Individual Details
Saint László King of Hungary
(27 Jun 1040 - 29 Jul 1095)
Laszlo was born on 27 June 1040, the son of Bela I, king of Hungary, and Richeza/Ryksa of Poland, daughter of Mieszko II Lambert, king of Poland, and Richeza de Lorraine. He was born in Poland, where his father had sought refuge, and named according to the Slavic traditions of his mother's kin (thereby bringing the name Laszlo to further increasing Hungarian use). However he was recalled to Hungary by his father's eldest brother Andras I, king of Hungary, and was brought up there.
He succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Geisa in 1077, as the eldest member of the royal family, and speedily won for himself a reputation scarcely inferior to that of Stephan I, by nationalising Christianity and laying the foundations of Hungary's political greatness. Recognising that the Holy Roman Empire was a natural enemy of the kingdom of Hungary, Laszlo formed a close alliance with the pope and other enemies of Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor, including the anti-emperor Rudolf of Swabia and his chief supporter Welf, duke of Bavaria. He married Rudolf's daughter Adela, and she bore him one son and three daughters. Their daughter Piroska of Hungary married Johannes II Komnenos Dukas, emperor of Byzantium.
The collapse of the German emperor in his struggle with the pope left Laszlo free to extend his dominions toward the south, and colonise and Christianise the wildernesses of Transylvania and the lower Danube. Hungary was still semi-savage, and its native barbarians were being perpetually recruited from the hordes of Pechenegs, Cumans and other races which swept over it during the 10th century. Laszlo himself had fought valiantly in his youth against the Pechenegs, and to defend the land against the Cumans, who now occupied Moldavia and Wallachia as far as the Olt, he built the fortresses of Turnu-Severin (Szörenyvár) and Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár, Weissenburg).
He also planted in Transylvania the Szeklers, the supposed remnant of the ancient Magyars from the Dnieper, and in 1094 he founded the bishoprics of Oradea (Nagyvárad, Grosswardein) and of Zagreb (Zágráb, Agram) to provide a fresh focus for Catholicism to the south of Hungary and the districts between the Drave and the Sava (Slavonia). He subsequently tried to conquer other parts of Croatia after the death in 1087 of his sister Helene's husband, Croatian king Dmitar Zwonimir, though his authority was questioned by the Croatian nobility, the pope, the republic of Venice and the Byzantine emperor. Laszlo made a notable incursion into the Croatian lands in 1091 and named his nephew Almos as the viceroy.
Laszlo died suddenly on 29 July 1095 when about to take part in the First Crusade. No other Hungarian king was so generally beloved. The whole nation mourned for him for three years, and regarded him as a saint long before his canonisation. A whole cycle of legends is associated with his name. He was canonised on 27 June 1192.
C. A. Macartney, in his _Hungary: A Short History,_ eulogised Laszlo: 'Ladislas I, who, like Stephen and his son, Imre, was canonised after his death, was the outstanding personality among them: a true paladin and gentle knight, a protector of his faith and his people, and of the poor and defenceless.'
Source: Leo van de Pas
He succeeded to the throne on the death of his brother Geisa in 1077, as the eldest member of the royal family, and speedily won for himself a reputation scarcely inferior to that of Stephan I, by nationalising Christianity and laying the foundations of Hungary's political greatness. Recognising that the Holy Roman Empire was a natural enemy of the kingdom of Hungary, Laszlo formed a close alliance with the pope and other enemies of Heinrich IV, Holy Roman Emperor, including the anti-emperor Rudolf of Swabia and his chief supporter Welf, duke of Bavaria. He married Rudolf's daughter Adela, and she bore him one son and three daughters. Their daughter Piroska of Hungary married Johannes II Komnenos Dukas, emperor of Byzantium.
The collapse of the German emperor in his struggle with the pope left Laszlo free to extend his dominions toward the south, and colonise and Christianise the wildernesses of Transylvania and the lower Danube. Hungary was still semi-savage, and its native barbarians were being perpetually recruited from the hordes of Pechenegs, Cumans and other races which swept over it during the 10th century. Laszlo himself had fought valiantly in his youth against the Pechenegs, and to defend the land against the Cumans, who now occupied Moldavia and Wallachia as far as the Olt, he built the fortresses of Turnu-Severin (Szörenyvár) and Alba Iulia (Gyulafehérvár, Weissenburg).
He also planted in Transylvania the Szeklers, the supposed remnant of the ancient Magyars from the Dnieper, and in 1094 he founded the bishoprics of Oradea (Nagyvárad, Grosswardein) and of Zagreb (Zágráb, Agram) to provide a fresh focus for Catholicism to the south of Hungary and the districts between the Drave and the Sava (Slavonia). He subsequently tried to conquer other parts of Croatia after the death in 1087 of his sister Helene's husband, Croatian king Dmitar Zwonimir, though his authority was questioned by the Croatian nobility, the pope, the republic of Venice and the Byzantine emperor. Laszlo made a notable incursion into the Croatian lands in 1091 and named his nephew Almos as the viceroy.
Laszlo died suddenly on 29 July 1095 when about to take part in the First Crusade. No other Hungarian king was so generally beloved. The whole nation mourned for him for three years, and regarded him as a saint long before his canonisation. A whole cycle of legends is associated with his name. He was canonised on 27 June 1192.
C. A. Macartney, in his _Hungary: A Short History,_ eulogised Laszlo: 'Ladislas I, who, like Stephen and his son, Imre, was canonised after his death, was the outstanding personality among them: a true paladin and gentle knight, a protector of his faith and his people, and of the poor and defenceless.'
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | 27 Jun 1040 | ||||
| Marriage | 1077 | Duchess Adelheid von Rheinfelden | |||
| Death | 29 Jul 1095 |
Families
| Spouse | Duchess Adelheid von Rheinfelden ( - 1079) |
| Child | St. Piroshka of Hungary "Eirene" (1078 - 1134) |
| Father | Béla I King of Hungary (1016 - 1063) |
| Mother | Rykza of Poland "Richezza" (1018 - 1052) |
| Sibling | Géza I King of Hungary (1039 - 1077) |