Wenceslaus III Premyslid (Czech and Slovak Václav, Hungarian Vencel), (October 6, 1289 - August 4, 1306) was the king of Hungary (1301 - 1305) and king of Bohemia (1305 - 1306).

Wenceslaus III was the son of Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia and Poland, and Judith von Habsburg, the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf I. He had the problem that at his time there were internal quarrels in Hungary and in Poland, i. e. in countries that he ruled/wanted to rule.

Wenceslaus was the last of the Premyslid rulers of Bohemia. His sister, Elizabeth (Eliška), heiress of Bohemia, married John "The Blind" of Luxembourg.

Kingdom of Hungary

His father accepted the crown of Hungary on behalf of Wenceslaus III in 1301. On August 27, 1301, Wenceslaus III was crowned in Székesfehérvár as the King of Hungary and as such assumed the name Ladislaus V (Hungarian: V. László, Czech and Slovak: Ladislav V.). At that time the Kingdom of Hungary was de-facto split into several principalities ruled by the corresponding nobles and Wenceslaus was only accepted as the king of Hungary by the rulers in Slovakia (Matthew Csák and the Omodejs) and western present-day Hungary (the Güssings [Köszegs]). Within the chaos in Hungary, the Omodejs and Matthew Csák switched the sides in 1303 and started to support Wenceslaus' antiking Charles Robert of Anjou. Consequently, the young Wenceslaus, sitting in Buda, got afraid and wrote to his father in Prague to help him. His father took a big army and invaded Buda, but having considered the situation, he took his son and the Hungarian crown and they went home to Bohemia. Ivan of Güssing was named to represent Wenceslaus III in Hungary. After his father's death, Wenceslaus III. definitively decided to waive the Hungarian throne, and on December 6 1305 he relinquished the crown to Otto, Duke of Lower Bavaria. But even Otto, who was still only supported by the Güssings, was jailed in 1307 and waived the throne in 1308, so that Charles Robert became the only ruler of Hungary.

Poland

Wenceslaus III, however, wanted to claim his hereditary right to the Polish throne, but was murdered under mysterious circumstances in Olomouc, Moravia on August 4, 1306 while on a campaign to Poland.

Kings, Dukes and High-Dukes of Poland

Popiel | Siemowit | Lestko | Siemomysł | Mieszko I | Boleslaus I the Brave | Mieszko II Lambert | Bezprym | Mieszko II Lambert | Casimir I the Restorer | Boleslaus II the Generous | Wladislaus I Herman | Zbigniew | Boleslaus III the Wrymouth | Wladislaus II the Exile | Boleslaus IV the Curly | Mieszko III the Old | Casimir II the Just | Leszek the White | Wladislaus III Spindleshanks | Leszek the White | Mieszko IV Platonogi | Leszek the White | Wladislaus III Spindleshanks | Konrad I of Masovia | Henry I the Bearded | Henry II the Pious | Konrad I of Masovia | Boleslaus V the Shy | Leszek II the Black | Henry IV Probus | Przemysł II | Wenceslaus II | Wenceslaus III | Wladislaus I the Short | Casimir III the Great | Louis I | Jadwiga | Wladislaus II Jagiełło | Wladislaus III of Varna | Casimir IV the Jagiellonian | John I Olbracht | Alexander the Jagiellonian | Sigismund I the Old | Sigismund II Augustus | Henry III | Stefan Batory | Sigismund III | Wladislaus IV | John Casimir II | Michael Korybut Wiśniowiecki | John III Sobieski | Augustus II the Strong | Stanislaus Leszczyński | Augustus II the Strong | Stanislaus Leszczyński | Augustus III | Stanislaus August Poniatowski