Thats terrible; was there a reason why?
And may I ask enquire as to why we should no include those executed that is still murder? And which commoners have been included?
This is shaping up to be a wonderful read.
This is a very interesting thread indeed.
Elizabeth's death will be hard to explain in a few words, so I hope you will be patient and read this long one.
Elizabeth's husband died when their elder daughter Mary was only 10 years old, thus leaving Elizabeth Regent of the Kingdom. It was expected that Mary would eventually become Queen of both Hungary and Poland. Elizabeth arranged Mary's marriage to Sigismund of Luxemburg (at the time of the marriage in 1385, Mary was 13 and Sigismund was 15). The Polish, however, banished Sigismund from Poland. The Polish noblemen were also very unhappy with the prospect of union with Hungary, so they chose Mary's younger sister, Jadwiga as their Queen (Jadwiga was 9 at the time, but despite this, the Polish nobles strongly opposed to Elizabeth's regency in Poland, and it was discontinued there and Jadwiga was forced to leave for Poland without her mother or friends).
Elizabeth de-facto ruled Hungary to deep dissatisfaction of Sigismund, his brother, Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, as well as many Hungarian noblemen. Sigismund and Wenceslaus actively plotted against Elizabeth, however the strategy backfired when the nobles invited Mary's second cousin, Charles of Naples to reign over them. Elizabeth was unprepared for such turn of events and wasn't able to resist at first andwas even forced to attend the Coronation, along with Mary and Sigismund. However, once the first shock was over, she arranged Charles's assassination.
Soon after the assassination, Elizabeth and Mary were captured by a powerful Hungarian noble family of Horvats. Although it was maintained at the time that the Horvat brothers acted of their own will, it is almost certain that the women were captured on Sigismund's orders. Despite his young age (he was barely 17 at the time), he wanted to rule the Kingdom himself and thus deeply resented Elizabeth's Regency. Elizabeth's cousin and adoptive brother Trvtko I of Bosnia posed an ultimatum to Horvats and Sigismund, threatening to revenge if both his sister and niece weren't released immediately. However, Elizabeth was strangled right in front of her daughter. Shocked by the news and true to his word, Trvkto quickly gathered troops to release at least his niece. Although his efforts were met with considerable opposition (not on the battlefield but on the diplomatic field), he did eventually rescue Mary from captivity.
When Mary met Sigismund for the first time after the rescue, she publically accused him of a matricide. Unable to get a divorce, she nevertheless refused to live with Sigismund and kept a separate household. Sigismund forced Mary to proclaim him her co-ruler and without Elizabeth to protect her daughter’s interests, he basically held all the powers.
Mary desperately wanted to find out the truth of her mother's murder and to punish the culprit (strongly believing it was Sigismund, she hoped that evidence supporting his involvement would enable her to divorce or even execute him). She therefore went as far as forgiving the Horvat brothers and granting them estates, on condition that they would tell who ordered her mother's murder. Before they could talk, however, they were killed by Sigismund's men; he justified his actions, stating it was a revenge for Elizabeth's murder.
Mary then tried to make sure that if something happened to her, Sigismund didn't remain the ruler, or at least the sole ruler of Hungary. She appointed her beloved uncle Trvtko as her Heir, should she die childless. However Trvkto died 3 years later (he was most probably murdered and it is alleged that Sigismund was involved with the murder). Four years after Trvkto's death, Mary died as well, under very suspicious circumstances. She was heavily pregnant at the time of her death and suffered a fall from the horse; eyewitnesses testified that her horse was deliberately frightened and a lot of people believed that Sigismund had arranged her murder (and scholars are inclined to agree with the version). She had no surviving children, so Sigismund became a sole ruler. Since Sigismund ruled in his wife’s right, his claims to the Hungarian Throne were shaky at the very best. He thus married Mary's cousin Barbara of Celje; Barbara was the granddaughter of Katarina Kotromanic, who was the cousin and adopted sister of Mary's mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, Tvrtko I was her first cousin (incidentally, Barbara's cousin and adopted sister Anna married Wladyslaw, King of Poland, who was the widower of Jadwiga of Poland, Mary's sister).
Barbara’s descendants would later become Kings and Queens (some Regnant, some Consorts) of Poland, Hungary and Bohemia. Among her descendants were Charles I of Great Britain (through his mother, Anne of Denmark, who was Barbara's direct descendant) and Nicholas II of Russia. She is also a direct ancestor of both Diana, Princess of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and thus future direct ancestor of the British Monarch.
Sigismund was later elected Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Lombardia and Germany.
This posts adds several more murdered Royals to the list:
Charles II of Naples - murdered on Elizabeth of Bosnia's orders
Trvtko I of Bosnia - most probably, murdered on Sigismund's orders
Mary of Hungary - Murdered (allegedly) on Sigismund's orders while heavily pregnant
forgot to say: impressive list!!
