EX PRETERITUS

Louis I, Angevin

Louis I the Great (Hungarian: I. (Nagy) Lajos, Polish: Ludwik Węgierski, Croatian: Ludovik I., Slovak: Ľudovít I. Veľký) (5 March 1326, Visegrád — 10 September 1382, Nagyszombat/Trnava) was King of Hungary, Croatia, and Dalmatia etc. from 1342 and of Poland from 1370. Louis was the head of the senior branch of the Angevin dynasty. He was one of Hungary's most active and accomplished monarchs of the Late Middle Ages, extending her territory to the Adriatic and securing Dalmatia, with part of Bosnia and Bulgaria, within the Hungarian crown. He spent much of his reign in wars with the Republic of Venice and in competition for the throne of Naples, the former with some success and the latter with little lasting results.

Louis, named for his uncle, Saint Louis of Toulouse, was the eldest son of the Charles Robert and Elisabeth, daughter of Ladislaus the Short and sister of Casimir the Great, the Piasts who reestablished kinship in Poland. He was designated heir of his father at birth. In due time, he became king of Hungary, at the death of his father in 1342. He was crowned only a few days later on 21 July. Louis led armies many times. Besides his best known campaigns, he fought in Bulgaria, Bosnia, Wallachia, and against the Golden Horde. The first Ottoman-Hungarian clash occurred during his reign.