In continuing his father’s policy, he, faced with the spread of Hussitism in Poland, threw his full support behind the Catholic party, led by the bishop of Cracow and future cardinal Zbigniew Oleśnicki, whose programme was to fight Hussitism, the “Blind” (who held Silesia), and to unite with Hungary to confront the Turkish threat. After defeating the Hussite movement, L. III was elected king of Hungary (1440). This election drew Poland for the first time into the struggle against the Turks, and in a successful campaign he managed to defeat them (Aug. 1444), only to be subsequently defeated at Varna on 10 Nov. 1444, where he lost his life.
BIBL.: J. Dąbrowski, Władisław Jagiellończyk ne Węgrzech, Warsaw 1922; various authors, Polska-Czechy, Katowice-Breslau 1947.