Helene Kottanner (née Wolfram; hu, Kottanner Ilona or ''Kottanner Jánosné''; c. 1400 – after 1470) was a
Hungarian courtier and writer. Her last name is spelled variously as Kottanner, Kottanerin, or Kottannerin. She is primarily known to history as the author of memoirs about the years 1439 and 1440, when king
Albert II of Germany
Albert the Magnanimous KG, elected King of the Romans as Albert II (10 August 139727 October 1439) was king of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife (''j ...
died and his son
Ladislaus the Posthumous
Ladislaus the Posthumous( hu, Utószülött László; hr, Ladislav Posmrtni; cs, Ladislav Pohrobek; german: link=no, Ladislaus Postumus; 22 February 144023 November 1457) was Duke of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was the ...
was born. Kottanner, who dictated her life story in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, was a
kammerfrau to
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
Elizabeth of Luxembourg
Elizabeth of Luxembourg ( hu, Luxemburgi Erzsébet; 7 October 1409 – 19 December 1442) was queen consort of Hungary, queen consort of Germany and Bohemia.
The only child of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, King of Hungary and Bohemia, Eliza ...
(1409–1442). She also assisted Queen Elisabeth in a
royal
Royal may refer to:
People
* Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name
* A member of a royal family
Places United States
* Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community
* Royal, Illinois, a village
* Royal, Iowa, a cit ...
succession
Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence.
Governance and politics
*Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
plot
Plot or Plotting may refer to:
Art, media and entertainment
* Plot (narrative), the story of a piece of fiction
Music
* ''The Plot'' (album), a 1976 album by jazz trumpeter Enrico Rava
* The Plot (band), a band formed in 2003
Other
* ''Plot' ...
.
Biography
Early life
Helene ''née'' Wolfram was born in the 1400s into a minor noble family of German ancestry from the region of
Sopron County
Sopron (German: ''Ödenburg'') was an administrative county (comitatus) of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its territory is now divided between Austria and Hungary. The capital of the county was Sopron.
Geography
Sopron county shared borders with the A ...
. Her father was Peter Wolfram, who was still alive in 1435. Her unidentified mother lived in
Sopron
Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő.
History
Ancient times-13th century
When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...
and was last mentioned as a living person by contemporary records in 1442. Helene understood, but did not speak Hungarian.
Kottanner married twice and bore three children. Her first husband was Peter Székeles (or Gelusch), a notable patrician in Sopron. He was already a member of the local magistrate in 1402. He served as mayor of the town from 1408 until at least 1421. He died in 1430 or 1431. They had a son, William, who lived in Austria and was involved in a lawsuit over a meadow in Sopron in 1435. Because of his illness, he did not present before the court personally, but represented by his stepfather and maternal grandfather. William was still alive in 1437.
After Székeles' death, Helene married Johann Kottanner, a burgher from
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, in 1432. During that time, Johann was chamberlain of the
St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. According to historian Karl Uhlirz, he has reached the age of majority only in 1426, thus Helene was approximately six years older than her second husband. Their marriage produced more children, including a daughter Catherine. By 1436, both Kottanner and her second husband were
servants
A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...
of
Albert II of Germany
Albert the Magnanimous KG, elected King of the Romans as Albert II (10 August 139727 October 1439) was king of the Holy Roman Empire and a member of the House of Habsburg. By inheritance he became Albert V, Duke of Austria. Through his wife (''j ...
, the then
Duke of Austria
This is a list of people who have ruled either the Margraviate of Austria, the Duchy of Austria or the Archduchy of Austria. From 976 until 1246, the margraviate and its successor, the duchy, was ruled by the House of Babenberg. At that time, t ...
, and his wife
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
. Kottanner's role in this royal
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
household was nanny to princesses
Anne
Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie.
Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...
and
Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, the children of Albert and Elizabeth. Note that, according to the contemporary German custom of calling a wife or sometimes daughter, the alternative names ending in "-in" amount to adding a feminine
suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...
to her husband's name.
Theft of the Hungarian Crown
Kottanner, later a member of Elizabeth's
court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
, wrote a memoir around 1451 entitled ''Denkwürdigkeiten'' (= ''Reminiscences'') in which she provides a first-person account of the theft of the Hungarian
Crown of St. Stephen
The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the ...
on 20 February 1440. This was an action in which she participated at the request of Queen Elisabeth, widow of King Albert. This
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
was considered holy by the Hungarian people. It was then stored at the
Hungarian stronghold of
Visegrád
Visegrád (; german: Plintenburg; la, Pone Navata or ; sk, Vyšehrad) is a castle town in Pest County, Hungary. It is north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube in the Danube Bend. It had a population of 1,864 in 2010. The town is the s ...
.
Kottanner noted in her memoir that she exposed herself and her family to great danger by assisting the queen in her efforts to obtain the crown. In an atmosphere of
political
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
intrigue, where death was a common punishment for many crimes, Kottanner apparently had reservations concerning the advisability of the queen's request: "The queen's request frightened me, for it meant great danger for me and my little children." In her writing she describes how she prayed for success and promised to make a barefoot pilgrimage to Zell. At least two assistants accompanied Helene, who did the breaking in while Kottanner kept watch. After they got the crown without attracting attention, they locked the doors again and fixed the queen's seal.
The crown was smuggled out of Visegrád inside a pillow. Kottanner took the crown with her in her sledge and she described worrying about the ice on the
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
breaking as she crossed it. The golden
cross
A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...
on top of the crown was however bent as they fled, and is still visible in this condition today.
Kottanner then brought the crown secretly to Elizabeth, who was hiding from her enemies at the
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
of
Komorn.
[ Slovakian: ]Komárno
Komárno, ( hu, Komárom, german: Komorn, sr, Коморан, translit=Komoran), colloquially also called ''Révkomárom, Öregkomárom, Észak-Komárom'' in Hungarian language, Hungarian; is a town in Slovakia at the confluence of the Danube an ...
, Hungarian: Komárom
Komárom (Hungarian: ; german: Komorn; la, Brigetio, later ; sk, Komárno) is a city in Hungary on the south bank of the Danube in Komárom-Esztergom County. Komárno, Slovakia, is on the northern bank. Komárom was formerly a separate villag ...
, originally a Hungarian city located on both banks of the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
, but was divided into two parts after World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
. The left bank belongs to 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 ...
and the right one to Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...
. Ladislaus Posthumus
Ladislaus the Posthumous( hu, Utószülött László; hr, Ladislav Posmrtni; cs, Ladislav Pohrobek; german: link=no, Ladislaus Postumus; 22 February 144023 November 1457) was Duke of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was th ...
was born on the right bank of the Danube which is in Slovakia now. She witnessed the birth of
Ladislaus the Posthumous
Ladislaus the Posthumous( hu, Utószülött László; hr, Ladislav Posmrtni; cs, Ladislav Pohrobek; german: link=no, Ladislaus Postumus; 22 February 144023 November 1457) was Duke of Austria and King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia. He was the ...
, who in her eyes was the natural heir to the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia.
Kottanner noted in her memoir that the timing had been close: "Within the same hour in which the
Holy Crown
The Holy Crown of Hungary ( hu, Szent Korona; sh, Kruna svetoga Stjepana; la, Sacra Corona; sk, Svätoštefanská koruna , la, Sacra Corona), also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, named in honour of Saint Stephen I of Hungary, was the ...
arrived from
Plintenburg in
Komorn, within that same hour King Laszlo was born." She further stated in her memoir that she thought that this was clearly God's will at work.
A new king is crowned
Elizabeth promised Kottanner a reward in return for her actions in obtaining the Holy Crown of Saint Stephen. At this time, only the owner of the royal insignia was considered legitimate
king of Hungary
The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) 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" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...
. This was an important distinction since the Hungarian
nobles
Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteristi ...
voted for the coronation of
Vladislaus I, the 16-year-old
king of Poland
Poland was ruled at various times either by dukes and princes (10th to 14th centuries) or by kings (11th to 18th centuries). During the latter period, a tradition of free election of monarchs made it a uniquely electable position in Europe (16t ...
. With his help they hoped to defend themselves better against the Turks' attacks against the Hungarian kingdom. Kottanner was present at the coronation of the infant Ladislaus V in
Székesfehérvár
Székesfehérvár (; german: Stuhlweißenburg ), known colloquially as Fehérvár ("white castle"), is a city in central Hungary, and the country's ninth-largest city. It is the regional capital of Central Transdanubia, and the centre of Fejér ...
on 15 May 1440; during the ceremony, she held the weeping baby in her hand while Archbishop
Dénes Szécsi
Dénes Szécsi de Felsőlendva (or ''Széchy; ''c. 1410 – 1 February 1465) was a Hungarian prelate and cardinal, who served as Archbishop of Esztergom from 1440 to 1465. He was the first Primate of Hungary since 1452 when donated the title an ...
crowned him.
When finally both attendants were crowned kings of Hungary at the same time, the Polish king gathered his forces against Ladislaus the Posthumous. The royal family now separated for their own safety: While the queen tried to rescue the holy crown from the approaching Polish army, Kottanner fled with the infant king.
Later life
Helene Kottanner and her husband were granted the village of
Kisfalud
Kisfalud is a village in Fejér county, Hungary.
Notable residents
*Adolf Kertész
Adolf Kertész (15 March 1892 – November 1920; nicknamed "Kertész III") was a Hungarian footballer who played as a half back at both the professional leve ...
(present-day Vieska, Slovakia) and its accessories by Regent
John Hunyadi
John Hunyadi (, , , ; 1406 – 11 August 1456) was a leading Hungarian military and political figure in Central and Southeastern Europe during the 15th century. According to most contemporary sources, he was the member of a noble family of ...
in March 1452, for their loyal service of Ladislaus V. Hunyadi's son, King
Matthias Corvinus
Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...
confirmed the land donation in November 1466, and also in February 1470. Helene Kottanner died thereafter.
Memoir
According to Károly Mollay, Kottanner wrote her memoirs or ordered a transcript of her narration under title ''Denkwürdigkeiten'' ("Reminiscences") around 1451, because she claimed reward herself for her services to Ladislaus V. Iván Kis considered Kottanner, by writing the memoirs, wanted to support Ladislaus' legitimate claim to the Hungarian throne, beside the preservation of her own merits. Kis refused the connection between the completion of the diary and the reward of 1452. The theft of the Holy Crown caused a decade-long civil war in Hungary and Regent John Hunyadi was considered a partisan of Vladislaus I during the conflict. Károly Mollay argued Kottanner's act was considered a sin until the representatives of the Austrian and Hungarian Estates, and the Bohemian Catholic lords aimed to force
Frederick III to resign the guardianship and hand over Ladislaus V to them in 1451. The former lady-in-waiting could only claim a reward afterwards. Iván Kis argued John Hunyadi was the foremost beneficiary of the political situation in which the Holy Crown and the crowned monarch Ladislaus were taken abroad, and this may have been the motivation for the reward.
Maya Bijvoet Williamson, who translated her memoirs into
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, described Kottanner as "a smart, trustworthy, common-sense, energetic, courageous, quick-witted woman", while the lady reveals extremely little about herself and her personal life. Sabine Schmolinsky argued Kottanner's diary cannot be considered an autobiography, but in addition to the history of political events, it is also an important source from a psychological and mental history point-of-view. Kottanner makes no secret of her fears, worries, compunction and religiosity. Albrecht Classen considered the memoirs as autobiography, which contains the sincere manifestations of the author. In contrast, Andreas Rüther regarded the genre of the memoirs as a memorandum, in which the real person of Kottanner does not really appear, instead the author displays herself as an exemplary, constructed figure.
In her memoirs, Kottanner frequently puts herself at the center of major political events, exaggerating her involvement and emphasizing Queen Elizabeth's confidence towards her. Constant voicing of this can be described as a rhetorical tool to highlight her participation in the events. In addition, Kottanner often complains that her role in the events required huge personal sacrifices. For instance, her court service forced her to leave her husband and minor children behind. Despite its reality content, however, the ceaseless voicing and embossing of these seems like a rhetorical tool too. Kottanner puts the narration of events in the context of the struggle between Good and Evil, placing
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
behind her own actions, while the impediments are attributed to the work of the
Devil
A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...
. Barbara Schmid emphasized the sites of divine will (e.g. Visegrád) during the narration. In this context, she presents her own party, Elizabeth, the infant Ladislaus, and herself as subjects to the grace of God, while presents their opposition, Vladislaus' party, as evil and as the enemy of God's will. In connection with this, Kottanner sought to emphasize the validity of the infant Ladislaus' legitimacy to the Hungarian throne (crowned with the Holy Crown; chosen by God; his royal aptitude and physical strength, which appeared during the coronation despite being a few weeks old). Kottanner also declared the distant ancestor King Saint
Ladislaus I of Hungary
Ladislaus I ( hu, László, hr, Ladislav, sk, Ladislav, pl, Władysław; 1040 – 29 July 1095), also known as Saint Ladislas, was King of Hungary from 1077 and King of Croatia from 1091. He was the second son of King Béla I of Hungary and ...
as a prefiguration and role modell to Ladislaus V.
Footnotes
References
* Classen, Albrecht: ''The power of a woman's voice in medieval and early modern literatures. New approaches to German and European women writers and to violence against women in premodern times.'' Berlin 2007.
* Diehn, Gwen: ''Helene Kottanner's Memoirs.'' Woodcut, letterpress, and watercolor on handmade paper. Published by the artist and NMWA, Washington DC, 2008.
*
Dunphy, Graeme: "Perspicax ingenium mihi collatum est: Strategies of authority in chronicles written by women", in: Dresvina, Juliana: ''Authority and Gender in Medieval and Renaissance Chronicles'', Cambridge Scholars Publishing: Cambridge, 2012
online.
*
*
*
* Rüther, Andreas: ''Königsmacher und Kammerfrau im weiblichen Blick. Der Kampf um die ungarische Krone (1439/40) in der Wahrnehmung von Helene Kottanner.'' In: Jörg Rogge (ed.): ''Fürstin und Fürst. Familienbeziehungen und Handlungsmöglichkeiten von hochadeligen Frauen im Mittelalter.'' Ostfildern 2004, S. 225–247.
* Schmid, Barbara: ''Raumkonzepte und Inszenierung von Räumen in Helene Kottanners Bericht von der Geburt und Krönung des Königs Ladislaus Postumus (1440–1457).'' In: Ursula Kundert, Barbara Schmid, Regula Schmid (ed.): ''Ausmessen-Darstellen-Inszenieren. Raumkonzepte und die Wiedergabe von Räumen in Mittelalter und früher Neuzeit.'' Zürich 2007, S. 113–138.
* Schmid, Barbara: ''Ein Augenzeugenbericht im Dienst politischer Werbung. Helene Kottanner, Kammerfrau am Hof König Albrechts II., und ihre Schrift von der Geburt und Krönung Ladislaus’ Postumus.'' In: Barbara Schmid: ''Schreiben für Status und Herrschaft. Deutsche Autobiographik in Spätmittelalter und früher Neuzeit.'' Zürich 2006, S. 132–140.
* Schmolinsky, Sabine: ''Zwischen politischer Funktion und Rolle der «virgo docta»: Weibliche Selbstzeugnisse im 15. Jahrhundert.'' In: ''Fifteenth Century Studies.'' Band 24, 1998, S. 63–73.
*
* Wenzel, Horst: ''Zwei Frauen rauben eine Krone. Die denkwürdigen Erfahrungen der Helene Kottannerin (1439–1440) am Hof der Königin Elisabeth von Ungarn (1409–1442).'' In: Regina Schulte (ed.): ''Der Körper der Königin. Geschlecht und Herrschaft in der höfischen Welt seit 1500.'' Frankfurt 2002, S. 27–48.
* Williams, Maya C. Bijvoet, Helene Kottanner: ''The Austrian Chambermaid. In: Katharina M. Wilson (ed.), Women Writers of the Renaissance and Reformation.'' Athens, Georgia/London 1987, 327-349.
External links
Digital edition (Mollay 1971)''german''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kottannerin, Helene
15th-century births
15th-century women writers
Hungarian writers in German
Hungarian-German people
People from Sopron
15th-century Austrian women
15th-century Hungarian women
15th-century Austrian writers
15th-century Hungarian writers
Hungarian ladies-in-waiting
Medieval Austrian women writers
Medieval Hungarian women writers
Year of death unknown
Memoirists