The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Zrinyi, Niklas

ZRINYI, zrēn'yē, Niklas (Miklós), , Hungarian soldier: b. 1508; d. Szigetvár, 7 Sept. 1566. He distinguished himself in the siege of Vienna by Charles V, and in campaigns against John Zápolya and Sultan Suleiman. As ban of Croatia from 1542, he defended that territory against the Turks, and became famous for his defense of Szigetvár (or Sziget) in 1566. His garrison of scarcely 3,000 was reduced to 600, and on 5 September the enemy succeeded in firing the outer fortifications. Zrinyi retreated to the inner fortress, but this also was soon on fire. He thereupon ordered the gates to be opened, and after firing a mortar filled with broken iron into the midst of the Turks, who were surging along a narrow approach to the castle, led a sally of the garrison. He fell, mortally wounded, and the defenders were forced back, but a slow match ignited 3,000 pounds of gunpowder stored within, and great carnage among the Turks ensued. The catastrophe has been made by Theodor Körner the subject of his &lsquo;Zrinyi: Ein Trauerspiel.&rsquo;