Vladislav II (Bohemia and Hungary)

Vladislav II (1509)

Vladislav II of Bohemia and Hungary (Polish Władysław II Jagiellończyk , Hungarian Ulászló , German Ladislaus Jagiello , Czech Vladislav Jagellonský , Croatian Vladislav II Jagelović ; born March 1, 1456 in Krakow ; † March 13, 1516 in Ofen ) was the king from Bohemia , Croatia and Hungary . He was the son of Casimir IV. Andrew , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Elizabeth of Habsburg . Vladislav II came from the Jagiellonian noble family .

Life

1465 was formed in Bohemia , led by the Catholic movement Gruenberger Alliance ( Jednota Zelenohorská ), an opposition against King George of Podebrady . Their preferred candidate as his successor was the Polish King Casimir IV, who refused to run. A year later, Pope Paul II proclaimed a crusade against heretical Bohemia, led by the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus , who was then proclaimed king in 1469 by the Grünberg Alliance. Georg renounced the right of inheritance to the crown and offered it to the Jagiellonian family. Five weeks after the election of the Hungarian king by the aristocrats of the Grünberg Alliance in Olomouc , Georg refused the crown and appointed Vladislav, the eldest son of the Polish king Casimir, as his successor. The election was confirmed after the king's death by the election on May 27, 1471 in Kuttenberg .

From his predecessor Georg von Podiebrad, Vladislav inherited the war against the anti-king Matthias Corvinus, who, unlike Vladislav (who was also a Catholic), was not prepared to recognize the utraquist denomination under national law. This war ended with the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. Matthias kept the neighboring Bohemian countries Moravia , Silesia , Upper and Lower Lusatia and, like Vladislav, was allowed to use the title of King of Bohemia. After the death of one king, the Bohemian crown was to be reunited in the hands of the other. This happened after the death of Matthias Corvinus. On September 21, 1490, Vladislav was crowned King of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on the basis of the Peace of Olomouc of 1479. He also asserted himself as king in Hungary against the Habsburg Maximilian I and his brother Johann I Albrecht . An inheritance contract with the Habsburgs and the arranged marriage of his daughter Anna with Maximilian's grandson Ferdinand and his son Ludwig with Maria of Austria in 1515 created the dynastic prerequisites for the rise of the House of Habsburg in Eastern Central Europe.

Both in Hungary and in Bohemia, the rule of Vladislav II was heavily dependent on the nobility. In 1500 the Bohemian estates enforced the Vladislav regional order , named after the king , which ensured them a large say in the government of the country.

For Vladislav II, the Prague Castle was expanded in the Renaissance style from around 1490 . The most important monument of this period is the so-called Vladislav Hall, in whose architectural decorations mix late Gothic and Renaissance forms. For his personal use, Vladislav had the Křivoklát Castle rebuilt in a hunting forest west of Prague from around 1480 .

Marriage and offspring

Seal of Vladislav II from 1513

Vladislav II was married to the French princess Anne de Foix-Candale (* 1484, † July 26, 1506 in Ofen ) since September 29, 1502 . The marriage had two children:

• Anna (1503–1547), heiress of Bohemia and Hungary ⚭ 1515 Ferdinand I (1503–1564), Archduke of Austria and German-Roman King
• Ludwig II (1506–1526), ​​last king of the Bohemian-Hungarian Jagiellonian line ⚭ 1515 Archduchess Maria (1505–1558)

literature

• Winfried Eberhard: Confession formation and estates in Bohemia 1478-1530 . Munich 1981.
• Karel Malý (ed.): Vladislavské zřízení zemské. A počátky ústavního zřízení v českých zemích (1500–1619) . Praha 2001, ISBN 80-7286-035-6 .
• Felix Priebatsch:  Wladislaw II. In: General German Biography (ADB). Volume 43, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1898, pp. 688-696.

Remarks

1. ^ František Palacký: Archive český

predecessor	Office	successor
George of Podebrady	King of Bohemia 1471–1516	Ludwig II.
Matthias Corvinus	King of Hungary 1490–1516	Ludwig II.
Matthias Corvinus	King of Croatia and Slavonia 1490–1516	Ludwig II.