Helen of Anjou
| Helen of Anjou | |
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| Helena and her son, King Milutin, a fresco from Gračanica monastery | |
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| Tenure | around 1245 – 1276 |
| Spouse | Stephen Uroš I |
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| Stephen Dragutin Stephen Milutin |
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| Born | about 1236 |
| Died | 8 February 1314 Shkodër |
| Burial | Gradac monastery |
| Religion | Roman Catholic, then Serbian Orthodox |
Helen of Anjou (Serbian: Јелена Анжујска / Jelena Anžujska, pronounced [jɛ̌lɛna ǎnʒuːjskaː]; ca. 1236 – 8 February 1314) was the queen consort of the Serbian Kingdom, wife of Stephen Uroš I and mother of kings Dragutin and Milutin.
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Life [edit]
Helen was a Catholic and was born in ca 1236. Her origins are not known for certain. The biography of Archbishop Danilo states that "she was of a French family" and a continuator of the work that "the family was of royal or imperial blood".[1] Fine says less specifically that Jelena was "of Catholic and French origin, probably of the House of Valois.[2] According to Europäische Stammtafeln, she have descended from a side branch of the Byzantine emperor's family and the Hungarian royal house, in which case she may have been the sister of Maria Angelina, wife of Anseau de Chaurs or Cayeux, also known as Anselm de Keu, Captain General in Albania for Charles I of Naples. Charles I of Naples mentioned her as a relative in a letter dated 1273.
In 1280, Charles I of Sicily issued documents to Maria Angelina (wife of Anseau de Cayeux) allowing her to travel from Apulia to Serbia to visit "her sister the queen of Serbia". Maria Angelina's parents are known from her marriage license, issued in 1253 by the pope, as Calojohanni and imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo...Matildis dominæ de Posaga, natæ comitissæ Viennensis, that is, Kaloioannes Angelos, lord of Srem, and Mathilde, daughter of Marguerite de Courtenay (the sister of the Latin emperors Robert and Baldwin II) and Heinrich, count of Vianden. [3] Therefore, Helena, like her sister Maria, was a paternal granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Isaakios II by his second wife, Margit of Hungary.
Helen married Uroš I around 1245.[4] With Uroš I she had at least four children:
For some time, she was a ruler of Zeta, Travunia, Plav and Poibarje. During that time, Serbia was divided into three parts, and the rulers of the other two parts were Dragutin and Milutin. Helen became a nun at the Church of St. Nicholas in Shkodër, where she died on 8 February 1314.
She founded the first girls' school in medieval Serbia. Helen's palace was in modern Kosovo, in the town of Brnjak (sometimes called "Brnjaci", but not the place of that name in Bosnia and Herzegovina), on Mokra Gora mountain (not to be confused with Mokra Gora village), where the school was located. Other than this palace, she possessed the town of Jelač at Rogozna mountain. As did other Nemanjićs, she built monasteries. She built the Gradac monastery, where she was buried, the Church of St. Nicholas in Shkodër where she died, and the Shirgj Monastery.[5]
Helen of Anjou was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church. Her feast day is 12 November [O.S. 30 October].[6]
See also [edit]
| Royal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Beloslava of Bulgaria |
Queen consort of Serbia 1245–1276 |
Succeeded by Catherine of Hungary |
| Preceded by Beloslava |
Queen of Zeta, Travunia, Plav and Poibarje 1276–? |
Succeeded by Stefan Konstantin as Prince of Zeta |
References [edit]
- ^ McDaniel ´John Angelos and Queen Jelena´, citing Makushev, V. ´Itallianskie arkhivy i khranisashchiesia v nikh materialy dlia slavianskoi istorii´, Sbornik Otdelelniia Russkogo Iazyka i Slovesnosti, VIII/4 (1871), pp. 30-33.
- ^ Fine (1994), p. 220.
- ^ McDaniel, Gordon. 'On Hungarian-Serbian Relations in the Thirteenth Century: John Angelus and Queen Jelena' [Seattle (Wash.), published Ungarn-Jahrbuch Band 12, 1982-1983, München. page 43-50.]
- ^ Vladimir Ćorović "Istorija srpskog naroda": Zapadnjačka orijentacija u Srbiji (Serbian)
- ^ Ndreca, Ardian (14 September 2008). "Rrënojat e Abacisë së Shirgjit dhe shpëtimi i tyne". Gazeta 55. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
- ^ Srpsko nasleđe: Sveta Jelena Anžujska (Serbian)
External links [edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Helen of Anjou |
- Srpsko nasleđe: Nemanjići i žene (Serbian)
- Manastir Gradac: Gradila ga Jelena Anžujska (Serbian)
- Portreti kraljevske porodice Nemanjića na istočnom zidu Sopoćana (Serbian)
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