Ladislas I

Ladislas I

 or Saint Ladislas

(born June 27, 1040, Pol.—died July 29, 1095, Nitra, Slvk.; canonized 1192; feast day June 27) King of Hungary (1077–95). He greatly expanded the boundaries of the kingdom, gaining land in Transylvania and occupying Croatia (1091). In the Investiture Controversy he sided with the pope. Ladislas introduced Roman Catholicism to Croatia and persecuted pagans in his dominions. He also promulgated a legal code that brought order and prosperity to Hungary. He died while preparing for the First Crusade and was canonized in 1192.

---

Ladislas I 

(Saint Ladislas, also László). Born circa 1040; died July 29,1095, in Nitra. King of Hungary from 1077 to 1095. Ladislas I achieved a temporary cessation of internecine feudal quarrels. He successfully defended the country from attacks by the Pechenegs and Polovtsy in 1085 and 1091. In 1091 he seized Croatia. He supported the pope in his struggle with the Holy Roman Empire. Three codices of laws that were drawn up during the reign of Ladislas I reinforced feudal ownership of land and strengthened the bondage of the peasantry.