Elizabeth of Bosnia Elizabeth of Bosnia ( c . 1339 – January 1387 ) was queen consort and later regent of Hungary , as well as queen consort of Poland . Her regency was marked by political unrest that led to her death . Daughter of Ban Stephen II of Bosnia , Elizabeth married King Louis I of Hungary in 1353 . In 1370 , she gave birth to a long - anticipated heir , Catherine , and became queen of Poland when Louis succeeded his uncle , Casimir III . The royal couple had two more daughters , Mary and Hedwig , but Catherine died in 1378 . When Louis died in 1382 , Mary ascended to the throne of Hungary with Elizabeth as regent . Unable to preserve the personal union of Hungary and Poland , the queen dowager secured the Polish throne for her youngest daughter , Hedwig . During her regency in Hungary , Elizabeth faced several rebellions led by John Horvat and John of Palisna , who attempted to take advantage of Mary ' s insecure reign . In 1385 , they invited King Charles III of Naples to depose Mary and assume the crown . Elizabeth responded by having Charles murdered two months after his coronation , in 1386 . She had the crown restored to her daughter and established herself as regent once more , only to be captured , imprisoned and ultimately strangled by her enemies . Descent and early years . Born about 1339 , Elizabeth was the daughter of Ban Stephen II of Bosnia , the head of the House of Kotromanić . Her mother was Elizabeth of Kuyavia , a member of the House of Piast and grandniece of King Vladislaus I of Poland . In 1349 , the fourteen - year - old queen of Hungary , Margaret of Luxembourg , died from the Black Death . Elizabeth of Poland , the mother of the widowed and childless King Louis I of Hungary , insisted on immediately bringing the daughter of the ban of Bosnia to her court in Visegrád for fostering . Stephen was reluctant at first , but he eventually dispatched Elizabeth , whose mother had already died . In 1350 , Tsar Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia attacked Bosnia in order to regain Zachlumia . The invasion was not successful , and the tsar tried to negotiate peace , which would be sealed by arranging Elizabeth ' s marriage to his son and heir apparent , Stephen Uroš V . The tsar expected Zachlumia to be ceded as Elizabeth ' s dowry , which her father refused . Later that year , she was formally betrothed to the 24 - year - old Louis , who hoped to counter Dušan ' s expansionist policy either with her father ' s help or as his eventual successor . The two were related in the fourth degree through Duke Casimir I of Kuyavia , Elizabeth ' s great - great - grandfather and Louis ' great - grandfather , making Pope Innocent VI ' s consent necessary . Marriage . Elizabeth married Louis in Buda on 20 June 1353 . He was dismayed when , upon his father - in - law ' s death later the same year , Elizabeth ' s young and ambitious cousin Tvrtko succeeded as ban . In 1357 , Louis summoned the young ban to Požega and compelled him to surrender most of western Zachlumia as Elizabeth ' s dowry . The new queen of Hungary subjected herself entirely to her controlling mother - in - law . The fact that her retinue consisted of the same individuals who had served the queen mother indicates that Elizabeth may not even have had her own court . Her mother - in - law ' s influence prevailed until 1370 , when Louis succeeded his maternal uncle , Casimir III , as king of Poland according to the Privilege of Buda , and sent his mother to govern the kingdom as regent . Elizabeth , though queen of Poland , was never crowned as such . On his return from Poland , Louis brought Casimir ' s underage daughters , Anne and Hedwig , to be raised by Elizabeth . Elizabeth ' s maternal uncle , Vladislaus the White , was also a candidate for the throne of Poland . As the queen ' s uncle , he remained closely tied to the royal court despite failing to gain control of any part of the kingdom . The problem of the succession marked Louis ' reign . Elizabeth was long considered barren , and a succession crisis was expected after the childless king ' s death . Her brother - in - law Stephen was heir presumptive until his death in 1354 , when his son John replaced him . John ' s own death in 1360 made the extinction of the dynasty a real possibility . A daughter was born to the queen and king in 1365 , but the child died the next year . For a few years , John ' s sister , Elizabeth , was promoted to heiress presumptive and a suitable marriage for her was being negotiated . Things suddenly took a different course when the queen had three daughters in quick succession ; Catherine was born in July 1370 , Mary in 1371 , and Hedwig in 1373 or 1374 . Elizabeth is known to have written a book for the education of her daughters , a copy of which was sent to France in 1374 . However , all copies have been lost . On 17 September 1374 , Louis granted various concessions to the Polish nobility by the Privilege of Koszyce , in exchange for their promise that a daughter of his would succeed him and that he , Elizabeth or his mother could indicate which one . In Hungary , he focused on the centralization of power as means of ensuring that his daughters ' rights would be respected . Securing marriage to one of the princesses was a priority in European royal courts . Mary was scarcely one year old when she was promised to Sigismund of Luxembourg . In 1374 , Catherine was betrothed to Louis of France , but died towards the end of 1378 , sometime after Hedwig ' s betrothal to William of Austria . The king , weakened by illness , became progressively less active in the last years of his reign , devoting an increasing amount of time to prayer , as did his aging mother , who had returned from Poland in 1374 . These circumstances allowed Elizabeth to assume a more prominent role at court . Her influence had grown steadily since she had given her husband three possible heiresses . It appeared probable that the crowns would pass to one of Elizabeth ' s underage daughters and by 1374 , their rights were confirmed . Behind the scenes , Elizabeth began ensuring that the succession would be as smooth as possible by encouraging a slow but decisive change in the personnel of the government . Warlike and illiterate barons were gradually replaced by a small group of noblemen who excelled in their professional skills but were not distinguished by birth or military ability . Palatine Nicholas I Garay led the movement and enjoyed the full support of the queen , and their power eventually became virtually unrestricted . Widowhood and regency . Louis died on 10 September 1382 and Mary succeeded to the throne of Hungary . Elizabeth , now queen dowager , acted as regent on behalf of the eleven - year - old sovereign , with Garay as her chief adviser . The queen dowager ' s rule was not to be peaceful ; the first to rise against her , in 1383 , was John of Palisna , Ban of Croatia , who was mainly opposed to the centralizing policy which her husband had enforced . Her cousin Tvrtko also decided to take advantage of Louis ' death and Elizabeth ' s unpopularity by trying to recover the lands he had lost to the king in 1357 . Tvrtko and John formed an alliance against Elizabeth , but they were ultimately defeated by her army , with John being forced to flee to Bosnia . Polish succession . Although Louis had designated Mary as his successor in both of his kingdoms , the Polish nobles , seeking an end to the personal union with Hungary , were not willing to recognize Mary and Sigismund as their sovereigns . They would have accepted Mary if she had moved to Kraków and reigned over both kingdoms from there rather than from Hungary , ruling according to their advice rather than that of the Hungarian nobles and marrying a prince of their choosing . Their intentions , however , were not to Elizabeth ' s taste . She too would have been required to move to Kraków , where a lack of men loyal to her would have rendered her unable to enforce her own will . Elizabeth was also aware of the difficulties her mother - in - law had faced during her regency in Poland , which had ended with the old queen fleeing her native kingdom in disgrace . An agreement was reached between Elizabeth ' s and Polish delegates in Sieradz on 26 February 1383 . The queen thereby proposed her youngest daughter Hedwig as Louis ' successor in Poland , and absolved the nobles from their oaths to Mary and Sigismund . She agreed to send Hedwig to be crowned in Kraków but requested that , in view of her age , she spend three more years in Buda following the ceremony . The Poles initially conceded to the requirement , but soon found it unacceptable for their monarch to reside abroad for so long . At the second meeting in Sieradz , held on 28 March , they contemplated offering the crown to Hedwig ' s distant relative , Duke Siemowit IV of Masovia . They eventually opted against it , but at the third Sieradz meeting , on 16 June , Siemowit himself decided to lay claim to the crown . Elizabeth reacted by having an army of 12 , 000 men devastate Masovia in August , forcing him to drop his pretensions . Meanwhile , she realized that she could not expect the nobles to accept her request and instead resolved to delay Hedwig ' s departure . Despite continuous Polish demands to expedite her arrival , Hedwig did not move to Kraków until the end of August 1384 . She was crowned on 16 October 1384 . No regent was appointed , and the 10 - year - old exercised her authority according to the advice of Kraków magnates . Elizabeth never saw her again . In 1385 , Elizabeth received an official delegation from Grand Duke Jogaila of Lithuania , who wished to marry Hedwig . In the Act of Kreva , Jogaila promised to pay compensation to William of Austria on Elizabeth ' s behalf and requested that Elizabeth , as widow of King Louis and heiress of Poland herself as great - grandniece of King Vladislaus I ( whose name Jogaila had purposely assumed on his baptism ) , legally adopt him as her son in order to give him the right to retain the Polish crown in the event of Hedwig ' s death . The marriage was celebrated in 1386 . Mary ' s marriage . Mary ' s fiancé Sigismund and his brother Wenceslaus , King of Germany and Bohemia , were also opposed to Elizabeth and Garay . The queen and the palatine , on the other hand , were not enthuasiastic about Sigismund reigning together with Mary . Both Sigismund and Mary ' s relative , King Charles III of Naples , threatened to invade Hungary ; the former intended to marry Mary and become her co - ruler , while the latter intended to depose her . Elizabeth was determined to allow neither and , in 1384 , started negotiating Mary ' s marriage to Louis of France , notwithstanding her daughter ' s engagement to Sigismund . Had this proposal been made after Catherine ' s death in 1378 , the Western Schism would have represented a problem , with France recognising Clement VII as pope and Hungary accepting Urban VI . However , Elizabeth was desperate to avoid an invasion in 1384 and unwilling to let the schism stand in the way of the negotiations with the French . Clement VII issued a dispensation which annulled Mary ' s betrothal to Sigismund , and her proxy marriage to Louis was celebrated in April 1385 , but it was not recognized by the Hungarian noblemen , who adhered to Urban VI . Elizabeth ' s plan to have Mary married to Louis of France divided the court . The House of Lacković , the master of the treasury Nicholas Zámbó and the judge royal Nicholas Szécsi openly opposed it and renounced their allegiance to the queen dowager in August , which resulted in her depriving them of all their offices and replacing them with Garay ' s partisans . The kingdom was on the verge of a civil war when the king of Naples , invited by John Horvat and his brother Paul , Bishop of Zagreb , arrived to claim the throne for himself . His arrival forced Elizabeth to yield and abandon the idea of French marriage . While her envoys in Paris were preparing for Louis ' s journey , Elizabeth came to terms with her opponents and Szécsi was appointed palatine . Four months after her proxy marriage to Louis , Sigismund entered Hungary and married Mary , but the marriage turned out to be too late ; he fled to his brother Wenceslaus ' court in Prague in the autumn of 1385 . Deposition and restoration . Charles ' s arrival was well - prepared . He was accompanied by his Hungarian supporters and Elizabeth was unable to raise an army against him or prevent him from convoking a diet , in which he obtained an overwhelming support . Mary was forced to abdicate , opening the path for Charles to be crowned on 31 December 1385 , with Elizabeth and Mary compelled to attend the coronation and swear allegiance to him . Deprived of authority , Elizabeth feigned friendly feelings for her husband ' s kinsman while his retinue was at the court , but after his supporters had returned to their homes , he was left defenseless . She acted quickly and invited him to visit Mary in Buda Castle . Upon his arrival there on 7 February 1386 , Elizabeth had Charles stabbed in her apartments and in her presence . He was taken to Visegrád , where he died on 24 February . Having had the crown restored to her daughter , the queen dowager immediately proceeded to reward those who had helped her , giving Jelenec Castle to Blaise Forgach , the Master of the Cupbearers , whose blow had mortally wounded Charles . In April , Sigismund was brought to Hungary by his brother Wenceslaus and the queens were pressured into accepting him as Mary ' s future co - ruler by the Treaty of Győr . Having Charles murdered did not help Elizabeth as much as she hoped it would , however , as the Neapolitan party immediately recognized Charles ' son Ladislaus as heir and fled to Zagreb , where Bishop Paul pawned church estates in order to collect money for an army against Elizabeth . Death and aftermath . Elizabeth believed that her daughter ' s mere presence would help calm the opposition . Accompanied by Garay and a modest following , she and Mary set out for Đakovo . However , Elizabeth had seriously misjudged the situation . On 25 July 1386 , they were ambushed en route and attacked by John Horvat in Gorjani . Their small entourage failed to fight off the attackers , and the queens were imprisoned in the bishop of Zagreb ' s castle of Gomnec . Elizabeth took all blame for the rebellion and begged the attackers to spare her daughter ' s life . Elizabeth and Mary were then sent to Novigrad Castle , held by their new jailer , John of Palisna . Charles ' widow Margaret insisted that Elizabeth be put to death . She was tried and , after the Christmas adjournment of the proceedings , found guilty of inciting Charles ' murder . Sigismund marched into Slavonia in January 1387 , with the intention to reach Novigrad and rescue the queens . Towards the middle of January , when news of Sigismund ' s approach reached Novigrad , Elizabeth was strangled by guards before Mary ' s eyes . Mary was released from the captivity by Sigismund ' s troops on 4 June . Having been secretly buried in St Chrysogonus ' s Church in Zadar on 9 February 1387 , Elizabeth ' s body was exhumed on 16 January 1390 , transferred by sea to Obrovac and then carried overland to Székesfehérvár Basilica . Legacy . Modern historians tend to describe Elizabeth as a formidable woman , while her contemporaries regarded her as an efficient but ruthless politician who used political intrigues to protect and successfully defend her daughters ' rights . Elizabeth was a caring parent , but was neither politically talented nor qualified to prepare Mary and Hedwig for their roles as monarchs . She failed to set a good example for her daughters , and her unbalanced character and questionable methods in politics would serve more as a warning to the young sovereigns . Hedwig was disappointed by her mother ' s procrastinations and inability to make clear decisions , while Mary was most distressed by her endless problems with Croatian nobles and failure to improve relations with her native Bosnia . Queen Elizabeth is known to have commissioned the creation of the Chest of Saint Simeon in 1381 . The chest , located in Zadar , is of great importance for the history of the city , as it depicts various historical events – such as the death of her father – and Elizabeth herself . According to legend , Elizabeth stole the saint ' s finger and paid for the creation of the casket in order to atone for her sin . The casket contains a scene which allegedly depicts the queen gone mad after stealing the relict .