Wladislaus III, King of Poland and Hungary

According to a popular theory, he might have been Henrique Alemão, Cavaleiro da OSCMS after 1444.

Władysław was the first-born son of Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila) of Poland and Sophia of Halshany (Zofia Holszańska). He ascended the throne at the age of ten and was immediately surrounded by a group of advisors headed by Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki, who wanted to continue to enjoy his high status at court. In spite of that, the young ruler and his ambitious mother were aware that there was opposition to them. Despite the agreements signed between Władysław Jagiełło and the Polish magnates to ensure the succession for his sons, the opposition wanted another candidate for the Polish throne - Friedrich of Brandenburg, who was betrothed to Jadwiga, Jagiełło's daughter by his second wife. However, the conspiracy was resolved by the death of the princess, rumoured to have been poisoned by Zofia Holszańska.

The young king's reign was difficult from the very outset. His coronation was interrupted by a hostile nobleman, Spytko of Melsztyn. On the next day, the customary homage of the townsfolk of Kraków did not take place due to a dispute between the temporal and spiritual lords of Mazovia over their place in the retinue. Neither did Wladyslaw have much to say later about matters of state, which were run by the powerful Zbigniew Oleśnicki. The situation did not change even after parliament gathered in Piotrków in 1438, and declared the fourteen-year-old king to have attained his majority.

This situation continued until 1440, when Władysław was offered the crown of Hungary. However, accepting it would have led to numerous problems. Hungary was under a growing threat from the Ottoman Empire, and some Polish magnates did not want to agree to the king of Poland also being the monarch of Hungary, while Elisabeth, widow of the deceased king of Hungary, Albert II Habsburg, attempted to keep the crown for her yet unborn child. Such inconveniences aside, Władysław finally took the Hungarian throne, having engaged in a two-year civil war against Elisabeth. He had received significant support from Pope Eugene IV, in exchange for his help in organising an anti-Turkish crusade. The eighteen-year-old king, although thus far a king solely by title, became deeply involved in the crusade, paying no heed to the interests of Poland and of the Jagiellonian dynasty.

The "bulwark of Christianity" and other slogans put forward by the papal envoy Giuliano Cesarini, together with an enticing promise of victory in a glorious crusade for God, persuaded Władysław to engage in a two-year war against the Ottoman Empire. He also accepted the argument that the ten-year truce signed in 1443 in Oradea was not valid since the infidel Turks could not be trusted to keep their word. Despite their significant military advantages, Władysław failed to recognise the serious threat which the Turkish Empire posed to Europe as a whole. Therefore, when the Battle of Varna began on 10 November 1444, the Polish king did not sense that this would be his final fight. He was killed during the charge on the ranks of the janissaries, who were protecting their sultan.

Władysław III had no children and did not get married (contemporary opinions, quoted by Jan Długosz, suggested that he was homosexual). He was succeeded in Poland by his younger brother Casimir IV Jagiellon in 1447 after a three-year interregnum. In Hungary he was succeeded by his former rival, the child Ladislaus Posthumus

According to Portuguese legend Władysław survived the Battle of Varna and after his journey to the Holy Land he settled on Madeira Island.[2] King Afonso V of Portugal granted him the lands in Cabo Girão district of the Madeira Islands, rent-free for the rest of his life.[2] He was known there as Henrique Alemão (Henry the German) and married Senhorinha Anes (the King of Portugal was his best man[3]), who gave him two sons. Later he become knight of Saint Catharine of Mount Sinai (O Cavaleiro de Santa Catarina) and established a church of Saint Catherine and Saint Mary Magdalene in Madalena do Mar (1471).[4][5] There he was portraited as Saint Joachim (São Joaquim) meeting Saint Anne at the Golden Gate on a painting by Master of the Adoration of Machico (Mestre da Adoração de Machico) in the beginning of the 16th century.[2]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_III_of_Poland

--

Henrique Alemão veio a esta ilha pelos anos de 1450, e se apelidou cavaleiro de Santa Catarina, com cujo nome se acha nas doações do Infante D. Henrique e do Rei D. Afonso V, trazia por divisa ou insígnia de sua Cavalaria a Roda de Sta. Catarina e dizia fora - Armado Cavaleiro no Templo do Monte Sinai andando peregrinando pelo mundo. Nesta Ilha lhe deu o Capitão João Gonçalves Zarco a Sismarias o lugar se chama de Madalena pela Igreja que ele ali edificou da invocação desta Santa, de cuja mercê lhe mandou passar carta o Infante D. Henrique no ano de 1457 em 29 de Abril, e a confirmou o Rei D. Afonso V em 18 de Maio do mesmo ano. Devido a ser Principe de Pelonia, que por se achar na Catª Lamentavel de Amurater contra Vladislau no ano de 1444, prometera, salvando-se com vida, fazer algumas penitências, e que passaria peregrinação, viera a esta Ilha, como dissemos onde ocultara quem era, tanto que vindo em sua busca, e conhecido, não quisera confessar ser ele a pessoas que diziam, e finalmente se justificou o referido, no ano de 1484 morreu, indo desta cidade para aquele lugar, debaixo de uma rocha que chamam Cabo Girão. Casou nesta ilha com senhorinha Anes, que ao depois foi 1ª mulher de João Rodrigues de Freitas

Henrique Alemão - Ladislau III da Polónia Lenda ou História?

Madalena do Mar - 1996 O mistério envolve desde há muito o primeiro povoador da Madalena do Mar.

Henrique Alemão - assim rezam todos os documentos oficiais - foi o fundador da povoação.

Personagem importante, seria ele, afinal, um rei que optou por viver incógnito neste recanto da Madeira?

O pequeno quadro Encontro de Santana com S. Joaquim, pertencente à Igreja da Madalena do Mar, hoje exposto no Museu de Arte Sacra, no Funchal, aumenta mais o mistério...

Encontro de Santana com S. Joaquim Pintura flamenga sobre til. M. Arte Sacra, Funchal.

Henrique Alemão, O Cavaleiro de Santa Catarina, recebeu terras na Madalena (1457), onde se estabeleceu.

Casou com Senhorinha Anes de quem teve um filho e uma filha.

Recebia regularmente mantimentos de Lisboa e prestavam-lhe deferências especiais na casa do Capitão, sempre que lá se encontrava, factos que contribuem para adensar a lenda de que se tratava de uma personalidade muito importante que vivia incógnita na Madeira.

Terá sido reconhecido como Ladislau III, por monges polacos, na casa do Capitão.

Teve morte trágica, no mar, perto do Cabo Girão: quando regressava do Algarve, onde estivera em conferência com el-Rei D. Afonso V e se dirigia à Madalena, a sua barca foi atingida por uma rocha duma forte quebrada provocada por uma tempestade. O filho, mais tarde, também morreu no mar quando viajava à procura da sua verdadeira identidade.

Leopold Kielanowsky*, historiador polaco, não tinha dúvidas sobre a identidade de Henrique Alemão como Ladislau III.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Henrique Alemão ainda em sua vida assumiu contornos de personagem lendária. Dele se dizia que era príncipe polaco-lituano, e que, perdida em 1444 a batalha de Varna por Ladislau III contra Amurato II, fizera voto de peregrinar à Terra Santa, e lá fora armado cavaleiro de Santa Catarina do Monte Sinai.1 Uma carta encontrada nos arquivos dos Cavaleiros Teutónicos no século XX, com data de 1472 e escrita por Nicolau Floris desde Lisboa, indica que o rei Ladislau III é residente na Ilha da Madeira, «Vladislaus, rex Poloniae et Ungariae vivit in insulis regni Portugaliae»3