgyi of Transylvania, Chief Captain Somi, Bán Kanizsai György of Belgrade (Nándorfehérvár), Bán Tárnok Péter of Szörény hit the Balkanian lands up to Bulgaria, they burn Kladovo, Vidin and Nicopolis; at the same time, Prince Corvin hits Bosnia and joins them at Sarajevo;
1503 February, a new peace treaty between King Ulászló II and Sultan Bajezid for 7 years;
1504 February, Hungarian-Venetian alliance against the Ottomans, Venetians send 30,000 Ducats annually;
October, Prince Corvin János suffers a defeat in Croatia and dies;


 1505 Hungarian Diet at Rákos rules that only a Hungarian king can be elected;
1509-1547 the reign of Henry VIII of England;
1509 unsuccessful Ottoman siege against Karánsebes Castle in Temes County;
1511 May, the unsuccessful Ottoman siege against Knin in Dalmatia;
September, peace treaty with the Turks (the Venetians and the Polish sign it, too)
1512 the troops of Bán (Duke) Török Imre of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) are defeated at Szendrő Castle by the Ottomans;
Summer: more Turk success along the Száva River, they take Szrebernik, Tesán, Szokol, and Blagaj castles;
November, Comes Báthoryiof Temes beats the Turks at Illádia in Krassó County;
At the end of the year, the Bosnian Turks attacked Jajca but were defeated;
1513 Cardinal Bakócz Tamás fails to become the Pope; the Turks conquer Dalmatia, they get Nutyák, Szinj, Csazsin, and Ver castles; August, the Croatian Bán Péter Beriszlói relieves the besieged Castle of Blinj and defeats the Turks in the Battle of Dubica; at the same time, Sárkány Ambrus defeats an attacking Ottoman army at Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade);
Summer: Voivode Szapolyai János of Transylvania hits in Bulgaria;
September, Pope Leo X declares a Crusade against the Muslims, Cardinal Bakócz brings the document home from Rome;


 1514 April, the Hungarian king declares war against the Ottomans;
During the year: the peasant uprising of Dózsa György devastates the country;
February, March: Turk unsuccessful sieges against Knin Castle;
May: Voivode Szapolyai of Transylvania breaks into Bulgaria again;
At the end of the year the Turks systematically destroyed Croatia and the lands at the Adriatic Sea, they built a stronghold in front of Zeng Castle;
1515 April, Szapolyai, Báthory, Török, and Paksy besiege Zsarnót Castle that is in front of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) but Bey of Szendrő, Sinan defeats them;
1516 the Habsburgs inherited the throne of Spain;
1516-1526 the reign of King Louis II of Hungary;

1516-1556 the reign of King Charles V of Spain;
1517 October, Luther wrote his 95 points;
May, Bosnian Pasha Mustafa besieged Jajca Castle; the Hungarian reinforcement arrived and beat him, and the Pasha died;
1518 sudden Turks assaulted Nándorfehérvár aka Belgrade, it failed; the Turks offered a truce in September;
1519 the conquest of Cortez in Mexico; Fernando Magellan set sail to get around the Globe;
1520 uprisings against the Spanish absolutism
1520-1556 the reign of Sultan Suleiman I


 1520 May, Croatian Bán Péter Beriszlói gets trapped and killed at Korenica, Ottoman victory;
1521 April, Diet of Worms, Martin Luther is declared a heretic;
May, Sultan Suleiman launches his first campaign against Hungary and takes Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade), Zimony, and Szabács castles;
1522 Voivode Radu of Wallachia rebels against the Turks, receives help from Hungary but gets defeated in March;
Summer, Voivode Szapolyai of Transylvania hits Wallachia and defeats the army of Bey Mohamed of Silistria at Grumazi, then he assaults Nicopolis, brings Radu back; the Turks attack Radu and defeat him in two battles, Radu flees to Transylvania; then, Szapolyai returns and wins two battles against the Turks and Radu gets his throne back again in Wallachia;
Meanwhile, Pasha Hüszrev of Bosnia fails to take Klissza Castle by siege;

1523 the conquests of Alvarado in South America;
March, Bey Bali assaults Pétervárad Castle but cannot take its fort;
April, Voivode Radu flees to Hungary from the intruding Ottoman armies;
At the same time, the Bosnian Turks besiege Klissza and Kruppa castles;
August, General István Bárdy’s army defeats the Ottoman armies of Bey Bali of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) and Pasha Ferhad at Szávaszentdemeter; destroying the Turk river fleet as well, 7,000 Ottomans dead;
September, General Tomori Pál begins to reorganize the Hungarian river fleet along the southern border;
December, the Turks take Osztravica Castle from the Croatian Bán Jan Karlovics;
1524-1525 Münzer’s peasant uprising in Germany;


 1524 February, the Turks attack the Dalmatian sea-shore and besiege Klissa Castle again;
April, Captain Péter Krusics brought reinforcement to Klissa by sea, and defeated the enemy;
May-June, the Turks attempt to take Szörény Castle at the Lower Danube but fail;
September, Bey Bali of Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade) takes Szörény Castle;
1525 February, in the Battle of Pavia, King Francis I of France is defeated by Emperor Charles V;
April, the Ottomans besiege Jajca Castle defended by Bán Péter Keglevich;
June, Kristóf Frangepán relieves Jajca with his 12,000 men;
August, Serb refugees arrived in Hungary, Pál Bakics brought the news of Suleiman’s plan to attack the kingdom; Turk raiders burned Titel Castle at the Tisza River;
October, the troops of Tomori Pál raided the area around Szabács Castle;
1526 peace between the Spanish and the French in Madrid; split in the Habsburg House;
March, Bey Bali attacked Titel Castle: the defenders beat him off, then abandoned it;
May, the League of Cognac was signed against the Habsburgs (including Pope Clement VII, Florence, Venice France, England, Milan, and the Ottomans)
1526 August, Hungarian defeat at Mohács, King Louis II of Hungary died;

November 1526-1540 Szapolyai János is King of Hungary; (ruled 1526-1540)
December 1526-1564 Habsburg Ferdinand I is King of Hungary, too; (ruled 1526-1564)

1528. 02 – Suleiman gives his “ahdnáme” to King Szapolyai;

1529 Sultan Suleiman’s unsuccessful siege against Vienna;
1530 Diet of Augsburg, the Augsburg Confession, a central document of Lutheranism is declared;
1531 the Protestant princes create a coalition; also, the conquests of Pizarro in Peru;
1532 Sultan Suleiman marches for Vienna but is stopped at Kőszeg Castle by Captain Miklós Jurisics;
1533 Queen Elizabeth I was born;
1534 King Henry VIII reforms the Church in England;
1538 a Truce is signed between King Ferdinand and King Szapolyai at Várad;


1540 Ignatius of Loyola establishes the Society of Jesus; King Szapolyai János dies;
1540’s America is being explored by Vasquez, de Soto;
1541 King Habsburg Ferdinánd’s army sets out to take Buda Castle from Szapolyai’s widow and heir, János Zsigmond;
August, Prior György Martinuzzi scatters the Germans at Buda, soon, Sultan Suleiman arrives there and takes it; Hungary gets torn into three parts; Queen Isabella, widow of Szapolyai gets Eastern Hungary; Martinuzzi makes a secret Treaty with Ferdinand at Gyalu;
1542 unsuccessful Habsburg attempt to retake Buda Castle
1543 the Ottomans take Siklós, Pécs, Esztergom, Tata, Székesfehérvár, Valpó castles;
1544 the Ottomans take Visegrád, Hatvan, Nógrád, Simontornya castles;
1545-1563 the Council of Trent in Italy; the counter-reformation begins;
1547 Emperor Charles V defeats the rebelling Protestant princes;

1547 06. Emperor Charles V and King Ferdinand signs a peace treaty with Sultan Suleiman;
1547-1584 the reign of Czar Ivan IV of Russia;

1549 The Treaty of Nyírbátor between Martinuzzi and King Ferdinand;

1551. 07. In the Treaty of Szászsebes, King János Zsigmond and Queen Isabella resign and cedes Transylvania to Ferdinand;

1551. 09–10. A punishing Ottoman campaign against Transylvania, Bey Szokollu Mehmed takes Becskerek, Becse, Csanád, and Lippa castles but he cannot take Temesvár;

1551. 12. – King Ferdinand’s officers assassinate Cardinal Martinuzzi in Alvinc;

1552 Sir Walter Raleigh was born; the Turks launch their successful campaign against Royal Hungary, the fall of Temesvár, Szolnok, Nógrád castle, the heroic fall of Drégely Castle, and Eger Castle was saved by István Dobó; Pasha Hádim Ali defeats General Teuffel at Palást; Transylvania is in Habsburg hands for a few years;

You can read my dramatized historical writing about Sultan Suleiman and Queen Isabella here:

https://www.hungarianottomanwars.com/dramatized-historical-writings/suleiman-before-buda/

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