The Peace of Zsitvatorok (or Treaty of Sitvatorok) was a

peace treaty A peace treaty is an agreement between two or more hostile parties, usually countries or governments, which formally ends a state of war between the parties. It is different from an armistice An armistice is a formal agreement of warring ...

which ended the 15-year

Long Turkish War The Long Turkish War or Thirteen Years' War was an indecisive land war between the Habsburg monarchy and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the Principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606 but in Europ ...

between the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

and the Habsburg monarchy on 11 November 1606. The treaty was part of a system of peace treaties which put an end to the anti-Habsburg uprising of

Stephen Bocskai Stephen Bocskai or Bocskay ( hu, Bocskai István; 1 January 155729 December 1606) was Prince of Transylvania and Hungary from 1605 to 1606. He was born to a Hungarian noble family. His father's estates were located in the eastern regions of th ...

(1604–1606). The treaty was negotiated between 24 October and 11 November 1606 ''ad Situa Torock'', at the former mouth of the Žitava River (Hungarian: ''Zsitva''), which flows into the

Danube The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , p ...

in Royal Hungary (today part of

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

). Kenneth Meyer Setton, ''The Papacy and the Levant, 1204–1571'', Volume IV: The Sixteenth Century from Julius III to Pius V (Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society, 1984), p. 1097, n. 191. This location would later become the small settlement of Žitavská Tôňa (Hungarian: ''Zsitvatorok''), a part of the municipality of Radvaň nad Dunajom (Hungarian: ''Dunaradvány''). The peace was signed for a term of 20 years and has been interpreted in different ways by diplomatic historians. Differences between the Ottoman Turkish and the Hungarian texts of the treaty encouraged different interpretations, e.g. the Hungarians offered 200,000 florins as a once-and-for-all tribute (instead of the annual tributes of 30,000 guldens given before the war), whereas the Ottoman text foresaw that the payment was to be repeated after three years. The treaty prohibited Ottoman looting campaigns into the territory of Royal Hungary, and stipulated that Hungarian settlements under Ottoman rule could collect taxes themselves by means of village judges. The Ottomans also acknowledged the tax-free privilege of nobles. However, the Ottomans never really complied with these terms. The treaty was signed by Sultan Ahmed I and Archduke Matthias of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

on behalf of the Holy Roman Empire. On 9 December, Matthias's brother the Emperor

Rudolf II Rudolf II (18 July 1552 – 20 January 1612) was Holy Roman Emperor (1576–1612), King of Hungary and Croatia (as Rudolf I, 1572–1608), King of Bohemia (1575–1608/1611) and Archduke of Austria (1576–1608). He was a member of the Hous ...

ratified the treaty. The Ottomans' inability to penetrate further into Habsburg territory (Royal Hungary) during the Long Turkish War was one of their first geopolitical defeats. However, the treaty stabilized conditions on the Habsburg-Ottoman frontier for half a century for the benefit of both parties. The Habsburgs would face serious domestic opposition during the following years, and the Ottomans, apart from internal rebellion, had open conflicts in other parts of their frontiers (

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

). At Zsitvatorok, for the first time, the Ottoman sultan, who carried the title ''Kayser-i Rûm'' (

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

of the Roman Empire) since the Fall of Constantinople, recognised the equality of status of the Holy Roman Emperor by titling him ''

Padishah Padishah ( fa, پادشاه; ; from Persian: r Old Persian: *">Old_Persian.html" ;"title="r Old Persian">r Old Persian: * 'master', and ''shāh'', 'king'), sometimes Romanization of Persian, romanised as padeshah or padshah ( fa, پادشاه ...

'' (Emperor or, more literally, "Master King"), which was the sultan's own title. That was seen as an acceptance of '' divisio imperii'' in which imperial hegemony would be divided into West (the Holy Roman Empire) and East (the Ottoman Empire). Before then, the Holy Roman Emperor was regarded as mere ''kral'' (king) of Vienna in Ottoman diplomacy. The next European ruler to be conceded that level of respect was Catherine the Great of Russia in the

Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ( tr, Küçük Kaynarca Antlaşması; russian: Кючук-Кайнарджийский мир), formerly often written Kuchuk-Kainarji, was a peace treaty signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca (today Kayn ...

of 1774.Mehmet Sinan Birdal, ''The Holy Roman Empire and the Ottomans: From Global Imperial Power to Absolutist States'' (I. B. Tauris, 2011), p. 6. The treaty explicitly included the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the long ...

as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.Kenneth Meyer Setton, ''Venice, Austria, and the Turks in the Seventeenth Century'' (American Philosophical Society, 1991), p. 22.

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