LUIGI I, the Great, king of HUNGARY. - Born in 1826, died 10 Sept. 1832. Chivalrous, religious, cultured, a wise statesman. Reigned from 1342; from 1370 also king of Poland. From his father, Charles I of Anjou, king of Hungary, he inherited a strong, well-organized and consolidated kingdom, which he brought to great power. His authority was almost absolute, yet he never became tyrannical; indeed, he created a just social and political balance.
For Dalmatia he waged long wars with Venice, but only the Peace of Turin (1381) secured the Adriatic for him. His attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Naples failed, yet he victoriously fought the first battles against the new, fateful enemy of Hungary, the Turk. He was a zealous promoter of religion: he fostered Franciscan missions in the Balkans, founded 12 convents in Bosnia for Italian Franciscans, reorganized the bishopric of Milko in Moldavia, and aided the Pope in defending the integrity of the Papal States. To him Saint Catherine of Siena also appealed for aid on behalf of Urban VI. Political, cultural and economic relations between Italy and Hungary were most intense: evidence of this is the first Hungarian university, founded by him at Pécs (Quinqueecclesiensis).