Elisabeth of Bosnia
Elisabeth of Bosnia (
1340-
1387) was a
Queen consort of the
Kingdom of Hungary and
Poland, and
regent of
Hungary. She was the second wife of
Louis I of Hungary and Poland.
Elisabeth's father was
Stephen II of Bosnia and
Syrmia, the head of
Kotromanic dynasty and clamant of the
kingdom of Serbia. She descended from the
Nemanjic dynasty too. Her mother was Elisabeth of Kujavia, a grandniece of
Władysław I the Elbow-high.
Elisabeth of Poland, the mother of the Hungarian King had heard that Stephen II had a little daughter Jelisaveta, and she insisted immediately to bring her to the Hungarian Court for fosterage. Stephen was reluctant at first, but eventually dispatched Jelisaveta. After three years of life on the Hungarian Court, Jelisaveta fell in love with king Louis and the King's mother immediately invited Stephen II to Hungary and arranged a marriage so that she would become the King's wife. The first
queen, a Polish princess died earlier without children. The Bosnian Ban became heavily ill and could not be present the actual wedding. On
20 June 1353 Elisabeth married with the Hungarian King, achieving a huge diplomatic success for her father.
It was discovered that Jelisaveta and the Hungarian King were related in fourth degree through a common ancestor, a Duke of
Kujavia in Poland (some have also insinuated a link through a branch of the
House of Nemanja), so the
Roman Catholic Church regarded the marriage to be in
prohibited degree of
consanguinity and some
eccleasiastics were tempted to
curse the couple. Later the same year
Pope Innocent IV wrote to the
Bishop in
Zagreb granting a
dispensation (catholic) for the marriage and forgiving the sin.
Elisabeth gave birth to three daughters (one died young):
*
Maria (1371-1395)
*
Jadwiga (1373-1399)
Her eldest surviving daughter Mary was intended to inherit her father's both kingdoms, Hungary and
Poland, or at least the
hereditary kingdom of Poland.
Her father king Louis had arranged marriages for Maria and Jadwiga: ultimately
Sigismund of Luxemburg (1368-1437), a heir of the Polish
Kujavian dynasty and a member of
Bohemian royal family, married Mary.
William of Habsburg then was to marry her younger sister, who however, after Sigismund was expelled by Poles, where he had been living in
Cracow since 1381, unexpectedly became
Queen Jadwiga of Poland, and became instead married to
Jogaila of Lithuania by
Act of Kreva, where Elisabeth, as her daughter's guardian, was one party to negotiate.
Mary became
Queen regnant of
Hungary as a ten-year-old child after her father's death in
1382 (her elder sister Catherine having died four years earlier, and the eldest, Elisabeth, years earlier).
Elisabeth of Bosnia acted as the
Regent of Hungary from 1382 onwards on behalf of her daughter Queen Mary, but was murdered in 1387. The countries were ruled by Elisabeth, but soon the Poles discontinued her regency in Poland.
In Hungary, Elisabeth was helped by Palatine Miklós Garai, Nikola I
Gorjanski Stariji.
Sigismund, his powerful brother king
Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia and many noblemen of Hungary were opposed to Elisabeth and the Palatine. Some noblemen helped Mary's relative
Charles of Durazzo,
King of Naples to become briefly the King of Hungary in
1385. Dowager Queen Elisabeth and Garai had Charles II assassinated in
1386. Charles's heir was his underage son
Ladislas of Naples (d.
1414) who attempted all his life to conquer
Hungary, but despite some support in the country, did not succeed.
Magnates of Lesser Poland had been deeply unsatisfied with personal union (1370-1382) with Hungary, and despite of decreed succession order, chose the nine-year-old
Jadwiga of Hungary the King of Poland in 1384. After a couple of years, Jadviga was compelled to leave Hungary for Poland. Mary and her guardians never managed in governing nor obtaining Poland.
Halych, the Ruthenian province recently (1340-1366) annexed by Poland, however was taken by Hungary, and only after several years, Poland recovered it.
Elisabeth and Mary were captured in
1386 by powerful Horvat brothers, but probably on the orders of Maria's smart seventeen-year-old husband and king-consort
Sigismund of Luxembourg. On the first anniversary of the death of Charles II, January 1387, Elizabeth was strangled before Mary's eyes. Mary bitterly accused squarely her husband, king-consort Sigismund for arranging the kidnapping and murder of her mother Elisabeth.
She reconciliated with Horvats and granted them estates in Slavonia and Northern Bosnia. Kidnappers had been surmised as having been supporters of late king Charles II, alternatively. Mary did not want to live with Sigismund, due to the matricide of her mother, therefore keeping a separate household.
In July 1387 Mary was rescued from that captivity by troops of
Trvtko I of Bosnia (cousin and adoptive brother of queen Elisabeth) and the Croatian noble family later known as the
Frangipani (who were relatives of the
Garay (Gorjanskih) clan), main support of the
Bosnian faction.
It has been claimed that Sigismund took revenge on the murderers of Elizabeth. Horvats were murdered by Sigismund's men near their stronghold of
Dobor.
Her both daughters proved unable to have surviving children, so Elisabeth's progeny (of Kotroman blood) went extinct with the death of Jadwiga, the last surviving of them, in 1399.
