Ludmila of Poděbrady | |
---|---|
Spouse(s) | Frederick I of Legnica |
Noble family | House of Poděbrady |
Father | George of Poděbrady |
Mother | Johana of Rožmitál |
Born | 16 October 1456 |
Died | 20 January 1503 Legnica |
(aged 46)
Ludmila of Poděbrady Polish: Ludmiła Podiebrad; (16 October 1456 – Legnica, 20 January 1503), was a member of the House of Poděbrady and by marriage Duchess of Chojnów-Oława-Legnica-Brzeg-Lubin.
She was the youngest daughter of George of Poděbrady (who was elected King of Bohemia in 1458) by his second wife, Johana of Rožmitál (Johanka z Rožmitálu). She was named after her maternal grandmother, Ludmila Bawor of Strakonicz.
In 1460 Ludmila was betrothed to George, only son and heir of Duke Louis IX, Duke of Bavaria-Landshut. This marriage would have gained King George an ally in his efforts to obtain the German throne.
However, the change of the political plans of George forced him in 1461 to dissolve Ludmila's betrothal with the Bavarian prince and engaged her with the Hungarian magnate Wawrzyńcem Uljakim. The Bohemian King wanted to win the Hungarian magnates to the cause of Matthias Corvinus (who recently had married with one of his eldest twin daughters, Katharina) and simultaneously tried to gain his own opportunity of became the ruler of Hungary. In 1464, after Katharina's death, the relations between the Kings of Hungary and Bohemia become unfriendly. In this situation, George reassumed the idea of a marriage between Ludmila and the heir of Bavaria-Landshut. This engagement was broken by 1468, when King George found himself in political isolation. Then, he tried to arrange a marriage between Ludmila and the young Prince Vladislaus Jagiellon (eldest son of King Casimir IV of Poland) but this plan never prospered. After King George's death in 1471, his widow proposed Prince Vladislaus as his successor. Shortly after, the Polish prince became in King Vladislaus II of Bohemia, and after succeeded Matthias Corvinus in 1490, he also reigned as King of Hungary.