Alfonso V. i ugarsko-hrvatsko prijestolje
Authors: Kurelić Robert 
Published: December 2023

Strife and civil wars were the constant companions of dynastic change in late medieval Hungary. After the end of the Árpád dynasty, their Angevin and Luxemburg successors were forced to deal with rival contenders as well as factions of disgruntled barons, who were not above even imprisoning their kings in order to prove a point or force a concession. Charles Robert of Anjou, Sigismund of Luxemburg, Albert II of Habsburg and Władysław III Jagiełło all had to spend a great deal of effort, including open warfare, to obtain and retain their crowns. These repeated tensions resulted in the transformation of Hungary from a hereditary Árpád monarchy to a somewhat elective monarchy in the late Middle Ages. The process was neither complete nor absolute by the mid-fifteenth century, but the basic structure was in place. It was at this time, in 1447, that the sources reveal an offer made by the then regent-governor of Hungary, John Hunyadi to Alfonso the Magnanimous, king of Aragon and, more importantly, Naples. Hunyadi requested military assistance against the Ottomans and offered the Crown of St. Stephen in return. Negotiations mediated by a powerful Croatian count, Stephen II Frankapan, were in full swing from spring 1447 until the spring of 1448, with promises and details hammered out in the winter months and the beginning of the campaign scheduled for the summer of 1448. The death of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti of Milan in August 1447 diverted the attention and resources of King Alfonso, and he was consequently embroiled in the war of the Milanese succession. All he could offer to Hunyadi and Hungarian nobles in the spring of 1448 were empty promises, so that the negotiations broke down and their relationship withered away. The failure of negotiations does not, however, mean that the entire affair is not relevant or interesting for historiography. Quite the contrary: the very fact that the offer existed is revealing at several levels. Hunyadi was, at the time, the regentgovernor of a legally crowned and confirmed king, Ladislas V of Habsburg, which casts the offer itself in a rather treacherous light. That he was willing to make it regardless is a testament to his power and prestige in the kingdom, especially among the lesser nobility, who considered him a hero and a living legend. Furthermore, the fact that Alfonso reneged does not mean pursuit of the matter was merely a lark for him. He was, in fact, quite determined to build a network of allies and vassals on the eastern shores of the Adriatic, and he invested considerable resources toward that end, even donating large sums of money to a member of the Frankapan family at the end of 1447. Although there is disagreement among historians as to his aims on the eastern Adriatic, one can clearly see a purposeful policy behind his actions, which suggests that he may have considered Hunyadi’s offer very seriously, but it ultimately failed because he was overextended and he deemed Italy a priority. Croatian historiography should certainly consider Stephen II’s role with greater interest, as he was basically playing the role of king-maker at this time, which is, again, a clear sign of his own and his family’s preeminent status during this period of history.