As the eldest son of Casimir IV Jagiellon, he was expected to inherit the Crown Kingdom of Poland and adjacent Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

George of Poděbrady, the Hussite (followers of late 14th-early 15th centuries and pre-Protestant Bohemian Reformer in the Roman Catholic Church of persecuted theologian John Hus, 1370–1415) ruler of Bohemia, offered to make Vladislaus his heir in 1468.

George needed Casimir's support against the rebellious Roman Catholic noblemen and their ally King of Hungary Matthias Corvinus.

Vladislaus's attempts to promote the Roman Catholics caused a rebellion in the capital of Prague and other towns in 1483 that forced him to acknowledge the dominance of the Hussites in the municipal assemblies.

The Diet confirmed the right of the Bohemian noblemen and commoners to adhere freely to the religious faith of Hussitism or Roman Catholicism in 1485.

After Matthias seized the Silesian duchies to grant them to his illegitimate son, John Corvinus, Vladislaus made new alliances against him in the late 1480s.

As he had in Bohemia, Vladislaus always approved the decisions of the Royal Council in Hungary, hence his Hungarian nickname "Dobzse László" (Czech: král Dobře, Latin: rex Bene – "King Very Well", from Polish: dobrze).

However, the Ottoman Empire to the southeast made regular raids against the southern border in the Balkan peninsula and annexed territories in adjacent Croatia.

Vladislaus was the eldest son of Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Elizabeth of Austria.

[18][21] After the fifteen-year-old Vladislaus pledged to respect the liberties of the Estates of the realm, the Bohemian Diet elected him king at Kutná Hora on 27 May 1471.

[1][22][10] The Holy See regarded Vladislaus's election invalid and the papal legate, Lorenzo Roverella, confirmed Matthias Corvinus's claim to Bohemia on 28 May.

[21][28] On 1 March 1472, Pope Sixtus IV authorized his legate, Marco Barbo, to excommunicate Vladislaus and his father if they continued to wage war against Matthias.

[33] The Hungarian troops cut off the invaders' supply routes, forcing Vladislaus and Casimir to sign a new truce for more than one year on 8 December.

[22][31] The Lands of the Bohemian Crown were divided: Vladislaus ruled in Bohemia proper and Matthias in Moravia, Silesia, Upper and Lower Lusatias.

[44] After realizing that he could not send forces against Prague, Vladislaus acknowledged that he was unable to continue his pro-Catholic policy and confirmed the new Hussite aldermen in 1484.

The success of the revolt of the burghers of Prague brought about a between the moderate Hussite and Catholic noblemen who treated the townspeople with disdain.

[43] Their compromise was confirmed at the Diet in Kutná Hora in March 1485, with acknowledging the right of both noblemen and commoners to freely adhere either to Catholicism or to Utraquism during the following 31 years.

[41][43] Frederick III failed to invite Vladislaus and Matthias to the Imperial Diet at Frankfurt, where his son, Maximilian, was elected King of the Romans on 16 February 1486.

[49][50] John Corvinus was primarily supported by barons and prelates who owned estates along the southern frontier (including Lawrence Újlaki and Peter Váradi, Archbishop of Kalocsa).

[51][53] Vladislaus who had left Prague for Hungary in late June issued a charter promising to refrain from imposing extraordinary taxes or introducing other "harmful novelties" and to closely cooperate with the Royal Council.

[57] Vladislaus married Beatrice of Naples in Esztergom on 4 October, but the marriage was kept secret, although she gave considerable funds to him to finance his campaigns for Hungary.

[57] Vladislaus's supporters relieved Kassa in early December, and Maximilian withdrew from Hungary before the end of the year, because he could not finance his campaign.

[60] In the Peace of Pressburg, signed on 7 November, Vladislaus renounced all territories that Matthias Corvinus had conquered in Austria and also acknowledged the Habsburgs' right to inherit Hungary and Bohemia if he died without a son.

[60][56] Stephen Zápolya routed John Albert at Eperjes (Prešov in Slovakia) on 24 December, forcing him to abandon his claim to Hungary.

[60] It only ratified the Peace of Pressburg after most noblemen who had attained the first sessions returned home, because they accused the authors of the treaty of treachery for renouncing Matthias's conquests.

[64] Casimir IV died on 7 June 1492 after bequeathing Poland and Lithuania to Vladislaus's younger brothers, John Albert and Alexander, respectively.

[70][72] They met in Lőcse (Levoča in Slovakia) in April 1494 to achieve a common foreign policy, but Vladislaus and John Albert did not reach a compromise about Moldavia and Silesia.

[77] The Diet also passed laws that increased the noblemen's income at the expense of Church revenues and limited the economic privileges of the towns and townspeople.

Before he died, Vladislaus called Tamás Bakócz, John Bornemissza, and George Hohenzollern, and named them the bearers and custodians of the young prince Louis.

His titles according to the laws in 1492: King of Hungary, Bohemia, Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria, Prince of Silesia and Luxembourg, Margrave of Moravia and Upper-/Lower Lusatia.