Historians can’t agree on what Elizabeth of Hungary’s life looked like in the 1290s. Some believe she returned to the monastery on Margaret Island, while others believe that it was during this time that she married King Stefan Milutin of Serbia.
Queen of Serbia
At some point, Elizabeth had a relationship with King Stefan Uros II Milutin of Serbia. However, the dates of this relationship are not known. Some believe it occurred before her marriage to Zavis of Falkenstein; others believe it occurred afterwards.
Just as we don’t know when Elizabeth married the King of Serbia, we also don’t know why she ended up in Serbia. She may have gone there at the instigation of her brother, Ladislaus, but if so, this would have had to be in the early 1280s, before her marriage to Zavis, since Ladislaus died in 1290. If she went to Serbia after Zavis’s death, she may have gone there because her brother was dead; she no longer saw any place for herself in Hungary. Elizabeth’s sister, Catherine, was married to King Stefan Dragutin of Serbia. Perhaps Elizabeth wanted to visit her sister. If this happened after 1290, Elizabeth may no longer have been welcome in Hungary, so she went to her sister in Serbia instead.
Catherine’s husband, Stefan Dragutin, was King of Serbia from 1276 to 1282. In 1282, Dragutin was severely injured in a riding accident and left with a permanent disability. He was no longer able to carry out all of his kingly duties, so he abdicated in favour of his brother, Uros Milutin. Dragutin, however, was able to keep the northern parts of the kingdom, and he was titled as King of Syrmia for the rest of his life.
According to the Byzantine chronicler, George Pachymeres, Elizabeth was in her nun’s robes when she met Uros Milutin, who lusted after her, and took her against her will. Pachymeres did not regard Elizabeth as a legitimate wife of Uros Milutin, while other chroniclers did. Whether they actually married or not, this relationship was seen as scandalous. Milutin’s brother was married to Elizabeth’s sister, and while double marriages involving siblings happened in the Catholic Church (for example, Elizabeth’s brother married Isabella of Sicily, while their sister, Maria, married Isabella’s brother, Charles), the Serbian Orthodox Church, which Milutin belonged to, saw such marriages as incestuous.
Another problem was the fact that Milutin was already married. Whoever his wife was at the time, he is believed to have set her aside for Elizabeth. Milutin’s mother, Helen of Anjou, wrote to the Pope, asking that this marriage be declared invalid. Elizabeth was never recognised as Milutin’s legitimate wife by the Serbian Church, but Catholic sources regarded the marriage as valid. Because the Serbian Church did not recognise her as Milutin’s lawful wife, Elizabeth was never crowned Queen of Serbia. Elizabeth and Milutin had one or two daughters together: Zorica and possibly Ana-Neda.
At some point, Milutin repudiated Elizabeth, either due to his mother’s intervention or to his desire to form a new marriage alliance. It is not known how long Elizabeth and Milutin were together. Some believe their marriage lasted for just a year, while others believe they were together for up to seven years.
When did the marriage happen?
Milutin is believed to have married five times. Most accounts agree that his first wife was Jelena, a Serbian noblewoman, whom he repudiated in 1282, when he became King. His second wife was an unnamed daughter of John I Doukas of Thessaly. He repudiated her for political reasons in 1283 or 1284. Milutin’s two sons are believed to have come from his first marriages. Some believe that Elizabeth was his next wife and that they started living together in 1383. Milutin, however, is known to have married again in 1284 to Ana Terter of Bulgaria. It is not certain when this marriage ended, but probably before 1299. Like his previous wives, Milutin divorced Ana Terter. He may have divorced her as early as 1292, when her father lost the throne of Bulgaria. Some believe he married Elizabeth next. In 1299, Milutin married for a final time to Simonida Palaiologina of Byzantium. He remained married to her until his death in 1321.
There are two possible times when Milutin could have married Elizabeth: either in 1283-1284, between his marriages to the daughter of John Doukas of Thessaly and to Ana Terter of Bulgaria, or in 1292-1299, between his marriages to Ana Terter and to Simonida Palaiologina. According to some accounts, he had more than one wife at the same time, so it’s possible that his relationship with Elizabeth overlapped with his marriage to the daughter of John Doukas of Thessaly or to Ana Terter of Bulgaria.
In my opinion, Elizabeth’s marriage to Milutin most likely took place in the 1290s, as she appears to have been absent from Hungarian records during that time. There are a couple of other points that back up Milutin being Elizabeth’s second husband; firstly, the chronicle, Anonymous Description of Eastern Europe, written in 1308, says that Elizabeth lived her whole life as a nun until her marriage to Zavis of Falkenstein, and after his death, she married the King of Serbia. Also, the 1288 letter from Archbishop Lodomerius to the Pope mentions that Elizabeth lived in the monastery her whole life before escaping to marry Zavis of Falkenstein. This letter was also quite scathing of Elizabeth, so if she had broken her vows earlier to marry Milutin, he probably would have mentioned that. It is also important to mention that in 1292, Milutin’s marriage to Ana Terter would no longer be beneficial to him, because her father lost the Bulgarian throne that year.
If Milutin married Elizabeth after 1290, there may still have been political motivations for the marriage. The death of her brother, Ladislaus, in 1290, without children, caused several claimants to come forward for the Hungarian throne. The most successful of these was Andrew III, who was crowned king. However, many Hungarian nobles wanted the crown to go to one of Ladislaus’s sisters and her husband. By marrying Elizabeth, Milutin could set his sights on the Hungarian throne, but as a member of the Orthodox Church, he was not considered by the Hungarian nobles. If Elizabeth were married to Milutin in the 1290s, the marriage would have certainly ended before 1299, when he married Simonida Palaiologina of Byzantium.
Elizabeth becomes a nun again
Elizabeth resurfaces in the records in 1300. In July of that year, she arrived in Manfredonia in Southern Italy. She might have travelled to Italy with her brother’s widow, Isabella of Anjou. Elizabeth was once accused of turning her brother against Isabella, but it seems the two had reconciled by now. She was welcomed in Naples by her sister Mary, the Queen of Naples.
In 1301, Queen Mary founded the Dominican Nunnery of San Pietro a Castello in Naples. That year, Elizabeth was once again veiled as a nun, this time at San Pietro a Castello. However, she is not mentioned as living there until 1305. In 1303, Elizabeth’s brother-in-law, King Charles II of Naples, arranged for her to receive 30 ounces of gold per year.
Elizabeth was last mentioned as alive in 1313. The date of her death is not known. Her sister, Mary, died in 1323, and it is believed that Elizabeth died before then. In 1326 records about Mary’s inheritance, Elizabeth is mentioned as deceased. Some historians believe that she died in the early 1320s.
The place of Elizabeth’s death and where she was buried are also uncertain. Since she was last mentioned as living in Naples, many believe that she died there and was buried at San Pietro a Castello. In copies of The Legend of Saint Margaret, Elizabeth is mentioned as dying and being buried at the monastery on Margaret Island, where she spent her early life. Some believe that she died in Naples, and that her body was later brought back to Hungary and buried at the Dominican Monastery on Margaret Island. Elizabeth has been beatified by the Catholic Church, which is a step towards sainthood. The reasons for her beatification and when it occurred are not known.
Elizabeth appears to be a rather interesting character. A princess who was a nun from an early age, she left the convent to marry twice, and both marriages were considered scandalous. Despite her past, she was welcomed back into the Dominican Order in 1301, and she spent the rest of her days as a nun. She lived in four different countries during her life: Hungary, Bohemia, Serbia, and Naples. Elizabeth’s life is an intriguing example of the twists and turns a medieval princess could experience.1
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