ABSTRACT
Gett ing the worse of the earlier exchanges, Zapolyai ap-
pealed to the Sultan, who installed h i m i n Buda, and w i t h
whose help Ferdinand's effective rule was confined to the
western t h i r d o f the country, but neither claimant was able
to drive the other r ight out of the field, and the barren con-
flict went on u n t i l the whole country was heartily sick of
i t . A t last, i n 1^38, Zapolyai's ablest adviser, a Croat Fran-
ciscan k n o w n as Friar George, or Mart inuzzi , mediated
the secret agreement of Varad, under w h i c h each claimant
recognised the other's t i t l e and the te r r i to r ia l status quo,
whi le Zapolyai, who was much the older man, and then
unmarried, agreed that on his death Ferdinand (or his son)
should succeed to the entire k ingdom. I f John Zapolyai had
a son (he was then wooing the Polish princess, Isabella)
this boy should be compensated w i t h a duchy i n no r th Hun-
gary. O n 22 July 15:40, John died, but a fortnight later
Isabella, w h o m he had marr ied i n the interval , gave b i r t h
to a son, John Sigismund, w h o m the anti-Habsburg party
p rompt ly recognised as k ing . Ferdinand sent an army against
Buda, but now the Sultan decided to play for his own hand.
