 |
1219-52 Queen Regnant Zabel I of Lesser Armenia (Cilicia) (Turkey/Syria) |
| Also known as Isabella, her father, Leo II had promished his nephew Raimond-Ruben de Antiochiaia, the succession to the throne, but at his death-bed he her, as his heir. Her older sister, Stephanie, or her husband, Jean de Brienne, claimed the title for her and their young son, but they died shortly after. And the Armenian nobles followed the wish of Leo II, and paid homage to her as their Queen, under various male regents. She later ruled together with her two husbands; Phillip 1222-25 (he was poisoned) and Heton I (1226-1269). Armenia Minor established very close ties with the Crusader States. It was still threatened by Byzantium, however, and appears to have come under Byzantine overlordship for short periods. Her mother was Sibylla de Lusignan of Cyprus-Jerusalem, she was mother of two sons and two daughters, and lived (circa 1212-52). |
 |
1223-47 Queen Regnant Rusudani of Georgia, by the will of our Lord, Queen of Queen of Kings and Queens of the Abkhazis, Kartvelians, Ranians, Kakhetians and the Armenians, Shirvanshah and Shahanshah and Master of all the East and West, Glory of the World, Kingdom and Faith, Champion of the Messiah |
| The daughter of Queen Tamar (1178-1213) she succeded her brother, Giorgi IV Lasha. She was leader of the nation in a period when it was attacked by Mongol tribes and disintegrated into numerous petty principalities. Retreated to Kutaisi when Tiflis was besieged by Jalal ud-din Shah of Khwarazmia, and captured by the latter, 9th March 1226. Forced to accept the sovereignty of the Mongol Khan in 1242, an annual tribute of 50,000 gold pieces. In 1224 she married Muhammad Mughis ud-din Turkan Shah of Erzerum, who embraced Christianity on his marriage. Her son, Davit VI Narin, succeded her as King of Georgia - Imerati. Her daughter, Princess Thamar married Sultan Muhammad Ghias ud-din Kaikhushru II of Konia. She lived (1195-1247). |
 |
1226-36 Regent Dowager Queen Blanche de Castilla of France
1240-52 Sovereign Countess of Valois
1248-52 (†) Regent of France |
| When her hunsband Louis invaded England after the death of her cousin John to claim the crown in her right, only to find a united nation against him, she established herself at Calais and organized two fleets, one of which was commanded by Eustace the Monk, and an army under Robert of Courtenay; but all her resolution and energy were in vain. Although it would seem that her masterful temper exercised a sensible influence upon her husband's gentler character, her role during his reign (1223-1226) is not well known. He left her as regent and guardian of his children. Of her twelve or thirteen children, six had died, and King Louis IX was only 12 years old. The situation was critical, for the hard-won domains of the house of Capet seemed likely to fall to pieces during a minority. She had to bear the whole burden of affairs alone, to break up a league of the barons (1226), and to repel the attack of the king of England (1230). But her energy and firmness overcame all dangers. She remained influential after her son took over the government in 1236. In 1248 she again became regent, during Louis IX's absence on the crusade, a project which she had strongly opposed. In the disasters which followed she maintained peace, while draining the land of men and money to aid her son in the East. She was the third daughter of Alfonso VIII, king of Castile, and of Eleanor of England, daughter of Henry II, and lived (1187-1252). |
|
1228-(37) Regent Dowager Empress Maria de Courtenay of Constantinople (Turkey) |
| Regent for Baudouin II de Courtenay, who succeeded his brother, Robert. She reigned together with co-regents. The Empire of Constantinople was mainly based around the ancient city of Byzantine and parts of Greece, but the City of Constantinople is now known as Istanbul. |
|
|
|
|
1253-61 (†) Regent Dowager Queen Plaisance de Antiochia of Cyprus
1257-61 (†) Regent of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Acre (Israel) |
| At the death of her husband, Henri of Lusignan, her son Hugh II was only a few months old ans she claimed the regency. The High Court of Cyprus confirmed her in this position, but the Barons in the mainland, in Akkon (what remained of the former Kingdom of Jerusalem) demanded that she showed up herself before they would confirm her as regent. Lord Jean d'Ibelin of Arsuf was bailliff in Jerusalem and she contemplated marrying his son. In 1258 she tried to strenghten her pssition and arrived in Tripoli with her son. The High Court of the Kingdom assembled, and her brother, Boemond tried to be accepted as heir to the throne of Cyprus in the abcense of, grandson of Emperor Frederik II and Queen Maria of Jerusalem, but this was rejected and the royal family was drawn into the civil war between the Genoese, Venetians, Hospitallers and the Templars. A majority was in favour of Plaisance's regency, and she returned to Cyprus after haveing reappointed Jean d'Ilbelin as bailliff. She was daughter of Boemond V of Antiochiaia and Lucienne de Cacammo-Segni, and lived (1236-61) |
|
|
1253-54 Keeper and Governor Queen Eleanor de Provence of England (06.08-29.05) |
|
She was appointed to "keep and govern the realm of England and the lands of Wales and Ireland", with the counsel of Richard, earl of Cornwall, when her husband since 1236, Henry III, was away in France to defend his territories in Gascogne. She was adviced by a Council, but she was in charge of the government, even when giving birth to a daughter in November. Eleanor was very influential during her husband's reign. Her determined resistance to baronial reform and her key part in bringing about the fall of Simon de Montfort's government invite new appraisal. After her husband's death in 1271 she was the only person in the realm anointed to the royal estate, she gave her consent to the breaking of the old seal and making of the new and the declaration of the new king, Edward I's peace, but she did not act as regent in the period until Edward returned to England. As a widow she was in control of her wast dowry in Amesbury. In 1286 she entered a convent, but was still consulted by her son, Edward I, from time to time. She was daughter of Raymond Bergengar, count of Provence and Beatrice of Province. Her sister Marguerite was married to Louis IX of France, Sanchia to Richard, Earl of Cornwall and the youngest Beatrice to Charles, Count d'Anjou. The youngest sister inherited Province. Eleanor was mother of nine children of whom four survived to adulthood. She lived (1217/23-91).
|
 |
1259-66 Regent Dowager Queen Margrethe Sambiria Sprænghest of Denmark
1266-81 Lady of Estonia and Virland |
| Born as a Pommerian Princess, she was regent for her son Erik 5. Klipping after the death of her husband, Kristoffer I. She fought against the powerful Archbishop Jakob Erlandsen. In 1261 she and her son were taken prisoner in Germany. The next year she returned together with Albrecht of Braunshweig and Erlandsen left the country. She managed to persuade Pope to accept the idea of female succession to the Danish throne, though not to her daughters having succession-rights before male relatives in other lines. Estonia was her dowry which she controlled from Lolland-Falster another Dowry in the South of Denmark. She lived circa (1230-81). |
|
1261-67 De Facto Ruler Queen Maria Laskarina of Hungary in Croatia and Dalmatia |
| Married to King Bela IV of Hungary (1235-70), sho used much of his reign trying to curtail the power of the magnates and set out to recover the crown lands his father had given to supporters. Confronted by the menace of the Mongol invasion, he sent unheeded appeals to Pope Gregory IX and Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II, but he was defeated in 1241. Returning after the withdrawal of the invaders, he repopulated the country by inviting foreign colonization. Bela's long struggle with Ottocar II, king of Bohemia, for Austria and Styria ended in defeat in 1260. His last years were disturbed by the rebellion of his son, King Stephen V (1270-72), who forced him to share the kingdom. Maria was involved in the struggle and was de-facto ruler of parts of the kingdom. She was born as Princess of Nicaea and (d. 1270). |
|
|
|
|
1263-64 (†) Regent Princess Isabella of Cyprus |
|
When Queen Plaisance of Cypern died in 1261 her son Hugo II was eight years old, at first Isabella's son was appointed regent because the Supreme Court thought a man would be a better regent than a woman, but in 1263 Isabella and her husband, Henri de Poitou of Antiochiaia (d. 1276 ), came to Cyprus and the nobles paid homage to her as regent, but she died the following year. As the younger daughter of King Hugo I Lusignan of Cypern and Alice de Champagne-Blois she was Heriess Presumptive of Jerusalem, since her mother was the daughter and Heriess Presumptive of King Henri I of Jerusalem and Princess Isabella d'Anjou of Jerusalem. Isabella's oldest son, Hugo III, was king of Cyprus (1235-84) and her daughter ,Marguerite Titular-Princess of Antiochiaia and Lady of Tyros and lived (before 1244-1308) and married to Jean de Montfort, Lord of Tyros (d. 1289). Isabella lived (circa 1215-64).
|
|
1272-77 Regent Dowager Queen Elisabet Kumanac of Hungary |
| After the death of her husband King István V (Stephen) of Hungary (1270-72) she was regent for their son, László IV of Hungary (1272-90), who was murdered. He had been kidnapped at age ten from his father's court by rebellious vassals. His minority was an alternation of palace revolutions and civil wars, in which she barely contrived to keep the upper hand. In this milieu Ladislaus matured precociously and was poorly educated, which greatly confined his personalities as rough and reckless. Her daughters Katalin (Ca 1256-after 1314) was married to king Stepan IV Dragutin of Serbia (d. 1316), Mária (ca 1257-1323) was married to King Charles II of Naples and Sicily - recognized as Queen in parts of the country 1290-92, the third daughter was married to the Tsar of Bulgaria, Erzsébet (1255-1326) first married Zavis von Rosenberg zu Falkenstein and secondly King Stepan Uros II Milutin of Serbia and the youngst daughter Ágnes (ca 1260-ca 1281) was married to Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos of Byzantium. Queen Elizabeth was daughter of Zayhan, a prince of the Turkish Nomadic Cuman tribe, which had been pushed into Hungary by the invasions of Chinghis-Khan, and lived (1240-after 1290). |
 |
1274-1305 Queen Regnant Juana I of Navarra, Countess of Champagne and Brie (Spain and France) |
| Also known as Jeanne, and at the age of 13 she was married to king Philippe V of France (1268-1314), who became king of Navarra by the right of his wife. She left him to reign in Navarra and stayed in Champagne. Mother of 7 children. Her three surviving sons; Louis X of France, Philip V and Charles IV all became kings of France and Navarra, and her only surviving daughter, Isabelle, married king Edward II of England. She died under mysterious circumstances; one chronicler even accused her husband of having killed her. She lived (circa 1271-1305). |
 |
1274-76 Regent Dowager Queen Blance d'Artois of Navarra and the Counties Troyes and Meaux
1274-84 Regent of the Counties of Champagne and Brie (Spain and France) |
| After the death of her husband Henri I (1270-74), she was regent for daughter Juana I, and various powers, both foreign and Navarrese, sought to take advantage of the minority of the heiress and the weakness of the female regent. She left the administration of Navarra to King Philippe III of England after her marriage to Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster (1245-1296), brother of Edward I of England, and they administered Champagne until Juana came of age in 1284. She was the daughter of count Robert I of Artois, and the granddaughter of Louis VIII of France, mother of four children with her second husband, and lived (circa 1248 -1300). |
|
1276-1309 Sub-Queen Helena d'Anjou of Dioclea (Montenegro) |
| Succeeded Stephen and followed by Stephen Uros III of Decani |
|
1280-84 Regent Dowager Queen Ingeborg Eriksdatter of Norway |
| After the death of her husband, Magnus the Lawmaker (1238-63-80) she acted as regent for her son, Erik II (1268-99). She was the first Norwegian Queen to be crowned and was daughter of King Erik IV Plogpenning of Denmark and Jutta of Sachsen, and lived (1244-87). |
|
|
|
|
1283-1308 Titular Empress Catherina I de Courtenay of Constantinople (Turkey), Dame of Courtenay (France)
Also Sovereign Princess of Achaia (Albaina) and Dame de Courtenay (France) |
| Daughter of Philippe, the son of Emperor Boudewijn of the Latin Empire in the ancient city of Byzanz and parts of Greece. He was deposed 1261. Plans were made to marry her to Freiderich of Sicilia, but nothing came of it. The Pope interfered, there were also attempts to have her marry the heir to the Byzantine throne, Michael IX, but she declined because the contract was not lucrative enough for her, and in 1302 she married Count Charles I de Valois (1270-1325), who was planning a cruzade against Byzantine when she died. Mother of three daughters and a son, who died just before herself, and she was therefore succeeded by the oldest, Catherine II, as heir to the Latin Empire of the East. Catharine I lived (1274-1308). |
|
1283-85 Governor Queen Constance Hohenstaufen of Sicily (Italy) |
| In 1262 her father, Manfredo Hohenstaufen, arranged her marriage to Infant Pedro of Aragon. Manfredo lost his crown and life in 1266, and she was his heir - though the throne remained in the hands of Charles of Anjou, a brother of King Louis IX of France. Her husband gave her in her own right the title of Queen, before succeeding to the throne in 1276. In 1282 her husband - now Pedro III made a triumphant entry into Messina, and in the following year she left for Sicilia, and it was announced that the Infant Jaime would be heir to Sicily as the elder son, Alfonso, would remain heir of Aragon. In the case of Jaime's minority, she would act as regent. Pedro III had to depart Sicily, leaving her in charge. In November 1285 Constance's husband died at Villafranca de Penadres where he was buried, and the following year Jaime was crowned - though both she and her son were excommunicated by the pope. When in 1291 her eldest son, Alfonso III, died childless Jaime succeeded him, remaining king of both countries until 1296 when Fadrique, Constance's third son, became King of Sicilia. She returned to Spain and lived (1249-1301). |
|
1284-85 Empress Regnant Theodora Comnenus of Trebizond (Turkey) |
| Trabzon is a city and coastal region in northeastern Turkey, by the Black Sea; west-southwest of Georgia. At the Sack of Byzantium in 1204, and subsequent establishment of the Latin Empire by marauding Crusaders, a few members of the Imperial family escaped and established this state. Owing to a combination of the typical Byzantine policy of extensive marriage alliances together with notable difficulty of access by potential invaders, Trapezoid was generally ignored or bypassed by the great conquerors of the era; Seljuqs and Mongols mainly. Theodora was daughter of Manuel I (1238-63) and came on the throne after 3 of her brothers, before she was deposed. |
|
1284 Titular Queen Irene Palailologina de Monferrato of Thessalonica (Greece) |
| Her father, Guglielmo VIII of Monferrato in Italy gave up the title of titular king upon her marriage to Emperor Andronikos II. Palailogos of Byzantine. Her father was Marchese di Montferrato (1253-92), titular King of Saloniki (1262-84), Signore d'Ivrea (1266-67) and (1278-92), Signore di Milano (1278-82), and died in prison Alexandria in 1292. Her mother was his third wife, Beatriz of Castilla. She lived (1274-1317). |
|
1286-90 Queen Regnant Margaret of Scotland and The Orkney Islands (United Kingdom) |
| With the sudden death of Alexander III, Scotland was left without an obvious heir to the throne. At first, Margaret's step-grandmother Yolande declared that she was pregnant with a legitimate heir, countering the claims of two powerful nobles, Robert Bruce (grandfather of the future Robert I of Scotland) and John Balliol, each of whom wanted the throne for himself. When it was discovered that Yolande was not really pregnant, it was decided that Alexander's only surviving descendant, his three-year-old granddaughter Margaret, would ascend to the throne under a regency of six nobles. She was the daughter of Eric II of Norway and his wife Margaret, daughter of Alexander III, who died in childbirth. Fearing that a young and powerless queen would invite civil war between the rival claimants to the throne, the Scottish nobles appealed to Edward I of England to intervene. Eager to extend his own influence in Scotland, Edward arranged the Treaty of Birgham in 1290, by which Margaret was betrothed to his son the Prince of Wales (later Edward II of England), in return for an assurance of Scottish independence though he would serve as ward for the young queen. She set sail from Norway to her new realm in the autumn of 1290, but took ill during the stormy voyage and died soon after reaching the Orkney Islands around September 26. With her death, the House of Dunkeld came to an end. Her corpse was taken to Bergen and buried beside her mother in the stone wall, on the north side of the choir, in Christ's Kirk at Bergen. In the two years that followed, Scotland was left with 14 claimants to the throne. Once again, Edward was asked to intercede. His efforts to exert his own authority over the country eventually led to the First Scottish War of Independence. Also known as "The Maid of Norway", she lived (1283-90). |
|
|
|
 |
1286-92 Regent Dowager Queen Agnes af Brandenburg of Denmark
1286 Royal County Sheriff of Lolland-Falster |
| Regent for son Erik IV Menved after her husband, Erik V was assassinated. Her rule was challenged by several magnates who had been found guilty - probably unjustly- of killing her husband and had been outlawed in 1287. These outlaws, who were aided by the Norwegian king and soon joined by Duke Valdemar of Schleswig and the new archbishop, Jens Grand, raided the Danish coasts. Erik defeated Valdemar and reached an agreement with Norway in 1295, but he continued to feud with Grand, whose imprisonment led to a papal interdict of the king in 1297. Erik's settlement with Pope Boniface VIII (1303) enabled him to resume Danish conquests along the northern border of the Holy Roman Empire, and in 1304 the emperor Albert I ceded to Denmark all lands north of the Elbe River. Lolland-Falster was her dowry which she administered as a royal fief, being in charge of aspects of the local administration. She later married Count Gerhard II of Holsten and became mother of another son, Johann, she lived (1258-1304). |
|
1290-1300 Co-Regent Queen Catherina Tomasina Morosini of Hungary |
| Her husband István the Posthumous of Hungary, Duke of Slavonia (1236-71) who died as a Patrician in Venezia, was son of King Endre II of Hungary and Croatia (1205-35). She became co-ruler when her son, Endre III (1265-90-1301), came to the throne after the son of his third cousin, Lázsló IV was murdered during the civil wars in the country. She was daughter Micaele Sbarra Morosini, and Patrician of Venice of lived (1240-1300). |
|
1290-92 Reigning in Dissidence Queen Mária of Hungary |
| She reigned in dissidence to King Endre III, after the her brother Lázsló IV was murdered,when she was acknowledged as kiralyno (female king) by the Dalmatian regions, with the provison that her son Carlo Martello (Martell Károly) was to be elected king in her place. She was daughter of King V. István and Elisabeth, who was regent of the kingdom 1272-77, and married to the future King Carlo II of Napoli and Sicily. She lived (circa 1257-1323). |
|
1295-1301 and 1312-21 (†) Regent Dowager Queen María de Alfonso de Molina of Castilla (Spain) |
| Lady de Molina in her own right, she was widow of Sancho IV. As regent for her son, Ferdinando IV, she defended his throne against several pretenders, who were at various times supported by France, Aragón, Portugal, Navarre, and Granada. 11 years later, after Ferdinando’s death, she acted as a guardian to her grandson Alfonso XI, while the regency was contested among his other relatives. |
|
1303-17 De facto Reigning Empress Violante Aleramo of Thessalonica (Greece)
1305-06 Sovereign Margravine of Monferrato (Italy) |
| She married Emperor Andronikos II Palailogos, later Emperor of Constantinople, as his second wife in 1284 and became known as Yolanda, and was given Thessalonica as her dowry. She was in disupte with her husband over the future of their sons, as his sons by the first marriage were named as heirs. She wanted to have the Empire carved out in seperate principalities for each of the thre sons. They grew further apart when her husband married their five year old daughter to King Simonis Milutin of Serbia who were in his 50s and forced their oldest son to marry the daughter of his closest advisor even though she was of low nobility. In 1303 she packed her backs and took up residence in Thessalonica, which considered her own property. 1309 an attempt of reconciliation failed and she died in her territory in 1317. 1305 she had inherited Monferrato from her brother and the folowing year she passed the title to her second son, Theodore, who spend the rest of his life in Italy. She was mother of seven chldren. |
|
|
|
 |
1306 Regent Dowager Queen Ryksa Elzbieta of Bohemia (Czech Republic)
1306-35 Lady of Königsgrätz |
|
Elisabeth-Richsa had been politically influential 1303-05 during the reign of her husband, Wencelas II of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland, and regent from August till October, when she married Rudolf III of Austria, who was titular king of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland until his death one year later, but in reality Hungary and Bohemia was in an interregnum. Elzbieta married her third husband, Heinrich zur Lippe in 1315 and they continued as leaders of the Bohemian nobility against Queen Elisabeth. After his death in 1329, she withdrew to the Convent of Aula Sankt Mariæ in Brünn. She was daughter of King Przemyl II of Poland and Richeza, daughter of King Valdemar of Denmark, and lived (1288-1335).
|
|
1352-54 Regent Princess Constanza of Sicily (Italy) |
| The unmarried daughter of Pietro II of Sicily (1337-42) and Elisabeth of Carinthia of Tirol, she was regent during the reign of her brother Luigi, who was king 1342-55. Her sister Eufemia was regent for their other brother, Federico from 1355. Constanza lived (1324-55). |
|
1355-57 Regent Princess Eufemia of Sicilia (Sicily) (Italy) |
| The unmarried daughter of Pietro II (1337-42) she was regent for brother, Federico III, Duke of Athens and Neopatras (1341-55-77), who was succeeded by daughter Maria in 1377. Their sister, Constanza had acted as regent 1552-54 for their older brother King Luigi. Eufemia lived (1330-59). |
|
1365-68 In Charge of the Government Queen Leonor de Gandia de Aragón of Cyprus, Titular Queen Consort of Jerusalem (Israel)
1369 Co-Regent of Cyrus |
| Her husband, Pierre I de Lusignan, who had been away on various expeditions since 1365, returned to Cypern in 1368, he retaliated on the nobles who had been her favourites during his absence, and behaved with such haughtiness and tyranny that he alienated the sympathy of his barons and even of his brothers. In January 1369 he was assassinated by a body of nobles with the concurrence of his brothers. His son Pierre, a boy of thirteen, succeeded to the throne under the regency of his uncles, Jean, prince of Antiochia, and Jacques, constable of Cyprus. She quarreled with both of them, who had both been concerned in the assassination of her husband. She first welcomed the invaders as a means of avenging the murder of her husband, but when she saw that the Genoese were bent on destroying her son's kingdom, she joined the other royalists and took refuge with Jacques, the constable of Cyprus, in the Kyrenia castle. It was not until 1374 the her son was reinstated on the throne. She lived (1333-1416) |
 |
1370-75, 1376-77 and 1378-79 Regent Dowager Queen Elżbieta Łokietkówna of Poland and Dalmatia |
| As regent Queen Elisabeth or Erszébet had the official title Regina Senioris Poloniae and 1370-80, she was in fact joint ruler with her son, Louis d'Anjou of Hungary, and officially appointed regent during his stays in Hungary after he inherited the kingdom after her brother, Kazimierz III of Poland (1309-33-70). She had already been very influential since he succeeded her husband, Karol Robert, as king of Hungary in 1342. She had gained the upper hand at court and for several decades she acted as a sort of co-regent, and even the Hungarian barons were afraid of her. She was a fanatical catholic and founded countless religious churches and convents. Of her 7 children, the second son, Andreas married his cousin, Joanna I of Napoli and was Duke of Calabria until he was murdered by his wife in 1345. She lived (1305-80). |
|
1375-1403 Titular Queen Isabel of Mallorca and Ibiza (Spain) |
| The daughter of King Jaime III of Mallorca etc. (1315-24-49), who was killed fighting against the king of Aragon who had retaken Majorca during the 1340s, labeling him as "a contumacious vassal". She succeeded her brother, Jaime VI (husband of Queen Joanna I of Napoli (1326-82)) to the titular dignity and lived in her family's possessions in Southern France at Chateau de Gallargues. Her first husband was Margrave Giovanni II of Montferrato (1313-72) and the second Konrad von Reischach zu Jungnau. She was mother of four sons (three of whom became Margraves of Monferrato) and a daughter, and lived (1337-after 1403). |
 |
1376-87 Regent Dowager Queen Margrethe I Valdemarsdatter of Denmark and Norway
1387-1412 Reigning Queen (Master and Mistress) of Denmark, Sweden and Norway |
|
She was the youngest daughter of King Valdemar IV of Denmark. At the age of ten she was married to King Håkon VI of Norway, son of Magnus II of Sweden and Norway. Their son Olaf, born in 1370, was elected King Olaf II of Denmark in 1375 at the death of Margrethe's father, with her as regent. After her husband's death shortly after her son also became Olaf IV of Norway. After Olaf's death in 1387 the Estates in Denmark elected her as "Full-mighty Master and Mistress of All the Real" for life. The following year she became regent of Norway. In 1388 the Swedish nobility dethroned their king Albrecht of Mecklenburg, and elected Margrethe as their reigning Queen instead. She chose her sister's daughter's son Erik of Pommerania as her successor, who beacme king in 1389, but Margrethe remained the real ruler. She founded the union of Kalmer which in the case of Sweden would last until 1523, and with Norway until 1814. In 1410, Margrethe tried to reinstate Danish overlordship over Schleswig, which caused a war with the Counts in Holstein. She traveled to the conflict area, and died there in 1412. She lived (1353-1412).
|
|
|
|
 |
1377-1402 Queen Regnant Maria of Sicilia (Sicily) (Italy)
1377-79 Duchess of Athens and Neopatria and Titular Queen of Jerusalem |
| At the age of 15 she succeeded her father, King Federico with Artale of Alagona as regent. 1379-88 she was in-exile in Sardegna because of civil war in Sicily. In 1390 she married Martin the Younger of Aragon and two years later they returned together with his father, Martin the Old, King of Aragon, and Maria received the crown by the Sicilian Barons. As king and Queen they used the titluatures; Nos, D.Martin, e duenya Marya, per la gracia di Dios, roy e reyna de Ssicilia, e de los ducados de Athenes e de Neopatria duque e duquessa, e nos infante don Martin, del mult alto D. Pedro, de buena memoria, roy d'Aragon fillo, e per la gracia di Dios duque de Monblanc, Conte de Luna e senyor del marquesado e de la ciutat de Sagorbe, governador general per lo mult alt senior D.Jean, rey d'Aragon, ermano e senyor nostro muyt car, en tut sus regnos e terras, coadjutor de la dicha reyna en lo regimento del regno e ducados sopredichos, e padre e legitimo administrador del dicho rey. She died without a heir, and lived (1361-1402). |
|
1381-86 Politically Influential Queen Margherita d'Angiò-Durazzo of Napoli (Italy)
1386-1400 Regent Dowager Queen |
| She was very influential during her husband and nephew Carlo III Durazzo's reign. He succeeded her father, Andreas of Hungary, as king and was also king of Hungary 1386. He was killed same year and she took over the government in the name of her son Ladislao di Durazzo (1386-1414) who was later succeeded by his daughter, Giovanna II. Margherita was daughter of Duke Carlo di Durazzo and the former heir to the throne of Napels, Princess Maria of Napoli (1328-66) and her sister Giovanna, was Duchess of Durazzo 1348-87. She ived (1347-1412). |
 |
1382-85 and 1386-95 Queen Regnant Maria of Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria and Cumania, Bulgaria |
| Mária was crowned as rex Hungariæ, and was the second of three daughters of Louis I the Great of Hungary from the House of Angevin (Anjou). Mary became Queen of Hungary after her father's death in 1382 (her elder sister Catherine died four years earlier). The country was ruled by her mother and the Palatine Miklós Garai. Many noblemen of Hungary were opposed to them and they helped Charles of Durazzo (Charles III of Naples, Charles II of Hungary) to become King of Hungary in 1385. Sigismund to whom she was betrothed rescued her from captivity. Sigismund took revenge on the murderers of her mother. From 1387 officially Maria and her husband were joint rulers of Hungary but in fact he ruled alone. In 1410 Sigismund was elected Holy Roman Emperor, two years after she married Barbara Cilli, and their daughter, Elisabeth and her husband became Queen of King of Bohemia and Croatia-Dalmatia in 1437. She lived circa 1372-95). |
|
1382-86 Regent Dowager Queen Elisabeth of Bosnia of Hungary |
|
She assumed the regency without difficulty after her husband's death, but the political elite was divided over who Maria should marry, She worked for a marriage between her daughter and Louis d'Orléans of France. The Polish nobles insisted that their ruler should reside permanently in their kingdom. At first Elisabeth considered taking up arms, but in March 1383 she accepted the accession of her younger daughter, Hedwig (Jadwiga) as Queen of Poland. In August 1384 some of the Hungarian nobles renounced their allegiance to her. She was under threat from both Sigismund of Luxembourg - whom her husband had designated as Maria's husband - and Carlos d'Anjou of Durazzo-Napoli, who was offered the Hungarian throne. Elisabeth was forced to abandon the idea of the French marriage and accepted that Maria married Sigismund, but it was too late in December 1385 Maria abdicated and Carlos became king, but in February the following year he was deposed, he was wounded and died. Elisabeth again seized the reigns of power and immediately rewarded those who had been loyal to her daughter. In April 1386, king Wenceslas of Bohemia brought Sigimund to Hungary, and by the Treaty of Györ the queens were forced to accept him as prince consort. A riot had broken out in Slavonia and Elisabeth thought that the presence of Maria would calm the situation. She was wrong, her small army was slaughtered, and the queens were imprisoned at the bishop of Zagreb's castle, and this marked her fall from power, and in January 1387 Elisabeth was strangled in her prison. Elisabeth was daughter of Stefan Kotromanić, Ban of Bosnia and Elżbieta of Poland, and lived (ca.1340-87).
|
 |
1383-85 Queen Beatriz of Portugal |
| Also known as Brites, she was married to king Juan of Castilla, and after her father, Fernando I's death, she claimed the throne of Portugal, but was almost immediately deposed by the Còrtes, who chose her uncle as king. Her son Fernando I of Aragon and Sicily, who were married to Leonor Urraca de Castilla, Countess de Albuquerque. Beatriz lived (1372-circa 1410). |
|
|
|
 |
1383 Regent Dowager Queen Leonor Tellez de Menezes of Portugal |
| First married to João Lourenço da Cunha, Lord of Pombeiro and in 1371 she married king Fernando I, which caused a war with Castilla as her husband broke an engagement with Enrique II's daughter. During the later years of their marriage, her husband was very ill and had to withdraw from the government, which was left in her hands. After his death, she was appointed regent for their daughter, Beatriz, who was married to Juan I of Castilla. She was very unpopular because of her pro-Castilian politics, and people did not trust the promises of autonomy, and as she gave her lover, Juan Fernández Andeiro, Count von Ourém, much power, she was deposed after only six weeks by a riot of the artisans of Lisbon in favour of her husband's illegitimate half-brother, João de Avis. Mother of one son by her first husband and two by her second, who both died as infants. She was daughter of Martim Afonso Telo de Menezes and Aldonça Anes de Vasconcelos, and lived (circa 1350-86). |
 |
1384-99 Queen Jadwiga of Poland and of the Lands of Crakow, Sandomierz, Sieradz, Leczyca, Kujawia, and
Hereditary Lady of Pomerania
|
| Her official title was “Hedvig Rex Poloniæ”, and she was the youngest daughter of king Louis of Hungary and Poland and Elizabeth of Bosnia. She was brought up at the royal court in Buda. In 1378 she was betrothed to Wilhelm von Habsburg and spent about a year at the imperial court in Vienna. She was well educated and polyglot, interested in arts, music, science and court life, and was also known for her piety.When her father died in 1382, the Hungarian throne was inherited by her older sister, Maria. The lords of Lesser Poland did not want to continue the personal union with Hungary and therefore chose her as their new monarch. After two years of negotiations with Jadwiga's mother and a civil war in Greater Poland (1383), she finally came to Kraków and was crowned King of Poland.. As a monarch, she probably had little actual power, but she was actively engaged in her kingdom's political, diplomatic and cultural life. In 1387 she led a military expedition to reconquer the Duchy of Halych and in 1390 she began to correspond with the Teutonic Knights. She gave much of her wealth to charity, including foundation of hospitals, she founded the bishopric in Vilnius and resored the Academy of Kraków, since called Jagiellonian University in honor of her and her husband. Her engagement to Wilhelm of Habsburg was broken off, and instead she married Jagiello, Gand Duke of Lithuania, in order to unite Poland and Lithuania and to convert the Lithuanians to Christianity. She was said to be a blonde, blue-eyed beauty, and an exhumation performed in 1976 showed that she was unusually tall for a medieval woman (180 cm). Her only daughter, Elizabeth Bonifacia, died one month after her birth, and Jadwiga died soon after. She lived (1374–99). |
 |
1392-1419 Regent Queen Isabeau Baverie of France
1403-04 President of the Council of State |
| In 1392 her husband, Charles IV had the first of 44 fits of insanity, which were to last until his death in 1422, and would make him unable to reign. Isabeau was given large lands in Normandie, around Paris and in Champagne as a security, and officially declared regent during the "absence" of her husband. From 1395 she actively engaged in politics, and arranged the marriage of her children in very young age. Her advisors, the brother's of her husband, Philippe de Burgundy and d'Orléans, engaged in a fierce power struggle, which almost resulted in a civil war. In 1402 she took over the control of the taxation and at 26.4.1403 she became President of the Council of State and took over the management of the Government. One year later Louis died, and she reigned jointly with Philippe. After the birth of the last child, she removed totally from Charles, who became more and more violent and dangerous. In 1407 her position was reaffirmed in an official act, but her husband's cousin, Jean placed his followers in all the central positions. 1411-12 a civil war broke out between the Burundians and Orleans. In 1415 her 18 year old son, Louis, took over the government, and soon after the English attacked France. After Louis' death, his brother, Jean (Married to Jakobäa of Hainault, Holland and Zeeland) was regent until his death two years later. She then was in charge again, and appointed Jean without Fear as Governor of the French Kingdom. In 1419 and 1420 she met the English king, Henry V and negotiated a peace-treaty. After the death of her husband, she lived alone, plagued by rheumatism and immobile because of her heavy weight. Originally named Elisabeth von Bayern, she was mother of 12 children, and lived (1370-1435). |
 |
1395-98 Reigning Dowager Queen Jelena Gruba of Rama (Bosnia) |
| Also known as Helena the Cruel, she was the widow of Stjepan Dasiba (1391-95) and was succeeded by Stjepan Ostoja (1398-1404 and 1418-21). |
|
|
|
 |
1395-97 and 1398-99 Regent-Governor Queen Maria López de Luna of Aragón (Spain) |
| Her husband, King Martin I was king of Aragon (1395-1410) and in 1409 he succeeded his son as King of Sicily, where he reigned one year. Their son, Martin the Younger's wife Maria of Sicily inherited the kingdom in 1377 but 1379-88 she was in-exile in Sardegna because of civil war in Sicily. In 1390 they married and two years later they returned together with Martin I. After her death in 1402 Martin the Younger married the later Queen Blanca II of Navarre (1391-1425-42). Maria succeeded her father Lope de Luna as Countess of Luna. (d. 1406). |
 |
1313 and 1316-31 Sovereign Princess Mathilde d' Avesnes-Hainault of Achaia and Morea, Queen of Thessalonica (Greece) |
| Also known as Mahaut, she was daughter of Florence d'Avernes-Hainault, who had succeeded her mother, Isabelle de Villehardouin as titular-prince. First married to Guido II de la Roche, Duke of Athens, Lord de Theben (d. 1308). In 1313 she was deposed by her second husband, Louis de Bourgogne, titular King of Thessaloniki until his death in 1316. Two years later she married Jean d'Anjou-Gravina (Prince Giovanni of Naploli (1294-1336)) until their divorce in 1321. Her fourth husband was Hugo de La Palice, who was also Co-Prince of Achaia and Morea. Her sister, Marguerite, was Lady of Karytena from 1311. Mathildee lived (1293-1331). |
 |
1316 Regent Dowager Queen Clemence d'Anjou-Napoli of France |
| When her husband Louis X (1289-1314-16) died she was pregnant, making it impossible to know Louis's successor until the time his child was born. If the child were a son, he would succeed Louis as king: had the child been a daughter, Louis would have been succeeded by his brother Philip V. (John I's half-sister Jeanne, as a female, could not succeed to the throne of France; she did, however, retain rights in the succession of Navarre). She was joint regent with her brother-in-law Philip for the five months remaining until the birth her child, who turned out to be male. But Jean I, only lived five days was succeeded by his uncle Philippe V. |
|
1320-54 Politically Influential Empress Eirene Palaiologina Asenina Cantacuzene of the Byzantine Empire (Covering what is now Greece and Turkey)
1348 In charge of the Administration and Defence of Constantinople |
| 1318 she married Jean Cantacuzene, Lord of Kalliopolis in Thrace. In 1320 he left her behind in the city of Didymoteichou while he took part in Andronikos III Palaiologos's rebellion against his grandfather, Andronikos II. She held the ford throuhout the whole civil war wich lasted until 1238, when Andronikos II abdicated. Also in charge of the defence of the city during the civil war against Anna of Savoia over the regency over Anna's infant son from 1341-43. Jean was problaimed Emperor and crowned in 1346 by the Patriarch of Jerusalem, who had taken side against Anna and the Patriarch of Constantinople, and the following year the new patriarch crowned Jean and Eirene. 1348 she was left in charge of Constantinople while her husband went on campagn against the Bulgarians. Six years later he abdicated and they both joined a convent. She was granddaughter of Tsar Jean II Asen of Bulgaria and (d. 1361/79). |
|
1320-39 Politically Influential Queen Jadwiga Kaliska of Poland |
| She was influential during the reign of her husband king Władysław I Łokietek and her son Kazimierz III the Great. Her daughters were Elżbieta Łokietkówna, Queen of Hungary and Regent of Poland and Kunegunda, Princess regent of Świdnica. Jadwiga was daughter of Prince Bolesław the Devout of Małopolska (Poland Minor) and the Hungarian Princess Jolenta-Helena, and lived (1266-1339). |
|
|
|
 |
1326-27 Regent Dowager Queen Isabella de France of England |
| When her brother, King Charles IV of France, seized the French possessions of her husband, Edward II in 1325, she returned to France and gathered an army to oppose her estranged husband, who was probably homosexual and neglected her in favour of his male favourites. In 1326 she landed with her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March, at Suffolk with their mercenary army. King Edward's few allies deserted him were killed, and himself was captured and abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Edward III of England. She and Roger Mortimer became regents for him. After he came of age Mortimer was executed and she was allowed to retire to Castle Rising in Norfolk where she enjoyed a comfortable retirement and made many visits to her son's court. After her brother King Charles IV of France's death, Edward III claimed throne of France - and thus began what is known as the Hundred Years' War. Isabella was mother of four children, and lived (1292-1358). |
 |
1328-49 Queen Regnant Juana II Capet of Navarra and Pamplona (Spain)
|
| Also Countess d'Angoulême, she signed her laws with the title: Nos, donna Johana, por la gracia de Dius reyna de Francia et de Navarra, et de Jampayne et de Bria condesa palaziana . Succeeded uncle, Charles IV, who had succeeded her father in 1316. Married to Philippe d'Évreux (1301-43), and daughter of king Louis X the Hunchback of France and Marguerite de Bourgogne, and lived (1312-49). |
 |
1330 Regent Queen Philippa de Hainault of England |
| Her husband Edward III appointed her regent on many occasions when he was absent on the Continent. When the Scots invaded England as far south as Durham in1346, she raised an army, winning the battle of Neville's Cross, and taking the Scottish King David II Bruce (d.1371) prisoner. She was responsible for the introduction of weaving into England and the patron of poets and musicians. She survived the Black Death (1348) - but her daughter Joanna, en route to marry the Castilian Prince Pedro the Cruel, was struck down and died. She was daughter of Count Guillaume III de d'Avesnes of Hainault and Holland (d.1337) and Jeanne de Valois (d.1352). She had 11 children and lived (1311-69). |
|
1330 Regent Dowager Tsarina Theodora Palailologina of Bulgaria |
| After her husband, Tsar Michael Shishman,was defeated and killed by the Serbians, under Stephen Uros III, at the battle of Velbflzhd (Kiustendil) she assumed the regency for step-son, Ivan Stepan Shishman, who died in exile in Napoli. She was soon deposed by her husband's ex-wife Princess Ana Nead of Serbia. Theodora was daughter of Micahél IX Palaeologos, co-emperor of Byzantium and Rita of Armenia. |
 |
1330-31 Regent Ex-Tsarina Ana Neda of Bulgaria |
|
After her brother had deposed her ex-husband, Michael III, she initially reigned in the name of her son, czar Ivan Stephan, until she was removed herself. Her brother, Stephen Uros III, ruled Serbia and Bulgaria until 1355. Ana Neda was first engaged to Count Charles de Valois, but never married him. (d. after 1346).
|
 |
1340-47 Regent Dowager Empress Anna de Savoie of Constantinople (Covering what is now Greece and Turkey)
1350-65/66 De Facto Ruler of Thessalonica (Greece) |
| She was widow of Andronikos III (1296-1328-41) and governed for son Jean V (1332-41—47-91) jointly with the Patriarch of the Orthodox war. A civil war followed with the pretender Jean VI Kantakuzenos (1347-54) who became emperor in 1347 when her son was deposed. She lived in Constantinople until 1350 when she moved to Thessalonica which she ruled as her own portion of the empire until her death. She lived (1306-65/66). |
|
1340-41 Empress Regnant Eirene Palailologina of Trebizond (Turkey) |
| Also known as Irene Palaeologina, she was the illegitimate daughter of Andronikos III Palailogos and married Emperor Basileios II Komnenos of Trapezunt. They divorced in 1339 and when he died the following year she succeeded him as ruler of the Empire wich was established after the conquest of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. Greek authority was maintained in three major locations, at Nicaea, in Epirus and at Trebizond. The latter started as heir to the Comneni and a reasonable ambition of moving on to Constantinople, but spent much of its existence in vassalage to the Mongols and Turks who ruled the plateau behind it. The city is known as Trabzon today. (d. 1341). |
|
1341 and 1341-42 Empress Regnant Anna Anachutu of Trebizond (Turkey) |
| She was daughter of Alexius II Comnenus who ruled (1297-1330), followed by her brother Andronicus III of Trebizond until 1332, his son Manuel II in 1332 and the seond brother, Basileios II Komnenos 1332-40, who was married to Eirene Palailologina, who reigned as Empress 1341-42. |
|
|
|
 |
1343-82 Queen Regnant Giovanna I d'Angiò of Napoli and Sicilia and Sardegna, Sovereign Duchess of Pouilles and Calabre, Princess of Capua, Sovereign Countess of Province, Forcalquier and Piémont (Italy and France)
1374-76 Princess of Achaia and Baroness of Vostitsa (Greece) and Titular Queen of Jerusalem |
| Also known as Joan or Johanna of Napels, Jeanne d'Anjou or Juanna. At the age of 17 she was crowned by her Grandfather, Roberto d’Anjou, and inherited a flourishing kingdom, however tormented by dynastic troubles. In 1342 Giovanna married Andrea of Hungary, who died two years later in consequence of a conspiracy, to which perhaps the Queen herself participated in. Her brother-in-law took his revenge invading Naples. In 1346 she had married her cousin Luigi d’Anjou of Taranto. Because of the invasion she flew to Avignon in Province, in 1347 she sold it to Pope Clemente VI who supported her as an exchange to hold back the Hungarian expansion in Italy. After the death of her second husband, Giovanna got married with Juan of Aragon, who died very soon in consequence of an illness. Then in the same year she married a skilful captain, Otto of Braunschweig, to better defend her reign. She didn’t have any heir and this caused succession problems. Pope Urbano VI excommunicated her because she had backed up the Anti-Pope Clemente VII. Her cousin, Carlo of Durazzo of Taranto, invaded her reign also because she had appointed as her successor Louis I d’Anjou, brother of the King of France. Giovanna fell prisoner and Carlo imprisoned her in Muro Lucano, a small town in Southern Italy, and had her strangled in 1383. She lived (1343-83). |
|
1344 Regent Dowager Queen Maria of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (Lesser Armenia) (Syria and Turkey)
1363-73 Politically Active |
| After Constantine IV of Armenia, the first Latin king of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was killed in an uprising in 1344 after two years in office, she took over the regency. The new king was a distant cousin, Constantine V of Armenia, who died of natural causes in 1362. She then married Constantine VI another distant cousin, who formed an alliance with Peter I of Cyprus, offering him the port and castle of Corycus. On Peter's death in 1369, Constantine looked for a treaty with the Sultan of Cairo. The barons were unhappy with this policy, fearing annexation by the Sultan, and in 1373 Constantine was murdered. The year before she had sent a letter to Pope Gregory XI requesting military help against the Moslems. After her husband's death, the Pope urged her to marry Otto of Braunschweig. She was daughter of Jeanne of Anjou, Princess of Tarent and Oshin Korikos (or Corycos), who was regent of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia from 1320-1329 during king Leo V's minority. He was rumoured to have poisoned King Oshin and was probably responsible for the deaths of Leo's father, Oshin's sister Isabella of Armenia and two of her sons. He and his daughter, Alice was assassinated in 1329 at the behest of her husband Leo V. |
 |
Around 1400-42 Titular Queen Yolande de Aragón of Sicily, Napoli, Jerusalem, and Aragón (Italy)
1417 Regent Dowager Duchess of Anjou and Province (France)
1424-27 Presiding over the Estates General of Anjou and Province |
| Daughter of Juan I, king of Aragón, she was initially called Violenta. Her father was succeeded by Martin as king of Aragón. Her marriage to Louis II of Anjou in 1400, who spent much of his life fighting in Italy for his claim to the kingdom of Napoli. She was appointed guardian of her son-in-law the Dauphin Charles who became Charles VII in 1422, but his title was still challenged by the English and their Burgundian allies. In this struggle, Yolande maneuvered to have the duke of Bretagne break from an alliance with the English, and was responsible for the Breton soldier, Arthur de Richemont, becoming the constable of France in 1425. Yolande's early and strong support of Jeanne d'Arc, when others had reasonable doubts, suggests the Duchess' possible larger role in the orchestrating the Maid's appearance on the scene. Her younger daughter, Yolanda, was married to the heir of Bretagne, her youngest son René inherited Lorraine in 1431 and after her older son's Louis III's death, and three years later he also became duke of Anjou and heir of Sicily. She lived (1379-1442). |
|
|
|
 |
1406-18 Regent Dowager Queen Catalina de Lancaster of Castilla (Spain) |
| Widow of Enrique III (1379-90-1406) she was joint regent with Fernando de Antequera for son, Juan II (1405-06-54). She was an active regent, involved in financial matters, using her influence in negotiation about matrimonies and peace-treaties in the most important European nations. She was daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and Aquitaine (1340-99) and his second wife, Constance, titular Queen of Castile (1354-94) whose father, Pedro I of Castile and Leon (1350-69), was succeeded by a brother. Catalina was considered heiress of Castilla and married her half-cousin, King Enrique, and became the mother of 1 son and 2 daughters, and lived (1374-1418). |
 |
1409-15 Vice-Reine Blanca de Navarra of Sicilia (Italy)
1425-41 Queen Regnant Blanca I Navarra, Countess de Nemours and Everux (Spain and France) |
| She was widow of Martin I de Aragón (1392-1409). His first wife was Maria of Sicilia, Duchess of Athens and he was succeeded by his father, Martin II (1409-10). 1410-12 the throne of Aragon was vacant, until Federico I de Aragon became king. He was King Consort of Navarre in her right, and after her death kept the government of Navarre in his own hands, from the hands of their own son Carlos de Viana, the rightful heir of the line of Navarrese kings. after his death in 1479 her daughter, Leonor became Queen. Blanca was daughter of Charles II of Navarra, Comte d'Èvreux and Duc de Nemours, and lived (1385-1441). |
 |
1412-14, 1416-19 and 1431-33 "Stadtholder" Queen Barbara von Cilli in Hungary and Croatia
1437 "Stadtholder" of Bohemia (Czech Republic) |
| Her husband, Sigmund of Luxemburg, king of Hungary and King of Germany from 1410, king of Bohemia from 1419 and Holy Roman Emperor since 1433. In Hungary she took over the "regni curia" when he went to Italy, first supported by her brother-in-law the Palatine Garai Miklós and two bishops. 1414-16 she went to Aachen for the coronation and participated in the Council of Konstanz before she returned and took over the government in Hungary. In the 1420's she followed her husband on his journeys during the Empire and he included her in the decision-making. During her second regency in Hungary she managed to maintain peace after a settlement was reached with the Hussites. After her coronation as Queen of Bohemia in 1437 she also acted as regent here for a few moths. After her husband's death the same year she was arrested by his successor, Albrecht II, but was able to flee to Poland. After Albrecht's death in 1439 she returned and settled at her dowry at Menik near Prague for the rest of her life. She was daughter of Herman II, Count von Cilli and Countess Anna von Schaunberg, mother of one daughter, Elisabeth who inherited Hungary and Bohemia, and lived (1390/95-1451). |
 |
1414-35 Queen Regnant Giovanna II d'Angiò of Napoli (Italy) and Titular Queen of Jerusalem Cyprus and Armenia, Sicily, Hungary, Dalmatia, Croatia, Ramia, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania and Bulgaria |
| Also known as Jeanne d'Anjou, she succeeded her brother, and two years later, her second husband, Jean de Bourbon, was imprisoned after trying to seize power. She adopted Alfonso V of Aragon as her heir in 1421. After he tried to take over power in 1423, she transferred the adoption to another relative; Louis III d'Anjou, who she had expelled in 1420 for trying to seize power. After Louis' death in 1434, his brother, Rene was appointed heir, but Alfonso took power after her death. She lived (1373-1435). |
 |
1416-56 Governor Queen Maria of Aragón and Catalunya (Spain) |
|
She was regent in Aragón and Cataluña during her cousin and husband, Alfonso V's warfare in Italy, conquering Napoli from Giovanna II in 1442. He was king of Aragon (1416-58), Napoli (1435-58) and Sicily (1442-58) and spend most of the time in Italy from around 1435. She was daughter of king Enrique III of Aragon and Catherine of Lancastre, had no children and lived (1401-58).
|
|
|
|
 |
1420 De-facto Regent Queen Philippa of England of Sweden
1423-25 Regent of Denmark (August-May) |
|
She had big parts of Sweden as her dowry and she acted as her husband, Erik VII of Pmerrania's representative in the country, and she spend much of her time here. During his stay abroad from 1423 she was Guardian of the Realm in Denmark and among others made a treaty with some members of the North-German Confederation of socalled Hanse-States about the walidity of the coin-system. In 1428 she successfully organized the defence of Copenhagen against the attacking Hanse-Cities. No children She lived (1394-1430).
|
 |
1422-28 Guardian Dowager Queen Catherine de Valois of England |
| Her husband, Henry VI died suddenly in 1422 and she was effectively exiled from court, suspicion falling on her nationality, and passed over as regent for her son Henry V by her brothers-in-law and kept away from her son. She entered a relationship and later married Owen Tudor, a Welsh courtier, who would become the founding father of the Tudor dynasty. Of their five children, two sons, Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond and Jasper Tudor, 1st Duke of Bedford, were to play an important role in the future of the English monarchy. She was daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau de Bavière, and lived (1401-37). |
 |
1437-40 Queen Elisabeth von Luxemburg of Bohemia and of Croatia-Dalmatia, Soverign Duchess of Luxembourg
1439-1440 De-facto Regent of Hungary (27.10-29.07) |
|
Known in Hungarian as Luxemburgi Erzsébet királyné, she was daughter of Sigismund of Luxembourg, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, who was joint regent and successor of his first wife, Queen Maria d'Anjou of Hungary. Her mother was Barbara Cilli. After his death in 1437, the Hungarian Estates recognized her as sovereign or Lady of the Land (Landesherrin), which pawed the way for her first husband, Albert von Habsburg's election as king of Hungary. After his death in 1439, she wanted to secure the throne for the unborn child. This would have meant that the reins of government would have been in her hands, but this the estates would not accept, and they offered the crown to Wladislas II Jagiello of Poland. In February, her son Lászlo was born and on 15 May, she had him crowned. However, the Estates declared that this had happened against the will of the people and in June, they invalidated her son's coronation. Elisabeth had secured the holy Stephan-Crown and Wladislas had to be crowned with another crown. A civil war followed among her supporters and those of the Polish king. Lászlo V the Posthumous was recognised as king in 1446 with Hunyadi Janos (John Corvinius) as regent until 1453. She lived (1409-42).
|
 |
1437-39 Regent Dowager Queen Joan Beaufort of Scotland (United Kingdom of Great Britain) |
| After her husband, James I, was murdered, she reigned on behalf of their seven year old son son James II. Despite her efforts he became the pawn of two unscrupulous Scottish lords, Sir William Crichton and Lord Livingstone. The Black Douglas entered the fray and succeeded in defeating and executing Livingstone. Crichton, in turn, manipulated James into killing the Black Douglas. Eventually, James II defeated the Douglas family at the battle of Arkinholm. Daughter of John Beaufort and Margaret Holland, she had eight children by James I of Scotland and one with her second husband, James Stewart, the Black Knight of Lorn (circa 1383-circa 1451) John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl. (d. 1445). |
 |
1438-40 Regent Dowager Queen Leonor de Aragón-Urgell of Portugal and The Agaves |
| Also Countess de Urgell and Duchess de Goimbra. Her husband, Duarte (1391-1433-38) had appointed her as regent of in his will for their son, Afonso V (1432-38-81). However, she was inexperienced and, as an Aragonese, unpopular with the people who preferred the late king's brother Pedro, Duke of Coimbra. Negotiations for a compromise arrangement were drawn out over several months, but were complicated by the interference of the Count of Barcelos and the Archbishop of Lisbon, as also by her giving birth to a posthumous daughter in March 1439, and by the death of her eldest daughter, Philippa. Eventually the Cortes appointed Pedro the sole Regent, but Eleonore continued conspiring, but was forced to go into exile in Castile in December 1440. (1409-45). |
|
|
|
|
1442-58 (†) De Facto Co-Regent Queen Helena Paleologina of Cyprus |
| The most important event in the reign of Jean II was his marriage to Helena of Byzantine-Morea. She was stronger in character than her husband, took over the running of the kingdom and brought Greek culture out of the oblivion in which it had languished for three centuries. Her actions in favour of the Orthodox faith and Greek culture naturally disturbed the Franks, who came to consider her a dangerous enemy, but she had become too powerful to attack. Greek Cypriots have always revered Queen Helena as a great heroine because of her boldness. Their daughter and heir, Charlotte, was married to João, duke of Coimbra, grandson of the king of Portugal, who used his influence in support of the Catholic party, and so incurred the enmity of the Queen that Helena persuaded King Jean II to exclude him from any share in the government, on the grounds that he might grow too powerful and attempt to seize the crown. João left the court with his wife and died within a year under circumstances which led to the belief that he had been poisoned at the instigation of Helena. In 1458 Helena died and the king, now entirely under the influence of his illegitimate son, Jacques, thought to make him his heir. But a few months later Jean himself died and Charlotte succeeded him as Queen at the age of twenty-two. Helena lived (1432-58). |
 |
1445-54 De-facto in charge of the Government Queen Margaret d'Anjou of England
1455-82 Leader of the Lancastrian Party
1460-61 Acting Regent of England |
| She dominated her husband, Henry VI, and was very determined to keep him on throne during the War of the Roses. She headed the Lancastrian forces, and also controlled the government during her husbands fits of insanity (1445-53). When he became incapable of reigning in 1453 shortly after the birth of their frst child, Edward of Lancaster, she presented a bill to the parliament which would have named her regent, but it was defeated and the following year she appointed Richard of York as Protector. Her husband was deposed by the Yorkists in 1461, and she and her son fled to Scotland and then to France. The following year she invaded Northumbria, but it did not achieve anything, so she once again returned to France. Gathering her forces, she again landed in England in 1470, and this time her army prevailed and Henry was replaced on the throne of England. But soon after the Lancastrian forces were defeated by Yorkists at Tewkesbury, in the battle in which her son was killed. When Edward IV regained the throne, her husband was soon put to death. Margaret herself was captured and imprisoned in Tower. Edward IV eventually ransomed her to King Louis XI and she was allowed to return to France, where she spent rest of her life in seclusion. She lived (1429-82). |
 |
1448 "Holder of the Royal Authority" Dowager Queen Dorothea zu Brandenburg of Denmark
1448-52 Mistress of Örebro, Närke and Värmland (Sweden)
1481-90 Regent of Slesvig-Holsten (Schleswig-Holstein) |
|
The "royal authority" was vested in her after the death of her first husband, Christoffer 3 of Bayern. She contrasigned and authorized the decisions made by the Council of State which reigned the country. Later same year she married the new king Christian I of Oldenborg and often acted as regent during his many warfares. She also had Abrahamstrup, Kalundborg, Lolland-Falster Slesvig and Holsten, Närke and Värmland (Sweden) as security for lones she granted her husband. A month before his death, Christian granted her Slesvig-Holsten as a personal fief, and after his death she acted as regent for son, Frederik, (later king) in the Dukedoms. She lived (1430-90).
|
|
1451-61 Governor Queen Juana Enriquez de Mendoza of Navarra
1461-62 Governor of Cataluña (Spain) |
| Very influential during the reign of her husband, Juan II of Aragón, who took over the crown of Navarra after the death of his first wife Queen Blanca I (1391-41). After he tortured Don Carlos, his son by Blanca to death in 1461 the nobles of Cataluny offered the crown to various neighbouring kings and princes who held to e principality for brief periods until 1479 when Juan won the battle. She was daughter of Fadrique Enríquez de Mendoza and Marina de Ayala, mother of one son and three daughters, and lived (1425-68). |
|
|
|
