Anna from Cilli

Anna von Cilli ( Slovenian Ana Celjska , Polish Anna Cylejska ; * 1386 ; † May 21, 1416 in Krakow ) married Władysław II Jagiełło and thereby became Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania in 1403 . She was the only daughter of Wilhelm, Count von Cilli (1361–1392) and his wife Anna of Poland (1366–1425), the youngest daughter of the Polish King Casimir III. and Hedwig from Sagan .

Life

Queen Anna together with her husband Władysław II Jagiełło

After the death of his first wife, the reigning Queen of Poland Jadwiga of Anjou in 1399 (she died of her first child in childbirth after birth, also did not survive), is married the Polish king Władysław II. In 1402 with only 16 -year-old Anna von Cilli, a second cousin of his first wife. The choice fell on a dynasty of counts that descended from the Polish kings of the Piasts and had a claim to the Polish throne. At that time, Władysław was already 50 years old and had no male offspring. The birth of a son of "piastic blood" would have strengthened the position of him and his own dynasty in the Kingdom of Poland, especially against the background of the existing male side branches of the Piasts, who could theoretically make legitimate claims to the Polish crown.

Anna's mother, Anna of Poland, the Countess of Cilli, tried to gain more influence in Poland in order to strengthen the position of her daughter and granddaughter.

Anna did not have any more children and did not give birth to a male heir to the throne. She died in 1416 at the age of 30 and was buried in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow. The following year the king married Elisabeth von Pilitza . But only in another, fourth marriage, were the hoped-for male heirs born.

A group of Polish nobles wanted Anna's daughter Hedwig to inherit the Polish throne instead of Władysław's son, and Anna's mother supported this group. However, she died in 1425 and her granddaughter six years later in 1431, leaving no descendants.

progeny

The couple had only one daughter: Princess Hedwig of Poland (1408–1431)

predecessor	Office	Successor
Elisabeth of Bosnia	Queen of Poland 1402–1416	Elisabeth von Pilitza