Diaconescu, Marius (szerk.): Mediaevalia Transilvanica 1998 (2. évfolyam, 2. szám)
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190 Tamás Pálosfalvi barons who had risen to power in the last years of Sigismund's reign and who controlled the most important governmental offices of the kingdom: members of the Perényi, Pálóci, Csáki, Hédervári, Marcali, Tallóci families. Since most of the latter were military men who had spent much of their life in fighting against the Ottomans and other enemies of the kingdom, we have no reason to dismiss altogether their chief argument on behalf of Wladislaw of Poland's candidature, namely that the country needed a man and not an infant if it was to resist successfully to the Ottomans. Yet it is evident that what was at stake for them was the maintenance of their former authority, especially because most of the castles they controlled were conditional on their offices and consequently directly linked to the royal favour. Accordingly, they decided to elect a foreign ruler who would then marry Elisabeth and take care of her children2. Since not only the staunchest partisans of Wladislaw but also László Garai urged her to marry the young king of Poland3, Elisabeth finally acquiesced in the marriage in January 1440, though it is impossible to tell if she had already made up her mind to take up arms if Wladislaw really accepted the Hungarian throne or she only changed her decision after the birth of her son in February 1440. In any case the Hungarian envoys who were sent by the kingdom's universitas to elect Wladislaw as their king claimed to have secured the queen's consent beforehand, and so did the Polish king, who later kept on repeating that he had been invited to the Hungarian throne upon agreement with the queen. The birth of Ladislaus Posthumus in February 1440 toughened the queen's will to defend her newborn son's heritage. She tried to dissuade the Hungarian magnates from electing Wladislaw, and after their refusal she began to prepare the coronation of her newborn son with the Holy Crown which had already been stolen from the castle of Visegrád by her faithful lady-in-waiting, Helena Kottanerin. Since Wladislaw, after an initial period of hesitation, decided to accept the challenge and take the Hungarian throne, it soon became evident that civil war would necessarily break out, and both parties prepared themselves for the fight. On the eve of open conflict it was of crucial importance for the contending parties what attitude the third most important office-holder of the kingdom, and the one with the greatest territorial authority, namely the voivode of Transylvania would take. It is well-known that the voivode was the uncontested master of his province both judicially and administratively: he was the supreme judge, could appoint the counts of the seven Transylvanian counties at will, and also led the military forces under his authority in person4. Although the estates belonging to his honor had been considerably weakened by king Sigismund's grants, they 2 The best narrative is still József Teleki, A Hunyadiak kora Magyarországon, I-VI/1, X-XII, Pest, 1852-1863, vol. I, passim. 3 A korona elrablása, Kottaner Jánosné emlékirata, 1439-1440, translated and ed. by Károly Mollay, Budapest, 1979, p. 12. 4 On the voivode's authority see, for example, Elemér Mályusz, Az erdélyi magyar társadalom a középkorban (hereafter referred to as: Az erdélyi magyar társadalom), Budapest, 1988, pp. 5-9.
