Stanisław Barszczak, Elizabeth Łokietek’s royal carriages entered the courtyard of the pope’s Avinion palace.

(My story entitled „The Mill of Remembrance,”(Forgetful mills) was published in 2012. Though, part of our „Elizabethan royal life” was never been published. And the key chapter of her story is here, in homage to Elizabeth Hungarian queen with small repetitions, author)

Avinion, Christmas 1343 She was a wonderful woman and mother, who sent a message to Pope Clement VI in Avinion. Elżbieta Łokietkówna – Polish princess, Hungarian queen, regent in Poland in the years 1370-1380 from the Piast dynasty, she was born at the end of 1304 or at the beginning of 1305 as the daughter of the Kuyavian prince Władysław Łokietek and Jadwiga Kaliska. On January 20, 1320 her parents were crowned king and queen of Poland in Cracow. King Charles of Hungary sought Elżbieta’s hand. At the end of June 1320, Princess left Cracow. A Hungarian retinue was waiting for her in Nowy Sącz city. She met her future husband in Berdyczów. They got married on June 6, 1320. Elżbieta was crowned in Székesfehérvár ss Queen of Hungary by Bishop Veszprem Henry. Elżbieta and Karol were sincerely attached to each other and loved each other. The monarch’s position was high in Hungary. Hungarian monarchs were crowned like kings – the crown of Saint Stephen. The queen was financially independent of her husband. She had income from considerable landed estates. She had her own court and office, headed by Bishop Veszprem. In the years 1321-1332 Elżbieta gave birth to five sons: Karol, Władysław, Ludwik I Wielki, Andrzej and Stefan. At her court she hosted many Silesian and Masovian Piasts. It quickly became a significant political center. Thanks to her intercession, one of them, in the spring of 1321, the Bytom prince Bolesław (the elder brother of Mieszko, mentioned earlier), became the archbishop of Ostrzyhom. Thus, he became the head of the entire Hungarian Church. In 1334, it was the Bytom prince Mieszko became friend family, who in the years 1328-1334 was the bishop of Nitra. At her court she adopted her cousin and namesake, daughter of Prince Kazimierz III of Inowrocław. Thanks to her efforts, the wife of Tomasz Szécsény, Transylvania Voivode and one of the highest Hungarian dignitaries at that time, became Anna, daughter of the Oświęcim prince Władysław I. In this time many the Piast knights and clergymen came to Poland from Hungary and vice-versa, who won high secular and clerical offices due to the intercession of Elżbieta. One of them was the knight Mroczko, who in time was promoted to the office of the queen’s equestrian. Poles were her chaplain, Nicholas of Bosnia, and several close courtiers. She looked after the St. Clare Sisters. In 1334, she founded their monastery in Buda and sent rich gifts to Sącz village. As an age-old woman, she inaugurated the cult of her mother grandmother Jolanta. She loved her younger brother, King of Poland Casimir III the Great, and often met with him. At the end of 1329, Kazimierz went to Hungary to see his sister. Kazimierz fell in love with the court of Elżbieta, the beautiful West Clara. The sister made the meeting easier for them. Kazimierz was then to rape Klara. After Kazimierz’s return to Hungary, a great scandal broke out. Klara was pregnant and complained to her father Felicjan. The latter fell in a terrible fury and on April17, 1330 he broke into the Visegrad castle. The king and queen together with their two sons, Ludwik and Andrzej, sat down to dinner. Felicjan threw his sword at Karol Robert, slightly wounding him, and Elizabeth, who wanted to protect her husband, chopped off four fingers … Elzbieta had a magnificent Court as a queen. She referred to the members of the office as „our members”. There was a court judge, master of taverns, chancellor and office, other dignitaries. Environment. Piastowicz at the court: Bolko z Toszek, Mieszko, Anna Świdnicka. Opolczyk and his family. Anna Oświęcimska. Bosnian. Poles: Mroczko. After the assassination of her family and the king in Visegrad, Elżbieta got into conflict with the curia for Naples. The Hungarian monarch was crowned just like kings – the crown of Saint Stephen. The queen was financially independent of her husband. She had income from considerable landed estates. She had her own court and office, headed by Bishop Veszprem. In 1334, it was the Bytom prince Mieszko, who in the years 1328-1334 was the bishop of Nitra … Karol Robert died on July 16, 1342. Her husband’s death strengthened Elżbieta’s influence and position. 16-year-old Ludwik ascended the throne of Hungary. He had his mother love and boundless trust. Elżbieta became his main adviser. In fact, in the first period of rule she was the actual co-ruler of Hungary at his side. She has always influenced his behavior and in many cases acted alone. All important political decisions were made with her knowledge and consent. The younger son of Elżbieta, Andrew, in 1342 year got married to Joanna I, the future queen of Naples. On 19 or 20.I.1343, King Robert I the Wise, grandfather of Joanna, died. According to his will, the young queen was to be assisted by a regency council. From the age of 25 she was supposed to rule independently. If she died childless, her younger sister Maria would inherit the crown. The husband and relatives could not interfere in government. Andrew was to receive only the principality of Salerno and the title of queen’s husband. The Hungarian Angevins wanted this pair to rule Naples. The princely families of Taranto and Durazzo and the Neapolitan magnates were not satisfied with this. At first, the 15-year-old boy was closing his way to the throne. Others were afraid that it would not be easy to manipulate. At that time, Mikołaj Acciaiuoli, a Florentine merchant, adviser to Empress Catherine (according to her lover’s rumors) and tutor of her sons, and Filippa de Catania, an influential lady of the court, played an important role in court intrigues. She also stayed at Katarzyna’s services. Andrew was isolated by his Hungarian environment, which did not have a positive effect on his situation. Breaking earlier arrangements, only Joanna I was crowned with the royal crown. Andrew, to his and his Hungarian courtiers’ dissatisfaction, became only a prince. Joan I became not only the queen of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, but also the titular queen of Jerusalem, the princess of Calabria and Capua in Italy, the princess of Pouilles in France, the countess of Provence, Maine and Forcalquier in France and the countess of Piedmont in Italy. Andrew’s situation outside became worse and worse – he was ignored and insulted. According to some sources, his wife was clearly cheating on him. His brother, King of Hungary Ludwik I the Great and his mother, Queen Elizabeth Łokietkówna, took some steps with the Pope regarding the coronation of Andrew Queen Sancia, widow of Robert I, Joanna and the message of Neapolitan barons also asked the Holy Father for his coronation. Joanna secretly opposed this, refusing to let her husband rule. On May 8, 1343 Elizabeth left Visegrad to Naples in order to provide her younger son with the crown of this country. She arrived there on July 24, 1334. She wanted to see for herself what her son’s situation was like and take him with her in the event of a real danger to his life. It would cause a great scandal, so Joanna did everything to calm her mother-in-law. Elizabeth had intensive political talks throughout the Naples court throughout August. She spent large amounts of gold so that her son would become King of Naples. She sent a message to Avignon, the then seat of the popes, to obtain the Pope’s consent for the coronation of Andrew. Waiting for an answer, she went on a pilgrimage to Rome. She wanted to visit the holy places and give rich gifts to the Vatican Basilica. During her only three-day stay, she generously donated Roman churches and monasteries. In this way, she wanted to put pressure on Pope Clement VI to comply with her demands. Imagine it is late autumn 1343, then Christmas time, and the papal Avionion. Pope Clement VI left to admire from his terrace deputies with gifts of Queen Elizabeth, to see royal carriages, a procession with royal carriages entered the courtyard of the pope’s palace in Avinion. They were the most important courtiers of Queen Elizabeth: the marshal, chancellor, six royal barons, court judge, master of taverns, court master, chairman, equestrian, doctor, swordsmen, princesses mostly from the Silesian line, nuns, Monarch’s auxiliary guard at the time war, and so on. On 19 January 134, the papal consistory decided that Andrew could use the title of king and the papal legate would crown him, but only as the husband of the queen. It will not have any real power. Elizabeth was temporarily satisfied with this. The Pope changed the will of Robert the Wise and the administrator of the kingdom, which was formally a papal fief, he made Cardinal Aimeric de Chatelus. The Pope complied with her first request and delayed the coronation. He repeatedly urged the monarch to let her husband rule, but in vain. In January 1345, the papal legate reappeared in Naples, but was soon dismissed. The King of Hungary and the Queen of Naples sought to buy into the favors of the head of the Roman Catholic Church by means of large sums of money offered to him. In the summer of 1345, the Pope insisted on marriage, but it was too late … Elizabeth temporarily satisfied with this. The Pope changed the will of Robert the Wise and the administrator of the kingdom, which was formally a papal fief, he made Cardinal Aimeric de Chatelus. He arrived in Naples in the autumn of 1344 and suspended the regency council. He tried to sort out state affairs and put an end to the queen’s extravagance. She sent her deputies to the Holy Father to cancel the legate and the coronation of Andrew. The King of Hungary and the Queen of Naples sought to buy into the favors of the head of the Roman Catholic Church by means of large sums of money offered to him. The Pope changed the will of Robert the Wise and the administrator of the kingdom, which was formally a papal fief, he made Cardinal Aimeric de Chatelus. Elizabeth sent her deputies to the Holy Father to cancel the legate and the coronation of Andrew. The King of Hungary and the Queen of Naples sought to buy into the favors of the head of the Roman Catholic Church by means of large sums of money offered to him. That same summer, the Queen of Naples fell seriously ill first, and then it turned out that she was in a different state. Relations between her and Andrzej have apparently improved. The Pope, pressed by the Hungarian court, wrote to Joanna and Maria not to postpone Andrew’s coronation. He was pleased with this and publicly announced that he would take revenge for the harm he had suffered. In a letter of 20 and 21.IX.1345, Pope Clement VI ordered the coronation of the royal couple. However, it was not intended to change the queen’s situation and the right of inheritance. It was too late. After the assassination of Andrzej, the monarch, Joanna locked herself in Castel-Nuovo. On December 25, 1345, her only son, Charles Martel, was born. Some contemporaries thought that his father was Ludwik of Taranto. After Andrzej’s death, the boy left for Hungary, where he died on 19.VI.1348. On 01.II.1346 the pope issued a bull excommunicating Andrzej’s killers. They demanded the punishment of the queen. But already in 1347, Queen Joanna got married to her lover, Prince Tarente Louis I of Anjou. The army of Louis I the Great appeared in Naples in the summer of 1347 and occupied him in 1348. In an attempt to get revenge for his brother’s death, he sentenced many people involved in the plot to death. At the beginning of 1348, Hungarian troops defeated the Neapolitans near Cappua. In the same year, they defeated them near Benevento. Queen Joanna and her husband fled to Provence and lived in the castle of Arnaud. From there, she was summoned to Rome before a papal court, which was to decide about her guilt or innocence in the case of the murder of Andrew. Joanna sold VI Avignon to Pope Clement and received from him a acquittal in the trial of the murder of Andrzej, confirmation of the validity of her marriage with Louis of Taranto and support in the fight against the Hungarian monarch. Most of the Hungarian troops withdrew from Naples in the summer of 1348 due to the plague and the actions of mercenaries commanded by Nicholas Acciaiuoli. Hungarian crews were still stationed in fortified cities. Kazimierz III, the Great King of Poland, died on 5 November 1370. Elżbieta and Ludwik soon came to Poland. Louis 17.XI.1370 hastily crowned himself king of Poland. After the executions, Ludwik stayed in Wielkopolska for a short time and in December he returned to Hungary, leaving his mother as a regent in Poland. At that time, Elizabeth thought of herself as a sovereign ruler, equal to her son. She used the crown of Polish queens made for her mother. On her seal there was the Piast eagle, lilies of the Anjou and the inscription „Elisabeth Dei Gratia Regina Senioris Poloniae” (Elżbieta, by God’s grace the elderly Queen of Poland). She was a queen „by God’s grace”, and therefore a „natural” ruler of the state. Has obtained an exceptionally wide range of competences. As we mentioned, she had her own magnificent court, consisting of Krakow land officials, headed by the marshal, and an office. She made the most important decisions regarding internal policy. The queen had to make many difficult decisions. Despite huge criticism of her rule (including weakening of royal power through the policy of numerous broadcasts and restitution), it should be said that trade between Poland and Hungary developed strongly in her time. She reformed the salt mines again and continued the policy of creating villages and cities under German law. She also crowned Jadwiga Andegaweńska – her granddaughter. She was the richest queen of Poland. She was carrying seven tons of silver to Rome, as she said, for „personal needs” … On April 17, 1330, an assassination attempt took place at the Visegrad castle. During the dinner, to which Karol Robert, Elżbieta and two sons sat: Ludwik and Andrzej, one of the Hungarian magnates, Felicjan Zach, burst into the dining room and, armed with a sword, attacked the king and queen. Karol Robert was wounded in the hand, while Elżbieta lost four fingers. The Czech chronicler Benesz from Prague noted that the Hungarian monarch was supposed to hide under the table during the robbery, so that he did not suffer major injuries. The attacker was stopped by the queen’s cupboy, John, who hit him deadly … After the death of Charles Robert’s husband on July 16, 1342, Elizabeth began to play a greater political role. In 1343, the King of Naples, Robert I the Wise, of the Neapolitan Andegaven line died. His granddaughter was Joanna, Andrzej’s fiancée, son of Elżbieta. As per the will of the deceased, the Neapolitan throne was to fall on the equal rights of both fiancés. Joanna, who found support among the Neapolitan magnates, did not agree. Elizabeth decided to go to Italy to get a throne for her son. Elizabeth left Visegrad on June 8, 1343 for the crown of Naples for her son. Elizabeth Łokietkówna queen had a magnificent manor, composed of Kraków land officials, headed by the marshal. In 1343, the King of Naples, Robert I the Wise, of the Neapolitan Anegaven line died. His granddaughter was Joanna, Andrzej’s fiancée, son of Elżbieta. „I didn’t mean to be ugly,” he said. Andrzej certainly complained about the instability of the world that nothing was going according to plan … „I was crazy,” he was thinking about himself, „I mean wedding with Joanna.” Optimism is not Hungarian but Polish disease, as allegorism is Indian disease. It’s like a „crazy game”. I could not look at the Pope, he already said. As per the will of the deceased, the Neapolitan throne was to fall on the equal rights of both fiancés. Joanna, who found support among the Neapolitan magnates, did not agree. Elizabeth decided to go to Italy to get a throne for her son. Elizabeth left Visegrad on June 8 and reached Naples on July 24. In August she held talks at the Naples court regarding the rapid coronation of Andrzej. She also sent a message to Avignon to obtain the consent of Pope Clement VI. The audience in Avinion took place at the end of this year, certainly before Christmas 1343. Awaiting the response, Elizabeth went on a pilgrimage to Rome that we already knew, during which she was warmly welcomed by the local people. When she arrived in Rome, she was greeted by representatives of two powerful families: Colonnas and Orsini, who stood on the opposite banks of the Tiber, while the cardinals who were in the city greeted her in front of the Vatican Basilica. During her stay in the Eternal City, Elizabeth generously donated the numerous churches and monasteries that she visited. She gave the Vatican Basilica, among others, a bed for the main altar decorated with nine embroidered images of saints and a tablecloth made of thick, red silk. She also offered two white elves and cortina humerals with gold fringes. She entered the Chapel of Sancta Sanctorum in Lateran twice to admire the headscarf of St. Veronica. However, the main reason for traveling to Rome was to bribe significant victims of the Pope and cardinals to agree to the coronation of Andrew. The pressure of beggars meant that after three days Elżbieta had to leave the city. See, on January 19, 1344, the pope agreed to the coronation of Andrew etc. However, it did not happen, because on the night of 18/19 September 1345 he was murdered. Hungarian complicity accused his wife, Joanna, of complicity in the murder. War broke out between Hungary and Naples, but two Italian expeditions of the Hungarian King Ludwig in the years 1347 and 1350 were unsuccessful. Imagine in 1357, Elizabeth accompanied by a significant retinue of seven hundred knights, traveled to Germany. Many Piasts and princes of the Reich traveled with her. Through Prague, Elizabeth on May 20, 1357 went to Marburg, where, together with the imperial couple, Charles IV and Anna, she visited the tomb of St. Elizabeth. During the trip, she also visited Cologne, Aachen and Frankfurt am Main. She returned to Hungary after two months. In 1362 at a congress in Prague during talks on the Austrian-Hungarian dispute over the patriarchate of Aquileia under the influence of alcohol, Emperor Charles IV insulted Elizabeth. Ludwik stood in defense of his mother, who was ready to declare war on Karol. However, thanks to the mediation of Władysław Opolczyk, armed conflict was avoided. In 1367, on the initiative of Elżbieta, Władysław Opolczyk became the new Hungarian palatine after the late Mikołaj Account (it is supposed that he was poisoned). This candidacy was dictated by Hungary’s foreign policy turn to the north, in the face of the approaching succession of the Anjou in Poland. Opole Piast, who knew the situation in Poland, enjoyed the recognition of Emperor Charles IV and trusted the King of Hungary, for whom he had several important diplomatic missions, was the best candidate for this office. Casimir the Great died on November 5, 1370. After his coronation as King of Poland, Ludwik appointed his mother Regent, and he returned to Hungary. At the beginning of her regency rule, Elizabeth had to calm the situation in the country. While the new dynasty ascended the Polish throne, the neighbors took advantage of this moment to seize the border lands. Brandenburg was taken by Santok, and Lithuania by Włodzimierz Wołyński. In the country, Wielkopolska was the biggest opponent of the recognition of the Andegavin authorities. In 1372, Elżbieta went to this district and began the process of pacification. At that time, she appointed Sędziwoj from Szubin as the staroste of Greater Poland and led to the judgment of Janek from Czarnków by a Poznań court. The chronicler was sentenced to banishment and confiscation of property for the theft of coronation insignia from the tomb of Casimir the Great, which was to coronate the Kuyavian relative of the deceased monarch, Władysław the White, who, after returning to the country from the Benedictine order in Dijon, fought against the Polish throne with the support of the Greater Poland Elizabeth set up restitution courts dealing with the return of goods to the knights that were wrongly confiscated during the reign of the last Piast. With this, Elizabeth Łokietkówna queen wanted to unite the society to the Anegevins, whose future on the Polish throne was uncertain. First, they were not a hereditary dynasty in Poland, and secondly, Ludwik had no male offspring. There was therefore a real fear that Polish gentlemen would not accept one of his daughters on the throne. For this reason, on September 17, 1374 in Košice, Ludwik issued a privilege for the nobility, in exchange for which he was granted succession in Poland by one of the Polish-Hungarian kingdoms. During her reign, Elizabeth could count on the Hungarian party, i.e. mainly of the Lesser Poland lords. The leaders of this camp were Dobiesław from Kurozwęki (he participated in the court over Janek from Czarnków) and his son, Zawisza from Kurozwęki (he participated in the preparation of the content of the Košice privilege). Elizabeth Łokietkówna queen had a magnificent people manor, composed of Cracow land officials, headed by the marshal. As a regent queen, in order to distinguish her from her daughter-in-law, she used the title of an older queen of Poland … Elizabeth ended her first regency in Poland in 1375, when she resigned because of age. After leaving Poland, Elizabeth exercised regency in Dalmatia for a short time (she also ruled her after conquering her in the Hungarian-Venetian war in 1357-1359). She came to Poland several times to ensure changes in the country’s management, including she stayed in Poland at the turn of 1376/1377, when there was a murder of Hungarians from her surroundings. At the end of her life, she spent a lot of time in the Poor Clares monastery in Stara Buda. On April 6, 1380, she wrote a will. In this act she wrote that her will is to rest in the Old Poor Clare monastery. She also gave to her relatives: her son, Ludwik, wrote a few golden dishes, her daughter-in-law, Elizabeth – the castle in Stara Buda, granddaughter, Maria – golden wreath, second granddaughter, Jadwiga – wreath with lilies, and her niece, Jadwiga – a ring. She also gave various institutions. According to her last will, she was buried in the St. Clares monastery. The queen’s long life was explained by the use of a rejuvenating agent for rheumatism … During her husband’s life she issued edicts regulating the high-level affairs of the kingdom, and during her son’s reign she used the main seal of the kingdom on his behalf. She took part in key games on the international political chessboard: as we mentioned, the Polish Queen tried to set her son on the throne of Naples, engaged in disputes with the empire and papacy, she acted as a mediator between neighboring powers. Throughout his reign, she supported her brother Casimir the Great, among others by providing him with assistance in negotiations with the Czechs and the Teutonic Knights, as well as armed support needed to conquer Red Rus. As a result, a series of dynastic agreements was appointed by Kazimierz as his successor in the event that he would not have legal sons. According to the Polish understanding of the law of inheritance, the throne after the death of Casimir was not to be taken over by Elizabeth, but by her son, Ludwik. This also happened in 1370. Until 1375, and then for several months at the turn of 1376 and 1377, Elizabeth served as the Polish regent and titled the Polish queen. She was the only monarch in the history of Poland to exercise independent power. She significantly contributed to the adoption of the Košice privilege, which paved the way for the Polish king to choose her granddaughter, Jadwiga of Anjou. This extraordinary Polish woman shakes all of medieval Europe. The most powerful kings begged her for intercession and advice. Popes resorted to her for help. She was the richest woman on the continent. But she was also the proud daughter of the Polish Piast family … Who was her son Andrzej Anegawenski, for whom Elizabeth’s mother took a message to Naples, to Rome, and sent messengers to Avinion? He was born on November 30, 1327, d. 18/19 September 1345, Duke of Calabria. He came from the family of the Angevins (a branch of the Capetian family) – the dynasty ruling Hungary from 1308 to 1382. He was the fourth son of the Hungarian king Karol Robert, the mother was Elizabeth Łokietkówna, the daughter of the Polish king Władysław I Łokietek and the sister of Kazimierz III the Great. In 1334 he was engaged to his cousin Joanna, daughter of the late Karol, prince of Calabria. The marriage was arranged by Joanna’s grandfather, King of Naples, Robert I the Wise. He wanted to prevent the relatives from taking over the throne, as well as satisfy the possible claims of the Hungarian Andegavens to power over the peninsula, to which, according to the principle of primogenity, they had greater rights. After his marriage in 1342, he made Andrew the prince of Calabria, who usually belonged to the heir to the throne, and officially declared the young couple heirs to the crown. However, at the time of the king’s death, it turned out that Andrew did not enjoy support among the people and powerful of Naples; Joanna also did not intend to share power. Thanks to the support of Pope Clement VI, Joanna was crowned as the sole ruler. Andrzej began to fear for his own life, in letters to his mother he wrote that he was going to escape from Naples. Elizabeth went to Italy, and also sent a message to Avignon, to Clement VI, trying with rich gifts to force him to force the coronation of Andrew (the kingdom of Naples was considered a papal fief). She achieved her goal and, as we mentioned, the Pope, on January 19, 1344, agreed to the coronation of the Prince of Calabria. Thinking that she managed to keep her son safe, she returned to Hungary. Several powerful decided not to allow Andrew to be coronated at all costs, for this purpose they formed a plot to kill the prince. Despite suspicions, Queen Joanna’s participation was never proven. The assassination took place during the hunt in Obverse, Andrew was attacked on the night of 18/19 September 1345, after a short fight the strangled prince was thrown out the window. For many, participation in Joanna’s plot was obvious, among them was the brother of the murdered Louis the Great, King of Hungary. He invaded the kingdom of Naples in 1348, managed to seize his capital, then began repression directed against members of the conspiracy … Beautiful cards are the joint brotherhood of Hungarians and Poles. During the reign of Elizabeth, the Piasts, many knights and clergymen came to Poland from Hungary, we said about it, who, thanks to Elizabeth’s intercession, won high secular and clerical offices. One of them was the knight Mroczko, who in time was promoted to the office of the queen’s equestrian. Poles were her chaplain, Nicholas of Bosnia, and several close courtiers. Elizabeth had income from considerable landed estates. In 1355, the Queen came to Poland. On June 22 in Nowy Sącz she received Ludwik’s tribute to Polish states. She played a decisive role in the relations of her son Louis the Great with Emperor Charles IV. In the years 1357-1359 Hungary and Venice waged war on Dalmatia. In 1357, the ruler went on a trip to Germany. 20.V.1357 came to Marburg and together with the emperor and empress she visited the tomb of Saint Elizabeth. Then she visited Cologne, Aachen and Frankfurt. In Hungary she appeared after a two-month absence. Hungary conquered Dalmatia and in 1359 Elżbieta held regency there for the first time. In the spring of 1367, the palatine died, responsible for the royal judiciary and influencing the foreign policy of the state) Mikołaj Kont. Thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth, his successor was the Opole prince Władysław Opolczyk, a trusted diplomat of King Ludwig who knew Polish reality and was well received at the court of Emperor Charles IV. Casimir III the Great died on November 5, 1370. Elizabeth and Ludwik soon came to Poland. On november 17, 1370 Ludwik hastily crowned himself king of Poland. Then Ludwik stayed in Wielkopolska country for a short time and in December he returned to Hungary, leaving his mother as a regent in Poland. At that time, Elizabeth thought of herself as a sovereign ruler, equal to her son. She used the crown of Polish queens made for her mother. She was a queen „by God’s grace”, and therefore a „natural” ruler of the state. Has obtained an exceptionally wide range of competences. As we mentioned, she had her own magnificent court, consisting of Cracow land officials, headed by the marshal, and an office. She called her members „ours” as we mentioned – her own, not her son’s. She made the most important decisions regarding internal policy. On September 17, 1374, Ludwik issued a Košice privilege. Subjects recognized the hereditary rights of the kingdoms of Maria and Jadwiga, and Ludwik greatly reduced the advice of gentry to 2 coins (see, grosze) from a field and committed himself on behalf of his and his successors not to impose any new direct taxes without the consent of the interested parties themselves. In addition, the nobility received the following privileges: exemption from the obligation to build and repair castles (except when reconstruction would require border reinforcements, threatened with war, or when the entire nobility would agree to build a new castle), offices only for Poles, pay for the nobility for service military outside the country (in the event of the nobility being captured during a foreign expedition, the king reimbursed the costs of buying the nobility from captivity), exempting the nobility from the obligation to maintain the royal court while traveling around the country, and exempting them from building cities and bridges. The Košice pact was a general privilege, i.e. it spread throughout the whole country and referred only to the nobility (it did not include peasants, burghers and clergy, who later received separate privileges from Ludwik). At that time, a tribute was also paid to the eldest sister, Katarzyna Anegawenska. Then it was decided that the heir to the Polish throne would be the younger of the kingdoms, Maria. Ludwik, his wife or mother were also allowed to transfer the rights of Maria’s older sister to the younger, Jadwiga … Elizabeth Łokietkówna queen was active on many fronts, and in the summer of 1375 she returned to Buda, giving her son power over Poland. He again entrusted her to the Dalmatian regency. But as I said in X.1376, the uncertain situation in Poland forced Elizabeth to return to this country. She stayed in Bochnia near Cracow. The queen continued to calm the Polish people down, Ludwik would come to the rescue any day at the head of the great army and catch up with the Poland outsiders. However, this did not happen. Outrage at the queen and Hungarians led to tragic events. On 07.XII.1376 in Cracow, 100 Hungarians were murdered as a result of fights between Poles and Hungarians from the vicinity of Elizabeth. Then Ludwik finally came with the army for a long-awaited retaliation expedition against Lithuania. The situation calmed down and in January 1377 Elizabeth Łokietkówna queen left Poland for Hungary. At the turn of 1376 and 1377, Władysław Opolczyk became the governor of the Kingdom of Poland. This decision was so unpopular in the country that he was dismissed from his post in September 1378. Elizabeth came to Poland again and assumed regency rule there. In the same year she had to return to Hungary because her granddaughter Katarzyna, who was predicted to be the queen of Poland, died. Then she returned to participate in the congress of the nobles and the Polish nobility submitting a new candidate for the heir to the Kingdom of Poland, her younger granddaughter Maria. She came to Kraków for the last time in the autumn of 1379, shortly after this event. She left the capital of Poland forever just before Christmas 1379. She dealt with Polish affairs almost until the end of her life – in November 13380 she made decisions regarding trade routes in Poland. At the end of her life, she usually lived in the St. Clares Monastery in Stara Buda. On April 6, 1380, she made a will. In this act she wrote that her will is to rest in the Old St. Clare Convent. She made broadcasts for her relatives. She also gave various church institutions. She died on December 29, 1380. According to her own wishes, she was modestly buried in the chapel of the St. Clare she looked after. She did not want to be buried in the necropolis of Hungarian kings in Székesfehérvár. So, if you are ever going to enjoy life – now is the time – not tomorrow, not next year. Today should always be the greatest day. Happiness does not come from outside. It depends on what is within us. When we change our thinking, we change our reality. It is important that you live in harmony with yourself, you do not pretend to be anyone and you do not run away from anything. When you are consciously yourself and love this state – you are happy. Our life always shows the result of our dominant thoughts. Love yourself and you will heal your life. Don’t wait for something big to appear. Start where you are with what you have and you will always come to something wonderful. And everybody says „that’s life” and nobody remembers that life is what we will build ourselves. Don’t try to become a successful man, but a valuable man. Goals are like a magnet. They attract the things needed to accomplish them. Don’t be afraid of the big step. You can’t beat the abyss with two small ones. Draw from others, but don’t copy them. Be yourself. Everything is possible. Impossible simply requires more time. The goals are achieved through discomfort and hard work. The most important thing is to enjoy your life – be happy – that’s all that matters. The dream of something unbelievable has its own name. We call them hope.Stumbling can go far; you must not just fall down and not get up.You can find your joy in the joy of others; this is the secret of happiness. Look for happiness close to you, because it is in small everyday joys. The tree you can’t embrace was once a small seed. The hundred-mile journey begins with one small step. Future starts today, not tomorrow. The best part of human life is small, nameless and forgotten acts of kindness and love.