Born:
Feb. 11, 1377, Naples [Italy]
Died:
Aug. 6, 1414, Naples (aged 37)
Title / Office:
king (1386-1414), Kingdom of Naples

Ladislas (born Feb. 11, 1377, Naples [Italy]—died Aug. 6, 1414, Naples) was the king of Naples (from 1386), claimant to the throne of Hungary (from 1390), and prince of Taranto (from 1406). He became a skilled political and military leader, taking advantage of power struggles on the Italian peninsula to greatly expand his kingdom and his power. Succeeding his father, Charles III, in 1386, Ladislas was king at age nine under the regency of his mother, Margaret of Durazzo. Expelled from Naples in 1387 by the rival claimant Louis II of Anjou, he first subdued the recalcitrant Neapolitan barons and ...(100 of 391 words)