Prague 1, day 109: Vladislavova

Originally published on X on 10 January 2024.

Vladislav/Władysław/Vladislaus/Ulászló was born in 1456, as the eldest son of Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland. His mother was Elizabeth of Austria, granddaughter of Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (and King of Bohemia from 1419 to 1437).

Elizabeth’s brother, Ladislaus the Posthumous (Ladislav Posmrtni), had become King of Bohemia in 1453, but would die in 1457, aged just 17. The cause of death was probably leukaemia.

He was succeeded by George of Poděbrad (https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2023/12/23/prague-3-day-189-namesti-jiriho-z-podebrad/), who had agreed with Casimir IV that his successor would be a member of the Jagiellon dynasty.

Hence Vladislav being chosen as King by the Bohemian Diet when George died in 1471. However, the Catholic States Bohemia had also elected Matthias Corvinus (Matyáš Korvín) as King two years earlier.

They made peace in 1478, when it was agreed that Vladislav would get Bohemia, while Matyáš would be in charge in Moravia, Lusatia and Silesia, all of which Vladislav would get to be in charge of if Matyáš were to die prematurely.

It was also in 1478 that Vladislav decided to close down the Jewish cemetery here – see https://whatsinapraguestreetname.com/2024/09/14/prague-1-day-107-charvatova/ – which isn’t really the sort of thing that should result in your getting a street named after you, is it.

In 1483, the Hussites, worried about Vladislav’s concessions to the Catholics (who were making plans to get all their powers back), launched an uprising in Prague. Defenestrations were involved, because of course they were.

Eventually, in 1485, the Hussites and the Catholics met at Kutná Hora and declared their churches to be equal, making Bohemia the first country in Europe to legally guarantee religious tolerance (for these two confessions, at least). Take that, Nantes.

In 1490, that peace made twelve years earlier proved quite advantageous to Vladislav – Matyáš did indeed die, and Vladislav became King of Hungary, which he celebrated by moving to Buda. He would only pop back to Prague twice after this.

Which you would probably do too if you wanted to avoid the Hussite-Catholic bickering that took up much of the rest of his reign over Bohemia (not described in detail here because it’ll surely appear in another thread one day).

Vladislav died in 1516, and was succeeded by his son Ludvík, who would be the last of the Jagiellon Kings of Bohemia (and who would show even less interest in Bohemia than his dad did, visiting once in his ten-year reign).