A murdered king and two captive queens

In Hungary, the opposition has Charles of Durazzo crowned at the end of 1385. His triumph lasts weeks. In February 1386, men belonging to Elizabeth’s faction attack him in the palace; he dies of his wounds. Mary is restored as queen, but Charles’s supporters remain in arms. An ambush captures Elizabeth and Mary as they travel south. The mother who had tried to direct marriages and protect the succession is imprisoned with her daughter at Novigrad. Elizabeth is murdered in January 1387. Mary survives. Sigismund, now her husband, obtains his own coronation in March; Mary is released in June. Dynastic continuity has come at the cost of factional war, regicide and the queen mother’s death.