Louis Ii

Related Category: Austria and Hungary, History: Biographies

1506–26, king of Hungary and Bohemia (1516–26), son and successor of Uladislaus II. He was the last of the Jagiello dynasty in the two kingdoms. In the face of intensified attacks by Sultan Sulayman I, Louis hastily sought (1526) to unite Hungary and Christendom behind him, but only the pope sent help. With a pitiful army, Louis joined battle with the Ottomans at Mohács. The Hungarian army was destroyed, and Louis was killed. Through the marriage treaty concluded by his father (see Uladislaus II) the crowns of Hungary and Bohemia passed to Louis's brother-in-law, Ferdinand of Hapsburg (later Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I), but Hungary fell under Ottoman rule.