Ladislaus Postumus

Ladislaus V Postumus, also known as Ladislaus Pohrobek, was born on 22 February 1440 in Komorn and died on 23 November 1457 in Prague. He was Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, and King of Bohemia from the House of Habsburg. He was called “Postumus” because he was born four months after the death of his father, Albert II. Ladislaus was the son of Albert II and Elisabeth of Luxembourg. His father ruled several territories in Central Europe and was crowned King of Hungary and Bohemia in 1438, as well as elected King of the Romans. During a campaign against the Ottomans, Albert fell ill and died of dysentery near Raab on 27 October 1439. He left behind his pregnant wife and two daughters; another son had already died in childhood. Even before his birth, Ladislaus was regarded as a possible heir to the Habsburg possessions. In Hungary, however, many nobles wanted an adult ruler who could personally lead the country in the war against the advancing Ottomans. They therefore initially offered the Hungarian throne to the young Polish king, Władysław III Jagiello. Elisabeth then withdrew her consent. A court lady stole the Holy Crown of Hungary from Visegrád, and on 15 May 1440 the infant Ladislaus was crowned King of Hungary at Székesfehérvár. His rule was immediately disputed. Władysław III arrived in Hungary and was also crowned king in July 1440, although with a substitute crown. The Hungarian Diet declared the child’s coronation invalid and thereby established that the Diet’s approval, rather than the crown alone, was decisive for royal legitimacy. The dispute led to a prolonged civil war between supporters of the Habsburgs and the Jagiellonians. Ladislaus’s party was supported by Elisabeth, powerful magnates, several towns, and the Bohemian mercenary commander Jan Jiskra. Jiskra established a strong position in northern Hungary, while Władysław’s supporters gained influence mainly in central and southern Hungary. After Elisabeth fled to Vienna, Ladislaus was placed under the protection of Duke Frederick III of Habsburg, who later became Holy Roman Emperor. Frederick kept the young king, the Holy Crown, and several Hungarian towns under his control. Ladislaus remained the rightful heir in Hungary but was unable to rule personally. After Władysław III was killed fighting the Ottomans at Varna in November 1444, the Hungarian estates accepted Ladislaus in principle as king but demanded his return. Frederick refused to hand him over, and in 1446 the Diet elected the renowned military leader John Hunyadi as governor and de facto regent of Hungary. Hunyadi was a prominent commander who rose to become one of the most powerful figures in the country through victories over both the Ottomans and Ladislaus’s supporters. His position remained contested because regional rulers such as Jiskra and Ulrich II of Cilli acted with considerable independence. Hunyadi’s campaigns against Jiskra were unsuccessful. An offensive against the Ottomans also ended in defeat at the Battle of Kosovo in 1448. Nevertheless, Hunyadi dominated Hungarian politics during Ladislaus’s minority. In 1452, an uprising in Austria forced Frederick III to hand the young king over to Ulrich II of Cilli. Ladislaus was now able to return to Bohemia and Hungary. In Bohemia, he was finally crowned king in Prague on 28 October 1453. Actual government initially remained in the hands of George of Poděbrady, a moderate Hussite and influential Bohemian nobleman. Under his leadership, the courts and royal possessions were reorganized, and Bohemian supremacy over Moravia, Silesia, and Lusatia was restored. Ladislaus also sought reconciliation between the rival factions in Hungary. He granted an amnesty to those who had fought against him since 1440, confirmed many magnates in possession of their estates, and renewed the royal administrative and judicial institutions. Hunyadi lost the office of governor but remained commander-in-chief of the army and retained extensive revenues and possessions. A new struggle for power nevertheless developed between him and a group of magnates led by Ulrich of Cilli, Ladislaus Garai, and Nicholas Újlaki. The Ottoman Empire remained the greatest external threat. As Sultan Mehmed II intensified his attacks on Serbia and the Hungarian borderlands, Hungary adopted extensive defensive measures. King Ladislaus favored war against the Ottomans, while Hunyadi secretly sought an extension of the truce through the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. In 1454, Hunyadi defeated Ottoman forces near Kruševac. In 1455, however, Novo Brdo fell, and large parts of the Serbian despot’s territories came under direct Ottoman control. The decisive episode was the defense of Belgrade in the summer of 1456. Sultan Mehmed II besieged the city with a large army. Ladislaus fled Hungary for Vienna, while John Hunyadi and the preacher John of Capistrano arrived with forces to support the defenders. After nearly three weeks, the Ottoman attack was repulsed on 22 July. The victory caused great rejoicing throughout Europe, but Hunyadi died of the plague at Zemun on 11 August. After Hunyadi’s death, his elder son Ladislaus Hunyadi entered into open conflict with Ulrich of Cilli. During a visit to Belgrade, Cilli was killed by Hunyadi’s supporters on 9 November 1456. The king, who was also in the city, was temporarily taken captive. Ladislaus V initially promised not to seek revenge, but in March 1457 he had Ladislaus Hunyadi arrested for allegedly conspiring against him and executed in Buda on 16 March. His younger brother Matthias remained in royal custody. The execution triggered another uprising. On 25 May 1457, Ladislaus left Hungary and took Matthias Hunyadi with him to Prague. There he prepared to marry Madeleine of Valois, a daughter of King Charles VII of France. Before the marriage could take place, however, Ladislaus suddenly died at the age of seventeen. Some contemporaries suspected poisoning or the plague, but later examinations of his skeleton indicated that he had suffered from leukemia. He was buried in St Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Since he had no legitimate descendants, one branch of the Habsburg dynasty became extinct with him. After his death, Matthias Corvinus was elected king in Hungary, while George of Poděbrady became king of Bohemia.