| Catherine | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Queen consort ofSerbia | |
| Tenure | 1276–1282 |
| Spouse | Stefan Dragutin |
| Issue | Stefan Vladislav II Elizabeth, Baness of Bosnia Urošica |
| House | Arpad |
| Father | Stephen V of Hungary |
| Mother | Elizabeth the Cuman |
Catherine of Hungary (Hungarian:Katalin,Serbian:Каталина,romanized: Katalina; c. 1256 – after 1314) was a Queen consort of Serbia by her marriage toStefan Dragutin. Catherine was the second daughter ofStephen V of Hungary and his wifeElizabeth, daughter of Seyhan, chieftain of theCumans.
Catherine was the second of six children. Her sisterElizabeth also became a Queen of Serbia, by her marriage to Stephen Dragutin's brother,Stefan Milutin. Catherine's brother wasLadislaus IV of Hungary.[1][2]
Catherine's paternal grandparents wereBéla IV of Hungary and his wifeMaria Laskarina.
The efforts of Catherine's grandfather,Bela IV of Hungary to secure his southern boundary while moving toward the Adriatic included establishing leaders inSrem (John Angelos) andSlavonia (Rostislav Mikhailovich) who were not only capable but also closely connected to the royal family. It is quite reasonable that an effective way to at least neutralizeSerbia under Uroš would be to connect him through dynastic marriage to Hungarian nobility, whether by diplomacy or force. Such use of dynastic marriage occurred, for example, in 1268 whenStephen Uroš I of Serbia unsuccessfully attempted to conquerMacva (Macsó). The result was the marriage of Catherine to his sonStephen Dragutin of Serbia in c.1268.[3] A detailed reexamination of the relations betweenHungary and Serbia in the period 1240-1265, and especially around 1250, would be expected to show that the marriage ofHelen of Anjou and Stephen Uros was a natural outcome of political factors. Such a study would also aid in illuminating later developments in Hungarian-Serbian relations.
For example, it is well known that Dragutin was givenMačva,Usora andSoli by his brother-in-lawLadislas IV of Hungary after yielding the Serbian throne to his brother Milutin in 1282. It has been assumed that he was known as King of Srem because these territories south of the Sava included those which at one time were calledSirmia ulterior by the Hungarians, even though only Sirmia citerior between the Sava and Danube was normally known as Srem. Dragutin received many of these lands due to his marriage to Catherine.[4][5]
Catherine's children were heirs to the throne ofHungary when Catherine's brother Ladislaus died childless, after neglecting his wife,Elizabeth of Sicily, for the sake of their Cuman family. However, Catherine's children did not inherit Hungary, her distant cousin,Andrew III of Hungary inherited instead, though his claim was in question because other European monarchs believed that Hungary was in their possession. However, Catherine's sonStefan Vladislav II of Syrmia was always a pretender to Hungary even after the death of Andrew III in 1301. Catherine and her son were in competition with her nephews. Catherine's nephew,Charles Martel of Anjou gave them the province ofSlavonia even though it did not belong to him.[6]
A Byzantine envoy who visited the Serbian court about 1268 to participate in ultimately failed negotiations for a marriage alliance wrote of the conditions at court disparagingly:
Near the end of his life, Catherine's husband separated from his Hungarian friends, gained from their marriage and strengthened his connections in Serbia. He later became a monk and changed his name to Teoktist. He died in 1316 and was buried in the Đurđevi Stupovi monastery near Novi Pazar.
Catherine herself died sometime after 1316, others are not sure when she died.[8][9]
Catherine and Stefan Dragutin had three children:
| Royal titles | ||
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| Preceded by | Queen consort of Serbia 1276–1282 | Vacant Title next held by Helena Doukaina Angelina |
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