Book III: Queenhood

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The Story of a Courageous Woman, Book III of V

Lady Nephele’s Devilry is the story of Elizabeth of Bosnia, krstjani princess who at age 11 was taken, against her will, to become the next queen of Hungary, second wife of King Louis the Great. Despite incredible challenges, she never gave up her struggle to find self-agency in a political and religious culture that denied that agency to women.

Dr. Gregov has brought this young woman’s story to life. The five volumes of the book embed the meager known history of Elizabeth into the larger historical context of 1300s Eastern Europe and the Balkans to create a rich portrait of life in that turbulent century, a portrait that enlarges the historical narrative about Elizabeth’s life and proposes an answer to the many questions raised by recorded history. Fortunately for us, it also allows the reader to vividly imagine life in those medieval times.

In Book III – Queenhood fifteen-year-old Queen Jelisaveta and eleven-year-old Lady Nephele meet a surprising ally: Lady Maria Follia, the Neapolitan and Parisian courtesan, mistress of King Louis, who helps Queen Jelisaveta learn how to assume queenly power. When Queen Jelisaveta’s second child is killed at age 1 ½ by a Bosnian noble crazed by the Queen Mother’s greed for Bosnian land, Queen Jelisaveta descends into madness that the Queen Mother says is possession by the devil. Lady Nephele receives permission from King Louis to take Queen Jelisaveta to the Franciscan Convent in Zadar for safety. While trying to save Jelisaveta’s life, thirteen-year-old Lady Nephele falls in love with an Italian troubadour, becomes pregnant, and bears a healthy son, whom she must leave in the care of foster parents in Zadar because of the sacred oath. In Zadar the two young women open a school for the daughters of Croatian nobles. Their happy interlude is interrupted when Queen Jelisaveta is told that her husband King Louis has taken a Vow of Celibacy. She and Lady Nephele must return to Hungary.