page_title: Pécs
section_title: Pécs under Ottoman rule
hierarchical_section_title: Pécs / History / Pécs under Ottoman rule
caption_attribution_description: Magyar: Jakováli Hasszán pasa dzsámija és a minaret, Pécs, Rákóczi út 2.English: Yakovali Hassan Mosque in Pécs (Hungary).Polski: Meczet w Peczu. This is a photo of a monument in Hungary. Identifier: 1773
context_page_description: Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economic centre of Baranya County. Pécs is also the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs.
  The city Sopianae was founded by Romans at the beginning of the 2nd century, in an area peopled by Celts and Pannoni tribes. By the 4th century, it became the capital of Valeria province and a significant early Christian center. The early Christian necropolis from that era became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 2000.
  Its episcopate was founded in 1009 by Stephen I, and the first university in Hungary was founded in Pécs in 1367 by Louis I the Great. Pécs was formed into one of the cultural and arts center of the country by bishop Janus Pannonius, great humanist poet.
  Pécs has a rich heritage from the age of a 150-year-long Ottoman occupation, like the mosque of Pasha Qasim the Victorious on Széchenyi square, the Tomb of İdris Baba, and the Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque.
context_section_description: After the Battle of Mohács (1526) in which the invading Ottoman army defeated the armies of King Louis II, the armies of Suleiman occupied Pécs.
  Not only was a large part of the country occupied by Ottomans, the public opinion of who should be the king of Hungary was divided, too. One party supported Ferdinand of Habsburg, the other party crowned John Zápolya in Székesfehérvár. The citizens of Pécs supported Emperor Ferdinand, but the rest of Baranya county supported King John. In the summer of 1527 Ferdinand defeated the armies of Szapolyai and was crowned king on November 3. Ferdinand favoured the city because of their support, and exempted Pécs from paying taxes. Pécs was rebuilt and fortified.
  In 1529, the Ottomans captured Pécs again, and went on a campaign against Vienna. The Ottomans made Pécs to accept King John (who was allied with them) as their ruler. John died in 1540. In 1541, the Ottomans occupied the castle of Buda, and ordered Isabella, the widow of John to give Pécs to them, since the city was of strategic importance. The citizens of Pécs defended the city against the Ottomans, and swore loyalty to Ferdinand. The emperor helped the city and defended it from further Ottoman attacks, but his advisers persuaded him into focusing more on the cities of Székesfehérvár and Esztergom instead of Pécs. Pécs was preparing for the siege, but a day before, Flemish and Walloon mercenaries fled from the city, and raided the nearby lands. The next day in June 1543 the Bishop himself went to the Ottomans with the keys of the city.
  After occupying the city, the Ottomans fortified it and turned it into a real Ottoman city. The Christian churches were turned into mosques; Turkish baths and minarets were built, Qur'an schools were founded, there was a bazaar in place of the market. For a hundred years the city was an island of peace in a land of war. It was a sanjak centre in Budin Eyalet at first and Kanije Eyalet later as "Peçuy".
  In 1664, Croat-Hungarian nobleman Nicholas Zrínyi arrived in Pécs, with his army. Since the city was well into the Ottoman territories, they knew that even if they occupy it, they could not keep it for long, so they planned only to pillage it. They ravaged and burned the city but could not occupy the castle. Mediaeval Pécs was destroyed forever, except the wall encircling the historical city, a single bastion (Barbakán), the network of tunnels and catacombs beneath the city, parts of which are closed down, other parts are in possession of the famous Litke champagne factory, and can be visited today. Several Turkish artifacts also survived, namely three mosques, two minarets, remnants of a bath over the ancient Christian tombs near the cathedral, and several houses, one even with a stone cannonball embedded in the wall.
  After the castle of Buda was wrested from Ottoman rule in 1686, the armies went to capture the rest of Pécs. The advance guards could break into the city and pillaged it. The Ottomans saw that they could not hold the city, and burnt it, and withdrew into the castle. The army led by Louis of Baden occupied the city on 14 October and destroyed the aqueduct leading to the castle. The Ottomans had no other choice but to surrender, which they did on 22 October (see Siege of Pécs).
  The city was under martial law under the command of Karl von Thüngen. The Viennese court wanted to destroy the city first, but later they decided to keep it to counterbalance the importance of Szigetvár, which was still under Ottoman rule. Slowly the city started to prosper again, but in the 1690s two plague epidemics claimed many lives. In 1688 German settlers arrived. Only about one-quarter of the city's population was Hungarian, the others were Germans or Southern Slavs. Census of taxpayers from 1698 lists 637 families for which  Janja Živković Mandić concludes that 308 were of Croatian nationality (Catholics Croats, Racs, Šokci, Bunjevci, Illyrians, Slavs, Bosniaks) and the remaining 329 were Hungarians, Germans, Serbs or Greeks. According to same census István Tabo mentions 171 Hungarian, 349 Slavs and 79
caption: Yakovalı Hasan Paşa Mosque
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