The Privilege of Buda (also known as the Treaty of Buda) was a set of promises and concessions made to ensure that

Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370 ...

would succeed to his uncle Casimir III's Polish throne, thus enabling the

union of Hungary and Poland __NOTOC__ Personal union between the Kingdom of Hungary and the Kingdom of Poland was achieved twice: under Louis I of Hungary, in 1370–1382, and under Władysław III of Poland in 1440–1444. An earlier union was also accomplished by Wenceslaus ...

Background

By 1355, the

Piast The House of Piast was the first historical ruling dynasty of Poland. The first documented List of Polish monarchs, Polish monarch was Duke Mieszko I of Poland, Mieszko I (c. 930–992). The Poland during the Piast dynasty, Piasts' royal rule i ...

King Casimir III's second marriage, to

Adelaide of Hesse Adelaide of Hesse ( pl, Adelajda heska) (after 1323 – after May 26, 1371) was queen consort of Poland by marriage to Casimir III of Poland. She was daughter of Henry II, Landgrave of Hesse, and his wife Elisabeth of Thuringia, daughter of F ...

, was failing. His only legitimate children, born of his marriage to

Aldona of Lithuania Aldona (baptized ''Ona'' or ''Anna''; her pagan name, Aldona, is known only from the writings of Maciej Stryjkowski; – 26 May 1339) was Queen consort of Piast Poland, Poland (1333–1339), and a princess of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She w ...

, were his two daughters, Duchess Elizabeth of Pomerania and Electress Cunigunde of Brandenburg. Elizabeth and Cunigunde both aspired to the crown; the former in the name of her four-year-old son,

Casimir Casimir is classically an English, French and Latin form of the Polish name Kazimierz. Feminine forms are Casimira and Kazimiera. It means "proclaimer (from ''kazać'' to preach) of peace (''mir'')." List of variations *Belarusian: Казі� ...

, and the latter for her husband, Elector Louis II. Other candidates were the surviving Piasts, Casimir III's distant

agnate Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...

s: Duke Vladislaus of Gniewkowo and Duke Siemowit III of Masovia. However, the King had arranged to be succeeded, should he himself have no legitimate sons, by either of his sister

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist Ships * HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships * ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...

's sons,

King Louis I of Hungary Louis I, also Louis the Great ( hu, Nagy Lajos; hr, Ludovik Veliki; sk, Ľudovít Veľký) or Louis the Hungarian ( pl, Ludwik Węgierski; 5 March 132610 September 1382), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1342 and King of Poland from 1370. ...

or Duke John of Slavonia. The arrangement was confirmed by the

Treaty of Vyšehrad A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...

in 1339 and consolidated more clearly in

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

in 1355.

Provisions

The Privilege recognised the right of the ''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

'' to elect the Polish monarch. Louis solemnly promised that he would not impose any new taxes on the nobility and clergy and that he would not demand any financial support for his court while travelling in Poland.{{cite book, title=A Concise History of Poland, last1=Lukowski, last2=Zawadzki, first1=Jerzy, first2=Hubert, publisher=Cambridge University Press, year=2006, isbn=052185332X Despite Casimir III's later inclination to designate his grandson as his heir, Louis ascended the throne of Poland without difficulty on his uncle's death in 1370. He was, however, soon forced to make new concessions to the ''szlachta''; he himself had no sons and wished to secure the future accession of one of his daughters by granting the

Privilege of Koszyce The Privilege of Koszyce or Privilege of KassaClifford Rogers (editor): ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology'', Oxford University Press, 201/ref> was a set of concessions made by Louis I of Hungary to the Polish ...

References

Legal history of Poland 14th century in Poland Treaties of the Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385) 1355 in Europe 1350s treaties