Queen Isabella

She was born as Isabella Kazimira Jagello (18 January, 1519, Krakow - 15 September, 1559, Gyulafehérvár). Her father was Zsigmond Jagello, Polish king, her mother was Bona Sforza, Princess of Milan. She was brought up in the Polish royal court, but her mother taught her the Italian language and renaissance culture, so she became an educated young lady, who spoke four languages. In 1539 she got married to the Hungarian King, János Szapolyai. They had a child on 8 July, 1540: János Zsigmond István Szapolyai. Her husband died two weeks after the child was born, and from this time on she began her struggle to keep the Hungarian throne as a widow queen and the guardian of her child, who was elected electus rex in the meantime. In 1541, after the reoccupation of Buda, she had to go to Transylvania on the order of the Sultan, where she reigned (with her child) over the territories under her authority. However, the real governor was the appointed György Martinuzzi. In the summer of 1551 she left Transylvania, which fell into the hands of Ferdinand Habsburg in accordance with the treaty of Nyírbátor. According to a legend, when she stopped to have a rest at the gates of Meszes, she cut the abbreviation of her slogan into the bark of an old oak tree: SFV - Sic fata volunt, i.e. it is the will of fate. By the request of the Hungarian orders she returned to the country together with her child and her advisor, Mihály Csáky, in autumn 1556. After this Queen Isabella set up her Transylvanian chancellery with the help of Mihály Csáky, and the new state started to function. She reigned in the new state with her son until her death in 1559.

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