Helena of Serbia, Queen of Hungary
Helena of Serbia (Serbian: Јелена/Jelena, Hungarian: Ilona; b. after 1109 – after 1146) was Queen of Hungary as the wife of King Béla II, who reigned from 1131 to 1141. A daughter of Prince Uroš I of Serbia (r. ca. 1112–1145), she was arranged to marry Béla II in 1129 by his cousin, King Stephen II (r. 1116–1131). Béla II had been blinded on the order of Stephen's father, King Coloman. After her husband's death, she governed Hungary as regent from 1141 to September 1146 together with her brother, Beloš, when her eldest son, Géza II, came of age. Their middle son, Ladislaus II, ruled between 1162 and 1163, while youngest son, Stephen IV, ruled between 1163 and 1165.
Life
Early life
Helena was the daughter of Serbian Grand Prince Uroš I (r. ca. 1112–1145) of the Vukanović dynasty, and Byzantine princess Anna Diogene. Her father had participated in the Byzantine-Hungarian War (1127–29), on the side of King Stephen II of Hungary. The Hungarian Army had destroyed Byzantine Belgrade and penetrated to Naissos (Niš), Serdica (Sofia) and Philippopolis (Plovdiv).
Raška (region)
Raška (Serbian Cyrillic: Рашка) or Old Raška (Стара Рашка) is a region in south-central Serbia, Kosovo and northern Montenegro. In Serbia, the Raška District, Zlatibor District and Moravica District.
In the Middle Ages, the region was a center of the Serbian Principality and of the Serbian Kingdom whose capital was once the city of Ras (a World Heritage Site) until 1265. In the Early Middle Ages, it had parts of present-day southern Serbia, Kosovo, northern Montenegro, eastern Herzegovina. It has given its name to the Raška municipality and town and Raška District.
Geography
Sub-regions
Name
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