Szigetvár 1566

    After the collapse of the southern border fortress system (1521) the building of a new border fortress system started in the mid-1500s. Through the stretched work of the serfs of the neighbouring areas a new line of defence, a whole fortress system was created from baronian castles, castles, mansions, churches and cloisters, which stretched from the Adriatic Sea through Szigetvár, Kanizsa, Győr, Komárom, Érsekújvár, Eger, Szatmár, Várad and Temesvár to the lower Danube and surrounded the areas that had fallen under Turkish rule. From the birth of the new border fortress system mostly position warfare characterised by fortress fights dominated in the battle against the Turks. 

The fortress of Szigetvár

    The defence of the fortress of Szigetvár was taken over by Miklós Zrínyi in 1557. The fortress was fortified with the help of the War Council of Vienna and unfortunately he started the construction of the New City (1564-1565) despite the strength of the fortress being more favourable due to natural barriers without the New City. In 1566 Szigetvár consisted of three parts: the outer, the middle and the inner fortresses and the Old City, the New City and the Fortress. Ditches run around all three parts, which were connected by bridges. The fortress was fortified with five bastions. The 4 to 5-m, at some places 7-m wide fortress walls were built by ramming soil between clamped oak beams. The belfries and the houses of the defending soldiers were built of bricks. The War Council of Vienna set the number of soldiers to 3000 - without the New City -, as Zrínyi informs us in his letter dated 21 March 1566, in which he urges the augmenting of the military staff to 6000.

The siege of 1566

    In his campaign of 1566 Sultan Suleiman set siege on Szigetvár, which was led by Zrínyi, on 9 August. For a long time the Turks tried in vain to take the fortress through force or make Zrínyi abandon the fortress through promises, their attempts were unsuccessful.

    However, the long-lasting drought dried out the swamps and ditches that defended the fortress and the captain realised that he could not hold the New City. He moved the food and weapons stored there into the fortress and retreated in a planned way, thus avoiding the unnecessary loss of soldiers. The 300 soldiers who fell in the New City were followed into heroic death by another 1200 soldiers, who fell in the Old City in the 15 days of the siege. With his remaining 800 soldiers Zrínyi held out in the fortress for another 17 days, resisting the Turkish siege. A pasha of the janissaries managed to undermine and blow the powder-magazine. The explosion caused serious damage to the walls, through the gaps several charges were led against the defenders.

    On 8 September 1566 with his 300 remaining soldiers Zrínyi broke out of the inner fortress, which was in flames. According to the Croatian author Anonymus the captain tells his soldiers the followings: "Let us set out jolly, my dear brothers, / Do not let ourselves be captured easily, / They would gather us like quails, / But let us draw our swords jolly / Because this way we can remember our God..." Zrínyi was captured and beheaded by the Turks. His head was stuck on a spear and sent as an intimidation to the Emperor's troops.

The memory of the siege

The siege and the heroic resistance of the defenders inspired many authors. Several works of not only Hungarian, but also Croatian literature entertain the siege in diverse genres.

author	title	genre	year of creation
unknown	Boj pod Sigetom	epic folk song	unknown
Miklós Zrínyi	Obsidio Szigetiana	epic	1648
Pál Királyi	Szigetvár 1566-ban	historic novel	1858
Levente Moravetz	Zrínyi 1566	rock musical	2009

Zrínyi – the poet

2.
Fegyvert, s vitézt éneklek, török hatalmát
Ki meg merte várni, Szulimán haragját,
Ama nagy Szulimánnak hatalmas karját,
Az kinek Europa rettegte szablyáját.
5.
Adj pennámnak erőt, ugy irhassak mint volt,
Arrol, ki fiad szent nevéjért bátran holt,
Megvetvén világot, kiben sok java volt;
Kiért él szent lelke, ha teste meg is holt.
6.
Engedd meg, hogy neve, mely mast is köztünk él,
Bűvüljön jó hire, valahól nap jár-kél,
Lássák pogány ebek: az ki Istentől fél,
Soha meg nem halhat, hanem örökkén él.

    Miklós Zrínyi, count (in Croatian: Nikola Zrinski) (Ozalj, 1 May 1620 - Kursanecz, 18 November 1664) of the Croatian Subic kindred, Croatian ban, Lord-Lieutenant of Zala and Somogy counties, an aristocrat with large estates, poet, general and politician. He wished to fight against the Osman Empire through cooperation, organisation of a national party. He achieved great military successes in 1663-64, but the Vienna Court ignored his achievements and concluded peace with the sultan. Zrínyi's confidence in the Habsburgs was shaken by this act, but his political ascension was prevented by his sudden death in a hunting accident near Csáktornya in 1664.


His important works are:
Mátyás király életéről való elmélkedések (Reflections on the life of King Matthias)
Szigeti veszedelem (Peril of Sziget)
Az török áfium ellen való orvosság (An antidote for the Turkish poison)
