page_title: Ladislaus IV of Hungary
section_title: Minority (1272–1277)
hierarchical_section_title: Ladislaus IV of Hungary / Reign / Minority (1272–1277)
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Печать Елизаветы КуманскойČeština: Pečeť Alžběty KumánskéMagyar: V. István feleségének Kun Erzsébet anyakirálynénak a kettős pecsétje. Az előlapon a királyné trónszéken ülő alakja, fején nyilt koronával. Körirata (a külső körben:) + ELISABET DEI GRACIA REGINA VNGARIE ET FILIA (a belső körben folytatva:) IMPERATORIS CVMANORVM. Az országos levéltár eredeti példányáról.
context_page_description: Ladislaus IV, also known as Ladislas the Cuman, was king of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hungary. At the age of seven, he married Elisabeth, a daughter of King Charles I of Sicily. Ladislaus was only 10 when a rebellious lord, Joachim Gutkeled, kidnapped and imprisoned him.
  Ladislaus was still a prisoner when his father Stephen V died on 6 August 1272. During his minority, many groupings of barons — primarily the Abas, Csáks, Kőszegis, and Gutkeleds — fought against each other for supreme power. Ladislaus was declared to be of age at an assembly of the prelates, barons, noblemen, and Cumans in 1277. He allied himself with Rudolf I of Germany against Ottokar II of Bohemia. His forces had a preeminent role in Rudolf's victory over Ottokar in the Battle on the Marchfeld on 26 August 1278.
  However, Ladislaus could not restore royal power in Hungary. A papal legate, Philip, bishop of Fermo, came to Hungary to help Ladislaus consolidate his authority, but the prelate was shocked at the presence of thousands of pagan Cumans in Hungary.
context_section_description: Joachim Gutkeled departed for Székesfehérvár as soon as he was informed of Stephen V's death, because he wanted to arrange the boy–king's coronation. Ladislaus's mother joined him, infuriating Stephen V's partisans who accused her of having conspired against her husband. Stephen V's master of the treasury, Egyed Monoszló, laid siege to her palace in Székesfehérvár, but Gutkeled's supporters routed him. Monoszló fled to Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia); he captured the town and ceded it to Ottokar II of Bohemia.
  Archbishop Philip of Esztergom crowned Ladislaus king in Székesfehérvár on about 3 September. In theory, the 10-year-old Ladislaus ruled under his mother's regency, but in fact, baronial parties administered the kingdom. In November of that year, Henry Kőszegi returned from Bohemia and assassinated Ladislaus's cousin, Béla of Macsó. Duke Béla's extensive domains, which were located along the southern borders, were divided among Henry Kőszegi and his supporters. In retaliation for Hungarian incursions into Austria and Moravia, Austrian and Moravian troops invaded the borderlands of Hungary in April 1273. They captured Győr and Szombathely, plundering the western counties. Joachim Gutkeled recaptured the two forts two months later, but Ottokar II of Bohemia invaded Hungary and seized many fortresses, including Győr and Sopron in the autumn.
  Peter Csák and his allies removed Joachim Gutkeled and Henry Kőszegi from power, but Gutkeled and Kőszegi seized Ladislaus and his mother in June 1274. Although Peter Csák liberated the king and his mother, Gutkeled and Kőszegi captured Ladislaus's younger brother, Andrew, and took him to Slavonia. They demanded Slavonia in Duke Andrew's name, but Peter Csák defeated their united forces near Polgárdi at the end of September. Kőszegi was killed in the battle. Peter Csák then launched a campaign against Kőszegi's son and Ladislaus accompanied him. At the end of 1274, Rudolf I, the new king of Germany, and Ladislaus concluded an alliance against Ottokar II of Bohemia.
  Ladislaus contracted an unidentified serious illness, but recovered from it. He attributed this recovery to a miracle by his deceased saintly aunt, Margaret, and approached the Holy See to promote her canonization in 1275. In the same year, a new civil war broke out between Joachim Gutkeled and Peter Csák. Ladislaus took part in Csák's military expedition against the Kőszegis, who were Gutkeled's supporters. However, Gutkeled and his supporters removed their opponents from power at an assembly of the barons and noblemen at Buda around 21 June 1276.
  Taking advantage of the war between Rudolf I and Ottokar II, Ladislaus made an incursion into Austria in the autumn. Sopron soon accepted Ladislaus's suzerainty and Ottokar II promised to renounce of all towns he occupied in western Hungary. However, new armed conflicts began in Hungary during 1277: the Transylvanian Saxons captured and destroyed Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia in Romania), the see of the bishop of Transylvania, and the Babonići rose up in rebellion in Slavonia.
caption: Seal of Ladislaus's mother, Elizabeth the Cuman
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