Louis I of Hungary

Louis I, called the Great (1326–1382), succeeded his father Charles I as King of Hungary and Croatia in 1342, inheriting a centralised kingdom; his mother Elizabeth of Poland long acted as co-regent. When his brother Andrew was murdered at Naples in 1345, he accused Queen Joanna, and punishing her became the aim of his foreign policy: he invaded twice between 1347 and 1350, but the papacy never recognised his claim and he withdrew in 1351.

In 1358 he forced Venice to give up the Dalmatian towns. Under a treaty of 1338 he inherited Poland from his maternal uncle Casimir III in 1370.

With no son, he issued the Privilege of Koszyce in 1374 to win acceptance for his daughters as heirs. Hungarian historians long counted him their most powerful king.