34 Facts About George Martinuzzi

George Martinuzzi was Bishop of Nagyvarad, Archbishop of Esztergom and a cardinal.

George Martinuzzi was the youngest son of a Croatian lesser nobleman, Grgur Utjesenovic, and Anna Martinuzzi, who was descended from a Venetian patrician family.

George Martinuzzi was still a child when his father and his two oldest brothers died and the Ottomans occupied the family estates.

George Martinuzzi was sent to Corvin's castle at Hunyad.

George Martinuzzi lived in wretched conditions for years, because young noblemen were intentionally treated like servants for pedagogical purposes.

George Martinuzzi moved to the court of Hedwig of Cieszyn in Szepes Castle around 1503.

George Martinuzzi was the widow of his father's patron, Count Stephen Zapolya.

George Martinuzzi decided to abandon his military career and entered the Pauline Order at the age of 24.

George Martinuzzi was sent to continue his studies in the Jasna Gora Monastery in Czestochowa.

George Martinuzzi was made the head of the monastery, according to unproved theories.

George Martinuzzi denied to store John's property, but he accompanied the king to Poland.

George Martinuzzi came back with John to Hungary, but the details of his life from 1529 to 1532 are unknown.

George Martinuzzi succeeded Gritti as royal treasurer and the king made him the new bishop of Varad.

George Martinuzzi centralized the administration of royal revenues and secured the regular investigation of the tax collectors' activities.

The strict control of state revenues caused many conflicts and George Martinuzzi was often accused of greed.

Tamas Nadasdy deserted John Zapolya for Ferdinand of Habsburg after George Martinuzzi deprived him of the administration of the salt mines in Maramaros County in 1534.

John and Ferdinand's envoys started negotiations about the reunification of the country in 1534, but George Martinuzzi was actually involved in the process only in 1536.

George Martinuzzi wanted to reach an agreement, but he could prove himself determined to refute any compromise in order to strengthen John's position during the negotiations, especially after a new war broke out between Ferdinand's brother, Emperor Charles V, and King Francis I of France.

George Martinuzzi hinted that he was willing to support Ferdinand and proudly claimed that he was the only politician to be able to mediate between the "Ottomans, Serbians, Moldavians, Wallachians and Hungarians", according to Wese's notes.

George Martinuzzi started emphasizing that the treaty could be regarded valid only after the Diet enacted it and prevented the most powerful barons from confirming it.

George Martinuzzi urged the elderly John to marry Isabella Jagiellon, the daughter of King Sigismund I of Poland.

George Martinuzzi stood by his treasurer, emphasizing that Martinuzzi had levied taxes to secure the paying of the annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.

George Martinuzzi appointed his relative, Peter Petrovics, and Martinuzzi to be John Sigismund's guardians, emphasizing Martinuzzi's preeminent position.

John soon lost consciousness and George Martinuzzi sent envoys to Sigismund I of Poland and Suleiman, asking them to support John Sigismund.

George Martinuzzi had appointed Boldizsar Bornemissza to administer Transylvania, but Balassa and Majlath convened the general assembly of the Three Nations of Transylvania at Segesvar.

George Martinuzzi regularly checked queen's correspondence with her father, because he feared that Sigismund I of Poland could convince her to leave Hungary.

George Martinuzzi sent Istvan Werboczy to Istanbul to secure the sultan's support.

George Martinuzzi refuted to start secret negotiations with Thurzo and Revay in Visegrad.

George Martinuzzi again refused to negotiate with Ferdinand's envoys, stating that he was willing to obey only to a monarch who had been elected by common consent.

George Martinuzzi took two drastic steps in response: he arrested the queen and appealed to the Ottoman Empire for help.

John Zapolya had requested Ottoman aid against Ferdinand; in return, Hungary was an Ottoman vassal state, and George Martinuzzi asked Ottoman Sultan Suleiman to defend his vassal against attack.

George Martinuzzi's policy was to keep the state neutral by cultivating amicable relations with Austria without offending the Ottomans.

George Martinuzzi compelled Isabella to accept terms with Ferdinand advantageous to her family and Transylvania, and placated the sultan with flattery and gifts.

However, when George Martinuzzi tried to mediate privately between the Ottomans and the Hungarians, Castaldo accused him of treason to Ferdinand and was given permission to kill him if needed.