Congress of Visegrád (1335)


The first Congress of Visegrád was a 1335 summit in Visegrád in which Kings John I of Bohemia, Charles I of Hungary and Casimir III of Poland formed an anti-Habsburg alliance. The three leaders agreed to create new commercial routes to bypass the staple port Vienna and obtain easier access to other European markets.
The summit was triggered by the sudden expansion of Habsburg power in the region, after they took over Carinthia and Carniola following the death of duke Henry of Gorizia-Tyrol, himself an unsuccessful claimant to the Bohemian and Polish crowns.
The congress also recognized the Czech sovereignty over the Duchy of Silesia, which the Czech kings had controlled de jure besides the Crown of Poland. In exchange for the recognition, John I relinquished the Polish crown to Casimir III in exchange for 20,000 Prague groschen. The Duchy of Silesia thus became part of the Czech Crown until 1742, when most of it was lost to Prussia. That part joined Poland after World War II in 1945, but a small part is in the Czech Republic.
A second meeting took place in 1339 and decided upon the new king of Poland.