“Emperor Maximilian I of Austria became known as the Grandfather of Central Europe in 1516, as he took in both the two children of the recently deceased Vladislas of Hungary, Louis and Anna, and their future spouses, the Emperor’s grandchildren Maximilian and Catherine. The decision of taking in the Hungarian children was initially contested by their uncle, Sigismund I of Poland until Maximilian provided the Polish king with a second wife in the Habsburg aligned Bona Sforza”.
- Hans-Jurgen Warner, Children of Austria: The Lives of Austrian Archdukes and Archduchesses: 1450 - present (1945)
“In the first 10 years of their marriage, Bona would solidify her position by produce three surviving sons: Sigismund Augustus (1519), Wojciech (1520), and Casimir (1526). However, the marriage was an unhappy one, as Bona felt neglected and underutilized, leading to her scheming to secure her sons' place as Sigismund’s heirs. This need, despite the fact her sons were Sigismund’s only legitimate heirs (besides their older half-sister Hedwig) can be traced back to the instability in the Sforza family fortunes in Italy and fears that the Polish nobility would elect one of their own, instead of her son, to be the next King of Poland. This wasn’t helped by the arrival at the court of Sigismund former brother-in-law, the ambitious Janos Zapoloya”.
- Zuzana Gniewek, Bona, Queen of Poland (2005)
“She arrived in Krakow with only the clothes on her back, a poor and desperate wretch, begging to her Lord for mercy. She called herself Aleksandra Lisowska, a Ruthenian girl of the Orthodox faith. She begged the palace guards for an audience with the King and, after being moved by her emotional pleas, was allowed inside. There she threw herself at the King’s feet and described a harrowing tale of woe that warrants repetition if only to show the ingenuity and spirit of a Christian woman.
Young Aleksandra was hearing a sermon in her local church when, suddenly, in the hallowed house of God, barbarous Tatars invaded the church, killing all they saw inside. As she watched her whole family be slaughtered, the poor lamb was forcefully taken away and crowded into a ship with other young maidens, sent to become whores for the heathen Turk and his subjects, with those most beautiful (like the young Lisowska) potentially being given to the Emperor himself. Their captors treated them harshly, whipping them for their attempts to practice the True Faith.
While in the city of Kaffa, where the ladies are sold to their new masters, the girl managed a daring escape by distracting the guards with loud noises and fallen fruits. She ran to the town, where she managed to find a blessed Christian who risked his life to secure Aleksandra passage into Polish lands. Her hope had been to persuade King Sigismund to take up arms against the insidious Turk and free her fellow maidens before their captors defile the girls and force upon them their False prophet.”
- Mikhailo Vasylyk, Tales and Legends of Ruthenia (1765)
“The question of fact versus fiction weighs heavy for anyone studying Aleksandra Lisowska, with the view of her claim dependent on the period the analysis takes place. For much of history, her story was taken as gospel truth, proving the mal intentions of the Muslim Turks towards helpless Christian girls and the eventual triumph of the Christian faith. In fact, Lisowska became to the Ruthenian patriotism movement, what more mainstream figures like Anne of Brittany were to their own communities. However, as the Abrahamic faiths attempted to find reconciliation, Aleksandra’s story has been dismissed as propaganda. Historians like Zuzana Gniewek lay doubt that there ever was a raid in Rohatyn (the town where Lisowska was born) and if there was it happened several years before she was born. They claim she was just an ambitious con-woman, selling a story of woe to get into the King’s favor. But in today’s climate of gender relations, what does it say that we’re doubting a woman’s account of being brutalized by a patriarchal system...”
- “Aleksandra Lisowska and the Course of the Women’s Rights Movement” a thesis by St. Ladislaus University gender studies doctoral candidate Luba Havrylyuk (2019)
“Whatever its veracity, Lisowska’s story found a surprisingly captive audience, particularly in the King’s visiting former brother-in-law Janos Zapoloya. After a life chasing fickle fortunes (like his unsuccessful bid to marry Anna of Hungary, to his multiple military exploits of varying degrees of success) the chance to play the hero and rescue the stunning young damsel was too good to pass up. Janos supposedly offered Aleksandra a place in his childhood home, Spiš Castle, to “bring a woman’s touch” to the residence. In actuality, keeping the striking Aleksandra at the castle was done with the intention of making her his mistress”.
- Renata Kostelski, Ambition: The Story of Janos Zapolya and Aleksandra Lisowska (2008)
“The arrangement between Zapolya and the Ruthenian woman [Aleksandra] is most odd. Rather than acting as a servant, she roams the house as though she owns it, as she orders others about like their mistress. She even calls Zapolya her ‘Lord and Husband’ as though the two were bound by God’s holy law, and not living in sin. Her children are rather pretty little things, with the elder girl, named for her mother, the spitting image of the late Queen Barbara, while the younger, Hedwig, is Ruthenian in looks. The son, called Stephen, is charming and intelligent, raised with a dignity fitting of a Zapolya rather than the son of a peasant girl. There are rumors of another child entering this odd family unit, although based on the Ruthenian’s figure I believe them not.[1]
[1] Szydłowiecki would turn out to be wrong, as another daughter, Barbara, would enter the family seven months later. ”
- Correspondence from Polish courtier Krzysztof Szydłowiecki to Sigismund I of Poland c.1532 (published 1931)
“1519 saw the end of an age, as Emperor Maximilian I passed away at the beginning of the year. While challenges were raised by other candidates, namely the Elector of Saxony and King Louis XII of France, the Empire was ultimately bestowed on Maximilian’s son Philip, who was at the time residing in the Low Countries. The next year Philip and his wife, Joanna of Spain, would make their way to Germany for their coronation, with all seven of their children present. While Empress Joanna was rarely seen by her husband’s subjects, almost always in her own realm of Spain, Emperor Philip kept a nomadic court touring around the Empire as opportunity necessitated (although his most frequent destination was his beloved Flanders). Possession and tutelage of the Hungarian children passed to the new Emperor’s sister, Margaretha of Austria, who after her second widowhood in 1506 had been residing with her father in Vienna and serving as a second mother Louis and Anna of Hungary and two of her brother’s children, Maximilian, and Catherine [1].
[1] With regards to the other children of Joanna and Philip, the Queen of Castile took custody of the majority, namely eldest son Charles and his three remaining sisters: Eleanor, Isabelle, and Mary. Philip took charge of youngest son John, due to inherit Burgundy and took Princess Isabelle from her mother in 1512 in preparation for her marriage to the King of France.
- Doris Pozzi, The Habsburg Empire: Part 1 (1450 - 1600) (1983)
“The double marriage between Anna of Hungary and Maximilian of Austria and Louis II of Hungary and Catherine of Austria took place in 1521 (although the two couples had been symbolically married several years prior). Louis and his new bride would make their way to the capital of Buda, where Ottoman ambassadors attempted to collect tribute from Hungary following the ascension of Sultan Suleiman the year prior. The impulsive young king refused to pay tribute and initially planned to execute the ambassador for his role, but his wife Catherine interceded on behalf of “the poor infidel”, claiming he wasn’t to blame for his master’s misdeeds. The Queen wrote to her aunt and father, trying to win Imperial support to drive the Turk out of Europe. However, the Emperor could not provide the support as his daughter wished (he had to deal with the perpetual squabbling over Italy which brought in the King of France and, on behalf of his children, the Duke of York), causing a rift between father and daughter.”
- Marianna Martin, The Last Crusade: The Fight for Royal Hungary (1979)
“Emperor Suleiman was ready for a fight. While his late and beloved father, Selim, had looked to the east for his battles, the young Ottoman ruler saw the opportunity to accomplish what his great-grandfather Mehmed had failed to achieve in conquering
Nándorfehérvár and Hungary. In this pursuit, he received encouragement from his consort Sahar Sultan. Sahar, speculated to have been born Augustyna Gage to a Polish mother and a French merchant father, had been Suleiman’s first concubine in Manisa, bearing him two children: Mihrimah (1512) and Mahmud(1515). While, per Ottoman tradition, the birth of their son had spelled the end of their sexual relationship, Sahar remained as the second lady of the harem after Suleiman’s mother and valide sultan, Hafsa Sultan, and a powerful influence on her former lover. Importantly, Sahar is believed to have selected her successors Zahra Sultan, who bore a short-lived son called Mustafa, and Ozge Sultan, who in 1521 had just given birth to a daughter called Raziye and quickly became pregnant again. Both his concubine and his son’s mother encouraged Suleiman’s European ambition, telling him to ‘imagine his son sitting in the Emperor’s seat, spreading forth the glory of Allah’. Privately it was disparagingly rumored by European sources that ‘the Pole and Albanian slaves [referring to the believed origins of Sahar and Ozge Sultan] have fanciful dreams of prancing their harem of whores through the Empire like true royalty’.
- Bulut El-Amin’s 1999 talk “Suleiman and the Harem” for the University of Istanbul’s lecture series on the women of the Ottoman Empire
“The first years of the war were a disaster for the Hungarian forces. Outmatched by the stronger Ottoman army, Louis’s forces saw heavy losses in Serbia, culminating in the capture of
Nándorfehérvár in 1521. The loss of such a strategic city left large swaths of Hungary indefensible and, after a largely unsuccessful attempt to retake the fort and the fall of Petervarad, the Ottoman path to Buda seemed clear. In 1525 both monarchs were in their capitals personally prepare their armies for the last stand of Royal Hungary.”
- Marianna Martin, The Last Crusade: The Fight for Royal Hungary (1979)
“Louis was in his study, staring blankly at the maps and battle plans before him. One word reverberated through his brain as his vision grew unfocused: why. Why had he refused to pay the Turk all those years ago? Why had he followed the siren of war over the safety of peace? He would be leaving Buda in the morning, preparing to recruit troops for the battle of a lifetime. If he lost this city, his capital, he would be a disgrace.
Louis the Weak. Louis the Hapless. He was imagining the titles and sneers already when the door creaked open. He turned, surprised but pleased to see the figure of his beloved wife, Catherine.
‘Katinka’ he said breathlessly, taking in her figure so casually dressed, only a plain gown on her slender figure. She glided across the room to him, cupping her hands around his face.
‘My Ludwig’ she said fondly, using his German name, a reminder of their fond times in Vienna with their siblings. He rose from his seat, giving a slight smile as he did so.
‘Why are you still here? You and your ladies should be on your way to Prague already.’ Catherine chuckled slightly at his frustration. Despite her insistence to stay in Hungary, Louis insisted she go to Bohemia, to remain safe in case the Turk overran the city, describing tales from his uncle’s court of a poor woman taken by the Turks and nearly forced into his house of whores.
‘I have news for you, my love. News I think’ she paused and kissed his hand gently, ‘will lead you to victory’.
‘What?’ Louis asked sarcastically. ‘Has your father decided to spare troops from his Italian squabble and fight the Turk? Or maybe my Uncle has decided his hatred for your family isn’t worth the loss of Buda?’ He has a smirk on his face, but it vanished when he saw the hurt expression on Catherine’s face. Her father’s lack of military support and his uncle’s disapproval of their marriage were sore subjects for the young Queen.
‘No,’ she said sadly, although a hint of a smile shining through,’but I do not think God would grant us an heir only to rip away their Kingdom’”.
- Kinga Bajusz, Louis & Catherine: A Royal Romance Novel (1969)
Transcript from Professor Erika Herczog’s class “The Struggle for Hungary: 1400 - 1650” at St. Stephen’s College.
HERCZOG: The 1526 Battle of Mohacs should have been the end for Louis II. One issue Louis had faced throughout the war was a lack of support from the Hungarian nobility, who seemed willfully oblivious to the Ottoman threat. It was only with the help of Janos Zapoloya that troops managed to be raised in a reasonably quick fashion and that Zapoloya managed to stir the nobility from their slumber. In fact, it was Zapoloya who ordered the first printing of Aleksandra Liswoska’s tale, with the provocative final image of several women, believed to represent Queen Catherine and the wives of the nobility, being sold to the Ottoman harem. The question is why Zapoloya put himself on the line here. The battle was dangerous, and Hungary lost many men only to get a virtual stalemate, Zapoloya could have stayed back and kept the nobility reasonably safe and leave the King, who many saw as a Habsburg lackey, to his fate. So why didn’t he? Any ideas?
A young woman in the front row raises her hand eagerly.
Yes, Miloslava.
MILOSLAVA: It seems obvious, Janos Zapoloya was devoted to the cause of Hungary and protecting the country from the Turk. To sit idly by was out of his nature and potentially deadly. They couldn’t risk Suleiman taking Buda, so it was all hands on deck, and Zapoloya was the most charismatic and convincing messenger.
Several rows behind her is a snort. MIROSLAVA turns her head sharply.
HERCZOG: Helga, do you have something to share? What was so funny about Miroslava’s answer?
HELGA: What was so funny (rolls eyes) is this patriot propaganda about this great Hungarian unity trip. Janos Zapoloya was not some bright-eyed idealist wanting the best for King and country. He was a narcissistic opportunist who saw a way to be in charge and play the hero. I guarantee you Hungary’s future was not what motivated him.
HERCZOG: Then what was?
HELGA: Sex.
The lecture room laughs uproariously, before PROFESSOR HERCZOG motions for them to quiet down.
HERCZOG: Sex?
HELGA: Yeah, his mistress had that whole story about being kidnapped by Ottoman slave traders and escaping, she must have been feeding his ego about saving all the women in Hungary from the devastation in the Ottoman harems.
MIROSLAVA: But if Zapoloya was such an opportunist like you say, why not let Louis die and take a chance at being named King of Hungary? Sure, Catherine of Austria was pregnant, but would the Diet have picked a half Habsburg newborn over Janos Zapoloya?
HELGA: Because Janos would be forced to take a royal wife like Hedwig of Poland and Aleksandra Lisowska didn’t want to be upstaged by a legitimate wife and kids. Didn’t she try to kill one of Stephen Bathory’s daughters when she was suggested as a wife for Zapoloya?
MIROSLAVA: But if you believe Lisowska’s accounts, she and Zapoloya were already married at this point, meaning she’d be Queen of Hungary. A marriage he acknowledged by the way.
HELGA: Only when he wanted to secure prestigious matches for their children and needed them to be legitimate for that. Again, when the Bathory girl was proposed he didn’t go ‘wait, I’m already married’ but played along with the charade until Aleksandra was borderline homicidal. To Zapolya, at least, it seems the two’s marital status was situational.
HERCZOG: Ladies, ladies, while I’d love to finish this discussion we are unfortunately out of time today. Remember to read “King Louis II’s Address to the Hungarian Diet” and Aneta Farago’s retrospective on Catherine of Austria for class on Tuesday. I’ll see you then.
“The stalemate at Mohacs, which was achieved through the great effort and sacrifice of Hungary, convinced King Louis to swallow his pride and ask for peace. The King, who had been torn between his chivalrous nature and pragmatism (It was Janos Zapoloya who convinced Louis to attack the tired Turks immediately instead of chivalrously letting them rest, telling him ‘to save your Crown and family, you must show no mercy to the Turk’), saw that for all his effort he could only hold the Ottoman forces. In his mind, the only way to save his son’s inheritance was to bend the knee to Suleiman and hopefully rebuild the army to take on the Turk another day”.
- Marianna Martin, The Last Crusade: The Fight for Royal Hungary (1979)
“Terms of the Treaty of Buda:
- Payment of the originally requested tribute to the Ottomans, to be completed no later than 1536.
- Acknowledgment of the land gains made by the Ottomans, particularly Nándorfehérvár.
- Promises that Hungary and the Ottoman Empire would not declare war on each other for 15 years
- Meaning Suleiman could not try to take Buda and Louis couldn’t try to retake Nándorfehérvár until 1541 (at least according to the treaty)”
- A handout produced by Professor Erika Herczog for her class “The Struggle for Hungary: 1400 - 1650” summarizing the terms of The Treaty of Buda (1526)
“Shortly after the Battle of Mohacs, King Louis would receive the most devastating news of his life. His beloved wife, Catherine of Austria, had given birth to a little boy, called Vladislas after Louis’s father. All had seemed fine, until a week after the birth when the Queen had developed a fever. The illness would continue for an agonizing two weeks before she finally succumbed, leaving her three-week-old son motherless, and absent husband a widower. The King returned to Prague, where the Queen’s household had been stationed, a different man. He was bitter to the people who had failed to help him: The Emperor, the Pope, the King of Poland. The Hungarian House of Jagiellon would never be the same.”
- Nicol Venczel, Louis II: Tales of A Tumultuous Reign
AN: So here's the latest update. Unfortunately I might not update for a while as, if everything works out, I might be busy with IRL obligations. Also I have two ideas for Louis' second wife, so if you have any suggestions feel free to give them.
