Ladislas the Magnanimous (also spelled Ladislaus; July 14, 1376/February 11, 1377 – August 6 1414), was King of Naples and Titular King of Jerusalem and Sicily, Titular Count of Provence and Forcalquier (1386 – 1414), and Titular King of Hungary and Dalmatia, etc (1390 – 1414). He was the last male of the senior Angevin line.

He was born in Naples, the son of Charles III and Margherita of Durazzo.

He became the King of Naples from the age of nine (1386) under his mother's regency. Through the 1390s he was constantly opposed by Antipope John XXIII as well as by Louis II of Anjou, then head of the junior Angevin line, who contested the throne. Louis successfully seized Naples from him in 1390, but was expelled again in 1399.

He endeavored to consolidate the royal power in Naples at the expense of the baronial, and brought about the murder of several members of the Sanseverino family for frustrating his ends.

He became a skilled political and military leader, protector and controller of the Papacy of Innocent VII. He profited from disorder throughout Italy to greatly expand his kingdom and his power, appropriating much of the Papal States to his own use.

From 1390 he was also claimant to the throne of Hungary and Dalmatia. His claim to the kingdom of Hungary was opposed by Sigismund of Luxemburg, while he sold his rights to the kingdom of Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for 100,000 Ducats in 1409.

He was also the prince of Taranto from 1406, having taken the Dowager Princess Mary of Enghien (1367–May 9, 1446), Countess of Lecce etc, as his third wife and barred her son from the principality. King Ladislas first attempted to subjugate those fiefs by a war and besieging the lady, but did not succeed in capturing her castle. Therefore, he changed tactics, began negotiations, and succeeded in compelling her to marry him.

He seized the city of Florence in 1414 and planned to take over, except the plague took over the city and decimated his army and forced them out. This further pushed the Renaissance building campaign in Florence, especially with the continuation of the construction of Brunelleschi's dome on the Duomo.

He was widely reputed to have been poisoned and died in Naples on August 6, 1414. He was succeeded by his sister Joan II of Naples, the last member of the senior Angevin line in Italy.

Significantly, when Antipope John XXIII preached the crusade against Ladislas, Jan Hus opposed the sale of indulgences to finance it in Bohemia, which led to Hus's death and subsequently the Hussite movement.

Ladislas married three times: *First to Costanza de Clermont in 1390. She was a daughter of Manfredo de Clermont, Conte di Motica. They were divorced in 1392. *Second to Marie de Lusignan (1381 in Genoa – September 4, 1404 in Naples and buried there) on February 12, 1403 in Naples. She was a daughter of James I of Cyprus. She died on September 4, 1404. *Third to Marie d'Enghien, Contessa di Lecce (1367 or 1370 – May 9, 1446), daughter of Jean d'Enghien, Conte di Castro, in 1406. She survived him by thirty-two years.

There were no children from either of his marriages. However Ladislas had at least two illegitimate children: *Rinaldo di Durazzo, Titular "Prince of Capua", buried in Foggia. Married and had children of his own: **Francesco di Durazzo. Married and had a son: ***Rinaldo di Durazzo (1469 – September 1, 1494 and buried in Foggia), married to Camilla Tomacelli, without issue **Caterina di Durazzo **Camilla di Durazzo **Ipolita di Durazzo *Maria di Durazzo. Considered to have died young.

*A listing of descendants of Charles I of Sicily

Ladislas Ladislas category:Princes of Taranto