15. - 16. století
Vladislas Jagiello
King of Bohemia of the Polish Jagiello dynasty
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He was the oldest son of King Casimir IV of the Polish Jagiello dynasty. Vladislas was offered the throne of Bohemia by the “Hussite” King George of Podebrady.
Vladislas was hence crowned King of Bohemia by the nobles at the assembly in Kutna Hora in 1471. His position wasn’t easy after he arrived to the country. As was the case with King George, Vladislas was also the king of “two people”, he was opposed by the anti-King Matthias and he also wasn’t recognized by the Curia. His rivalry with the Hungarian king ended with a compromise called the Peace of Olomouc, by which King Vladislas reigned in Bohemia while Matthias kept the title of King of Bohemia and ruled over Moravia, Silesia and the Upper and the Lower Lusatias until his death. In 1487 Vladislas’ royal title was recognized by the Pope. Vladislas was a respectable and good-natured man, but he was also weak and didn’t have a statesmanlike conception of things. In 1490, King Matthias
died, by which Vladislas recovered his lost lands and was elected King of Hungary. He moved to Buda and almost didn’t care for the Bohemian country anymore. He was married three times: first to Barbara of the Hohenzollern dynasty, although it was a long distance marriage and the king soon backed out of it and never met his wife. His second marriage was with Matthias’ widow, Beatrice of Aragon, but that too was a purely formal union. Both marriages were cancelled in 1500 by the Pope. In 1502, Vladislas married the French noblewoman Anne de Foix. This marriage was a happy union and the couple gave birth to two children, Anna and Louis. After giving birth to her son, the queen died, which deeply marked Vladislas for the rest of his life. He concluded marriage contracts with the Roman Emperor Maximilian, based on which his son Louis married Mary Habsburg and Anna married the archduke Ferdinand.
Vladislas then died in Székesfehérvár.
