Early Years
He was the elder son of Stephen V of Hungary and his wife, Elizabeth the Cuman. Elizabeth was daughter of a chieftain of the Cumans, who had settled in Hungary after Mongol pressure drove them westwards. She was a pagan and was required to be baptized before her wedding with the future Stephen V in 1253.
Just after his birth, a civil war had broken out in Hungary between his father, who had been crowned as junior king of Hungary, and his grandfather Béla IV of Hungary. During the struggles, the senior king's troops occupied the castle of Sárospatak, where the child Ladislas and his mother were staying, and he was taken to his grandfather's court. The two kings concluded a peace only in 1265 when Ladislas returned to his father's court. In 1269 Béla IV betrothed him to Elisabeth of Anjou, the daughter of King Charles I of Naples.
Read more about this topic: Ladislaus IV Of Hungary
Famous quotes related to early years:
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)