Siege of Lippa (1551)
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| Siege of Lippa | |||||||
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| Part of the Habsburg–Ottoman war of 1551–1562 | |||||||
 Malkoč Bey pays his respects to Sokollu Mehmed Pasha, bringing the heads of enemies after the siege of Lippa. Futūhāt-i jamīla, 1557-58 (Topkapi Palace Museum, H.1592).[1] | |||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||
.svg){kind=small} Ottoman Empire |
 Hungarian, Czech, German and Spanish | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Malkoč Bey |
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The Siege of Lippa (1551) was a military conflict between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire in 1551. The siege resulted with a decisive Ottoman victory and Lippa came under Ottoman control for 164 years.[1] It was part of the Habsburg–Ottoman war of 1551–1562.
After the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Hungarian Kingdom split into two parts. The western part of the country came under the control of Ferdinand I from the House of Habsburg, the eastern side came under the control of John Zápolya, a Hungarian noble. Zápolya asked the help of Suleiman the Magnificent Ottoman emperor against Ferdinand. After the death of John in 1540, he was succeeded by his one-month-old son, John Sigismund Zápolya. Ferdinand in 1541 tried to capture Buda, the capital, but he was defeated by Suleiman's army. The Ottoman emperor occupied Buda after the victory and sent the young Hungarian king with his court to Lippa (today Lipova, Romania); in 1542 they moved to Gyulafehérvár (today Alba Iulia, Romania), which later became the capital of the Principality of Transylvania.
Even after this event, Ferdinand didn't give up his dream about the unification of the Hungarian Kingdom under his rule. With George Martinuzzi's help, the eastern part of the country in 1550 came under Habsburg rule, which caused the attack of the Ottoman army against Hungary.[1]
