Some Remarks on the First Wife of Charles I of Hungary

Abstract

For a long time, it was generally accepted by all historians that Charles I of Hungary had three wives: Mary of Bytom, Beatrice of Luxembourg, and Elizabeth of Poland, which was supported by the most important narrative source of his reign, the so-called Illuminated Chronicle. In 1988, however, the Hungarian medievalist, Gyula Kristó – based on new sources, the Descriptio Europae Orientalis, and a charter issued by the king himself – came up with a new theory which claimed that Charles I had four wives. According to him, the first wife was missing from the older research, and she should be identified as the daughter of Prince Leo II of Galicia (Halych). Although Kristó’s opinion was criticised mainly by Polish historians, it has been widely accepted among Hungarian medievalists. Despite the disputes and the ongoing researches on the reign of Charles, the exact date of the marriage, as well as the motive of the Hungarian–Galician alliance are still unclear. The paper firstly examines the sources mentioning the Galician wife, in search for evidence regarding its dating, then it presents Kristó’s opinion and his dispute with Stanisław Sroka in detail, as well as the contributions by other historians, who added new arguments and aspects to the topic of the first wife after the mentioned dispute, and finally, outlines some new aspects regarding the alliance, and the date of the marriage.