Elizabeth of Hungary, Duchess of Greater Poland

Who was Elizabeth of Hungary, Duchess of Greater Poland?

Elizabeth of Hungary, was a Hungarian princess member of the House of Árpád and by marriage Duchess of Greater Poland.

She was the eldest child of King Béla II of Hungary by his wife Helena, daughter of Duke Uroš I of Raška, Grand Župan of Serbia. This parentage is confirmed in several web sources who followed the message of chronicler Jan Długosz; however, modern historians led by Oswald Balzer refuted this theory on basis of chronological reasons: if Elizabeth's marriage date is correct, she must have been only between 8 and 9 years old, an age which seems extremely young for a bride, even by the standards of the Middle Ages. Balzer assumed that Elizabeth was a daughter of Prince Álmos, Duke of Croatia, a parentage which also is supported by further web sources. The disadvantage of this hypothesis are the message of medieval chronicles, who firmly established that Elizabeth was a daughter of the Hungarian King, a title Álmos never used because he was only a prince. Another theory was proposed by Kazimierz Jasiński: in his opinion, Elizabeth was a daughter of King Stephen II. Although sources indicated that because of his dissolute lifestyle, Stephen II didn't have any surviving children, according to Jasiński this messages are originated from a later period and don't deserve trust; also, it should be taken into account that frequently skipping for the chroniclers the birth of female offspring.