John Sigismund Zápolya

Who was John Sigismund Zápolya?

John Sigismund Zápolya or John Sigismund Szapolyai was King of Hungary from 1540 to 1551 and again from 1556 to 1570. He reigned over the "Eastern Hungarian Kingdom", as historians call the area which recognized as King his father and then him, instead of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, who ruled western Hungary.

John Sigismund was born in Buda, Hungary. He abdicated as King in 1551 but was re-elected by the Diet of Szászsebes in 1556. In practice he ruled from 1559, after the regency of his mother Isabella Jagiellon.

He became Prince of Transylvania and ruler of a part of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1570 after his second abdication as King of Hungary. He was the first ruler of the Principality of Transylvania, the successor to the "Eastern Hungarian Kingdom".