In 1592, Holy Emperor Ernest I began to make his mark on the political map of Europe. He started by betrothing his daughters to future rulers in an attempt to gather allies for his ongoing war against the Turks. His eldest, Archduchess Maria, born in 1584, was betrothed to Prince Henry Philip, Duke of Rothesay, and heir to the Scottish throne. With this betrothal, Ernest pledged his own troops in case a war of succession to the English throne broke out, and a dowry of 500,000 guldens. Maria’s younger sister, Johanna, was promised to Cosimo de’ Medici, three years younger than her and second in line to the throne of Grand Principality of Tuscany. This would be the first act that recognized Tuscan rule from any of the three Habsburg courts after the War of the Triple Alliance. More importantly, in 1593, his daughter Anna, who was still an infant, was promised to Prince João Filipe, heir to the Portuguese throne. At the time, both Portugal and Austria had strong anti-Spanish courts, and Portugal was at war against their Iberian neighbors for their overseas colonies. King Philip III’s prayers were answered, however, when Ernest didn’t join the war, preferring to focus his resources on his own war in the continent.
The girls weren’t alone in their new prospective marriages, however. Ernest’s heir, Archduke Maximilian, born in 1586, was betrothed in April 1592 to Princess Margherita of Savoy. Margaret was the eldest child of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, two years older than her intended and a granddaughter of King Sebastian I of Portugal, making her a second cousin once removed to the Habsburg children. After the death of King Philip II of Spain, her father expanded his lands from a Dukedom to a Kingdom, as he conquered the Duchy of Milan during the War of the Triple Alliance. This made him the first King of Savoy and caused him to be known to history as Charles Emmanuel the Great (Carlo Emanuele il Grande, in Italian), and his children as highly sought-after marriageable pawns due to the pristine location of their father’s territory.
Charles Emmanuel, however, was an ambitious man, and wouldn’t stop at just taking Milan. Encouraged by his victories in the War of the Triple Alliance, he invaded the Marquisate of Saluzzo in 1584, taking advantage of the recent developments in the French Wars of Religion, and occupied the territory. The Marquisate of Saluzzo was a historical Italian state that included French and Piedmont territories on the Alps and was the focus of much ambition amongst the House of Savoy since the late 15th century. Saluzzo was a part of France since the deposition of the last Marquis Gabriele and had annexed it to the crown but nothing would stop Carlo Emanuele.
The French Wars of Religion were brought to an end in 1590, however, as King Henry III applied numerous acts of tolerance to the different sects of the christian faith (see: Edict of Nantes). With this resolved, Henry demanded the restitution of that land, but Charles Emmanuel refused, and war ensued. The broader conflict involving France and Savoy ended with the Peace of Vervins (2 May 1592), which left the current but separate question of Saluzzo unsolved. After the King of Savoy started talks with Spain, seeking a new friendship between the two enemies, Henry threatened to return to war until, with the Treaty of Lyon (17 January 1594), Saluzzo went to Savoy in exchange for Bresse and other territories over the Alps. Charles Emmanuel’s second daughter, Maria Carlotta (1588), would also be married to King Henry’s eldest son and the Dauphin of France, François of Valois (1590), and her dowry would be considerable.
The Marquisate of Saluzzo and the Kingdom of Savoy in 1592.
With peace once more reigning in the Alps, it was imperative that it too returned to Eastern Europe, and Emperor Ernest was determined to see to that. Since 1589, the war with the Ottomans was in a stalemate. The two countries were gathering their strengths after the Battle of Buda, which saw the Muslims retake the city of Buda, and the death of fourteen thousand men; eight thousand of whom were Austrians. Around 1591, Austria was facing steep economic decline due to the long war, and Ernest was eager to see it done, even with little territorial reconquests, in order to focus his attention on recovering the finances of his country. Austria’s rejection of all things Spanish didn’t help its economy either, as many trade deals had been procured between the two sister courts.
So, to resolve the conflicts amongst two of the three branches of Habsburgs, Ernest sent envoys to King Philip III after his father’s death in 1593. Ernest had been raised by King Philip II and was reported to be much saddened by the death of his uncle, and regretful of the way their relationship had soured in the end. The envoys found a more willing King in Philip III, as he too was eager for peace amongst the members of the House of Austria.
Philip III did what his father could not and recognized the marriage between Emperor Ernest and Elizabeth Báthory, even sending the Empress a galley named La Isabel, as a Christmas gift. La Isabel, King Philip said, was to be used by Elizabeth if she ever wished to visit him. The two courts exchanged gifts over 1594, and it was thought that the family had been reunited once more.
Before that, however, it was essential that the new army of twenty thousand soldiers gathered around Vienna in 1592 won significant victories against the Ottoman Turks. As Ernest gained information about Mehmed’s own plans surrounding the two cities of Buda and Vienna, twelve thousand men left the safety of the Austrian capital to fight against the eight thousand janissaries gathered at the border between the two great lands.
The two armies met outside of Bratislava, a city near the border between royal and Turkish Hungary, next to the Danube River, on 4, June 1592. The Battle of Bratislava, as it would be known to history, lasted for a day and a half, killing five thousand Turkish and three thousand Austrians, and ended with an Austrian win. Emboldened by this victory, Emperor Ernest sent the rest of his army to Buda, intent on retaking the city once again, alongside the eight thousand that had remained in Vienna.
The modern city of Bratislava and the Danube River.
The seventeen thousand men conquered the city of Buda without difficulties and secured the surrounding area with minor skirmishes against the remaining janissaries with little difficulty over the rest of the month of June. Emperor Ernest thus sent peace terms to the Ottoman Sultan, announcing that there would be peace once more if Mehmed III recognized the loss of Buda and the lands of Transylvania, as well as recognized Austrian rule over them (Emperor Ernest was also King of Hungary).
Although he was eager to continue the war and humiliate the Austrians, Mehmed was shown by his mother and most trusted advisor, Safiye Sultan, that the Empire had been much weakened by this war and it was time to step back before their loss became too great to bear. Much like Austria, the economy of the Ottoman Empire was in shambles because of the cost of continuing the war.
And so, the Treaty of Buda was signed on August, 14th, 1592, bringing an end to the War of Hungarian Rekonquista that had lasted over six years. In it, Mehmed recognized the loss of Buda and Transylvania, while Ernest promised not to wage war for the remaining parts of Hungary for another thirty years. If either of them broke their part of the treaty, such as Mehmed invading Buda or Transylvania, the other would be allowed to continue what had been left unfinished, like the Reconquering of Hungary.
If any of them was more likely to break the peace, it was Mehmed. As he blamed Ernest for the death of his father, Sultan Murad III, he was determined to see Vienna burned to the ground, and nothing signed in a piece of paper would stop him from doing so.
The Principality of Transylvania. The light part is the one that was once under Turkish control.