Editing Barbara of Cilli (section)

== Biography ==
Barbara was born in [[Celje]], in the [[Duchy of Styria]] (today [[Slovenia]]), as the daughter and youngest child of [[Herman II, Count of Celje]], and his wife, Countess Anna of [[County of Schaunberg|Schaunberg]].

Barbara was engaged in 1405 to [[Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor|Sigismund of Bohemia]], [[King of Hungary]], the youngest son of [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor]]. The marriage likely took place in December 1405.<ref>Amalie Fößel: "Barbara von Cilli. Ihre frühen Jahre als Gemahlin Sigismunds und ungarische Königin." In: Michel Pauly & François Reinert (eds.): ''Sigismund von Luxemburg. Ein Kaiser in Europa (Tagungsband des internationalen historischen und kunsthistorischen Kongresses in Luxemburg, 8.–10. Juni 2005)''. Mainz am Rhein: Philipp von Zabern.</ref>

===Queen and empress===
[[File:Konstanzer Richental Chronik Die Weihnachtsmesse Der Papst betet die Weihnachtsmesse, Königin Barbara wohnt sitzend der Messe bei 21r.jpg|thumb|left|265px|Barbara sits listening to mass, [[Ulrich of Richenthal]]: ''Das Konzil zu Konstanz'']]

Sigismund succeeded to the rule in [[List of German monarchs|Germany]] (1410), [[List of rulers of Bohemia|Bohemia]] (1419) and was crowned [[Holy Roman Emperor]] himself in 1433, giving her the equivalent titles.

She spent most of her time on her Hungarian fiefdoms, while her spouse devoted his time elsewhere. She served as the regent of Hungary during his absences in 1412, 1414, 1416 and 1418. In 1429, she participated at the congress of [[Łuck]]. She was crowned Queen of Hungary in 1408, Queen of Germany in 1414 (being the last consort to be crowned in [[Aachen]]<ref>Claudia Zey: ''Imperatrix, si venerit Romam ... Zu den Krönungen von Kaiserinnen im Mittelalter.'' In: ''Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung des Mittelalters'', vol. 60 (2004), pp. 3–51, p. 39.</ref>), Holy Roman Empress in 1433 and Queen of Bohemia in 1437, shortly before her husband's death. In 1409, Barbara gave birth to a daughter, [[Elizabeth of Luxembourg|Elizabeth]], Sigismund's only surviving issue and heiress, who married King [[Albert II of Germany]].

Barbara was richer than any precedent queen. In 1409, the former estates of the [[Ban of Slavonia]] was bestowed upon Barbara. She had a difficult phase though, when in 1419, rumours reached Sigismund that she had an affair with a German knight during his stay at [[Konstanz]]. The king took away the queen's possessions, dissolved her entourage and exiled her to [[Oradea]]. During the Christmas of 1419, Bishop George of Passau and Hofmeister Louis of Oettingen tried to arrange a reconciliation. Barbara fell on her knees begging for the king's forgiveness but Sigismund refused to listen, until the 10-year-old Elizabeth intervened on behalf of her mother. She was allowed to hold her own court again in 1423 only. In 1424, her husband lavishly compensated her for her lost estates. Barbara was given, among others, the counties of [[Zvolen]] and [[Trenčín]], as well as the revenues of [[Kremnica]]. The northern estates mortgaged to her included: Diósgyőr in 1427, [[Liptov]] in 1430, part of the Stibor inheritance in 1434. Her household became slightly more modest than her previous one. A notable feature was that the highest offices were now occupied by simple knights, instead of illustrious barons, like what had happened in the time of the Angevin rulers and [[Mary, Queen of Hungary|Mary]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Engal |first1=Pal |last2=Engel |first2=Pal |last3=Ayton |first3=Andrew |last4=Engel |first4=Pál |title=The Realm of St Stephen: A History of Medieval Hungary, 895-1526 |date=23 February 2001 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=978-0-85773-173-9 |page=389 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3RKJDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT389 |access-date=6 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref>{{sfn|Dvořáková|2021|pp=77,78}}

She was an energetic regent who also functioned as the head military commander in the case the country was attacked. In 1431, Hungary was beleaguered by Hussite forces twice. During the second one, they even infringed on Barbara's fiefs, notably Liptov. In October, at her castle in Old Buda, she learned of the situation in Liptov and possibly also the occupation of the Likava Castle by the Hussites. She immediately instructed Kremnica to follow the lead of Hanns Wallenroth and sent a large force to relieve Liptov. In October, she moved to Vígľaš, where she organized the defence against the Hussites led by Messenpek and planned the reconquest of Likava Castle. On 13 October 1431, Barbara sent a letter to the city of Košice, in which she informed them about loss of Likava and gave the order that their military divisions should be incorporated to her army as soon as possible. After this under the command of her military commander and main chronicler Stefan Poharnok ("Stefan the Cupbearer"), the army undertook the reconquering of Likava Castle. According to Dvořáková, "the lack of sources do not permit us to determine when Barbara got Likava back, and whether a Hussite garrison operated for several years at Likava, as some historians assume.", but "It is possible that Barbara's energetic interventions allowed her to send a strong force to the Liptov region in a short time, causing the Hussites to leave
the Liptov and return to the Turiec region and then head down the Nitra valley to the city of Nitra." On 24 October, again she wrote to Košice, procuring from them crossbows and arrows (that would be paid by one-thirtieth tax from her collectors) as well as asking them for gunpowder or at least sulphur in the case they did not have it.{{sfn|Dvořáková|2021|pp=127,128}}

Barbara took an ambivalent position towards the Hussites. At first she attacked them vigorously in a manifesto published in July 1427 and in another published in October 1431. But in her later days, she worked behind the scenes to support the Hussite champion [[George of Poděbrady|George Podiebrad]].{{sfn|McNally|2001}}

There are about 250 extant charters issued in her name between 1406 and 1438 and now kept at The Hungarian National Archives preserved.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Kondor |first1=Márta |title=The Ginger Fox's Two Crowns. Central Administration and Government in Sigismund of Luxemburg's Realms 1410-1419 |type=PhD Thesis |date=2017 |page=84 |url=https://www.academia.edu/34374292 |access-date=8 December 2022}}</ref>

Mark Whelan notes that as the Roman queen, Barbara, through correspondence with Vienna or the Teutonic Order, was able to secure construction expertise (that she needed for her fortresses) from her German subjects, who provided a "far richer base of skills" than what she could find in the Hungarian kingdom. This seemed to be the result of what she saw in a travel to Vienna (she likely accompanied Sigismund to a Reichstag held in Vienna).<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Whelan |first1=Mark |title=Sigismund of Luxemburg and the Imperial Response to the Ottoman Turkish Threat, c. 1410-1437 |date=2014 |page=159 |url=https://pure.royalholloway.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/23092919/Whelan_thesis_final_version.pdf |access-date=13 December 2022}}</ref> She also accompanied Sigismund to the imperial diets held in Breslau (1420), Nuremberg (1422) and to Pressburg (1429).{{sfn|Roitner|2016|p=201}} She took on her role as the first lady of Europe in the Council of Constance (1414), performing ceremonial duties. She is remembered by many contemporaries as the emperor's young, vital and beautiful consort. Her liberal behaviours, encouraged by her husband, provoked protests from moralists though. Jean de Montreuil, secretary of the French King (who hated Sigismund), wrote that, "Nowhere in the world is a more indulgent husband (than Sigismund), who not only lets his wife do anything she wants, but ultimately even encourages her to take part in public dances, speak with everyone and relate to people in such a friendly way that it is said that those who do not know her (personally) would not consider her as a queen but as a
woman of some low trade." He was especially shocked that "merchant's wives, various bawds, and people without important positions" came to see the queen and left her apartment freely, in a way impossible in the French court.{{sfn|Dvořáková|2021|pp=72,73}}

====Founding of the Order of the Dragon====
On 12 December 1408, the ruling couple together with twenty-two of the leading barons founded the [[Order of the Dragon]]. Barbara was the co-publisher of the founding charter, in which she appeared as an equal partner to Sigismund and other founders. The proclaimed purpose of the Order was to support the ruling couple, elevate the dignity of the Hungarian king as well as to combat pagans. According to Dvořáková, "members of the order were bound to defend the queen and her children of both sexes in their domain and properties, even in the event of the king's death. Several of Barbara's relatives were among the founding members of the order: aside from her father Hermann, also her brother Frederick of Cilli, her brother-in-law Nicholas of Gara with his son John, who had an interest in keeping power in the hands of Barbara and her potential offspring even after the death of Sigismund."{{sfn|Dvořáková|2021|pp=41,42}}

===Conflict with Albert II===
Days before the death of her gravely ill husband on 9 December 1437 at [[Znojmo]], as a pretext to confiscate her large fiefdoms in the Hungarian kingdom (where she rivaled the king himself in number of fiefdoms and castles), she was quickly accused by her son-in-law [[Albert II of Germany]] of the Habsburg dynasty and his chancellor [[Kaspar Schlick]] of plotting against Sigismund, for which she was swiftly transported to prison in [[Bratislava]] castle and later forced to relinquish most of her possessions, including her dower. Conflict with the new king was inevitable, and Barbara soon decided to find shelter in the Polish royal court, where she was in exile from 1438 to 1441. The [[King of Poland]] decided to give her financial support by granting her [[Sandomierz]] as a fief, according to the chronicle of [[Jan Długosz]].<ref>[http://staropolska.pl/ang/middleages/Sec_prose/Dlugosz.php3 Jan Długosz (1415–1480) – ANNALS OR CHRONICLES]</ref>

===Later life===
In 1441, two years after the death of her arch-rival King [[Albert II of Germany]], she moved to [[Mělník]] in Bohemia – a fiefdom given to her by her deceased husband. All her Hungarian fiefdoms were already lost; some of them belonged to her daughter, Queen Elisabeth. Later she reconciled with her daughter and renounced her rights to Hungarian possessions (1441). She spent the rest of her life as dowager queen in Bohemia. She seems to have retreated from political life, although the Habsburg court saw her as dangerous and tried to accuse her of heresy, alchemy, and immoral and agnostic behavior, for which she received the sobriquet "Messalina of Germany".<ref name="Bartlett">{{cite book
|last=Duggan
|first=Anne J.
|title=Queens and Queenship in Medieval Europe: Proceedings of a Conference Held at King's College London, April 1995
|publisher=Boydell Press
|year=2002
|isbn=0-85115-881-1}}<!--|access-date=2009-08-04--></ref>
She died of the plague epidemic in [[Mělník]] and was buried in St. Andrew's chapel of [[St. Vitus Cathedral]] in Prague.