(^88) ANJOU
Following the crises caused by the cataclysmic Mongol invasion of 1241 and
the extinction of the Arpad dynasty in 1301, the fortunes of the Hungarian
Kingdom were quickly revived by the Angevins. The route whereby a cadet
line of the French Capetians arrived in Buda via the Kingdom of Naples can
only be traced by reference to the tortuous decisions of papal politics. But it
was no less felicitous for that. Charles Robert (Carobert) of Anjou, son of
Charles Martel, King of Naples, was elected to the throne of Hungary in 1308,
and reigned for thirty-four years. His son, Louis of Anjou (1326-82), known in
Hungarian history as 'Lajos the Great' and in Polish History as 'Ludwik
Wejierski' (Louis the Hungarian), enjoyed a reign of still greater length and
renown. Possessed of Europe's most valuable gold mines, and aided by a
reformed and efficient administration, he could afford to build an empire. His
ambitions were boundless. In 1348, he was styling himself among other things
'King of Jerusalem' and 'King of Sicily'. His expedition to recover Naples from
his dissolute second cousin, Joanna, was only prevented by the onset of the
Black Death. In a series of wars against the Venetian Republic, he recovered
the Dalmatian coast and Ragusa (Dubrovnik). In the east, he asserted his
suzerainty over Bosnia, northern Serbia, eastern Bulgaria, Moldavia, and
Wallachia. When he took control of Poland in 1370, in succession to Casimir
the Great, he reigned over the largest political complex of fourteenth-century
Europe.^1 (See Map 8.)
To say that Louis of Anjou was elected King of Poland is rather to miss the
point. It would be more realistic to stress that the Polish Kingdom was tacked
on to the domain of Louis of Anjou. He was confirmed on the Polish throne for
the simple reason that his private dynastic policy accorded well with the inter-
ests of the Polish barons. National interest played little part. After his corona-
tion in Cracow, Louis rarely visited Poland. He ruled through regents. The
Angevin party centred on the leading families of Malopolska — the Teczynski,
Melsztynski, Tarnowski, Kurozwecki. They were happy enough to be left to
their own devices to an extent which had not been possible under Casimir.
Opposition however collected round the late king's former ministers —
Archbishop Jaroslaw, Chancellor Janusz Suchywilk, and Vice-Chancellor
Janko of Czarnkow together with the barons of Wielkopolska and Kujawy.
They were ready to intrigue on behalf of the Piasts, and quickly resorted to
armed resistance. Intermittent clashes recurred during the reign. The latest of a
series of warlords from Wielkopolska, Bartosz of Odolanow, was still in the
field in 1382 when Louis died. The regents did not rule comfortably. The first,
the King's Polish mother, Elzbieta Lokietkowna, resigned in 1376 after a bloody
affray in Cracow between her Hungarian guards and the Polish garrison. The
second, Wladyslaw of Opole, lasted five years. The third, Zawisza of
Kurozweki, was intended to rule with the aid of a baronial quadrumvirate, but
failed to impose his authority. The fourth, the King's daughter, Maria, and her
husband Sigismund of Luxembourg, Prince of Brandenburg, were unable to
install themselves before the reign ended.
c. jardin
(C. Jardin)
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