Elizabeth of Celje (1441 – 1455), alsoElizabeth of Cilli, was the first wife ofMatthias Corvinus, the futureKing of Hungary.

Elizabeth was born toUlrich II, Count of Celje and his wifeCatherine Branković, daughter of theSerb despotĐurađ Branković.^[1][2][3] Her father was aPrince of the Holy Roman Empire, with extensive domains in both the Empire and in theKingdom of Hungary, centered inLower Styria,Carniola, andSlavonia.^[1][2] Her mother was the sister ofMara Branković, a consort of the Ottoman sultanMurad II.

Elizabeth was most likely born inCelje, the family seat. She seems to have had a twin sister, called Catherine, who died as a child.^[4] Elizabeth was baptised in theEastern Orthodox faith of her mother, an arrangement that aroused consternation in the Roman Catholicmilieu ofCelje.

All of her brothers, Hermann IV, George and Albert, died before 1452. Thereafter she remained her parents' sole child, and the last offspring of theHouse of Celje.^[4]

Elizabeth was initially betrothed toJohn of Gorizia, son of countHenry IV of Gorizia, who was living inCelje under the tutelage of her father.^[5] However, it was later decided she would marry into theHunyadi family.

Elizabeth's father and maternal grandfather were long-time opponents ofJohn Hunyadi, as the houses ofCelje and Hunyadi were competing for influence in theKingdom of Hungary since the early 1440s.^[6] In June 1448, the two parties reached an agreement on the division of spheres of interest, sealed by Elizabeth's betrothal toLadislaus, John Hunyadi's firstborn son.^[7][8]

In the autumn of the same year, Hunyadi was defeated by the Ottomans atKosovo; captured byĐurađ Branković during his retreat, he was forced to return several estates to him.^[9] With the help ofthe pope, Hunyadi had the disadvantageous agreement dissolved; as a consequence, the settlement with the Celjes was called off, as well.^[10] Under pressure from theestates, protracted negotiations ensued. In August 1451, a settlement was reached inSmederevo. This time, it was agreed that Elizabeth would marry John's second-born son,Matthias. The wedding was set to 6 December 1453,^[11] with the stipulation that should the marriage fail to materialize because any fault attributable to Branković, the latter's castles and other estates in Hungary would be transferred to Hunyadi and his sons.^[12]

It was John Hunyadi himself, however, to call off the wedding few months before it was to take place. In the fall of 1453, in fact, Elizabeth's father fell out of favor with kingLadislaus, and Hunyadi took advantage of the situation to dissolve the alliance with the Celjes which limited his autonomy of action in Hungary.^[13] By February 1455, however, Ulrich was back in power, and Durad Branković was instrumental in renewing the alliance between his son-in-law and Hunyadi in order to secure a common front against the Ottoman threat.^[13]

Following a renewal of the Celje-Hunyadi alliance, Elizabeth was married to Matthias in the spring of 1455, after having converted toCatholicism.^[13] By this time, Ulrich of Celje had remained without sons, with his wife approaching forty: Matthias thus became his most likely heir.^[14] He was sent to the royal court inBuda where Ulrich now resided as regent, while Elizabeth settled in the Hunyadis' estates; the two young spouses thus served mostly as hostages between their respective families.^[3]

In the winter of 1455, Elizabeth fell seriously ill. The famous preacherJohn Capistran organized public prayers for her recovery.^[13] However, she died before the end of the year at the Hunyadi court inTransylvania. With her death, Ulrich of Celje remained childless, and the last link between the Hunyadi and Celje families was cut.^[15]

• House of Celje
• Hunyadi family
• 15th-century Hungarian people
• 15th-century Hungarian women
• 1441 births
• 1455 deaths
• Slovenian people of Serbian descent

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Pages using infobox noble with unknown parameters
• CS1 Slovenian-language sources (sl)
• CS1 Hungarian-language sources (hu)