Erzsébet Szilágyi is undoubtedly the best-known mother in late medieval Hungarian history, but historical research does not have accurate biographical data. There are only assumptions about her birth date, she was born between 1405 and 1410, and she may have married János Hunyadi sometime between 1427 and 1431, writes historian Richárd Horváth in his article published on Múlt-kor.hu.
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He ran the estate and protected his sons
Due to the rapid rise of her husband’s career, she hardly stayed with her family, so taking care of the boys (in addition to their tutors) and managing one of the country’s largest estates all fell on Erzsébet. After Hunyadi’s death in 1456, his role unexpectedly grew even more:
several tasks suddenly fell upon him, the administration of the huge fortune, the management of the family support team and, of course, the fate of his sons.
As we can see today, he solved the task with manly determination and success: the fortune remained intact, and in 1456 Cille Ulrik After his murder in Nándorfehérvár, László protected his son – at least for a while – from royal revenge. After László’s execution in 1457, his every step was to Matthias (who then V. László he was in the captivity of the king, first in Buda, then in Vienna, and finally in Prague) to know safely as soon as possible, since at that time no one could have known whether Mátyás’s life would not end on the blood bench.
The actions of the mother, the “head of the family” and the tactical “politician” can hardly be separated: the end result of the civil war after the king’s death was that in January 1458 the parliament elected Mátyás Hunyadi as king in his absence. After the coronation, a new chapter began in the life of Erzsébet Szilágyi. Mátyás became the head of the Hunyadi clan, but he left the management of the family estate to his mother, which was additionally supplemented by the queen’s many estates, since Katalin Podjebrád he died shortly after moving to Buda, at the beginning of 1464. From then until the end of 1476, the country did not have an official queen.
Erzsébet Szilágyi
Conflict and withdrawal
Erzsébet Szilágyi stayed close to her son, she probably provided “officially” for Mátyás’s illegitimate son, to János Corvin his supervision, according to our little knowledge today, his main task was the upbringing and supervision of his grandson. The new queen Beatrix of Aragon his arrival in 1476 overturned the previous conditions. Mainly because the royal couple hoped for the heir to the throne’s arrival as soon as possible, and the macaw naturally claimed the queen’s dominions, which had been under Elizabeth’s control until then. It’s the latter
based on our guess and some scraps of data, it led to a conflict between mother and son.
Erzsébet was finally forced to compromise: with Mátyás’s consent, she was able to keep several locations, including Óbuda, but she had to retreat there after 1477. After that, he became a less frequent guest in the royal palace, and presumably János Corvin also lived with him in the Óbuda castle. Erzsébet Szilágyi died at the very end of 1483 or in January 1484, certainly over 70 years old.
(according to 24.hu Szent Korona Radio)
One of his most successful years also marked the end of István Bocskai’s life