Władysław III of Poland, also known as Ladislaus of Varna, was King of Poland and Supreme Duke of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1434 as well as King of Hungary and Croatia from 1440 until his death at the Battle of Varna. He was the eldest son of Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) and the Lithuanian noblewoman Sophia of Halshany.
Zbigniew Oleśnicki, seen kneeling to the left, was instrumental in securing Władysław's right to the throne.
Władysław portrayed in a prayerbook held at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, 15th century.
The Holy Crown of Hungary was hidden from Władysław by Elizabeth of Luxembourg to prevent his coronation as King of Hungary.
John Hunyadi, who supported Władysław's claim to the Hungarian throne and aided him militarily. Depiction from the Chronica Hungarorum, 1488.
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians, who were at the time a polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija, which by 1440, became the largest European state controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south.
Columns of Gediminas
Gediminas' Tower and other remnants of the Upper Castle in Vilnius
Lubart's Castle in Ukraine, built by the son of Gediminas' Liubartas in the mid-14th century, is famous for the Congress of Lutsk which took place in 1429
Trakai Island Castle, built by Grand Duke Vytautas, which served as a residence of Lithuanian Grand Dukes
