Emperor Jovan Nenad
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Emperor Jovan Nenad (died on July 26, 1527, Serbian: Цар Јован Ненад or Car Jovan Nenad, also spelled as Tsar Jovan Nenad in English) was a leader of the Serb mercenaries in the Kingdom of Hungary who, using a period of struggle over Hungarian throne, created his state and crowned himself for emperor (tsar). He was born in town Lipova near river Mureş, in northern Banat (today in Romania).
In the Battle of Mohač on August 29, 1526, Ottoman Empire destroyed the army of Hungarian-Czech king Louis Jagellion, who was killed on the battlefield. After this battle, the Kingdom of Hungary ceased to be an independent state and became divided in three parts: Royal Hungary on the North and West became Habsburg province, Transylvania on the East became semi-independent state under Ottoman sovereignty, while the former central and southern parts of the Kingdom of Hungary became part of the Ottoman Empire.
As king Louis had no children, Hungary was divided into two parties: one elected John Zapolya, a respected Hungarian noble, while the other declared for the king of Hungary a Habsburg, Ferdinand, Louis' brother-in-law. A part of this struggle was leader of Serb mercenaries Jovan Nenad, whom his contemporaries have, for his dark complexion, called Black Man.
It is not certainly known who was Jovan Nenad. He himself claimed to be descendant of Byzantine and Serbian rulers. Some of his contemporaries have considered him a descendant of Serbian despots, while others thought he was a man of low rank. Right after the battle of Mohač, he appeared between Tisa and Danube as a leader of a Serb regiment, and for a short time he banished Ottomans from Bačka and started to rule it, as well as parts of Banat and Srem. He created an independent, if short-lived state, and for its capital he chose Subotica. At the peak of his power, Jovan Nenad crowned himself for a Serb emperor.
For the general commander of his army, emperor named Radoslav Čelnik, while his emissaries for foreign rulers were Fabijan Literat and Jovan Dolić of Irig. For his treasurer and palatine, emperor named Subota Vrlić. Besides his army, emperor also organized a guard numbering 600 soldiers named "janičari". His army was getting bigger by the day and in the beginning of 1527 it has around 15,000 men. When his enemies have conquered Subotica, he moved his capital to Segedin.
At first Emperor Jovan Nenad has supported Zapolya, but Hungarian Nobles, whose lands in Bačka he took, have estranged Zapolya from him, so in the beginning of 1527 he stood next to Ferdinand. After the danger from the Ottomans passed, the Hungarian nobles and peasants from Bačka who fled afore the Ottomans, started to come back to their homes, but Jovan Nenad did not allowed them to settle in Bačka again. This is what he said to them: "I found this land empty and took it with my people." The Hungarians answered that they had to flee from the land because of fear from the Ottoman Sultan, and Jovan Nenad said: "And I was the one who abducted this land from him. The coward Hungarians, you cannot hold this land because the Ottoman soldiers will for one night capture you and shunt you to Belgrade in bondage. So, you do not know what you ask."
Jovan Nenad considered struggle around the Hungarian throne just a temporary occupation, while for his primary task he took fight against Ottomans for liberation of the Serb lands. In the first half of 1527, Ferdinand was outside of Hungary, preparing to fight Zapolya, who was during that time sending armies after Jovan Nenad, wishing to destroy him before Ferdinand could come to Hungary.
The first Zapolya's army, led by Vladislav Csaky, was defeated by Jovan Nenad in early April, and Csaky himself was killed in the battle. The second army, led by duke of Erdely Petar Periny, was beaten by Jovan Nenad in late April near Seleš on Tisa, while Periny has barely managed to rescue himself. The third army, which encompassed entire strength of Erdely and upper Hungary, led by Periny and bishop Cibak has won, at the end of June, on the Sedfal field a victory over Jovan's army, where around 8,000 of his men were slained. After a month, he managed to recover from this terrible defeat and recover his troops. By this time Ferdinand's army has entered Hungary too, and so Emperor Jovan Nenad moved to meet it. On his way he visited Segedin, where a Zapolya's supporter ambushed and shot him, so he died of wound on July 26, 1527 in Tornjoš near Segedin. Ferdinand's army was met with weak resistance, as Zapolya's forces were weakened and tired by fights against Emperor Jovan Nenad, and so Ferdinand did for a short time banished Zapolya from Hungary. Soon after the death of Emperor Jovan Nenad, his army has dispersed, which was the end of his state.
As the time passed, Emperor Jovan Nenad became a mythical figure among the Serbs. Many historians consider him the founder of contemporary Vojvodina. Subotica, the province's second largest city and former Jovan Nenad's capital holds a monument dedicated to the Emperor, with the inscription "Your thought has prevailed" (Твоја је мисао победила). His thought is present-day Vojvodina.
[edit] Literature
- Narodna enciklopedija (1927), article written by Aleksa Ivić, professor of the Subotica University.
- Dr Aleksa Ivić, Istorija Srba u Vojvodini, Novi Sad, 1929.
- Milan Tutorov, Mala Raška a u Banatu, Zrenjanin, 1991.
- Drago Njegovan, Prisajedinjenje Vojvodine Srbiji, Novi Sad, 2004.
- Dr. Dušan J. Popović, Srbi u Vojvodini, knjiga 1, Novi Sad, 1990.
- Peter Rokai, Zoltan Đere, Tibor Pal, Aleksandar Kasaš, Istorija Mađara, Beograd, 2002.
- Vladimir Ćorović, Ilustrovana istorija Srba, knjiga četvrta, Beograd, 2006.
