Elisabeth of Görlitz (November 1390 – 2 August 1451) reigned as Duchess of Luxembourg from 1411 to 1443.

Life

Elisabeth was the only daughter and heiress of

John of Görlitz John of Görlitz (also known as John of Bohemia and John of Luxembourg; 22 June 1370 – 1 March 1396) was a member of the House of Luxembourg and the only Duke of Görlitz (Zgorzelec) from 1377 until his death. Life Born in Prague, John was the ...

, the third son of

Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (; ; ; 14 May 1316 – 29 November 1378''Karl IV''. In: (1960): ''Geschichte in Gestalten'' (''History in figures''), vol. 2: ''F–K''. 38, Frankfurt 1963, p. 294), also known as Charles of Luxembourg, born Wenceslaus (, ), was H ...

. He was Duke of

Lusatia Lusatia (; ; ; ; ; ), otherwise known as Sorbia, is a region in Central Europe, formerly entirely in Germany and today territorially split between Germany and modern-day Poland. Lusatia stretches from the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers in the eas ...

and

Görlitz Görlitz (; ; ; ; ; Lusatian dialects, East Lusatian: , , ) is a town in the Germany, German state of Saxony. It is on the river Lusatian Neisse and is the largest town in Upper Lusatia, the second-largest town in the region of Lusatia after ...

, and also

Elector of Brandenburg This article lists the Margraves and Prince-elector, Electors of Margraviate of Brandenburg, Brandenburg during the time when Brandenburg was a constituent state of the Holy Roman Empire. The Mark, or ''March'', of Brandenburg was one of the prima ...

for a brief period. Her mother, Richardis Catherine of Sweden, was the daughter of King

Albert of Sweden Albert (, – 1 April 1412), also known as Albert of Mecklenburg (), was King of Sweden from 1364 to 1389 and Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin from 1384 to 1412. Background He was the second son of Duke Albert II of Mecklenburg and Euphemia ...

Reign

The Duchy of Luxembourg was mortgaged to Elisabeth by her uncle King Sigismund of Hungary, who later also became King of Bohemia and Holy Roman Emperor. He was unable to repay the loan, and subsequently left Elisabeth in control of the duchy. Elizabeth's first marriage took place in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on 16 July 1409, to Antoine, Duke of Brabant. He defended her against three uprisings of the Luxemburgian nobility, until his death in 1415.

John III, Duke of Bavaria John III the Pitiless (1374 – 6 January 1425), of the House of Wittelsbach, was first bishop of Liège 1389–1418 and then duke of Bavaria-Straubing and count of Holland and Hainaut 1418–1425. Family John was born in Le Quesnoy. He ...

, was Elizabeth's second husband. He died in 1425, and they did not have any children. After his death, she became heavily indebted.

Deposition

In 1441, she made a treaty with

Philip III, Duke of Burgundy Philip III the Good (; ; 31 July 1396 – 15 June 1467) ruled as Duke of Burgundy from 1419 until his death in 1467. He was a member of a cadet line of the Valois dynasty, to which all 15th-century kings of France belonged. During his reig ...

, allowing him to immediately assume the administrative duties of Luxemburg and inherit the duchy upon her death. He agreed to this, but chose to launch a night attack on the territory two years later, taking immediate control. Elisabeth was subsequently expelled from Luxemburg by Philip's forces.

Notes

References

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