First Congress of Vienna

After the death of Vladislaus, and later his son and heir, the childless King Louis II at the Battle of Mohács against the Ottomans in 1526, the Habsburg-Jagellion mutual succession treaty ultimately increased the power of the Habsburgs and diminished that of the Jagiellonians.

The Jagiellonians had been facing simultaneous threats on all fronts, from the Emperor, the Russians, the Teutonic Order under Albert of Prussia, and the Crimean Tatars.

The city of Smolensk fell to the Russians in 1514, and Maximilian planned a congress to cement his claims in central Europe.

However, Lithuanian and Polish forces decisively defeated the Russian army at the Battle of Orsha on 8 September 1514, changing the balance of power.

Maximilan and Vladislaus decided in the congress: their mutual succession treaty was further confirmed by a double wedding.

Meeting of the Holy Roman Emperor , Maximilian I , and the Jagiellonian brothers, Vladislaus II , King of Hungary and King of Bohemia , and Sigismund I , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania , by Jan Matejko (1838-1893)
Woodcut by Albrecht Dürer from the Triumphal Arch commemorating the double wedding at the First Congress of Vienna, on 22 July 1515. Anna's betrothed Ferdinand I (age 11) is not shown. From left to right: Maximilian I ; Maximilian's granddaughter, Mary (age 9) marrying Vladislaus's son Louis (age 9); Vladislaus II ; Vladislaus's daughter, Anna (age 12); and Vladislaus's brother, Sigismund I .