Treaty of Adrianople (1568)


The Treaty of Adrianople of 1568 or Treaty of Edirne of 1568, was concluded in the Ottoman city of Adrianople, on 17 February 1568, by representatives of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II, ruler of Habsburg Monarchy and Ottoman Sultan Selim II. It concluded the Austrian-Turkish War and began a period of 25 years of relative peace between the empires. It followed the Siege of Szigetvár, in which the Ottomans took a key Hungarian fortress, but at great cost, including the death of the previous Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent.
Maximilian's ambassadors, Croatian Antun Vrančić and Styrian Christoph Teuffenbach, had arrived in Constantinople on 26 August 1567. Serious discussions with Sokollu Mehmed Pasha presumably began after the ambassadors' ceremonial audience with Selim II. After five months of negotiations, agreement was reached by 17 February, and the Treaty of Adrianople was signed on 21 February 1568, ending the war between the Austrian and Ottoman empires. Maximilian agreed to pay an annual "present" of 30,000 ducats, and essentially granted the Ottomans authority in Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia.