Isabella was right, for the old man she married did not outlast the wedding day by ten months. When John Zápolya died, Isabella had just given birth to a son, John Sigismund Zápolya. The king had signed a treaty with the Hapsburgs before his death, making Archduke Ferdinand of Austria heir to the throne of Hungary. However, the Hungarian nobles did not wish to see their homeland fall into the Hapsburgs’ greedy hands and refused to abide by the treaty. Instead, they elected Isabella’s infant son as King of Hungary and Isabella as his regent. Ferdinand responded by sending an army against Buda, Hungary’s capital, precipitating a struggle that lasted for the next twenty years. With the onset of that conflict and the nobles’ decision, Isabella began a new journey as a ruler, a journey that would change the face of Europe forever.
“The Mennonite Queen”
From The Journals of Jenny Hershberger