CHARLES I OF HUNGARY

His Life

Known as Charles Robert prior to his enthronment as King of Hungary in 1309, Charles claimed the Hungarian crown as the great-grandson of King Stephen V of Hungary and under the banner of the Pope. Travelling in August 1300 from Naples to Dalmatia, he was crowned at Esztergom after the death in 1301 of the last Arpad king Andrew III of Hungary but was forced in the same year to surrender the crown to Wenceslaus II of Bohemia.

His failure only made Pope Boniface VIII still more zealous on his behalf, and support from his Hungarian adherents was observed at the Diet of Pressburg in 1304. In the meantime Wenceslaus transferred his rights to Duke Otto III of Bavaria in 1305, who in his turn was taken prisoner by the Hungarian rebels. He was enthroned at Buda on June 15, 1309. His installation was not regarded as valid until he was crowned at Székesfehérvár on August 27, 1310 with the sacred crown, which was at last recovered from the rebellious barons. For the next three years Charles had to contend with rebellion after rebellion, and it was only after his great victory at Rozgony on June 15, 1312 that he was the real master of his own land.

Charles married three times. His first wife was Maria, daughter of Duke Casimir of Teschen, whom he married in 1306. She died in 1315, and in 1318, he married Beatrice, daughter of the Emperor Henry VI. On her demise two years later he married Elizabeth, daughter of king Wladyslaw I Lokietek of Poland. Five sons were born of his third marriage, of whom three, Louis, Andrew and Stephen, survived him. His sister Clemence d'Anjou (1293 - 1328) married Louis X of France on August 13, 1315 and became the mother of John I of France.

Charles died on July 16, 1342, and was laid beside the high altar at Székesfehérvár, the ancient burial place of the Arpads.