Charles I of Hungary

Early years

Childhood (1288–1300)

Charles was the only son of Charles Martel, Prince of Salerno, and his wife, Clemence of Austria. He was born as Caroberto in 1288; the place of his birth is unknown. Charles Martel was the firstborn son of Charles II of Naples and Charles II's wife, Mary, who was a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary. After the death of her brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary, in 1290, Queen Mary announced her claim to Hungary, stating that the House of Árpád (the royal family of Hungary) had become extinct with Ladislaus's death. However, her father's cousin, Andrew also laid claim to the throne, although his father, Stephen the Posthumous, had been regarded a bastard by all other members of the royal family. For all that, the Hungarian lords and prelates preferred Andrew against Mary and he was crowned king of Hungary on 23 July 1290. She transferred her claim to Hungary to Charles Martel in January 1292. The Babonići, Frankopans, Šubići and other Croatian and Slavonian noble families seemingly acknowledged Charles Martel's claim, but in fact their loyalty vacillated between Charles Martel and Andrew III.

Charles Martel died in autumn 1295, and his seven-year-old son, Charles, inherited his claim to Hungary. Charles would have also been the lawful heir to his grandfather, Charles II of Naples, in accordance with the principles of primogeniture. However, Charles II, who preferred his third son, Robert, to his grandson, bestowed the rights of a firstborn son upon Robert on 13 February 1296. Pope Boniface VIII confirmed Charles II's decision on 27 February 1296, excluding the child Charles from succeeding his grandfather in the Kingdom of Naples. Dante Alighieri wrote of "the schemes and frauds that would attack" Charles Martel's family in reference to Robert's alleged manoeuvres to acquire the right to inherit Naples. The 14th-century historian Giovanni Villani also noted that his contemporaries were of the opinion that Robert's claim to Naples was weaker than his nephew's. The jurist Baldus de Ubaldis refrained from setting out his position on the legitimacy of Robert's rule.

Struggle for Hungary (1300–1308)

Andrew III of Hungary made his maternal uncle, Albertino Morosini, Duke of Slavonia, in July 1299, stirring up the Slavonian and Croatian noblemen to revolt. A powerful Croatian baron, Paul Šubić, sent his brother, George, to Italy in early 1300 to convince Charles II of Naples to send his grandson to Hungary to claim the throne in person. The king of Naples accepted the proposal and borrowed 1,300 ounces of gold from Florentine bankers to finance Charles's journey. A Neapolitan knight of French origin, Philip Drugeth, accompanied the twelve-year-old Charles to Hungary. They landed at Split in Dalmatia in August 1300. From Split, Paul Šubić escorted him to Zagreb where Ugrin Csák swore loyalty to Charles. Charles's opponent, Andrew III of Hungary, died on 14 January 1301. Charles hurried to Esztergom where the Archbishop-elect, Gregory Bicskei, crowned him with a provisional crown before 13 May. However, most Hungarians considered Charles's coronation unlawful because customary law required that it should have been performed with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár.

Charles counted his regnal years from this coronation, but Hungary had actually disintegrated into about a dozen independent provinces, each ruled by a powerful lord, or oligarch. Among them, Matthew Csák dominated the northwestern parts of Hungary (which now form the western territories of present-day Slovakia), Amadeus Aba controlled the northeastern lands, Ivan Kőszegi ruled Transdanubia, and Ladislaus Kán governed Transylvania. Most of those lords refused to accept Charles's rule and proposed the crown to Wenceslaus II of Bohemia's son and namesake, Wenceslaus, whose bride, Elisabeth, was Andrew III's only daughter. Although Wenceslaus was crowned with the Holy Crown in Székesfehérvár, the legitimacy of his coronation was also questionable because John Hont-Pázmány, Archbishop of Kalocsa, put the crown on Wenceslaus's head, although customary law authorized the Archbishop of Esztergom to perform the ceremony.

After Wenceslaus's coronation, Charles withdrew to Ugrin Csák's domains in the southern regions of the kingdom. Pope Boniface sent his legate, Niccolo Boccasini, to Hungary. Boccasini convinced the majority of the Hungarian prelates to accept Charles's reign. However, most Hungarian lords continued to oppose Charles because, according to the Illuminated Chronicle, they feared that "the free men of the kingdom should lose their freedom by accepting a king appointed by the Church". Charles laid siege to Buda, the capital of the kingdom, in September 1302, but Ivan Kőszegi relieved the siege. Charles's charters show that he primarily stayed in the southern parts of the kingdom during the next years although he also visited Amadeus Aba in the fortress of Gönc.

Reign

Wars against the oligarchs (1308–1323)

The papal legate convoked the synod of the Hungarian prelates, who declared the monarch inviolable in December 1308. They also urged Ladislaus Kán to hand over the Holy Crown to Charles. After Kán refused to do so, the legate consecrated a new crown for Charles. Thomas II, Archbishop of Esztergom crowned Charles king with the new crown in the Church of Our Lady in Buda on 15 or 16 June 1309. However, most Hungarians regarded his second coronation invalid. The papal legate excommunicated Ladislaus Kán, who finally agreed to give the Holy Crown to Charles. On 27 August 1310, Archbishop Thomas of Esztergom put the Holy Crown on Charles's head in Székesfehérvár; thus, Charles's third coronation was performed in full accordance with customary law. However, his rule remained nominal in most parts of his kingdom.

Matthew Csák laid siege Buda in June 1311, and Ladislaus Kán declined to assist the king. Charles sent an army to invade Matthew Csák's domains in September, but it achieved nothing. In the same year, Ugrin Csák died, enabling Charles to take possession of the deceased lord's domains, which were situated between Požega in Slavonia and Temesvár (present-day Timișoara in Romania). The burghers of Kassa (now Košice in Slovakia) assassinated Amadeus Aba in September 1311. Charles's envoys arbitrated an agreement between Aba's sons and the town, which also prescribed that the Abas withdraw from two counties and allow the noblemen inhabiting their domains to freely join Charles. However, the Abas soon entered into an alliance with Matthew Csák against the king. The united forces of the Abas and Matthew Csák besieged Kassa, but Charles routed them in the Battle of Rozgony (now Rozhanovce in Slovakia) on 15 June 1312. Almost half of the noblemen who had served Amadeus Aba fought on Charles's side in the battle. In July, Charles captured the Abas' many fortresses in Abaúj, Torna and Sáros counties, including Füzér, Regéc, and Munkács (now Mukacheve in Ukraine). Thereafter he waged war against Matthew Csák, capturing Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in 1313 and Visegrád in 1315, but was unable to win a decisive victory.

Charles transferred his residence from Buda to Temesvár in early 1315. Ladislaus Kán died in 1315, but his sons did not yield to Charles. Charles launched a campaign against the Kőszegis in Transdanubia and Slavonia in the first half of 1316. Local noblemen joined the royal troops, which contributed to the quick collapse of the Kőszegis' rule in southern parts of their domains. Meanwhile, James Borsa made an alliance against Charles with Ladislaus Kán's sons and other lords, including Mojs Ákos and Peter, son of Petenye. They offered the crown to Andrew of Galicia. Charles's troops, which were under the command of a former supporter of the Borsas, Dózsa Debreceni, defeated the rebels' united troops at Debrecen at the end of June. In the next two months, many fortresses of Borsa and his allies fell to the royal troops in Bihar, Szolnok, Borsod and Kolozs counties. No primary source has made reference to Charles's bravery or heroic acts, suggesting that he rarely fought in person in the battles and sieges. However, he had excellent strategic skills: it was always Charles who appointed the fortresses to be besieged.

Consolidation and reforms (1323–1330)

As one of his charters concluded, Charles had taken "full possession" of his kingdom by 1323. In the first half of the year, he moved his capital from Temesvár to Visegrád in the centre of his kingdom. In the same year, the Dukes of Austria renounced Pressburg (now Bratislava in Slovakia), which they had controlled for decades, in exchange for the support they had received from Charles against Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1322.

Royal power was only nominally restored in the lands between the Carpathian Mountains and the Lower Danube, which had been united under a voivode, known as Basarab, by the early 1320s. Although Basarab was willing to accept Charles's suzerainty in a peace treaty signed in 1324, he refrained from renouncing control of the lands he had occupied in the Banate of Severin. Charles also attempted to reinstate royal authority in Croatia and Slavonia. He dismissed the Ban of Slavonia, John Babonić, replacing him with Mikcs Ákos in 1325. Ban Mikcs invaded Croatia to subjugate the local lords who had seized the former castles of Mladen Subić without the king's approval, but one of the Croatian lords, Ivan I Nelipac, routed the ban's troops in 1326. Consequently, royal power remained only nominal in Croatia during Charles's reign. The Babonići and the Kőszegis rose up in open rebellion in 1327, but Ban Mikcs and Alexander Köcski defeated them. In retaliation, at least eight fortresses of the rebellious lords were confiscated in Slavonia and Transdanubia.

Through his victory over the oligarchs, Charles acquired about 60% of the Hungarian castles, along with the estates belonging to them. In 1323, he set about revising his previous land grants, which enabled him to reclaim former royal estates. During his reign, special commissions were set up to detect royal estates that had been unlawfully acquired by their owners. Charles refrained from making perpetual grants to his partisans. Instead, he applied a system of "office fiefs" (or honors), whereby his officials were entitled to enjoy all revenues accrued from their offices, but only for the time they held those offices. That system assured the preponderance of royal power, enabling Charles to rule "with the plenitude of power", as he emphasized in one of his charters of 1335. He even ignored customary law: for instance, "promoting a daughter to a son", which entitled her to inherit her father's estates instead of her male cousins. Charles also took control of the administration of the Church in Hungary. He appointed the Hungarian prelates at will, without allowing the cathedral chapters to elect them.

Active foreign policy (1330–1339)

In September 1330, Charles launched a military expedition against Basarab I of Wallachia who had attempted to get rid of his suzerainty. After seizing the fortress of Severin (present-day Drobeta-Turnu Severin in Romania), he refused to make peace with Basarab and marched towards Curtea de Argeș, which was Basarab's seat. The Wallachians applied scorched earth tactics, compelling Charles to make a truce with Basarab and withdraw his troops from Wallachia. While the royal troops were marching through a narrow pass across the Southern Carpathians on 9 November, the Wallachians ambushed them. During the next four days, the royal army was decimated; Charles could only escape from the battlefield after changing his clothes with one of his knights, Desiderius Hédervári, who sacrificed his life to enable the king's escape. Charles did not attempt a new invasion of Wallachia, which subsequently developed into an independent principality.

In September 1331, Charles made an alliance with Otto the Merry, Duke of Austria, against Bohemia. He also sent reinforcements to Poland to fight against the Teutonic Knights and the Bohemians. In 1332 he signed a peace treaty with John of Bohemia and mediated a truce between Bohemia and Poland. In 1332 Charles allowed the collection of the papal tithe (the tenth part of the Church revenues) in his realms only after the Holy See agreed to give one third of the money collected to him. After years of negotiations, Charles visited his uncle, Robert, in Naples in July 1333. Two months later, Charles's son, Andrew, was betrothed to Robert's granddaughter, Joanna, who had been made her grandfather's heir. Charles returned to Hungary in early 1334. In retaliation for a previous Serbian raid, he invaded Serbia and captured the fortress of Galambóc (now Golubac in Serbia).

In summer 1335, the delegates of John of Bohemia and the new King of Poland, Casimir III, entered into negotiations in Trencsén to put an end to the conflicts between the two countries. With Charles's mediation, a compromise was reached on 24 August: John of Bohemia renounced his claim to Poland and Casimir of Poland acknowledged John of Bohemia's suzerainty in Silesia. On 3 September, Charles signed an alliance with John of Bohemia in Visegrád, which was primarily formed against the Dukes of Austria. Upon Charles's invitation, John of Bohemia and Casimir of Poland met in Visegrád in November. During the Congress of Visegrád, the two rulers confirmed the compromise that their delegates had worked out in Trencsén. Casimir III also promised to pay 400,000 groschen to John of Bohemia, but a part of this indemnification (120,000 groschen) was finally paid off by Charles instead of his brother-in-law. The three rulers agreed upon a mutual defence union against the Habsburgs, and a new commercial route was set up to enable merchants travelling between Hungary and the Holy Roman Empire to bypass Vienna.

Last years (1339–1342)

Charles obliged the Kőszegis to renounce their last fortresses along the western borders of the kingdom in 1339 or 1340. He divided the large Zólyom County (now in Slovakia), which had been dominated by a powerful local lord, Donch, into three smaller counties in 1340. The following year, Charles also forced Donch to renounce his two fortresses in Zólyom in exchange for one castle in the distant Kraszna County (in present-day Romania). Around the same time, Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia, invaded Sirmium and captured Belgrade.

Charles was ailing during the last years of his life. He died in Visegrád on 16 July 1342. His corpse was first delivered to Buda where a Mass was said for his soul. From Buda, his corpse was taken to Székesfehérvár. He was buried in the Székesfehérvár Basilica a month after his death. His brother-in-law, Casimir III of Poland, and Charles, Margrave of Moravia, were present at his funeral, an indication of Charles's international prestige.

Family

The Anonymi descriptio Europae orientalis ("An Anonymous' Description of Eastern Europe"), written in the first half of 1308, claims that "the daughter of the strapping Duke of Ruthenia, Leo, has recently married Charles, King of Hungary". Charles also stated in a charter of 1326 that he once travelled to "Ruthenia" (or Halych-Lodomeria) in order to bring his first wife back to Hungary. A charter issued on 23 June 1326 referred to Charles's wife, Queen Mary. Historian Gyula Kristó says, the three documents show that Charles married a daughter of Leo II of Galicia in late 1305 or early 1306. Historian Enikő Csukovits accepts Kristó's interpretation, but she writes that Mary of Galicia most probably died before the marriage. The Polish scholar, Stanisław Sroka, rejects Kristó's interpretation, stating that Leo I—who was born in 1292, according to him—could hardly have fathered Charles's first wife. In accordance with previous academic consensus, Sroka says that Charles's first wife was Mary of Bytom from the Silesian branch of the Piast dynasty.

The Illuminated Chronicle stated that Charles's "first consort, Maria ... was of the Polish nation" and she was "the daughter of Duke Casimir". Sroka proposes that Mary of Bytom married Charles in 1306, but Kristó writes that their marriage probably took place in the first half of 1311. The Illuminated Chronicle recorded that she died on 15 December 1317, but a royal charter issued on 12 July 1318 stated that her husband made a land grant with her consent. Charles's next—second or third—wife was Beatrice of Luxembourg, who was a daughter of Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor, and the sister of John, King of Bohemia. Their marriage took place before the end of February 1319. She died in childbirth in early November in the same year. Charles's last wife, Elisabeth, daughter of Władysław I, King of Poland, was born around 1306. Their marriage took place on 6 July 1320.

Most 14th-century Hungarian chroniclers write that Charles and Elisabeth of Poland had five sons. Their first son, Charles, was born in 1321 and died in the same year according to the Illuminated Chronicle. However, a charter of June 1323 states that the child had died in this month. The second son of Charles and Elisabeth, Ladislaus, was born in 1324. The marriage of Ladislaus and Anne, a daughter of King John of Bohemia, was planned by their parents, but Ladislaus died in 1329. Charles's and Elisabeth's third son, Louis, who was born in 1326, survived his father and succeeded him as King of Hungary. His younger brothers, Andrew and Stephen, who were born in 1327 and 1332, respectively, also survived Charles.

Legacy

Charles often declared that his principal aim was the "restoration of the ancient good conditions" of the kingdom.

On his coat-of-arms, he united the "Árpád stripes" with the motifs of the coat-of-arms of his paternal family, which emphasized his kinship with the first royal house of Hungary. During his reign, Charles reunited Hungary and introduced administrative and fiscal reforms. He bequeathed to his son, Louis the Great, a "bulging exchequer and an effective system of taxation", according to scholar Bryan Cartledge. Nevertheless, Louis the Great's achievements overshadowed Charles's reputation.

The only contemporaneous record of Charles's deeds were made by a Franciscan friar who was hostile towards the monarch. Instead of emphasizing Charles's achievements in the reunification of the country, the friar described in detail the negative episodes of Charles's reign. In particular, the unusual cruelty that the king showed after Felician Záh's assassination attempt on the royal family contributed to the negative picture of Charles's personality. The Franciscan friar attributed Charles's defeat by Basarab of Wallachia as a punishment from God for the king's revenge.