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Description

Retaking Estergom in 1595

Finely engraved map showing the 1595 Siege of Esztergom on the Danube River.

The image shows an heroic defense of the town, with a number of prominent Italian names in the foreground, including Giovanni Francesco Aldobrandino, Giovanni de Medici, Archduke Matthias (who would become the Holy Roman Emperor from 1612 to 1619) and Charles, Margrave of Burgau, also known as Charles of Austria.

The strategic city of Estergom in Hungary had previously fallen to the Ottoman Empire in 1543.  The present view shows the Siege of July 1 to Sepbermber 1, 1595, during which time the Christian forces  re-took the fortress from the  Ottomans during the so called Long War (1591-1606).

At the time, the fortress of Strigonia or Esztergom was the most important fortification along the Danube River protecting Buda and the river in that area. In the foreground, riding between two formations of soldiers of the Papal States is the Governor-General of the Papal army, Giovanni Francesco Aldobrandino (d.1595), nephew of Pope Clement VIII, who commanded about 12,000 men at this siege.

A Turkish garrison of about 3,000 was commanded by Kara Ali Bey, while the Turkish relief army from Buda, under Hassan Pasha numbered 15-16,000.