Eye-witness account of the theft of the crown of St Stephen in 15c Hungary. Helene Kottanner was servant and confidante of the widowed Queen Elizabeth of Hungary (1409-1442). This is her first-person account of the part she played in the theft of the holy crown of St Stephen from the treasury of the royalstronghold Visegrad on 20 February, 1440, when the crown was smuggled out of the stronghold hidden in a pillow. It was immediately rushed on a sled to the queen, who within hours of its arrival at her castle in Komorn was delivered of a baby boy, Ladislaus Posthumous (1440-1457), who was crowned king of Hungary three months later. Helene Kottanner's account is unconsciously revealing about herself and her ambitions, allowing a rare glimpse into the innerworld of a late-medieval woman.
Reviews
Important text [now] accessible to an English-language readership... lucid translation. * YEAR'S WORK IN MODERN LANGUAGE STUDIES *



Book Information
ISBN 9780859914628
Author Maya Bijvoet Williamson
Format Paperback
Page Count 91
Imprint D.S. Brewer
Publisher Boydell & Brewer Ltd