No Anjou on the throne of Hungary-Croatia

[Marko]

After spending more than two weeks here and reading several timelines I have decided to work on my own. It will feature a separate Croatian and Hungarian kingdom with a POD around the end of the Arpad dinasty.

What I am interested is what is your opinion what would be the changes to Europe if the Robert and Ladislav never become kings of Hungary-Croatia and there is no great Anjou centraleuropean kingdom.

Cheers

 

[Marko]

This is my first timeline so I would be thankful for any advice.


The Preface

The kingdom of Hungary-Croatia as it was known among the Croatian nobles was since its inception an unstable thing. Separate identities, culture and language kept the two apart. Not to mention they were often on the opposite sides of the many power struggles for the throne among the Arpad ruling family. Hoping to solidify their power the Kings started to act against the agreement their predecessor Coloman made with the Croatian noble houses and in the second half of the 13th century things were starting to get out of hand. Several powerful houses had become hereditary rulers of their zhupanias and feeling secure in their strongholds they began to oppose central government of the failing Arpad dynasty. Andrew III ascended to the throne in July 1290 and was immediately opposed by several other claimants. Among these was Queen Mary of Naples, sister of the late king. In her support many nobles of Croatia rose in rebellion and supported the claim of her son Charles Martel as king. Civil war would rage on for twenty years as claimants would seek to secure their hold on the throne. This state of chaos allowed the noble family of Shubichi to rise to pre-eminence in Croatia. Both Andrew and Charles tried to secure the loyalty of the powerful Shubichi by granting their patriarch Paul, who had also been the Ban of Croatia since 1273, complete rule of the lands between the Gvozd Mountain and river Neretva in 1293. All other nobles in Croatia became vassals of Paul and his title of Ban became hereditary as did his newly acquired possession. The death of Charles Martel in 1295 diffused the situation and there was a lull in the fighting until 1299 when Andrew tried to make his uncle his successor. That same year Paul conquered Bosnia becoming probably the most powerful magnate in all of kingdom of Hungary-Croatia. The fighting continued and in August 1300 Paul’s brother George was sent to Naples to bring Charles Robert, son of the late Charles Martel, to Croatia. Next year upon the death of Andrew III he was crowned king with the support of Paul and Ugrin of the house of Czak. Charles would not be without an opponent because most of the Hungarian magnates refused to acknowledge him and elected Wenceslaus of Bohemia as king Ladislaus V. During the siege of Buda in 1302 Charles defeated Ladislaus V, who relinquished his claim to the throne in return for his life. Yet only a month later the young Charles was dead from pneumonia and pandemonium reigned in the kingdom once more. As it was before several claimants tried to take the throne. These were Ladislaus V, Otto III of Bavaria, Stephen Dragutin of Srem and Robert of Calabria, uncle of the late Charles and heir to the kingdom of Naples.

But Paul would have none of it. In December 1302 he summoned the Croatian Sabor and Sabor of the whole of Slavonia as well as leading nobles of Bosnia in the town of Bihach. After winning over Stephen Baboneg, the most powerful magnate of Slavonia, by promising him the hereditary title of Ban of Slavonia Paul is declared king by the joint Sabor. Over the coming days internal matters of the kingdom are settled. Both Sabors are reformed and joined into a single Sabor of Kingdom of Croatia with representatives from Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia and Bosnia. His co-brother-in-law Stephen Kotroman is restored to the position of Ban of Bosnia. Paul sends a delegation to Stephen Dragutin, his father-in-law, informing him of his support to his claim to the throne of Hungary. In return Dragutin declares kingdom of Croatia no longer part of his inheritance. On Easter 1303 in the royal basilica in Solin Peter IX the Archbishop of Split crowned Paul with the Croatian royal crown as Paul Tomislav II king of Croatia and lord over Dalmatia, Slavonia and Bosnia. His claim would be challenged by Doge Pietro Gradenigo and Robert of Clabaria but both would fail. Following Paul’s victory over Venice in 1311 and capture of Zadar his titles were confirmed by Pope Clement V securing his reign. While the realm of Paul would consolidate over the coming years Hungary would remain a realm divided until the mighty Habsburgs would enter the game early in the 15th century.



What do you think does this have potential?

 

[Marko]

Situation in 1305



B. = Bavaria
Hab. = Habsburgs
H.R.E. = Holy Roman Empire

Ladislaus V is supported by Csak Mate and Kopazs.

Otto III is supported by Ratotok and Pok as well as being in controlo of most of the royal possessions.

Stephen Dragutin is supported by Ugrin Csak and Kan Laszlo.

Robert is supported by Koszegi familly and Akos.

Aba Amade is an independent ruler seeking support from the lesser nobles for his claim to the throne on the pretext that he is descended from Samuel Aba, king of Hungary during the 11th century and through him to Attila Hun's wife Honoria making him calim for himself both the thrones of the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire.

 

[dreadnought jenkins]

Good stuff. I'm glad to see this era gets some attention. I'm writing a paper on the Angevin dynasty, so consider me suscribed.

Question: Will you be focusing more on Croatia, or on Hungary?

Also, some interesting knock on effects for Poland. Without Louis the Hungarian taking the throne in 1370, the Polish Crown will be alot stronger. Casimir III and his father had spent four decades building up royal power in Poland, but Louis reversed course on alot of things to get his daughters their inheritance. Without the Angevins, Casimir probably passes the throne to his grandson (through one of his daughters), also named Casimir (he died OTL putting down a rebellion for Louis).

I mean, thats just one option for Poland. The Angevins were strong allies of Wladislaw the Short and Casimir the Great. Maybe, some knock on butterflies keep Wladislaw I from taking the throne of Poland and the Premyslids take power?

Anachronistic yes, but are you going to let Michael Csak set up a slovakian kingdom (though it would probably be called upper hungary)?

Also, you have a far back enough POD to keep the Ottomans from becoming prominent. Louis I had the potential to stop them when they were in their developing stages, but he played it safe (thus underplaying the strong hand he had).

I for one would find a timeline about the Balkans developing without some Hedgemon or another rising to dominate the region fascinating.

Please, keep going on your timeline.

 

[Marko]

HUNGARY 1302-1308


Following the death of Charles Robert Ladislaus V was not quick enough to react and Otto III of Bavaria managed to seize the crown and supported by lesser land lords was crowned Bela V. Not really interested in the affairs of his new possession he made Miklos Pok palatine and returned to Bavaria to prepare for the confrontation with the Habsburgs over Styria. Fearing that a future war between Bela V and the Habsburgs could be fought on their territory the mighty Koszegi family decided to support Robert of Calabria in his claim to the throne. In their actions they were not alone and Istvan Akos extended his support to the Anjou claimant hoping to gain lands currently held by Mate Csak the main supporter of Ladislaus V. As skirmishes intensified during winter and spring of 1303 and Ladislaus V started to gain the upper hand a new player entered the game. The influential Stephen Dragutin of Srem decided to regain his position as one of the most important rulers of south-eastern Europe. In his youth he was king of Serbia until he broke his leg in 1282 and decided to abdicate in favour of his younger brother and became king of Srem, a part of land that was given to him by his father-in-law king Stephen V of Hungary. Now he was feeling healthy enough to reaffirm himself and secure a sizable domain for his son. Playing on his connections to the failed Arpad dynasty and to the Anjou family, for his mother was second cousin to Charles I of Naples, great-grandfather of Charles Robert, Dragutin offered Ugrin Csak the title palatine for his support and granted hereditary rule of Transylvania to Laszlo Kan, with much autonomy. The winter of 1304 was a period of ferocious fighting between Danube and Tisza as the supporters of Bela, Dragutin and Robert vied for supremacy.



[FONT=&quot]Following a successful summer campaign of his Koszegi supporters in 1305 Robert felt powerful enough to try and reclaim Croatia but failed miserably suffering defeats on both land and sea. To make the matters worse Wenceslaus II of Bohemia died and Ladislaus V suddenly inherited both Bohemia and Poland outmatching all his opponents. Yet this state of affairs was not to last and by August 1306 Ladislaus V was dead, murdered while trying to secure the Polish throne. With the main opponent out of the picture Bela, Dragutin and Robert renewed hostilities. But quickly the focus of Bela shifted from Hungary to the HRE as Henry VI of Carinthia inherited Ladislaus V domains and found himself under attack from the Habsburgs. To gather support Henry VI relinquished his claim to the throne of Hungary and Croatia. The move paid off and a Croatian force laid siege to Graz forcing the Habsburgs to lift the siege of Prague thus starting the enmity between the two noble houses. With Habsburgs slightly weakened Bela V made his own move relinquishing his claim to the throne of Croatia he secured the alliance of Paul against the Habsburgs. For a year vicious skirmishes were fought without a clear winner draining Bela’s resources to the point he was no longer able to control Buda. Coming out of nowhere Aba Amade, patriarch of Aba family and a mighty magnate in his own right that refused to take sides previously led an army and seized Buda. With the support of the archbishop of Esztergom he proclaimed himself rightful king of Hungary since he was descendant of Samuel Aba king of Hungary in 11th century. Bela V tried to retake Buda but was defeated and captured along with the crown of St. Stephen. In return for his life he relinquished his claim to the throne and was allowed to return to Bavaria. With the Bavarians out of the picture Dragutin and Robert clashed violently ignoring Amade who retreated to his stronghold of Gonc leaving Pok in Buda as palatine. Seeing total chaos envelope the country Mate Csak on his own accord declared himself king of Hungary on the pretext that Arpad dynasty has died out and he as the patriarch of the Csak family and descendant from Elod, one of leaders of the original seven Magyar tribes, was the rightful ruler of the kingdom. Using the chance to secure his position Ugrin defected from Dragutin and offered support to his cousin. This influenced Laszlo Kan to strike on his own abandoning Dragutin and staking his own claim to the crown. As winter turned to spring in 1308 Hungary was a sundered realm with future looking grim.



dreadnough jenkins @ I will try and balance it, for the time being Hungary is of interest to me but my main focus will be Croatia.

I have edited the previous post, the map should show the situation from 1305


P.S. what happened with my font?
[/FONT]

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

Both Andrew and Charles tried to secure the loyalty of the powerful Shubichi by granting their patriarch Paul, who had also been the Ban of Croatia since 1273, complete rule of the lands between the Gvozd Mountain and river Neretva in 1293. All other nobles in Croatia became vassals of Paul and his title of Ban became hereditary as did his newly acquired possession.

Heh. I thought for some time, well into the next part of the story, that you were talking about a high ranking Orthodox bishop i.e. the Patriarch of ?Serbia? here, who might have belonged to the 'Shubichi' whoever or whatever they were. By the next segment, it's obvious that you're talking about heads of families, not heads of churches....

 

[Janprimus]

Interesting TL! Consider me subscribed. I find this period interesting; a while a go I posted a thread about a surviving Habsburg Rudolph I of Bohemia, but that wasn't very popular.
Anyway I like this TL and I'm looking forward to the next update.

 

[Voltaireness]

If no Anjou on the Hungary trone than the kingdom will split in 3:
Croatia/Hungary/Transilvania.
As efect of this split:Stefan Dusan takes over Bosnia.
Ludovic the Great never exist and mongols never gets defeated by lituanians.
Halici-Volinia principality survive as semi independent state.