Elisabeth of Sicily (1261–1303) was Queen of Hungary by marriage to Ladislaus IV of Hungary.

Life

She was the youngest child of Charles I of NaplesSteven Runciman, ''The Sicilian Vespers'', (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 138. and his first wife

Beatrice of Provence Beatrice of Provence (23 September 1267), was ruling Countess of Provence and Forcalquier from 1245 until her death, as well as Countess of Anjou and Maine, Queen of Sicily and Naples by marriage to Charles I of Naples. She was the fourth and ...

. Elisabeth married Ladislaus IV of Hungary in 1270. They had no children. Ladislaus had neglected Elisabeth for the sake of his semi-

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

tribe, the

Cumans The Cumans (or Kumans), also known as Polovtsians or Polovtsy (plural only, from the Russian language, Russian Exonym and endonym, exonym ), were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people comprising the western branch of the Cuman–Kipchak confede ...

; his mother Elizabeth was a member of the Cuman tribe. Ladislaus always wore Cuman dress and many of his friends were Cumans.

Queen

Ladislaus spent most of his marriage to Elisabeth chasing after the Cumans, encouraging them to come and live in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. Ladislaus clearly preferred the society of the semi-heathen Cumans to that of the Christians; he wore, and made his court wear, Cuman dress; surrounded himself with Cuman concubines, and neglected and ill-used his ill-favoured Neapolitan consort. When they wanted to leave Hungary, Ladislaus used his forces to make them stay. Elisabeth was arrested in 1286 so that Ladislaus could live with a Cuman mistress. She was imprisoned at Margaret Island, where she stayed for the next three years. Ladislaus finally reconciled with Elisabeth in 1289. When he found he did not have enough power to rule over his barons, he rejoined the Cumans. Ladislaus died in 1290, childless, and he was succeeded by Andrew III of Hungary; Andrew was a distant cousin of Ladislaus.

Later life

After her husband's death, Elisabeth returned to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, but she came back to Hungary. In the year 1294 Queen Fenenna confirmed on her the privilege to collect the donations of the church in the Veszprém County. In 1301 she returned to Naples, where she became a

Dominican nun The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Ca ...

at St Peter's monastery (''San Pietro a Castello''), which had been founded by her sister-in-law Queen Mary. Queen Elisabeth (''Isabella d'Anjou'') died in 1303 and was buried at the monastery of St Peter's.Memoria und Repräsentation, Band 157 von Veröffentlichungen des Max-Planck-Instituts für Geschichte Kritische Studien Zur Geschichtswissenschaft, Seite 267, Tanja Michalsky, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000. ()

Ancestry

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elisabeth Of Sicily (1261-1303) 1261 births 1303 deaths Capetian House of Anjou House of Anjou-Hungary House of Árpád Hungarian queens consort Charles I of Anjou Daughters of kings 13th-century Neapolitan people