e with such vigor that Isabella must have surrendered
had not an army of Turks come to her rescue. The Austrian troops were
defeated and dispersed. The sultan himself soon followed with a still
larger army, took possession of the city, secured the person of the
queen and the infant prince, and placed a garrison of ten thousand
janissaries in the citadel. The Turkish troops spread in all directions,
establishing themselves in towns, castles, fortresses, and setting at
defiance all Ferdinand's efforts to dislodge them. These events occurred
during the reign of the Emperor Charles V. The resources of Ferdinand
had become so exhausted that he was compelled, while affairs were in
this state, in the year 1545, ten years before the abdication of the
emperor, to implore of Solyman a suspension of arms.

The haughty sultan reluctantly consented to a truce of five years upon
condition that Ferdinand would pay him an annual tribute of about sixty
thousand dollars, and become feudatory of the Porte. To these
humiliating conditions Ferdinand felt compelled to assent. Solyman, thus
relieved from any trouble on the part of Ferdinand, compelled the queen
to renounce to himself all right which either she or her son had to the
throne. And now for many years we have nothing but a weary record of
intrigues, assassinations, wars and woes. Miserable Hungary was but a
field of blood. There were three parties, Ferdinand, Stephen and
Solyman, all alike ready to be guilty of any inhumanity or to perpetrate
any perfidy in the accomplishment of their plans. Ferdinand with his
armies held one portion of Hungary, Solyman another, and Stephen, with
his strong partisans another. Bombardment succeeded bombardment; cities
and provinces were now overrun by one set of troops and now by another;
the billows of war surged to and fro incessantly, and the wail of the
widow and the cry of the orphan ascended by day and by night to the ear
of God.

In 1556 the Turks again invested Stephen with the government of that
large portion of Hungary which they held, including Transylvania.
Ferdinand still was in possession of several important fortresses, and
of several of the western districts of Hungary bordering on the Austrian
States. Isabella, annoyed by her subjection to the Turks, made
propositions to Ferdinand for a reconciliation, and a truce was agreed
upon which gave the land rest for a few years.

While these storms were sweeping over Hungary, events of sc