Elisabeth of Sicily (1261–1303) was

Queen of Hungary The King of Hungary () was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Magyarország apostoli királya'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 and used ...

by marriage to

Ladislaus IV of Hungary Ladislaus IV (, , ; 5 August 1262 – 10 July 1290), also known as Ladislaus the Cuman, was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1272 to 1290. His mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of a chieftain from the pagan Cumans who had settled in Hung ...

Life

She was the youngest child of

Charles I of Naples Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou or Charles d'Anjou, was King of Sicily from 1266 to 1285. He was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the House of Anjou-Sicily. Between 1246 and ...

Steven Runciman, ''The Sicilian Vespers'', (Cambridge University Press, 2000), 138. and his first wife

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

. Elisabeth married

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

pagan Paganism (, 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 Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

tribe, the

Cumans The Cumans or Kumans were a Turkic people, Turkic nomadic people from Central Asia comprising the western branch of the Cumania, Cuman–Kipchak confederation who spoke the Cuman language. They are referred to as Polovtsians (''Polovtsy'') in Ru ...

; his mother

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess 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 is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

. 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 Margaret Island ( ; ) is a long island, wide, ( in area) in the middle of the Danube in central Budapest, Hungary. The island is mostly covered by landscape parks, and is a popular recreational area. Its medieval ruins are reminders of its impo ...

, 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 III the Venetian (, , ; – 14 January 1301) was King of Hungary and King of Croatia, Croatia between 1290 and 1301. His father, Stephen the Posthumous, was the posthumous son of Andrew II of Hungary although Stephen's older half brother ...

; Andrew was a distant cousin of Ladislaus.

Later life

After her husband's death, Elisabeth returned to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

, 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 Veszprém (, ; ) is an administrative county (''vármegye'') in Hungary. Veszprém is also the name of the capital city of Veszprém county. Veszprém county Veszprém county lies in western Hungary. It covers the Bakony hills and the norther ...

. In 1301 she returned to Naples, where she became a Dominican nun 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 Queens consort of Hungary Charles I of Anjou Daughters of kings 13th-century Neapolitan people Daughters of counts Daughters of countesses regnant