My gracious lady sent for a golden cloth to be brought from Ofen which would be used for King Lászlá’s coronation gown, but the messenger took too much time and we worried that it would take too long because the coronation had to take place on a church holiday. That would be on Pentecost, the first upcoming holiday [15 May 1440], which was not far off, so we had to hurry. But there happened to be a beautiful and large vestment which had belonged to Emperor Sigmund; it was red and golden with silver-white spots worked into it. We cut it up and made out of it the young king’s very first ceremonial dress, which he would wear together with the Holy Crown. And now tell me if this would not be a sign that he was meant to rule over the inheritance of both his father and his mother, for their coats of arms both have red and white in them (6). I sewed the little gown, the alb, the humeral veil and the stole, the maniples, the gloves, and the shoes, and I had to make them secretly, in the chapel, behind locked doors.
When everything was ready, my gracious lady sent Lord Matthias, her Chancellor, to her cousin, Lord Ladislaus, the Ban, with the message that he should join her and accompany her to Stuhlweissenburg, because she was going to have her son crowned and that she had the Holy Crown in her possession. When Lord Ladislaus, the Ban (7), heard this, he was not pleased at all, but he kept hoping that it was not true, that the Crown was still at Plintenburg, and he did not join my gracious lady. When her grace learned that Lord Ladislaus was not coming, her grace sent the two lords, Matkó and Imre Marcali, to Ödenburg. And she sent with them a knight, a vassal of Cillei’s named Henry of Randegg, to watch them, because Count Ulrich Cillei was at the time in charge of Ödenburg and he had placed a warden in the town, whose name was Frederick Flednitzer, and to this man’s supervision she entrusted these lords.
Then the noble queen sent a messenger in utmost secrecy to the noble sovereign of Austria named Duke Albert and announced to him that she intended to have my gracious lord, King Lászlá, crowned on the day of Pentecost [15 May 1440] (8). The noble sovereign, Duke Albert, proved to be the truly loyal friend one can count on in extremity, and he quickly mounted his horse and rode to Stuhlweissenburg in such haste that his men rode several horses to death, and on Pentecost he presented himself in person to his nephew, King Lászlá. And had it been necessary, he would have sacrificed his own life for his sake.
When all the servants and lords who were to accompany my gracious lady to Stuhlweissenburg had assembled, her grace sent a message to the Archbishop of Gran, requesting him to come and ride with her to Stuhlweissenburg to attend her son’s coronation. He came with a large following. And when the cradle in which the young king would be carried was ready, we needed always four men to carry his grace. And on the Thursday afternoon [12 May 1440] before Pentecost, the noble queen rode off with the young king and the noble Count Cillei and the Croatian counts and the dukes of Lindbach. And the Great Count, Lord Lawrence of Heidenreichsturn, also joined my gracious lady’s train.
A large vessel of the kind called flatbottom lay prepared. The noble queen and her royal offspring, both son and daughter, as well as a great many people of quality got in, so that the vessel became very full and was so heavy that it was hardly one hand above the water, which was dangerous and risky. But then there came a strong wind, and God helped us joyously across the water.
(6) Red and white were the colors of Albert and Elizabeth’s families. They occur together several times in the course of the story, which Helene Kottanner interprets as symbolic of divine support for the Habsburgs.
(7) Wojwode, like Banus, designates a function in Hungarian local administration.
(8) Albert VI, Duke of Austria (1418–1463), second cousin of Elizabeth’s husband, and brother of Archduke Frederick V.
print version
return to list