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Updated 02-14-08
Helene Kottanner /Kottanerin /Kottannerin
(c.1400-aft.1458)
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"THERE WAS NO ONE ELSE SHE COULD TRUST."
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Helene was born in Odenburg, Austria, to a family of the lower nobility. She married a Hungarian living in Odenburg; he later became the city's mayor, but died in 1431. In the following year Helene married Johann Kottanner of Vienna; they had at least two children. By 1436, the couple were both in the service of Albert II, the Hapsburg duke of Austria, and of his wife Elisabeth, the only child of Sigismund, King of Hungary and Holy Roman Emperor. Johann served Albert; Helene was the chief attendant of Albert's and Elisabeth's infant daughter.
In 1438, Elisabeth's father died and Albert succeeded him, both as king and as emperor. The court (including the Kottanners) moved to Hungary, but Albert died in the following year. The Hungarian nobles had accepted the Austrian as king only because they needed a strong ruler to help defend them from the constant raids of the Ottoman Turks. After Albert died, the Hungarian nobles wanted another adult king, but the queen, who was pregnant, hoped for a son who could inherit the throne.
The nobles proposed marriage between the 31-year-old queen and the king of Poland, only 16 years old but already with battlefield experience. The queen put them off to gain time so that she could get possession of Hungary's "Holy Crown." The same crown had been used since the coronation of the first king of Hungary, Stephen, in 1000, and the people believed that it was this crown and no other that must be used in a legitimate coronation. The queen turned to "Mother Kottanner" for help; Helene's memoir, Denkwurdigkeiten (literally, "things worthy of being remembered"), describes the results.
Helene Kottanner's book was probably written between 1450 and 1452; in the latter year the Kottanners were awarded a valuable royal property. Scholars assume that Denkwurdigkeiten was written to remind her young king, Ladislaus, just who was responsible for his proper coronation. The Polish king chosen by the Hungarian nobles had died in 1444; from that time they had grudgingly accepted the young Ladislaus. In 1457, Ladislaus died without an heir, and the Hungarians were finally able to elect a king of their own.
On this page you'll find:
Links to helpful sites online.
Excerpts from a translation in print.
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1. In English, a substantial passage from Kottanner's Denkwurdigkeiten that describes the theft of the Hungarian crown; at another site, a picture and description of that "Holy Crown" of St. Stephen (perhaps rather large for an infant's head?).
2. The original German text of the whole Denkwurdigkeiten.
3. Essays, etc.:
(a) At Wikipedia, an entry on Helene and Denkwurdigkeiten.
(b) From the "Celebration of Women Writers" site, an 1864 essay by Charlotte M. Yonge, based on Denkwurdigkeiten, which tells in detail the story of Helene and what happened before and after the theft.
4. The publisher's description of Maya Bijvoet Williamson's 1998 translation, The Memoirs of Helene Kottanner (for excerpts from Williamson, see below, under "In print").
5. For historical background, brief biographies of Elisabeth, her father, husband and son, as well as the Polish king. The second illustration (which can be enlarged) shows Albert and Elisabeth with courtiers just after Albert's 1438 accession to the throne; it's tempting to identify the white-veiled woman toward the rear as Helene.
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[This translation of Denkwurdigkeiten der Helene Kottannerin, by Maya Bijvoet Williamson, is accompanied by an introduction, notes, and a bibliography. An interpretative essay gives historical detail omitted in the introduction. (See the book's table of contents online.):]
The memoirs of Helene Kottanner (1439-1440): translated from
the German with introduction, interpretative essay and notes
/ Maya Bijvoet Williamson (Library of medieval women, 1369-9652).
Cambridge [England]; Rochester, NY: D.S. Brewer, 1998. (xi, 79
p.)
LC#: DD172.K6713 W55 1998; ISBN: 0859914623
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"Dear mother Kottanner, watch over my daughter and also
over that room."
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[After Albert's coronation in Hungary, the "Holy Crown of St. Stephen" had been put safely under seal in the castle in which Helene lived with the young princess. At his death in 1439, a rumor spread that the crown had been stolen, and Queen Elisabeth came to assure herself that it was still there:]
Then, as the noble queen readied herself to return to Ofen..., she secretly confided in me and said: "Dear mother Kottanner, watch over my daughter and also over that room. Do not allow anyone to enter it except my daughter and yourself." She also entrusted to me for safekeeping her own crown and other jewels, all of which I kept in the room through which one had to pass to get to the Holy Crown....
Then the castellan went to the door with the seals on it and
took a small piece of cloth and placed it over the seals and
tied it into a knot and then pressed his own seal on it."
[p.25]
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"...to get the Holy Crown in her possession, away from the
Hungarian lords."
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[The Hungarian nobles urged the widowed and pregnant Queen Elisabeth to marry the Polish king; she resisted but they continued to pressure her:]
...[S]he [the queen] thought for a long time about possible ways to get the Holy Crown in her possession, away from the Hungarian lords. She thought namely that if she were to be delivered of a son, he should not be ousted from his realm, and that if she were to be delivered of a daughter, she might still be able to negotiate with the Hungarian magnates and obtain concessions from them.
She therefore asked me, already then, if I would be prepared
to go and fetch the Holy Crown, although the right time had not
yet come. [p.26]
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"...it meant great danger for me and my little children."
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[The queen had no legal right to take the crown since it belonged to the Hungarian nation; nevertheless, a short time later, she approached Helene:]
Then my gracious lady came to me and said that I should do it because there was no one else she could trust who knew the place as well as I did.
The queen's request frightened me, for it meant great danger
for me and my little children. And I weighed the matter in my
mind, wondering what to do, and there was no one I could ask
for advice except God alone. I said to myself that if I did not
do it and something evil happened as a result, then I would have
sinned against God and the world.
[p.27]
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"...you will find them, if you break it open."
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[Helene is a good story-teller. Describing the actual theft, she tells of acting as lookout while two trusted men filed some of the locks and burn off the others, all while the other residents of the castle were only a few feet away. There were several close calls, and the author maintains suspense throughout, so that a brief excerpt here wouldn't convey the effect; you'll have to read her book (one part of this section is online). Finally, the crown was secured and the locks and seals replaced. Helene took charge of disposing of the files the men had used --- in the one place no one would ever look:]
And I threw the files in the privy in the room of the ladies, where you will find them, if you break it open, as proof that I am speaking the truth. [p.31]
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"...with the help of God I had been a good messenger."
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[After a few more adventures while getting the crown back to the queen, Helene finally achieved her goal. However, Elisabeth was now ready to give birth, and Helene was not able to tell the queen her story. The court party was forced to separate soon after, and Elisabeth died two years later:]
And when I arrived in the ladies' quarters to see my gracious lady, I was received immediately by my gracious lady who now knew well that with the help of God I had been a good messenger.
But of the wondrous and truly miraculous assistance of God which had manifested itself there, her grace knows nothing, and she died before she had the opportunity to learn of it. It was never possible for me to be alone with her long enough to tell her the entire story from beginning to end, for we were not together much longer....
Within the same hour in which the Holy Crown arrived from Plintenburg in Komorn, within that same hour King Laszla was born. [pp.33-34]
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"It was clearly God's will.... There are certain people
who ought to remember that."
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[Ten years later, as she wrote her story, Helene was quite clear as to why Ladislaus was born just when he was; apparently not everyone was equally convinced:]
The king did not want to wait any longer; he wanted to rush to the Holy Crown before anyone else did, as if he had been told that the King of Poland was after his paternal heritage....
But if it is true that the Holy Crown was sent to the Holy Saint Stephen by God and meant by God for him, it is also true that it was clearly God's will that the true heir, King Laszla [Ladislaus], and not the King of Poland, should receive the Holy Crown of Hungary.
There are certain people who ought to remember that. [p.35]
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"I, humble woman, had priority over her grace...."
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[The author then describes Ladislaus' baptism and coronation; she proudly stresses that it was she who carried him everywhere. After the coronation, all --- including his mother --- knelt to their infant king, all except the woman who held him:]
And the noble queen felt such awe for her son and was so meek, that I, humble woman, had priority over her grace that day and was to remain closest to the noble king, because I had held his grace in my arms during his holy anointment and coronation. [p.44]
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"I also had to leave behind my husband and my daughter Katharina."
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[Almost immediately, civil war began between the partisans of Ladislaus and those of the Polish king, who was also crowned king of Hungary two months after the infant Ladislaus --- but without the validating "Holy Crown" of St. Stephen. The queen's party moved west, toward Austria, and it was decided that the royal family should be separated for their safety. Johann Kottanner was ordered to stay with the queen while Helene was to go to care for the infant king:]
And when we were about to depart, the noble queen took leave of her son, the noble King Laszla, and also of his sister, Princess Elizabeth, and she began to shake.
And I too said goodbye with grief in my heart, because it was difficult for me to leave the noble queen and because I had raised the young princess conscientiously and with love. And along with the royal family I also had to leave behind my husband and my daughter Katharina. [p.51]
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"And there were some who did not like it at all."
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[Shortly before the abrupt end of the manuscript as it now exists, the author describes an incident that occurred as the king's group was on its way back to Helene's home, Odenburg. It is Helene to whom the lords come for help; it is Helene who sends the important message:]
And then some soldiers in our company, who would not let their hands get out of the habit, rode off the road to steal cattle from the poor peasants and brought it all into the courtyard of the inn where we were staying. But the lords appointed to my master's service found this very unwise, and they said to me: "It is not good that our Lord, King Laszla, should be known as a robber in his young days without it being his or our fault."
Then I sent a message to the noble and loyal Lord Ulrich of Eitzing and told him this and asked him if he would see to it that these poor people be given their cattle back.
...[H]e sent someone to the judge and ordered the market gate closed until the cattle had been returned to the poor people; for they were in front of the house, clamoring loudly, claiming their livestock.
And there were some who did not like it at all that they had to return the cattle, and these men came from the German provinces. [pp.51-52]
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[This collection includes excerpts from an earlier version
of Maya Bijvoet's translation of Denkwurdigkeiten; the
excerpts tell of the theft of the crown, the birth and the coronation
of Ladislaus. Bijvoet's introduction and notes are sometimes
clearer here than in the book above.
(See the book's table of contents online.):]
Women writers of the Renaissance and Reformation / edited by
Katharina M. Wilson. Athens: University of Georgia Press, c1987.
(xl, 638 p.)
LC#: PN6069.W65 W63 1987; ISBN: 082030865X,
0820308668
Includes bibliographies and index
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Updated 02-14-08