The death of Solyman, and the delay which this desperate siege had caused, embarrassed all the plans of the invaders, and they resolved upon a retreat.  The troops were consequently withdrawn from Hungary, and returned to Constantinople.

Maximilian, behind his intrenchments at Raab, did not dare to march to the succor of the beleaguered garrison, for overpowering numbers would immediately have destroyed him had he appeared in the open field.  But upon the withdrawal of the Turks he disbanded his army, after having replenished his garrisons, and returned to Vienna.  Selim succeeded Solyman, and Maximilian sent an embassy to Constantinople to offer terms of peace.  At the same time, to add weight to his negotiations, he collected a large army, and made the most vigorous preparations for the prosecution of the war.

Selim, just commencing his reign, anxious to consolidate his power, and embarrassed by insurrection in his own realms, was glad to conclude an armistice on terms highly favorable to Maximilian.  John Sigismond, who had been crowned by the Turks, as their tributary King of Hungary, was to retain Transylvania.  The Turks were to hold the country generally between Transylvania and the river Teiss, while Ferdinand was to have the remainder, extending many hundred miles from the Teiss to Austria.  The Prince of Transylvania was compelled, though very reluctantly, to assent to this treaty.  He engaged not to assume the title of King of Hungary, except in correspondence with the Turks.  The emperor promised him one of his nieces in marriage, and in return it was agreed that should John Sigismond die without male issue, Transylvania should revert to the crown of Hungary.

Soon after this treaty, John Sigismond died, before his marriage with the emperor’s niece, and Transylvania was again united to Hungary and came under the sway of Maximilian.  This event formed quite an accession to the power of the Austrian monarch, as he now held all of Hungary save the southern and central portion where the Turks had garrisoned the fortresses.  The pope, the King of Spain, and the Venetians, now sent united ambassadors to the emperor urging him to summon the armies of the empire and drive the Turks entirely out of Hungary.  Cardinal Commendon assured the emperor, in the name of the holy father of the Church, that it was no sin to violate any compact with the infidel.  Maximilian nobly replied,

“The faith of treaties ought to be considered as inviolable, and a Christian can never be justified in breaking an oath.”

Maximilian never enjoyed vigorous health, and being anxious to secure the tranquillity of his extended realms after his death, he had his eldest son, Rhodolph, in a diet at Presburg, crowned King of Hungary.  Rhodolph at once entered upon the government of his realm as viceroy during the life of his father.  Thus he would have all the reins of government in his hands, and, at the death of the emperor, there would be no apparent change.