The
imperious Turk, knowing that he could depose the baby king at his
pleasure, insultingly rejected the proposals which Ferdinand had
humiliated himself in advancing. He returned in answer, that he
demanded, as the price of peace, not only that Ferdinand should renounce
all claim whatever to the crown of Hungary, but that he should also
acknowledge the Austrian territories as under vassalage to the Turkish
empire, and pay tribute accordingly.
Ferdinand, at the same time that he sent his embassy to Constantinople,
without waiting for a reply dispatched an army into Hungary, which
reached Buda and besieged Isabella and her son in the citadel.
He pressed the siege 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.
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