page_title: Mary of Hungary, Queen of Naples
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Mary of Hungary, Queen of Naples / Life
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Sepolcro di Maria di Ungheria, Tino da Camaino
context_page_description: Mary of Hungary, of the Árpád dynasty, was Queen consort of the Kingdom of Naples. She was a daughter of Stephen V of Hungary and his wife Elizabeth the Cuman. Mary served as Regent in Provence in 1290–1294 and in Naples in 1295–96, 1296–98, and 1302, during the absences of her consort.
context_section_description: In 1270, when Mary was only twelve years of age, she married the future Charles II of Naples. The wedding took place in Naples on 6 August 1270. The marriage was intended as a double alliance between Naples and Hungary to support the intended conquest of Byzantium by Naples, but it did not serve its purpose as her brother in 1272 made an alliance with Byzantium as well. Maria accompanied Charles on his trips and spent 1278-82 in Provence with her consort. In 1284, she made her first political act: when Charles was taken captive by Aragon, she made the decision to free the Aragonese prisoner Beatrice of Hohenstaufen. In 1285, Charles became monarch but remained in Aragonese prison. She did not take part in the regency for him in Naples, but remained in Provence, where she did take part in the administration from time to time, though she was not formal regent. In 1288, she took part in the negotiations of her consort's release, and the same year, she made a peace treaty with Aragon. Charles was released the same year, and they returned to Naples together. In 1290-94, she was regent for him in Provence.
  On 10 July 1290, Mary's brother, Ladislaus IV of Hungary died childless. The question now was who would succeed him: he had four sisters, three of them outlived him, all four had married powerful rulers and all four had their own children. On 21 September 1290, Mary claimed the throne of Hungary. She was up against her two sisters, Catherine and Elisabeth, and their children, plus the children of her younger sister Anna.  The Pope confirmed her sole rights in Hungary on 30 August 1295. However, Catherine's son, Stephen Vladislav II of Syrmia, was still a dangerous rival for Mary and Charles Martel. In the end, Charles Martel gave his cousin Slavonia as a compromise.
  Charles Martel was only titular King of Hungary, it was Mary's grandson who became King, Charles I of Hungary. Ultimately the claims of the sisters Mary and Catherine were united in a common descendant when the pair's great-great-granddaughter, Mary of Hungary, ascended to the Hungarian throne in 1382. When the line of Charles Martel and the Angevins in Hungary died out, it was Sigismund, a remote descendant of Bela IV, whose family succeeded.
  During 1290, Mary's sister Elisabeth fled from Bohemia with her son because her husband had lost favour and was executed, Mary allowed Elisabeth and her son to stay in Naples with her, before she became a nun, but escaped and remarried to Stephen Uroš II Milutin of Serbia (brother of Catherine's husband) Elizabeth's stay in Naples is documented during July 1300. In 1294, Mary returned with Charles to Naples. She was his representative at the negotiations with the Pope in 1295-96. Between 1296 and 1298, she served as regent of Naples in the absence of her consort. She served as regent the last time in 1302. After this, she lost her influence over states affairs, and retired to pious duties such as to finance convents and churches.
  Mary's husband died in August 1309. There is no evidence that she became a nun, which has sometimes been rumored, but she did spent a lot of her time in convents. She lived in Naples for the rest of her life, where she died on 25 March 1323. She was buried in Naples at the Santa Maria Donna Regina.
caption: Mary's tomb in Naples
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