Charles I of Hungary - Struggle For Hungary

Struggle For Hungary

The weakening of royal authority under Stephen V of Hungary allowed the House of Šubić to regain their former role in Dalmatia. Soon Ladislaus IV of Hungary, recognizing the balance of power in Dalmatia, named Croatian magnate Paul I Šubić of Bribir as Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia. Ladislaus IV died in 1290 leaving no sons, and a civil war between rival candidates pro-Hungarian Andrew III of Hungary, and pro-Croatian Charles Martel of Anjou started. Charles Martel's father Charles II of Naples, awarded all Croatia from Gvozd Mountain (Croatian: Petrova Gora) to the river Neretva mouth hereditary to Paul I Šubić.

In the beginning of 1300, Paul I Šubić accepted Charles' title to the kingdom and invited him to Hungary. His grandfather accepted the invitation and granted Charles a smaller amount of money and sent him to Hungary to enforce his claim against King Andrew III. Charles disembarked in Split in August 1300 and he went to Zagreb where he was accepted as King of Hungary by Ugrin Csák, another influential magnate of the kingdom.

When King Andrew III died on 14 January 1301, Charles' partisans took him to Esztergom where the Archbishop Gregory Bicskei crowned him with an occasional crown because the Holy Crown of Hungary was guarded by his opponents. The majority of the magnates of the kingdom, however, did not accept his rule and proclaimed Wenceslaus, the son of Wenceslaus II of Bohemia king. The young Wenceslaus accepted the election and got engaged to Elizabeth, the daughter of King Andrew III and he was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár by Archbishop John of Kalocsa.

After his opponent's coronation, Charles withdrew to Slavonia where his partisans strengthened his rule. In September 1302, he laid siege to Buda, but he could not occupy the capital of the kingdom and had to withdraw to Slavonia again. Pope Boniface VIII confirmed Charles' claim to Hungary on 31 May 1303 and his maternal uncle, King Albert I of Germany also provided him military assistance. In the summer of 1304, King Wenceslaus II of Bohemia arrived to Hungary in order to help his son to strengthen his rule in the kingdom. However, the King of Bohemia had to realise soon that his son's position in Hungary was unstable; therefore he decided to retreat and his son followed him. On hearing his opponents retreat, Charles made an alliance with Duke Rudolph I of Austria and they attacked Bohemia but they could not occupy Kutná Hora and Charles had to retreat to Hungary.

Nevertheless, the majority of the Hungarian magnates did not accept Charles' rule. In August 1305, his opponent, Wenceslaus, who had inherited Bohemia from his father, renounced his claim to Hungary on behalf of Otto III, Duke of Bavaria, who was a grandson of King Béla IV of Hungary. Otto arrived to Hungary soon and he was crowned with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár by the Bishops of Veszprém and Csanád on 6 December. However, Otto was not able to strengthen his rule, either. In the course of 1306, Charles occupied Esztergom, Spiš Castle, Zvolen and some other fortresses in the northern parts of the kingdom, and in the next year he also occupied Buda.

In June 1307, Duke Otto III visited the powerful Voivode of Transylvania, Ladislaus Kán, but the latter arrested him. On 10 October 1307, the magnates presented at the assembly in Rákos proclaimed Charles king, but the most powerful aristocrats (Máté Csák and Ladislaus Kán) ignored him. At the end of the year, Ladislaus Kán set Charles' opponent free and Otto left the country, but the Voivode of Transylvania refused to hand over the Holy Crown of Hungary to Charles, whose legitimacy could be questioned without the coronation with the Holy Crown.