LOUIS II. (1506-26), king of Hungary and Bohemia, was the only son of Wladislaus II., king of Hungary and Bohemia, and the French princess Anne of Candale. Prematurely born at Buda on July I, 1506, it required all the resources of medical science to keep the sickly child alive, yet he developed so precociously that at the age of 13 he was well bearded and moustached, while at 18 his hair was silvery white. His parts were good and he could speak and write six languages at a very early age, but the zeal of his guardians and tutors to make a man of him betimes nearly ruined his feeble constitution, while the riotous life led by him and his young consort, Maria of Austria, whom he wedded on Jan. 13, 1522, speedily disqualified him for affairs, so that at last he became an object of ridicule at his own court. He was crowned king of Hungary on June 4, 1508, and king of Bohemia on May II, 1509, and was declared of age when he succeeded his father on Dec. it, 1521. But during most of his reign he was the puppet
of the magnates and kept in such penury that he was often obliged to pawn his jewels to get proper food and clothing, while his guardians and the Hungarian nobles rent the kingdom with their factions. In the last struggle with the Turks, which was brought on partly by Louis's own folly, the young king was deserted by the nobles who should have helped him. His army was utterly defeated at Mohacs, Aug. 29, 1526, and he himself is said to have been drowned in his flight from the field (see HUNGARY : His tory). After his death the Crowns of Hungary and Bohemia passed to the Habsburg dynasty.
See Rerum Hungaricarum libri (vol. ii., ed. Ferencz Toldy, Buda pest, 1867) ; and jozsef Podhradczky, King Louis (Hung.) (186o).