Collection of All 5
$35.50
Lady Nephele’s Devilry (5 book series)
By Carolyn Gregov, Ph.D.
The Story of a Courageous Woman
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.
In Book I – Discovery we meet the narrator of Lady Nephele’s Devilry as she is escaping from the dungeon in Novi Grad, Croatia. We learn about her life on the run from the queen’s murderer, her escape from the massacre in Zadar, and her harrowing travel across the Dinaric Alps to be reunited with her father after 37 years. We learn about their relocation to Bosnia, where the Ban ordered young Nephele to be the tutor for his two daughters. When Princess Jelisaveta (Elizabeth of Bosnia) is forced to go to Hungary to become its next queen, she refuses to go without Lady Nephele.
In Book II – Rebellion we follow eleven-year-old Princess Jelisaveta and seven-year-old Nephele to the palace in Visegrad, Hungary, where Jelisaveta’s proud and independent composure arouse the antipathy of the Queen Mother, who spends the next three years trying to break Princess Jelisaveta’s will. Jelisaveta comes close to death three times and is saved only by the ministrations of the loyal Nephele. These hard years are the impetus for Lady Nephele’s entertaining and amusing stories in the History of Hungary Not Written in Books.
In Book III – Queenhood fifteen-year-old Queen Jelisaveta and eleven-year-old Lady Nephele meet a surprising ally: Lady Maria Follia, the Parisian mistress of King Louis, who helps Jelisaveta learn how to assume queenly power. When Jelisaveta’s second child is killed at age 1 ½ by a Bosnian noble crazed by the Queen Mother’s greed for Bosnian land, Jelisaveta descends into madness that the Queen Mother says is possession by the devil. Lady Nephele receives permission from King Louis to take Jelisaveta to the Franciscan Convent in Zadar for safety. In Zadar the two young women open a school for the daughters of Croatian nobles.
In Book IV – Cost of a Crown Queen Jelisaveta, now 22 years old, risks asserting her agency, an action that could result in her banishment to a convent. She tells her husband King Louis that so long as the Queen Mother remains in residence in Visegrad, there is no place for Jelisaveta in the castle nor in the kingdom. She seeks permission to return to Zadar with Lady Nephele to continue the school for girls and open a safe house for abused women. King Louis agrees to fund Jelisaveta’s projects. The next three years are happy ones for the young women, teaching, writing, helping women find safety at Hypatia House. But the Dominican Inquisitors are increasingly angered by the success of the school for girls, because the Roman Church forbade education to females. Meanwhile in Hungary, King Louis dies without naming an heir.
Book V – Revelations reveals to us the terrifying outcomes of the battles for the Hungarian and Polish thrones. Queen Jelisaveta tries valiantly to save those thrones for her daughters, but she faces fierce opposition from the noble houses of Hungary and Poland and the European monarchs who have been ready to seize the country by military force if necessary. She learns that her life and the life of her daughter King Maria are in danger. With the help of the Queen’s supporters, Lady Nephele escapes and vows to write the truth about what happened to Queen Jelisaveta.