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- This article refers to the 15th century Jagiellon monarch. For his grandfather who founded the dynasty, see Władysław II Jagiełło. For other monarchs with similar names, see Ladislaus Jagiello (disambiguation) or Ladislaus (disambiguation).
Ladislaus was born Wladysław on March 1, 1456 as the son of King Casimir IV of Poland and Great Prince of Lithuania, the then head of the Polish ruling dynasty of Jagellon, and of Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of Emperor Albert II of Germany. He was christened as the namesake of his maternal uncle king Ladislaus the Posthumous of Bohemia and his late paternal uncle Vladislaus of Varna, an earlier king of Hungary etc (same name, although written a bit differently).
He was proposed to the Bohemian throne directly by the widow of the previous king, George of Podebrady.
He was crowned as the King of Bohemia (Vladislav) on August 22, 1471, and King of Hungary (Vladislaus, Ulászló) on September 18, 1490.
No regnal number was used by him at the time, but works of reference have retrospectively assigned him various ordinals as to both of his kingdoms. The most usual number is II, though he was also the eighth Ladislas (VIII) on the Hungarian throne and the fifth Vladislav (V) on the Bohemian one.
His predecessor as the King of Hungary, Matthias Corvinus, had previously been a rival for the crown of Bohemia.
The period after the death of King George of Podebrady was a time of conflict for the Bohemian throne and Ladislaus was unable to confront it. At the time of his arrival in Prague, he was only fifteen-years-old and practically dominated by his advisers.
The succession conflict was settled between 1478 and 1479 in the Peace of Olomouc, which allowed both Ladislaus and Matthias Corvinus to use the title "King of Bohemia." Ladislaus would reign in Bohemia proper, while Matthias gained Moravia, Silesia, and the two Lusatias. The deal also stipulated that in case of Matthias´ death, Ladislaus would pay 400,000 gold (contemporary currency, not "gold") for the entirety of the Bohemian lands. However, this payment did not occur once Ladislaus became King of Hungary after the death of Matthias.
The "Kutnohorian deal" in 1485 practically eliminated Ladislaus' power and granted it to the nobles. The deal in its original form would have been in effect for 31 years, but was extended in 1512 to "all times."
He was married four times, first with the widow of Matthias (Beatrice of Naples), and his fourth with Anne de Foix, who finally gave birth to his only surviving legitimate children, Anna of Bohemia and Hungary and Louis. Ladislaus died on March 13, 1516, and was buried in Székesfehérvár.
He was a cheerful man unofficially known as "Ladislaus Bene" ("Władysław Dobrze", "Dobzse László"), because to almost any request he answered, "Bene" (Latin for "(It's) well"). His reign in Hungary was largely tranquil, although Hungary was under consistent border pressure from the Ottoman Empire and briefly suffered from the revolt of György Dózsa.
Ladislaus' ten-year-old son Louis succeeded him to the thrones of both Bohemia and Hungary. His daughter Anne of Bohemia (b. 1503) was by an imperial marriage contract in 1515 married to Ferdinand of Austria, a younger grandson of Maximilian I Habsburg, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. After the death of Louis at the Battle of Mohács, the succession devolved to Anne and the cadet line of eastern Habsburgs.
Hungarian monarchs | Bohemian monarchs | 1456 births | 1516 deaths
Vladislav Jagellonský | Vladislav II. (Böhmen und Ungarn) | Ulászló II | Vladislas IV de Bohême | II. Ulászló | Wladislaus II van Hongarije | Władysław II Jagiellończyk | Vladislav II. (Uhorsko) | Vladislav II av Böhmen
"Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary"