2021-07-01 Thu

Louis II was King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia from 1516 to 1526. He was killed during the Battle of Mohacs fighting the Ottomans, whose victory led to the Ottoman annexation of large parts of Hungary.

At his premature birth in Buda on 1 July 1506, the court doctors kept him alive by slaying animals and wrapping him in their warm carcasses as a primitive incubator. He was the only son of Vladislaus II Jagiellon and his third wife, Anne of Foix-Candale.

As king of Bohemia, Louis became known as "Ludovicus the Child". The first thaler coins were minted during his reign in Bohemia, later giving the name to the dollars used in different countries. These correctly style him as "LVDOVICVS•PRIM•D: GRACIA•REX•BO*" (Louis the First, by the grace of God King of Bohemia). Here is the image of its reverse side, with the Bohemian Lion and the name of Louis / Ludovicus.

He was the last of the Jagie??o line to rule those countries and the last king to rule all of Hungary before the Turks conquered a large portion of it.

Image Source: Wikipedia.org