Charles I
Charles I, also known as Charles Robert (Karoly Robert), was king of Hungary and Croatia.
History
Charles I was the grandson of Mary, the sister of Ladislaus IV. Mary contested the claim of Andrew III and married Charles II of Naples.
After Andrew III died in 1301, the kingdom of Hungary began to disintegrate. A set of oligarchs were de facto rulers across the realm: Matthew Csak in modern Slovakia, Amadeus Aba in the northeast, Ivan Koszegi in Transdanubia, and Ladislaus Kan in Transylvania.
Paul I, the ban of Croatia, arranged for Charles I to travel to Split. He was crowned in Esztergom on May 13. The local nobility favored Wenceslaus, and crowned him in Szekesfehervar. Charles I was confined to the south of Hungary for the next four years.
Reign
Disintegration of power continued under Charles' reign.
He expanded the kingdom to the east and established the voivodeship of Moldavia as a buffer vassal against the Golden Horde. Dragoș, voivode of Maramureș (as elected by the local knezes) was appointed to this office.
Bogdan led an exodus of ethnic Vlachs (Wallachians) out of Serbia, which Charles I welcomed into Maramureș. Bogdan would eventually be elected to that voivodeship and rapidly centralized power against Charles.