Editing Ladislaus the Posthumous (section)

===Reign===
[[File:Pečat Ulrika Celjskog.JPG|thumb |upright |alt=A seal depicting three coat of arms held by two armored men |The seal of [[Ulrich II, Count of Celje]], who was Ladislaus's kisman and close advisor]]

Count [[Ulrich II, Count of Celje|Ulrich von Cilli]] accompanied Ladislaus to Vienna but only after "washing the [[Duchy of Styria|Styrian]] filth off him" to symbolize the liberation of Ladislaus from the "Styrian" Frederick III's influence.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=145}} Ladislaus Garai and Nicholas Újlaki visited Ladislaus in Vienna in October, and John Hunyadi also joined them before the end of the year.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}} Hunyadi resigned from the governorship early the next year.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}} Ladislaus made Hunyadi "captain general of the kingdom", authorizing him to retain all royal castles that were in his possession at the time of his resignation, and to continue administering royal revenues.{{sfn|Kontler|1999|p=117}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}} Hunyadi was only to pay 24,000 gold [[florin]]s to the sovereign in each year.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}} During a debate between the representatives of the Austrian and Hungarian Estates about his future seat, Ladislaus declared that he was Hungarian and wanted to live in Hungary, according to Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}}

On 29 January 1453 in Pressburg, the Diet of Hungary acknowledged Ladislaus' position as the lawful king without a formal election or a new coronation.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}}{{sfn|Kontler|1999|p=116}} He declared an amnesty for those who had supported Vladislaus against him.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}} Although all grants that Queen Elizabeth and King Vladislaus had made were annulled, Ladislaus issued new charters of grant for the grantees to confirm their proprietary rights.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}} The greater chancellery and the secret chancellery (two important offices of central administration, which had not functioned for a decade) were restored under the direction of Archbishop Dénes Szécsi and [[John Vitéz]], [[Bishop of Várad]] (now [[Oradea]] in Romania).{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}} The central courts of justice (the [[Court of Royal Special Presence]] and the [[Court of Personal Presence]]) also started functioning again.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=293}}

[[File:Portrait de János Vitéz. Frontispice d'un manuscrit (Plaute, Comédies).jpg|thumb |upright|left|alt=A man with a shaven face wearing a cap |[[John Vitéz]], [[Bishop of Várad]] (now [[Oradea]] in Romania), who was Ladislaus's secret chancellor in Hungary]]
[[File:Adolf Liebscher - Slavný vjezd krále Ladislava do Prahy r. 1453.jpg|thumb|19th-century depiction of Ladislaus's 1453 entry into Prague, by Czech history painter [[Adolf Liebscher]]]]
Ladislaus returned to Vienna shortly after the Diet was closed.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}} During the next months, Ulrich of Celje was Ladislaus' most influential advisor.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}} Celje signed a treaty with George of Poděbrady on 16 April and persuaded Ladislaus to confirm Poděbrady's position as governor in Bohemia.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}}{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}} Ulrich of Celje also signed a treaty with Archbishop Dénes Szécsi, Ladislaus Garai, Nicholas Újlaki, and other Hungarian lords on 13 September, who promised to support him against his opponents.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}}{{sfn|Mureşanu|2001|p=179}} Their league was implicitly formed against John Hunyadi and Ulrich Eytzinger, the head of the Estates in Austria, who had for long been hostile towards Ulrich of Celje.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=294}} Fifteen days later, Ulrich Eytzinger persuaded Ladislaus to expel Ulrich of Celje from his court at an assembly of the Estates of Austria.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=146}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=270}}

Ladislaus was crowned king of Bohemia in Prague on 28 October 1453, which put an end to the long interregnum.{{sfn|Šmahel|2011|p=164}}{{sfn|Tringli|2012|p=139}} Ulrich Eytzinger, John Hunyadi, and George Poděbrady, who all were present at Ladislaus' coronation, signed a treaty.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}} Ladislaus stayed in Prague during the next twelve months.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}} George Poděbrady hindered him from consulting with his Austrian and Hungarian advisors, and even the royal seal was taken from Ladislaus.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}} At the next Diet of Hungary, Bishop John Vitéz submitted a proposal on the king's behalf to the Estates, demanding the centralization of the administration of royal revenues, but the Diet refused the proposal, which would have limited John Hunyadi's authority.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=294}} According to the document prepared by the bishop on this occasion, Ladislaus' cash revenues amounted to 216,000 florins.{{sfn|Bak|1994|p=68}} Historian János M. Bak writes that that amount would have only covered about 85% of the expenses of a military expedition against the Ottoman Turks, who had [[Fall of Constantinople|captured Constantinople]] and planned to invade Hungary.{{sfn|Bak|1994|p=69}}

Ladislaus left Prague in late November 1454.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}} He visited [[Silesia]] and Moravia where the local Estates paid homage to him.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}}{{sfn|Šmahel|2011|p=165}} After Ladislaus arrived in Moravia, Ctibor Tovačovský himself appointed Czech Catholic noblemen as royal officials, ensuring their loyalty towards him.{{sfn|Šmahel|2011|p=165}} Ladislaus returned to Vienna on 16 February 1455.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=271}} Taking advantage of Ulrich Eytzinger's growing unpopularity among the Austrian noblemen, Ulrich of Celje persuaded Ladislaus to restore him in his court.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=147}} On 20 February, Ulrich triumphally returned to Vienna and vigorously reasserted his role as the young king's main advisor for Austrian affairs.{{sfn|Štih|1999|p=40-41}} Ladislaus visited Buda and persuaded Hunyadi to resign a part of the royal revenues and withdraw his garrisons from Buda, Diósgyőr and other royal castles.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=295}} Ulrich of Celje also renewed his alliance with Ladislaus Garai and Nicholas Újlaki on 7 April.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=272}}

The newly elected [[Pope Callixtus III]] declared a crusade against the Ottoman Turks, who had occupied the greater part of Serbia.{{sfn|Engel|2001|pp=295–296}}{{sfn|Fine|1994|p=560}} News of Sultan [[Mehmed II]]'s preparations for invasion reached Hungary in autumn 1455.{{sfn|Mureşanu|2001|p=187}} Ladislaus came to Hungary in February 1456.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=272}} He held a Diet in March that proclaimed general mobilization and consented to an extraordinary tax to cover the expenditures of the defense of the country.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=272}}{{sfn|Mureşanu|2001|p=189}} In April, Ladislaus borrowed 8,000 florins from Hunyadi, because the king had to pay off half of his former debt to Ulrich of Celje.{{sfn|Mureşanu|2001|p=190}} Before the sultan's army reached the southern border of Hungary, Ladislaus left Hungary and returned to Vienna.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}}

Sultan Mehmed II [[Siege of Belgrade (1456)|laid siege to Belgrade]] in early July 1456.{{sfn|Kontler|1999|p=117}} With the assistance of thousands of commoners whom [[John of Capistrano]], a [[Franciscan]] friar, had stirred up to join the crusade against the Ottomans, John Hunyadi prevented the besiegers from completing the blockade and relieved Belgrade on 22 July.{{sfn|Bak|1994|p=69}} Two weeks later, Hunyadi died of an epidemic that broke out in Belgrade.{{sfn|Bak|1994|p=69}}{{sfn|Spiesz|Caplovic|Bolchazy|2006|p=55}}

[[File:Jan Škramlík - Ladislav Pohrobek na smrtelném loži děkuje zemskému správci Jiřímu Poděbradskému.jpg|thumb|alt=A blond boy lying on the bed takes the hands of an older man |''On his deathbed, Ladislaus the Posthumous offers his thanks to George of Poděbrady'', painting by [[Jan Škramlík]], late 19th or early 20th century]]

Ladislaus returned to Hungary in September.{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=272}} Ulrich of Celje accompanied him at the head of an army of German crusaders who had assembled near Vienna.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}} Ladislaus made Ulrich of Celje "captain general".{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}} They also decided to reclaim all royal castles and revenues that Hunyadi had held from his son, [[Ladislaus Hunyadi]].{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=296}} The young Hunyadi seemingly yielded to the king at their meeting in [[Futak]] (now Futog in Serbia) and invited Ladislaus and Ulrich of Celje to Belgrade,{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}} but after the king and the Count of Celje entered the fortress, Hunyadi's soldiers attacked and murdered the count on 9 November.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}} The royal army soon disbanded, and the king found himself captive.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=26}} He accompanied Hunyadi to [[Temesvár]] (now Timișoara in Romania), which was an important center of the Hunyadi domains.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=26}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}} Hunyadi only allowed the king to leave Temesvár after Ladislaus made him captain general and pledged that he would not take revenge for Ulrich of Celje's murder.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=273}}

From Temesvár, Ladislaus went to Buda.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=26}} He soon realized that the majority of the Hungarian barons were hostile towards Ladislaus Hunyadi.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=26}}{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}} Upon the advice of Ladislaus Garai, the king convinced Ladislaus Hunyadi, who had also arrived in the capital, to persuade his younger brother, the fourteen-year-old [[Matthias Corvinus|Matthias]], to join him in Buda.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=27}} As soon as Matthias arrived on 14 March 1457, Ladislaus had the two Hunyadis imprisoned.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}}{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}} Sitting in the royal council, the barons of the realm condemned the Hunyadi brothers to death for [[high treason]], and Ladislaus Hunyadi was beheaded on 16 March.{{sfn|Engel|2001|p=297}}{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=27}} The Hunyadi brothers' mother, [[Elizabeth Szilágyi]], and her brother, [[Michael Szilágyi]], rebelled against the king, which caused a civil war between the lords loyal to the king and the supporters of the Hunyadi family.{{sfn|Bak|1994|p=70}} Ladislaus appointed John Jiskra to be the commander of the royal army and left Hungary for Vienna, dragging the captive Matthias Hunyadi with him in early June.{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=148}}{{sfn|Solymosi|Körmendi|1981|p=273}}

From Vienna, Ladislaus went to Prague where he unexpectedly died on 23 November 1457.{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=27}}{{sfn|Tringli|2012|p=139}} Although his contemporaries suspected that the young king was poisoned,{{sfn|Tringli|2012|p=139}} the examination of his skeleton suggests that he fell victim either to [[bubonic plague]]{{sfn|Kubinyi|2008|p=27}}{{sfn|Tringli|2012|p=139}} or to [[leukemia]].{{sfn|Pálosfalvi|2002|p=149}} He was buried in the [[St. Vitus Cathedral]] in Prague.{{sfn|Tringli|2012|p=139}}