Elizabeth of Pomerania

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Elizabeth of Pomerania (1347-1393) was the fourth and final wife of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and king of Bohemia. Her parents were Duke Bogislaw V of Hind Pomerania and Elisabeth, daughter of Casimir III, King of Poland.

The marriage of Charles and Elizabeth was held on 21 May 1363 in the Polnish town of Krakow, only one year after the death of Charles' third wife Anne of Świdnica. The bride was only 16 years old while the groom was already 47. Charles married Elizabeth mainly for diplomatic reason, as the marriage helped to break the anti-Czech coalition lead by Duke Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, with Polish and Hungarian kings as participants. On 18 June 1363 in Bohemian capital Prague Elizabeth was crowned Queen of Bohemia and 5 years later on 1. November 1368 she was also crowned empress in Rome by Pope Urban V.

Elizabeth is reputed to have been a very vigorous, self-confident and physically strong woman. Due to reports of her contemporaries she was capable of bending horseshoes with her bare hands, also breaking big knives and ripping apart armour or wielding a full-sized sword. She bore six children to Charles:

• Anne of Bohemia (1366–1394), who was married to Richard II of England
• Sigismund (1368–1437), the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary.
• John, Duke of Görlitz (1370–1396).
• Charles (13 March 1372–24 July 1373).
• Margaret (1373–1410), who was married to John III, Burgrave of Nuremberg.
• Heinrich (1377–1378).

After her husband's death at 29 November 1378 in Prague, Elizabeth's stepson Wenceslaus IV, son of Charles's previous wife, ascended the throne. Elizabeth then cared for her own two sons, mainly the older Sigismund, whom she supported in his efforts to become the king of Hungary.

Elizabeth outlived Charles IV by 15 years. She died on 14 February 1393 in Hradec Kralove and was burried next to her husband in St. Vitus Cathedral.

[edit] References

J. Fidler: Ceske kralovny [Queens of Bohemia] (Havlickuv Brod, 2004)

Preceded by Katharine of Bohemia	Margravine of Brandenburg 1373–1378	Succeeded by Mary of Hungary
Preceded by Anne of Świdnica	Countess consort of Luxembourg 1363-1378	Succeeded by Johanna of Bavaria
	Queen consort of Bohemia 1363-1378
	Queen consort of Italy 1363-1378
	Queen consort of Burgundy 1363-1378
	German Queen 1363-1376
	Empress of the Holy Roman Empire 1363-1378	Succeeded by Barbara of Celje