Vladislaus II, also known as Vladislav, Władysław, or Wladislas (; ; ; ); (1 March 1456 – 13 March 1516), was King of Bohemia from 1471 to 1516 and King of Hungary and King of Croatia from 1490 to 1516. As the eldest son of Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was expected to inherit the Crown Kingdom of Poland and adjacent Grand Duchy of Lithuania. George of Poděbrady, the Hussite ruler of Bohemia, offered to make Vladislaus his heir in 1468. George needed Casimir's support against the rebellious Roman Catholic noblemen and their ally King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus. The Diet of Bohemia elected Vladislaus king after George's death, but he could rule only Bohemia proper because Matthias, whom the Roman Catholic nobles had elected king, occupied adjacent Moravia, and further east of Silesia in southeastern Germany and both Lusatias. Vladislaus tried to reconquer the four provinces with his father's assistance but was repelled by Matthias.
Vladislaus and Matthias divided the lands of the Crown of Bohemia at the Peace of Olomouc in 1479. The estates of the realm had strengthened their position during the decade-long Bohemian-Hungarian War (1468–1478) known as the war between both kings. Vladislaus's attempts to promote the Roman Catholics caused a rebellion in the capital of Prague and other towns in 1483 that forced him to acknowledge the dominance of the Hussites in the municipal assemblies. The Diet confirmed the right of the Bohemian noblemen and commoners to adhere freely to the religious faith of Hussitism or Roman Catholicism in 1485. After Matthias seized the Silesian duchies to grant them to his illegitimate son, John Corvinus, Vladislaus made new alliances against him in the late 1480s.
Vladislaus, whose mother, Elizabeth of Austria (1436–1505), was the sister of Matthias's predecessor, laid claim to Hungary after Matthias's death. The Diet of Hungary elected Vladislaus king after his supporters had defeated John Corvinus. The other two claimants, Maximilian of Austria (Holy Roman Emperor) and Vladislaus's brother, John I Albert, invaded Hungary, but they could not assert their claim and so made peace with Vladislaus in 1491. He settled in Buda, which enabled the Estates of Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and both Lusatias to take full charge of state administration. As he had in Bohemia, Vladislaus always approved the decisions of the Royal Council in Hungary, hence his Hungarian nickname "Dobzse László" (Czech: král Dobře, Latin: rex Bene – "King Very Well", from Polish: dobrze). The concessions that he had made before his election prevented the royal treasury from financing a standing army, and Matthias's Black Army of Hungary was dissolved after a rebellion. However, the Ottoman Empire to the southeast made regular raids against the southern border in the Balkan Peninsula and annexed territories in adjacent Croatia.
Early life Vladislaus was the eldest son of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Elizabeth of Austria. She was the daughter of Albert, King of the Romans, Hungary and Bohemia, and Elizabeth of Luxembourg, the only child and sole heiress of the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund. Vladislaus was born in Kraków on 1 March 1456. His mother and father laid claim to Hungary and Bohemia after her childless brother, Ladislaus the Posthumous, died on 23 November 1457. However, their claims were ignored in both Hungary and Bohemia. The Diet of Hungary elected Matthias Corvinus king on 24 January 1458. The Bohemian Estates of the realm proclaimed the Hussite George of Poděbrady king on 2 March.
Vladislaus was his father's heir in Poland and Lithuania. Casimir IV wanted to prepare all his sons for ruling a realm and tasked renowned scholars with their education. The historian Jan Długosz was Vladislaus's tutor.
Pope Paul II excommunicated George of Poděbrady in late 1466 and proclaimed a crusade against him. The Czech Catholic noblemen rose up against the "heretic" George of Poděbrady and sought assistance from Matthias Corvinus. Matthias declared war in March 1468 and invaded Moravia. On 16 May 1468, George of Poděbrady offered Casimir IV to make Vladislaus his heir if Casimir mediated a peace treaty between Bohemia and Hungary. Matthias refused Casimir's offer, but George of Poděbrady forced him to sign a truce in early 1469. Fearing of losing Matthias's support, the Catholic nobles proclaimed him king of Bohemia in Olomouc on 3 May. After George of Poděbrady repeated his offer of bequeathing Bohemia to Vladislaus, Casimir IV entered into negotiations with the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III on George of Poděbrady's behalf. George of Poděbrady died on 22 March 1471.
Reign
War for Bohemia
After the fifteen-year-old Vladislaus pledged to respect the liberties of the Estates of the realm, the Bohemian Diet elected him king at Kutná Hora on 27 May 1471. He was specifically required to acknowledge the existence of two "nations" (the Catholic and Hussite Estates) in his realm in accordance with the Compacts of Basel, although the Holy See had already condemned the Compacts in 1462. The Holy See regarded Vladislaus's election invalid and the papal legate, Lorenzo Roverella, confirmed Matthias Corvinus's claim to Bohemia on 28 May. However, Emperor Frederick III refused to acknowledge Matthias as the lawful king of Bohemia.
Vladislaus was crowned king in Prague on 22 August 1471. He could only secure his position with the noblemen's support, because no army had accompanied him to Bohemia. Consequently, the Diet developed into the most influential body of state administration during his reign. The Diet started to work as a legislative assembly and passed decrees that were recorded in specific registers.
Casimir IV also supported Vladislaus. He allowed his second son, Vladislaus's brother Casimir, to invade Upper Hungary (now Slovakia) from Poland after a group of Hungarian barons and prelates offered Casimir the Hungarian throne in late 1471. Matthias defeated Casimir and forced him to withdraw from Hungary before the end of the year. On 1 March 1472, Pope Sixtus IV authorized his legate, Marco Barbo, to excommunicate Vladislaus and his father if they continued to wage war against Matthias. The first truce between Vladislaus and Matthias was signed on 31 May. Their representatives continued negotiations for months, often in the presence of the papal legate who supported Matthias's claims. The Diet elected four noblemen at Benešov in 1473 to administer Bohemia as regents until peace was restored.
The representatives of Casimir IV and Matthias concluded a peace treaty on 21 February 1474. Two days later Vladislaus also agreed to sign a truce for three years. Before long, Vladislaus met Frederick III at the Imperial Diet in Nuremberg and persuaded him to make an alliance against Matthias. Casimir IV also joined the coalition. The Polish and Bohemian armies broke into Silesia and besieged Matthias in Wrocław in October. The Hungarian troops cut off the invaders' supply routes, forcing Vladislaus and Casimir to sign a new truce for more than one year on 8 December.
The young Barbara of Brandenburg inherited the Duchy of Głogów in Silesia from her husband, Henry XI of Głogów, in 1476. Most Silesian dukes had years before acknowledged the suzerainty of Matthias Corvinus, but Vladislaus wanted to expand his authority in the province. He married Barbara by proxy to seize her duchy. With Matthias's support, Henry XI's nephew, Jan II, Duke of Żagań, broke into the duchy and occupied it. After Barbara lost her dowry, the Royal Council forbade her to come to Bohemia.
Vladislaus's attempt to seize Głogów gave rise to a new conflict. Vladislaus and Frederick III confirmed their alliance against Matthias on 5 December 1476. The papal legate, Baldasare de Piscia, threatened Vladislaus with excommunication if he invaded Matthias's realms. Frederick III installed Vladislaus as king of Bohemia and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire on 10 June 1477. Two days later, Matthias declared war against the emperor and invaded Austria. Vladislaus sent reinforcements to his ally, but he withdrew his troops from Austria before the end of July. Frederick was forced to acknowledge Matthias as the lawful king of Bohemia on 1 December.
Baldasare de Piscia excommunicated Vladislaus and his supporters on 15 January 1478. The representatives of Vladislaus and Matthias started new negotiations, and they reached a compromise that was accepted by both monarchs. The right of both Vladislaus and Matthias to use the title of king of Bohemia was confirmed, but only Matthias was required to address Vladislaus as such in their correspondence. The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were divided: Vladislaus ruled in Bohemia proper and Matthias in Moravia, Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatias. The compromise also authorized Vladislaus to redeem the three provinces for 400,000 gold florins after Matthias's death. Matthias and Vladislaus ratified the peace treaty with great pomp and ceremony at a meeting in Olomouc on 21 July 1479.
Conflicts in Bohemia The Peace of Olomouc enabled the Catholic noblemen who had supported Matthias to return to Bohemia. Vladislaus, who remained a Catholic, decided to strengthen the position of the Catholics in his realm because he needed the support of the Holy See to strengthen his position in Europe. Although he was unable to achieve the restoration of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Prague, he began replacing the Hussite members of the town councils with Catholic burghers. Two sons of Vladislaus's predecessor, Jindřich and Hynek of Poděbrady, also converted to Catholicism.
Vladislaus's campaign for re-Catholicisation stirred up the Hussites, and the townspeople in Prague rose up in September 1483. The rebels murdered or expelled all Catholic clerics and aldermen and persecuted the Germans and Jews. Vladislaus was also forced to leave the capital. Similar rebellions broke out in Nymburk, Žatec and Hradec Králové. After realizing that he could not send forces against Prague, Vladislaus acknowledged that he was unable to continue his pro-Catholic policy and confirmed the new Hussite aldermen in 1484. Vladislaus had a close relationship with the Jewish community, including employing Jewish people such as Abraham of Bohemia.
The success of the revolt of the burghers of Prague brought about a between the moderate Hussite and Catholic noblemen who treated the townspeople with disdain. Vladislaus also urged the noblemen to reach an agreement on religious matters. Their compromise was confirmed at the Diet in Kutná Hora in March 1485, with acknowledging the right of both noblemen and commoners to freely adhere either to Catholicism or to Utraquism during the following 31 years.
Frederick III failed to invite Vladislaus and Matthias to the Imperial Diet at Frankfurt, where his son, Maximilian, was elected King of the Romans on 16 February 1486. Frederick's omission offended both kings of Bohemia who made an alliance against the emperor at a meeting in Jihlava on 11 September. The meeting also created an opportunity to discuss other issues of common interest, especially the circulation of money in their realms. Vladislaus pledged to send reinforcements to Matthias to fight against Frederick III, but his advisors convinced him not to keep his promise. The Diet of Bohemia also urged him to make peace with the emperor and the prince-electors in June 1487. In the same year, Pope Innocent VIII lifted the excommunication and recognized Vladislaus as king of Bohemia.