The Treaty of Bratislava/Pressburg

On July 25th, 1491, following a long siege, King Wladislav/ Vladislav of Bohemia and Hungary re-conquered Székesfehérvár/Stuhlweißenburg from the Habsburgs. The loss of the Hungarian coronation city and the imminent war in Brittany against France perusaded Emperor Frederic III and his son Maximilian to begin peace negotiations with Wladislav/ Vladislav.

The ambassadors of both rulers met in September 1491 but could not come to an agreement. The emperor demanded a confirmation of the Treaty of Wiener Neustadt signed in1463, which guaranteed the Habsburgs’ right to the Hungarian crown.

The events in the fall of 1491 (the attack of King Wladislav’s/ Vladislav’s brother, Duke Johann Albrecht, in northeastern Hungary, the Ottoman activities in the south, and Maximilian’s successes along the Austro-Hungarian border in the west) forced Wladislav/ Vladislav to restart the negotiations. The adversaries signed a peace agreement on November 7th, 1491 at Bratislava/Preßburg. The Habsburgs accepted Wladislav/ Vladislav as the rightful King of Hungary and promised to return all the fortresses that had fallen to Maximilian and were occupied by his troops.

In return, Wladislav/ Vladislav renounced all parts of the hereditary lands conquered by King Matthias Corvinus and permitted the Emperor and his son, the Roman King, to bear the Hungarian royal title; and, last but not least, he agreed to pay to the Habsburgs a large sum of money as war indemnity. The most important point in the Treaty of Bratislava stipulates that if Wladislav/ Vladislav or his successors die without a male heir, King Maximilian or his successors will inherit the Hungarian throne. Maximilian’s right of succession was confirmed in March 1592 at Ofen/Buda by the Hungarian, Slavonian, and Croatian Estates.

Tibor Neumann