Maria Laskarina
| Maria Laskarina | |
|---|---|
 Stephen is crowned as rex iunior by his parents, King Béla IV and Queen Maria, as depicted in the Illuminated Chronicle | |
| Queen consort of Hungary | |
| Reign | 1235–1270 |
| Born | c. 1206 |
| Died | 16 July or 24 June 1270 |
| Spouse | Béla IV of Hungary |
| Issue |
|
| House | Laskaris |
| Father | Theodore I Laskaris |
| Mother | Anna Angelina |
Maria Laskarina (c. 1206 – 16 July or 24 June 1270) was a Greek Queen consort of Hungary by marriage to Béla IV of Hungary. She was the daughter of Theodore I Laskaris and Anna Komnena Angelina.[1]
Life[]
She was a younger sister of Irene Lascarina, first Empress consort of John III Doukas Vatatzes. Theodore married his eldest daughter to his designated heir in 1212. Theodore was widowed in the same year and proceeded to marriages with Philippa of Armenia and Marie de Courtenay.[1] However John was never displaced in succession.
As a younger daughter, the marriage of Maria was not intended to add a potential husband in the line of succession to the throne. Instead it secured a marital alliance with the Kingdom of Hungary.
In 1218, Maria was married to prince Béla of Hungary,[1] and became Roman Catholic, converting from Greek Orthodoxy, her religion by birth. Bride and groom were about twelve-years-old. Her husband was the eldest son of Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania.
Andrew II died on 26 October 1235. The crown prince succeeded him as Béla IV and Maria became queen. Béla reigned for thirty-five years and died on 3 May 1270. Maria survived him by about two months. According to the 15th-century Formulary Book of Somogyvár, she died on 23 July 1270 and was buried in the church of the Franciscans in Esztergom.
During the Mongol Invasion of Hungary, Maria and her children were sent by Béla to the Fortress of Klis, Split, along with many other Hungarian noblewomen who had been widowed by the Tatars.[2]
Children[]
Maria and Béla IV of Hungary had ten children:
- Margaret of Hungary (c. 1220 – 20 April 1242).[3] Betrothed to William of Saint Omer.[4]
- Saint Kunegunda of Hungary (5 March 1224 – 24 July 1292), also known as Kinga. She was married to King Boleslaus V of Poland, after his death becoming a nun and abbess; she was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
- Anna of Hungary (c. 1226 – after 1270). Married Rostislav of Slavonia.
- Catherine of Hungary (c. 1229–1242). She died while fleeing with her family following the Battle of Mohi.
- Elizabeth of Hungary (c. 1236 – 24 October 1271). Married Henry XIII, Duke of Bavaria.
- Constance of Hungary (c. 1237 – after 1252). Married Leo I of Halych.
- Blessed Yolanda of Hungary (c. 1238–1298). Married Boleslaus of Greater Poland. Later became a nun and abbess, who has been declared as a candidate for sainthood.
- Stephen V of Hungary (December 1239 – 6 August 1272).
- Saint Margaret of Hungary (27 January 1242 – 18 January 1271). Named after an older sister. Canonized by the Roman Catholic Church in 1943, for whom Margaret Island in Budapest is named, having been the place where a royal monastery was established by her parents for her.
- Béla, Duke of Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia (c. 1243–1269). Married Kunigunde of Brandenburg, a daughter of Otto III, Margrave of Brandenburg. His widow married Waleran IV of Limburg.
Ancestors[]
 | This section does not cite any sources. (March 2015) |
| showAncestors of Maria Laskarina |
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References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Angold 2011, p. 52.
- ^ "'Spurred on by the Fear of Death': Refugees and Displaced Populations during the Mongol Invasion of Hungary » de Re Militari".
- ^ Klaniczay, Gábor (2002-03-14). Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-42018-1.
- ^ Bon, Antoine (1969). La Morée franque. Recherches historiques, topographiques et archéologiques sur la principauté d'Achaïe, 707
Sources[]
- Engel, Pál (2001). The Realm of St. Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526. London & New York: I.B.Tauris. ISBN 9781850439776.
- Angold, Michael (2011). "The Latin Empire of Constantinople, 1204–1261: Marriage Strategies". Identities and Allegiances in the Eastern Mediterranean after 1204. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing Limited. pp. 47–68. ISBN 9781409410980.
- Moravcsik, Gyula (1970). Byzantium and the Magyars. Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó.
- Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
External links[]
- Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands Project/Hungary Kings Genealogy, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
- Marek, Miroslav. "Euweb/Arpad Genealogy". Genealogy.EU.
- Cawley, Charles, Medieval Lands Project/Greece, Latin Lordships, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
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- 1200s births
- 1270 deaths
- 13th-century Byzantine people
- 13th-century Hungarian people
- 13th-century Byzantine women
- 13th-century Hungarian women
- Byzantine queens consort
- Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy
- Former Greek Orthodox Christians
- Greek Roman Catholics
- Hungarian queens consort
- Laskarid dynasty
- House of Árpád
- Greek expatriates in Hungary
- Daughters of Byzantine emperors