Mary, Queen of Hungary

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Mary, also known as Maria of Anjou (Template:Langx, Template:Langx, Template:Langx; 1371Template:Snds17 May 1395), reigned as Queen of Hungary and Croatia between 1382 and 1385, and from 1386 until her death. She was the daughter of Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia. Mary's marriage to Sigismund of Luxembourg, a member of the imperial Luxembourg dynasty, was already decided before her first birthday. A delegation of Polish prelates and lords confirmed her right to succeed her father in Poland in 1379.

Having no male siblings, Mary was crowned "king" of Hungary on 17Template:NbspSeptember 1382, seven days after Louis the Great's death. Her mother, who had assumed the regency, absolved the Polish noblemen from their oath of loyalty to Mary in favour of Mary's younger sister, Jadwiga, in early 1383. The idea of a female monarch remained unpopular among the Hungarian noblemen, the majority of whom regarded Mary's distant cousin, Charles III of Naples, as the lawful heir. To strengthen Mary's position, the queen mother wanted her to marry Louis, the younger brother of Charles VI of France. Their engagement was announced in May 1385.

Charles III of Naples landed in Dalmatia in September 1385. Sigismund of Luxembourg invaded Upper Hungary (now Slovakia), forcing the queen mother to give 14-year-old Mary in marriage to him in October. However, they could not prevent Charles from entering Buda. After Mary renounced the throne, Charles was crowned king on 31Template:NbspDecember 1385, but he was murdered at the instigation of Mary's mother in February 1386. Mary was restored, but the dead king's supporters captured her and her mother on 25Template:NbspJuly. Queen Elizabeth was murdered in January 1387, but Mary was released on 4Template:NbspJune 1387. Mary officially remained co-ruler with Sigismund, who had meanwhile been crowned king, but her influence on the government was minimal. She and her premature son died after falling from a horse when the queen went on a hunting trip while she was pregnant.

Childhood (1371–1382)

Mary was born in the latter half of 1371 to Louis the Great, King of Hungary and Poland, and his second wife, Elizabeth of Bosnia.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn She was the second daughter of her parents.Template:Sfn They had been childless for over a decade before Mary's older sister, Catherine, was born in 1370.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mary and Catherine gained another sibling, Jadwiga, in 1374.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Since Louis had fathered no sons, the expectation that he would bequeath Hungary, Poland, and his claims to the Kingdom of Naples and Provence to his daughters made them desirable spouses for members of the European royal families.Template:Sfn Before Mary's first birthday, her father made a promise to Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, that Mary would marry the emperor's second son, Sigismund of Luxembourg.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Louis confirmed his promise in a deed in June 1373.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mary and Sigismund were closely related, because her paternal grandmother, Elizabeth of Poland, was the sister of his great-grandfather, Casimir III of Poland.Template:Sfn Pope Gregory XI issued the dispensation necessary for their marriage on 6Template:NbspDecember 1374.Template:Sfn The leading Hungarian and Polish lords confirmed Louis's promise of Mary's and Sigismund's marriage on 14Template:NbspApril 1375.Template:Sfn

Woman handing a sarcophagus to a saint with her three daughters kneeling in front of her

Mary praying with her sisters while their mother presents a chest to St.Template:NbspSimeon

Mary's older sister, Catherine, who had been betrothed to Louis of France, died in late 1378.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Louis the Great confirmed his earlier promise of Mary's and Sigismund's marriage to Sigismund's brother, Wenceslaus, King of the Romans, in Zólyom (now Zvolen in Slovakia) in 1379.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Louis and Wenceslaus also agreed that they would acknowledge Urban VI as the lawful pope against Clement VII.Template:Sfn Mary was formally engaged to Sigismund in Nagyszombat (now Trnava in Slovakia) in the same year.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Sigismund, who had meanwhile become Margrave of Brandenburg,Template:Sfn came to Hungary.Template:Sfn

Louis summoned the Polish prelates and lords to Kassa (now Košice in Slovakia) in September 1379, persuading them to acknowledge Mary's right to succeed him in Poland.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The contemporaneous Jan of Czarnków, who was biased against Louis, recorded that the Poles yielded to the monarch's demand only after he had prevented them from leaving the town by shutting its gates.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn At a meeting with Leopold III, Duke of Austria in early 1380, Louis strongly hinted that he would bequeath Hungary to his younger daughter, Jadwiga, who had been engaged to LeopoldTemplate:NbspIII's son, William.Template:Sfn Upon Louis's demand, a delegation of the Polish noblemen again paid homage to Sigismund and Mary on 25Template:NbspJuly 1382.Template:Sfn According to the historian Oscar Halecki, Louis wished to divide his kingdoms between his two surviving daughters,Template:Sfn but Pál Engel and Claude Michaud write that the ailing king wanted to bequeath both Hungary and Poland on Mary and Sigismund.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Reign

First years (1382–1384)

File:Elizabeth and Mary of Hungary at the tomb of Louis the Great.jpg

Elizabeth and Mary mourning at the tomb of LouisTemplate:NbspI, by Sándor Liezen-Mayer, 1864

File:Nádasdy Mausoleum - Mária királynő.jpg

Queen Mary (Nádasdy Mausoleum, 1664)

Louis the Great died on 10 September 1382.Template:Sfn Cardinal Demetrius, Archbishop of Esztergom, crowned Mary "king" with the Holy Crown of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on 17Template:NbspSeptember, a day after her father's burial.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mary's title and her rapid coronation in the absence of her fiancé, Sigismund, show that her mother and her mother's supporters wanted to emphasize Mary's role as monarch and to postpone or even hinder Sigismund's coronation.Template:Sfn

The queen mother, Elizabeth, assumed regency.Template:Sfn Palatine Nicholas Garai and Cardinal Demetrius became her main advisors.Template:Sfn Most of Louis's barons preserved their offices; the queen mother only dismissed the master of the cupbearers, George Czudar, and his brother Peter, voivode of Ruthenia.Template:Sfn According to the 15th-century historian Jan Długosz, the Czudar brothers surrendered forts to the Lithuanians, who had "[h]eavily bribed"<ref name="Długosz_1382_p339">The Annals of Jan Długosz (A.D. 1382), p. 339.</ref> them.Template:Sfn Queen Elizabeth had Peter Czudar imprisoned before 1Template:NbspNovember; her charters only stated that he "had obviously been disloyal" without specifying the reasons for his arrest.Template:Sfn

All royal charters issued during the first six months of Mary's reign emphasized that she had lawfully inherited her father's crown.Template:Sfn However, most Hungarian noblemen were strongly opposed to the very idea of a female monarch.Template:Sfn They regarded Charles III of Naples as Louis the Great's legitimate heir because Charles was the last male offspring of the Capetian House of Anjou.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Charles could not openly lay claim to Hungary, because his rival for the Kingdom of Naples, Louis I, Duke of Anjou Template:Sndswho was Charles VI of France's uncleTemplate:Sndshad invaded Southern Italy in the previous year.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Noblemen from Greater Poland offered to pay homage to either Mary or Jadwiga at a meeting in Radomsko on 25Template:NbspNovember, but they stipulated that the queen and her husband should live in Poland.Template:Sfn The assembly of the nobility of Lesser Poland passed a similar resolution in Wiślica on 12Template:NbspDecember.Template:Sfn On the latter occasion, in response to Queen Elizabeth's demand, the noblemen also promised that they would not pay homage to anyone else than either Mary or Jadwiga.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mary's fiancé, Sigismund, who had stayed in Poland, returned to Hungary.Template:Sfn Bodzanta, Archbishop of Gniezno, the Nałęcz family, and their allies in Greater Poland favoured a native prince, [[Siemowit IV, Duke of Masovia|SiemowitTemplate:NbspIV of Masovia]].Template:Sfn To avoid a civil war,Template:Sfn Queen Elizabeth sent envoys to the Polish noblemen's next assembly which met in Sieradz in late February 1383.Template:Sfn Her envoys absolved the Poles from their 1382 oath of loyalty to Mary on 28Template:NbspMarch, announcing that the queen mother would send her younger daughter, Jadwiga, to Poland.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Two sides of a seal: a crowned woman sitting on a throne and a coat-of-arms depicting a double cross

Mary's royal seal

John of Palisna, Prior of Vrana, rose up in open rebellion against the rule of Mary and her mother in the spring of 1383.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The queens made Stephen Lackfi Ban of Croatia.Template:Sfn The royal army marched to Croatia and laid siege to Vrana, forcing John of Palisna to flee to Bosnia.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The defenders of Vrana surrendered to Mary, who had been present during the siege along with her mother, on 4Template:NbspNovember.Template:Sfn To strengthen Mary's position against Charles of Naples, Queen Elizabeth sent her envoys to France and opened negotiations on the marriage of Mary to the younger brother of CharlesTemplate:NbspVI of France, Louis, who had once been engaged to Mary's sister, Catherine.Template:Sfn Mary and the queen mother only left Croatia and Slavonia early next year.Template:Sfn Queen Elizabeth replaced Stephen Lackfi with Thomas Szentgyörgyi, who used draconian measures to put an end to a conspiracy against the queens in Zadar in May 1384.Template:Sfn

Although the last Diet was held in the early 1350s, the queens convoked a Diet to deal with the grievances of the noblemen.Template:Sfn Mary confirmed her father's decrees of 1351 summarizing the noblemen's privileges on 22Template:NbspJune 1384.Template:Sfn The negotiations of Mary's marriage in France caused a new rift within the Hungarian nobility, because the Lackfis, Nicholas Zámbó and Nicholas Szécsi and other high officers, who had been appointed during Louis the Great's reign, continued to support Mary's fiancé, Sigismund, in accordance with Louis the Great's will.Template:Sfn The queen mother replaced them with Nicholas Garai's supporters in August 1384.Template:Sfn The prelates were also opposed to the French marriage because the French supported Clement VII whom the Hungarian clergy considered an antipope.Template:Sfn Mary's sister, Jadwiga, went to Poland where she was crowned on 16Template:NbspOctober 1384.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Cardinal Demetrius, who had accompanied Jadwiga to Poland, remained absent from the queens' court after his return to Hungary.Template:Sfn The royal government could not properly function during his absence because he was the keeper of the royal seal.Template:Sfn

Neapolitan threat (1384–1385)

Louis I of Anjou died on 10 September 1384, enabling his rival, CharlesTemplate:NbspIII of Naples, to stabilize his rule in Southern Italy during the next months.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The consolidation of CharlesTemplate:NbspIII's position in Naples also contributed to the formation of a party of noblemen who supported his claim to Hungary.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn John Horvat, Ban of Macsó (now Mačva in Serbia), and his brother, Paul, Bishop of Zagreb, were the leading figures of their movement.Template:Sfn Sigismund of Luxembourg tried to persuade the queen mother to consent to his marriage to Mary, but she refused him.Template:Sfn He left Hungary in early 1385.Template:Sfn

The queens and their supporters initiated negotiations with the representatives of the opposition, but no reconciliation was reached at their meeting in Požega in the spring of 1385.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn After a French delegation came to Hungary in May 1385, Mary was engaged to Louis of France.Template:Sfn Louis of France thereafter signed his letters "Louis of France, King of Hungary", according to Jean Froissart.Template:Sfn In the same month, the queen mother dismissed Stephen Lackfi, accusing him of high treason.Template:Sfn She also sent letters to Zagreb and other places in the kingdom, forbidding the local inhabitants to support Lackfi, Nicholas Szécsi, Bishop Paul Horvat and their relatives.Template:Sfn John and Paul Horvat and their allies formally offered the crown to CharlesTemplate:NbspIII of Naples and invited him to Hungary in August.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn In the same month, Mary confirmed TvrtkoTemplate:NbspI of Bosnia's acquisition of Kotor in Dalmatia.Template:Sfn Sigismund stormed into Upper Hungary, accompanied by his cousins, Jobst and Prokop of Moravia, and occupied Pozsony County.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The queen mother replaced Nicholas Garai with Nicholas Szécsi, and made Stephen Lackfi voivode of Transylvania and Nicholas Zámbó master of the treasury.Template:Sfn

Charles III of Naples landed at Senj in Dalmatia in September 1385 and marched to Zagreb.Template:Sfn Sigismund of Luxembourg came to Buda and persuaded the queen mother to give her consent to his marriage to Mary.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The marriage took place in Buda in October, but Sigismund was not crowned king and received no governmental function.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The queen mother convoked a new Diet and Mary again confirmed the noblemen's liberties, but the queens' rule remained unpopular.Template:Sfn Sigismund left Buda and mortgaged the territories west of the River Vág to his Moravian cousins.Template:Sfn Charles of Naples had meanwhile left Zagreb, stating that he wanted to restore peace and public order in Hungary.Template:Sfn

Charles's reign (1385–1386)

File:Molnár Elisabeth and Mary on the coronation of Cherles II of Hungary.jpg

Elizabeth and Mary attending Charles' coronation, by József Molnár, Template:Circa

Many noblemen joined Charles of Naples who marched towards Buda.Template:Sfn Mary and her mother received him ceremoniously before he reached Buda, and he entered the capital in the two queens' company in early December 1385.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Mary renounced the crown without resistance in the middle of December out of fear that Charles would kill her.Template:Sfn Charles first adopted the title governor, but the Diet elected him king.Template:Sfn Charles was crowned king of Hungary in Székesfehérvár on 31Template:NbspDecember.Template:Sfn According to the contemporaneous Lorenzo de Monacis, Mary and her mother, who attended Charles's coronation, visited Louis the Great's tomb during the ceremony where they burst into tears because of their ill fate.Template:Sfn

Charles did not detain Mary and her mother who continued to live in the royal palace in Buda.Template:Sfn Queen Elizabeth and Nicholas Garai decided to get rid of Charles.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn They persuaded Blaise Forgách, the master of the cupbearers, to join them, promising him the domain of Gimes (now Jelenec in Slovakia) if he murdered the king.Template:Sfn Upon Queen Elizabeth's request, Charles visited her and her daughter on 7Template:NbspFebruary 1386.Template:Sfn During the meeting, Blaise Forgách attacked the king, seriously injuring him on the head.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The wounded King Charles was carried to Visegrád where he died on 24Template:NbspFebruary.Template:Sfn

Restoration and capture (1386–1387)

Mary was restored to the throne, with her mother ruling in her name.Template:Sfn The queen mother informed the citizens of Kőszeg already on 14Template:NbspFebruary that "Queen Mary had regained the Holy Crown".Template:Sfn However, the Horvat brothers rose up in open rebellion on behalf of the murdered king's son, Ladislaus of Naples.Template:Sfn Mary's husband, Sigismund, and his brother, Wenceslaus, invaded Upper Hungary in April.Template:Sfn After weeks of negotiations, the queens acknowledged Sigismund's position as consort in a treaty which was signed in Győr in early May.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn They also confirmed Sigismund's mortgage of the lands west of the Vág to Jobst and Prokop of Moravia.Template:Sfn After the treaty was signed, the queens returned to Buda and Sigismund went to Bohemia, suggesting that he was dissatisfied with the treaty.Template:Sfn

File:The abduction of Elizabeth of Bosnia and Mary of Hungary.jpg

Nicholas Garai defending his sovereign Mary and her mother Elizabeth from the Croatians. By Mihály Kovács.

Queen Elizabeth, who according to the 15th-century historian Johannes de Thurocz was "driven by folly", decided to visit the southern counties of the kingdom that were controlled by supporters of Ladislaus of Naples.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The queen mother and Mary set out for Đakovo, accompanied by Nicholas Garai and a modest following around 15Template:NbspJuly.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn However, John Horvát, John of Palisna and their retainers ambushed and attacked the queens and their retinue at Gorjani on 25Template:NbspJuly.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The queens' small entourage fought the attackers, but all were killed or captured.Template:Sfn Blaise Forgách and Nicholas Garai were beheaded and their heads were thrown into the queens' carriage.Template:Sfn Elizabeth took all the blame for the rebellion and begged the attackers to spare her daughter's life, according to Johannes deTemplate:NbspThurocz's account.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

File:Orlai Queens Mary and Elisabeth Imprisoned in Novigrad 1879.jpg

Mary and her mother Elizabeth of Bosnia in prison, as painted by Soma Orlai Petrich.

Mary and her mother were imprisoned.Template:Sfn They were held in captivity in Gomnec Castle, which was a fortress of the Bishopric of Zagreb.Template:Sfn In the queens' absence, the barons of the realm convoked a Diet under the newly carved "seal of the regnicoles".Template:Sfn On Queen Mary's behalf, they promised a general pardon, but the Horvats refused to submit.Template:Sfn The two queens were dragged to Krupa, and from there to Novigrad Castle on the coast of the Adriatic Sea.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn The barons or the Diet elected Stephen Lackfi palatine and made Sigismund of Luxembourg regent.Template:Sfn John Horvat's henchmen strangled Queen Elizabeth in Mary's presence in early January.Template:Sfn In the same month, Sigismund invaded Slavonia, but could not defeat the rebels.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Taking advantage of the anarchy in Hungary, Polish troops invaded Lodomeria and Halych in February.Template:Sfn Only Vladislaus II of Opole, who claimed the two realms for himself, protested against their action.Template:Sfn Sigismund was crowned king on 31Template:NbspMarch as it was decided that the kingdom could no longer be without an effective ruler.Template:Sfn One of his supporters, Ivan of Krk, laid siege to Novigrad Castle with the assistance of a Venetian fleet, which was under the command of Giovanni Barbarigo.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn They captured the castle and liberated Mary on 4Template:NbspJune 1387.Template:Sfn She was especially grateful to Barbarigo; she knighted him and granted an annuity of 600 golden florins to him.Template:Sfn

Husband's co-ruler (1387–1395)

File:Zikmundstarsi.jpg

Seal of Mary's husband, Sigismund of Luxembourg

Mary met her husband in Zagreb on 4Template:NbspJuly.Template:Sfn She officially remained Sigismund's co-ruler until the end of her life, but her influence on government was minimal.Template:Sfn Sigismund's land grants were always confirmed with Mary's great seal during the first year of their common rule, but thereafter the grantees rarely sought her confirmation.Template:Sfn Royal charters counted her regnal years not from her ascension, but from her husband's coronation.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, according to Johannes de Thurocz, Mary persuaded her husband to dismember John Horvat who was captured in July 1394 although Sigismund would have been willing to spare his life.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Mary was pregnant when she decided to venture out alone on a hunt in a Buda forest on 17Template:NbspMay 1395.Template:Sfn Her horse tripped, threw her and fell on top of her.Template:Sfn The trauma induced labor and she gave birth prematurely to a son.Template:Sfn The queen succumbed to the fatal injuries; being far from any kind of assistance, her son died as well.Template:Sfn She was buried in the cathedral of Várad (now Oradea in Romania).Template:Sfn Mary's sister, Jadwiga, claimed the Hungarian crown, but Sigismund retained it without much difficulty.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn