Early in 1440, the recently widowed Hungarian queen Elisabeth of Luxembourg was about to give birth to a child. She hoped for a son and heir to the Hungarian throne after her late husband Albert’s II death and was anxious about his succession. Hence, she sent her lady-in-waiting Helene Kottannerin to the castle of Visegrad, where the kingdom’s Holy Crown was safely stored, to get this important symbol of royal legitimation for her unborn child’s later coronation. Helene, who originated from the small town of Sopron/Ödenburg on the border between Hungary and the Austrian lands, not only successfully mastered the adventure, but later composed one of the most amazing ego-documents written in late medieval Central Europe. Our book presents the first published translation into modern German of Helene´s spectacular account, which covers the "crown-adventure" itself, but also provides various insights into Elisabeth’s court and family life, the critical political and military situation vis-à-vis the Ottoman threat, the Hungarian opposition to the queen’s dynastic plans, and thus Elisabeth and Helene’s agency in managing these challenges. In our presentation, we will lay out our motives for translating the text, the structure of our own scholarly account that frames Helene’s text and the ways we hope to share the text’s attraction with students, academics and a wider audience.
This lecture is hybrid. If you wish to attend in person and are not a member of CEU, please email medstud@ceu.edu for the registration form. If you wish to attend online, please email the same address for the zoom link.