VLADISLAV VARNENCHICK
Polish-Hungarian
king Vladislav III Yagello, called Varnenchick, was born
on 31.10.1424 and was the first child of Polish king and
great Lithuanian prince Vladislav II Yagello 
and his wife
Sofia Holshanska.
Sofia was the fourth wife of Vladislav II Yagello and gave birth to their first son when she was 17 years old and her husband – 73. In 1434 Vladislav inherited the Polish throne and the crown. In 1440 Poland and Hungary concluded a union, that gave Vladislav the Hungarian crown as well, under the condition that he would unite both kingdoms in the struggle against the Ottoman invaders. When in 1440 Vladislav III was announced the king of Hungary under the assumed name of Laslo I, the Lithuanians announced his brother Kazimir the great prince of Lithuania. In 1443 Vladislav launched his first campaign aganst the Turks with the army of 40000 Poles, Hungarians, Czechs, Croats and Romanians and defeated the enemy at Nish. He entered Bulgaria and reached Zlatitsa. A coming winter made Vladislav conclude a peace treaty. Next year he undertakes yet another campaign, involving Transylvanian leader John Hunyadi and Wallachian prince Vlad Dracul. Vladislav is believed to have died in 1444.
Europe before Vladislav Varnenchick and John Hunyadi’s campaigns in 1443-1444
The situation in neighbouring Poland was almost the same like in Hungary and Czechia; the main problem of the country was struggle with the aggressive Teutonic order. In order to stop it and to return Baltic lands, Poland unites with Lithuania and in1410 the Teutonic knights were defeated at Grunwald. The leader of the united Polish-Lithuanian armies was Vladislav Yagello, father of the future Polish-Hungarian king Vladislav III (Varnenchick).
Krakow cardinal Zbignev Oleshnitski, the head of Polish politics at the moment, directed his energies to an alliance with Hungary, aiming at rising Poland’s role in Eastern Europe. Some of the Polish ruling classes support his stand and, in the long run, the 16-year-old king of Poland Vladislav III Yagello was crowned king of Hungary under the name of Waslo (Vladislav) I in 1440. The act supposed Poland uniting with anti-Turkish actions of the Hungarian state.
