[1] In the Battle of Mohács on 29 August 1526, the Ottoman Empire destroyed the army of Hungarian-Czech King Louis Jagellion, who was killed on the battlefield.

At first he sided with the Zapolyai, but after the Hungarian nobility of Bačka estranged him from John Zápolya, who also refused to acknowledge Nenad's territory, he decided to support the Habsburg pretender, Ferdinand, in the beginning of 1527.

He named Radoslav Čelnik the general commander of his army, while his emissaries to foreign rulers were Fabijan Literat, a Franciscan from Ilok, and Ivan Dolić, the castellan of Bač from Irig.

[3] His army grew by drawing Serbs from Ottoman territory, Vlachs from Banat and Transylvania, and also some Roman Catholics; by the beginning of 1527, it numbered around 15,000 men.

Jovan Nenad considered the struggle around the Hungarian throne just a temporary occupation, his primary task being the fight against the Ottomans for the liberation of the Serb lands.

During that time, King Zápolya sent armies after Jovan Nenad, wishing to settle his internal affairs before Ferdinand could return to Hungary.

[4] Many Serbian historians consider him the founder of contemporary Vojvodina, although in reality his insurrection was too short-lived and his reign too tumultuous to have a lasting impact.

[citation needed] Subotica, the province's second largest city (which was once his capital) erected a monument to him bearing the inscription "Your thought has prevailed" (Твоја је мисаo победила/Tvoja je misao pobedila).

Kao unapred obeležen nekom višom silom za nešto neobično ljudi su nalazili to, što je on imao "na telu jednu crnu prugu u širini jednog prsta, koja je počinjala kod desne slepoočnice i išla u pravoj liniji sve do stopala desne noge."