Polish and Hungarian lords in the entourage of Władysław, King of Poland and Hungary 1440–14421

Polish and Hungarian lords in the Entourage of Władysław, King of Poland and Hungary 1440–1442 Based on the analysis of sources it can be stated that Polish presence near the king was constant and significant. The most significant officials temporarily supported the king, but did not accompany the ruler on his military campaigns. The king held Polish–Hungarian joint coun‐ cils from as early as 1440. It is most probable that a significant part of the Poles took the Hungarian efforts of Władysław seriously, and many noble families saw great potential in a Hungarian service. In this paper we endeavored to call attention to the fact that a vast amount of Polish‐ ‐related genealogical data (seals, itinerary supplements) can be found from this era in the Hungarian and Austrian archives. We hope that this collection will provide assistance to many in their research.


Introduction
In just a few days following the death of Sigismund of Luxembourg in December 1437, Hungarian lords chose the Austrian prince, Albert the Magnanimous, as king and crowned him together with his wife on the 1 st of January 1438 2 . However, Albert was not given much time on the Hungarian throne, because during the 1439 campaign against the Ottomans he also became a victim of the the epidemic that broke out in his army and fell into eternal sleep at Neszmély, near Győr, on the 27 th of October 1439 3 . Since Albert passed away 1 The research was financed by the Higher Education Institutional Excellence Programme (NKFIH-1150-6/2019) of the Ministry of Innovation and Technology in Hungary, within the framework of the Energetics thematic programme of the University of Debrecen.  Aetas" 1994, vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 120-151, here: p. 121. without a successor, the Hungarian -and thusly the Czech and the Austrian -thrones were left empty. Albert's last will for the lords of his countries was to set up a regency council until his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg gave birth to their child, since the queen was pregnant at the time. Nonetheless, the will of the deceased king had very little raison d'être: the leaders of his countries did not wish to cooperate with each other. The primary goal of the Hungarian noblemen was to quickly find an heir to the throne, as a year earlier Murad II, the Ottoman Sultan, had led a successful campaign against Serbia, the southern neighbour of Hungary 4 . The Hungarian -Serbian counteroffensive had not taken place in autumn 1439, so it could have been be anticipated that the Sultan was going to take advantage of the king's death and carry on with another campaign (this assumption was proved to be correct by the siege of Nándorfehérvár in 1440) 5 Consequently, it was necessary to elect a new king, preferably someone who could provide foreign support to the country. There was no shortage of candidates. As a possible option emerged Lazar, son of the Serbian despot Đurađ Branković, who was present at the diet held in Buda in January 1440. Many noblemen saw an alternative in Władysław III of Poland as well. The choice of the Jagiellonian ruler was made more propitious by the military power of the country behind him and the personal union that existed in the Anjou era. During the diet, the words of Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop of Kraków, and Jan Taszka Koniecpolski, Polish Royal Lord Chancellor, could likely carry considerable weight, as they were both seasoned diplomats 6 The electing diet eventually came to a broad political consensus on the 18 th of January 1440 and sent a delegation to Władysław III of Poland in order to invite him to the Hungarian throne 7 . The envoys, 4 I. Tringli, Az újkor hajnala: Magyarország története 1440-1541, Budapest 2003 however, advanced on their journey extremely slowly; they were merely at Prešov on the 17 th of February 8 . Meanwhile, Elizabeth of Luxembourg together with her lady -in -waiting Helene Kottanner (Hungarian: Kottanner Jánosné Wolfram Ilona) stole the Holy Crown of Hungary from the castle of Visegrád 9 . The reason for this was that in the case of delivering a boy, the Queen wished to ensure that her offspring would be crowned. Her calculations were not in vain; a few days later she gave birth to a boy, who later became known as Ladislaus the Posthumous, King of Hungary.
The envoys arrived in Kraków only at the end of February. Already on the 2 nd of March 1440 Władysław III refered to himself as the "chosen King of Hungary" 10 . Along with the Polish lords he issued a diploma on the 8 th of March 1440, according to which he attempted to take the Hungarian throne 11 . Thereafter he gathered his company for more than a month. The king was still in Kraków on the 9 th of April 1440. He was in Sącz on the 19 th of April, and he arrived to Kežmarok/ Käsmark with his company on the 24 th of April at the latest 12 . Jan Długosz, the canon of Kraków, listed the names of the Polish noblemen who were in the company of the king 13 . Accordingly, several prominent people of the royal court joined Władysław -besides the heads of the chancellery and the bishop and dean of Kraków, so did the Voivode of 8 B. Iványi, Bártfa szabad királyi város levéltára 1319-1526, vol. 1, Budapest 1910 The peculiarity of the diploma is that both the Hungarian and Polish noblemen placed their seals on it. From the Polish side, only the greatest ecclesiastic and secular lords strengthened the diploma, on which we can find the seals of voivodes and castellans. This so -called multi -sigillic diploma lists the closest supporters of Władysław from both the Hungarian and Polish side. It has long been recognised by Hungarian historiography; the list of the people who placed their seals on it from the Hungarian side has been published by Pál Engel 16 Silicone gum replicas were made of its seals in the 1960s under the instructions of the Centre for Art Historical Documentation. As a result of the procedure, which was relatively new at the time, these replicas -along with a couple hundred others -were placed in the collection of the Research Group for Art History within the Hungarian Academy The negotiations failed, however. Thus, at one point in time the country had two kings. We identify Ladislaus the Posthumous as legally crowned king (Archbishop of Esztergom, Székesfehérvár, Holy Crown of Hungary). Although he was only a couple months old and did not have an extensive base of supporters, he was still the legitimate heir of King Albert and, last but not least, he was related to the recently crowned Frederick III. On the other side stood Władysław in his prime -16 years old at the time -who had been ruling Poland for six years now and was chosen and supported by a large group of Hungarian and Polish lords. The most important castle and city of the kingdom fell into his hands; he stationed an army of several thousand at Buda. His situation was aggravated by the fact that he did not possess the Holy Crown, and Elizabeth most obviously did not offer it to him.
Hence, he not only needed the assistance of the Hungarian lords, but of the estates' as well. By the 29 th of June 1440 he had gained that support, the proof of which is represented by the diploma issued on that day. In it, the estates of the realm -8 high priests, 55 lords, and the envoys of 28 counties -strengthened under oath the choosing of Władysław as Hungarian King and invalidated the coronation of Ladislaus the Posthumous 19 . After that, the king and his supporters marched to Székesfehérvár and -not having the Holy Crown -Dennis Szécsi crowned him with the crown from the reliquary of St. Stephen on the 17 th of July 1440; and thus he became Ulászló I 20 . From this point onward, the country had two crowned kings and at the end of summer began the political and later armed struggle for the throne.
The joint Polish -Hungarian royal council of Władysław Before we continue with our discussion, it is worth saying a few words about the chancellery and the usage of the seal of Władysław. The Polish and Hungarian chancelleries are undoubtedly distinct. On his Hungarian diplomas, and only on them, until the summer of 1440 he used his royal secret seal. On Polish -related diplomas, depending on the context, he used his Polish royal secret seal and his "middle" seal 21 . The greater seal was applied onto diplomas that granted rights. According to the Polish diploma -issuing tradition, the formula that strengthened these diplomas listed the names of those that were present with the king. The first such diploma known was issued on the 28 th of September 1440 22 . The names of the present Hungarian and Polish lords can be read after the presentibus ibidem introductory formula:

The first year of infighting
In late summer of 1440 the conflict escalated between Władysław and Elizabeth, who was engaged in politics on behalf of Ladislaus. While on the 17 th of July 1440 most of the barons who held office strengthened the coronation of Władysław, by the end of the month opposing groupings formed. At the end of July the ruler replaced several noble officials and confiscated the Hungarian lands of Serbian despot Đurađ Branković. The widow Queen Elizabeth had collected a significant amount of funds in August 1440 by pledging the Holy Crown and several western lands to Frederick III. She supposedly used this capital to hire Jan Jiškra, Czech mercenary captain, and his 5,000 soldiers, who arrived in the eastern part of Upper Hungary in September 23 Major military events took place for the first time in January 1441. The army of Elizabeth attacked from two directions. One of them led from the castle of the Archbishop of Esztergom towards Buda; its only result, however, was the shattering of Budafelhévíz. In response, the army of Władysław besieged Esztergom, which quickly resulted in a ceasefire agreement. The other attack was launched from the south by Ladislaus Garai and John Kórógyi. The Ban of Szörény, John Hunyadi, and the Ban of Macsó, Nicholas of Ilok, halted their advance at Bátaszék 24 . Afterwards, the aim of King Władysław and his army was to put an end to the resistance of Ulrich of Celje, the finest ally of Elizabeth. Władysław succeeded in his efforts and Ulrich pledged his allegiance to him on the 19 th of April 1441 at Szombathely 25 At the same time, in the name of Ladislaus the Posthumous, Jan Jiškra evoked a solid resistance in Upper Hungary. By the end of 1440 or the beginning of 1441 he had already controlled the military--and -trade route that connected the Kingdom of Hungary with the Kingdom of Poland. Thus, chasing Jiskra away and creating a link betwixt his two countries was of utmost importance for Władysław. In 1440 he already sent an army against the mercenary captain, but this battalion did not get involved in an actual fight with Jiskra's troops. A year later, at the beginning of July 1441, took place the siege of Košice, which had been occupied by the mercenaries. Władysław commissioned the mercenary Jan Čapek of Sán, who was also of Czech nationality. The king did not participate in the siege personally. The encirclement was, however, breached by an exonerating army from the outside and Čapek was forced to leave the city walls on the 30 th of August 1441 26 As the infighting brought alternating results, the parties decided to congregate and negotiate a ceasefire. On the 10 th of September 1441, the lords gathered at Buda sent several envoys in the name of Władysław to the mediations under the leadership of the Bishop of Eger, Simon Rozgonyi 27 . The negotiating party included Wincenty of Szamotuły, who alone from the Polish company of the king gaind a Hungarian office. Indeed, the diploma mentions him as the Castellan of Visegrád, which was undoubtedly a position of trust, as Visegrád was the location of the treasury and the safekeeping place of the crown. As we saw, its protection was of strategic importance. Although blurry, the seal of the Castellan is still viewable on the diploma today.
But the negotiations did not produce a favourable outcome for a long time. The loss of the Uplands and mine -cities, including Kremnica and its mint, started to affect the treasury of Władysław. On the 28 th of January 1442 Queen Elizabeth entrusted the protection of Zvolen and the mine -cities to the successful Jan Jiskra, who from this point on operated as Chief Captain 28 Several diplomas from 1441 have survived which can give us an account on the Polish company of Władysław. Below are the names of the affirmants of the Polish diplomas of Władysław. According to this, Łukasz z Górki, mentioned before as the Cupbearer of Poznań, was now a voivode. This means that he was near the king when the previous voivode, Sędziwój Ostroróg, passed away, and was thus able to attain the title. It is important to acknowledge that new people also appeared in the king's close entourage. Firstly, we must mention the voivode of Podole, but several officials arrived from Sandomierz and Lublin as well. They were obviously members of the contingent which arrived at the turn of 1441 due to the recruiting efforts of The company of the Polish king in 1442 The year 1442 started with the struggle for the castle of Bratislava, since Elizabeth had set up her headquarters in the city, although the castle was under the authority of Stephen Rozgonyi, Comes of Bratislava, who happened to be the brother of George Rozgonyi, the Judge Royal of Władysław, and Simon Rozgonyi, the Chancellor of the king. Elizabeth and her army had encircled the castle, and King Władysław wished to break this siege personally. However, he did not succeed, thus suffering yet another spectacular defeat after Košice. At the end of May, Simon Rozgonyi and Ladislaus Lévai Cseh marched against the mine -cities with 4,000 Polish and Hungarian horsemen. The attackers committed great devastation; they spoiled churches 29 Cf. J. Dąbrowski, Władysław…, p. 41. 30 We have based our collection on the diplomas of Władysław strengthened with his Polish middle seal. Our efforts were facilitated by the work of Stanisław A Sroka (Itinerarium…), which also served as guidance, as it lists all the diplomas of Władysław together with their publications. Soon we will publish our collection in full with regard to the years 1440-1444. In Polish more recent historiography, see: Z. Pentek, Polscy uczestnicy wyprawy warneńskiej, "Balcanica Posnaniensia. Acta et Studia" 1997, vol. 8, pp. 93-108. and monasteries, and as a result of their ravage a significant part of the archive of Kremnica perished too 31 Pope Eugene IV assigned Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini as messenger of peace to put an end to the continuous fighting. Peacekeeping in the Hungarian Kingdom was important for the Papal Court, as they could not challenge the ever -expanding Ottoman Empire without the Hungarian ruler and his army. Indeed, they besieged -although failed to capture -Nándorfehérvár (now Belgrade) in 1440 and John Hunyadi achieved a victory of worldwide importance in Wallachia over the supreme commander of the Rumelian troops during the summer of 1442, but the threat had not yet passed. The effective activity of the cardinal resulted in negotiations between the envoys of Elizabeth and Władysław in August 1442 32 . The safe -conduct issued on the 16 th of August 1442 to Elizabeth and her envoys by Władysław and his supporters at Buda raised the ceasefire negotiations to the next level 33 With the assistance of the list and the sealers of the diploma, the broader council of King Władysław can also be identified. According to the text of the diploma, Władysław swore to the integrity of the envoys of the enemy; his words were then strengthened by 34 people -Polish and Hungarian high priests, barons, and noble envoys -who placed their seals next to the king's. Although the list does not mention Jan of Lichiń and Ladislaus Losonci, their seals can also be found at the bottom of the diploma 34 . It is worth mentioning that the oath -takers were listed in strict hierarchical order and placed their seals correspondingly in relation to the seal of Władysław, which was, naturally, placed in the middle (19).
First came the seals of the Hungarian bishoprics, based on their significance, placed left of the ruler's (14-18.). Then we can read the names of the most distinguishedsecular lords who were closest to the king: the Rascian despot, the Count of Zagoria and Celje, the palatine, the Voivode of Transylvania and the Ban of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia -we find them on the right (20-24. As a result of the safe -conduct, negotiations could begin between the parties. After a lengthy conciliation, Queen Elizabeth and Władysław met in person at Győr on the 25 th of November 1442, and made peace in the same place on the 13 th of December. In accordance with the agreement, Elizabeth reserved the right of governing the country for his son, while acknowledging the reign of Władysław. Anna, the elder daughter of the Queen, was engaged to Władysław, and her younger daughter to his brother, Casimir IV Jagiellon, Grand Duke of Poland and Lithuania. However, shortly after the hardly accomplished peace treaty, Queen Elizabeth unexpectedly passed away on the 19 th of December 1442; thus, the fragile peace had crumbled and the infighting gained momentum once again 42