page_title: Isabella Jagiellon
section_title: Early life and marriage plans
hierarchical_section_title: Isabella Jagiellon / Biography / Early life and marriage plans
caption_attribution_description: Izabela Jagiellonka
context_page_description: Isabella Jagiellon was the oldest child of Polish King Sigismund I the Old, the Grand Duke of Lithuania and his Italian wife Bona Sforza. In 1539, she married John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania and King of Hungary, becoming Queen consort of Hungary. At the time Hungary was contested between Archduke Ferdinand of Austria who wanted to add it to the Habsburg domains, local nobles who wanted to keep Hungary independent, and Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who saw it as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. While Isabella's marriage lasted only a year and a half, it did produce a male heir – John Sigismund Zápolya born just two weeks before his father's death in July 1540. She spent the rest of her life embroiled in succession disputes on behalf of her son. Her husband's death sparked renewed hostilities but Sultan Suleiman established her as a regent of the eastern regions of the medieval Kingdom of Hungary on behalf of her infant son. The region developed as a semi-independent buffer state noted for its freedom of religion. Ferdinand, however, never renounced his claims to reunite Hungary and conspired with Bishop George Martinuzzi who forced Isabella to abdicate in 1551.
context_section_description: Born in Kraków on 18 January 1519, Isabella was the oldest child of King Sigismund I the Old and his Italian wife Bona Sforza. She spent most of her childhood at Wawel Castle in Kraków and the hunting castle in Niepołomice. She also lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1527–29 and 1533–36. During the latter visit her three younger sisters were left in Kraków. This episode foreshadowed future family relationships: Bona Sforza favored her oldest daughter, arranging her marriage early, while the other three daughters were neglected and married late. Isabella received a good education, including from humanist Johannes Honter, and she could speak and write four languages: Polish, Latin, German, and Italian (her mother's native language).
  In March 1519, when Isabella was just a two-month-old baby, French envoys proposed to marry Isabella with a future son of Francis I of France in exchange for Sigismund's support in the upcoming elections for the Holy Roman Emperor. Sigismund supported Charles V, but Bona continued to pursue a French marriage for Isabella. She hoped that King of France would install his son and Isabella in the Duchy of Milan which Bona claimed as her inheritance. In 1524, Hieronymus Łaski negotiated an anti-Turkish alliance with the French; among the provisions was marriage of Isabella and Henry, second son of Francis I. But this alliance failed after Francis was taken prisoner in the Battle of Pavia.
  Bona then pursued an Italian marriage. Isabella of Naples, Isabella's grandmother, sent envoys to Poland to propose marriage to Francesco II Sforza, newly installed Duke of Milan. However, Sigismund refused as the duchy was contested and Francesco's hold was tenuous. Bona then proposed Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, but he chose Margaret Paleologa as she brought March of Montferrat as her inheritance. Sigismund wanted a Habsburg marriage. In 1530, he proposed Maximilian, eldest son of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, but they refused as Isabella was eight years older than the groom. When Habsburgs wanted to stop the proposed marriage between Isabella and John Zápolya, they proposed Ludovico, eldest son of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, but he died in 1536.
  Around 1531, a plan emerged to wed Isabella to John Zápolya, Voivode of Transylvania and King of Hungary. When Louis II of Hungary was killed in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, Hungary was divided between pro-Habsburg Royal Hungary and pro-Zápolya Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. The parties were engaged in the Little War in Hungary. Zápolya had sustained his claim only by gaining support from and becoming vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Bona Sforza, ardent opponent of the Habsburgs, supported Zápolya and tried to convince her husband Sigismund to provide military support and Isabella's hand. Sigismund, whose first wife was Zápolya's sister Barbara, refused, not wanting to upset the Habsburgs and doubting Zápolya's ability to hold onto his throne. Eventually, Sigismund relented on a condition that a peace treaty was concluded between Zápolya and the Habsburgs. The Treaty of Nagyvárad was signed in February 1538 in part due to Sigismund's requirement. Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and Zápolya agreed to divide Hungary between themselves and that Ferdinand was to inherit Zápolya's territory since at that time he was childless.
caption: 19th-century portrait of Isabella
exif: {}