Counts of Celsk

The Celtic Counts , also known under the German name von Zilli ( Cilli ) and Hungarian Zillei ( Cillei ), are the most significant feudal family of medieval Slovenia . According to documents, they can be traced from the XII century as the owners of the castle Zhovnek (German von Sannegg ), now dilapidated. They received a nickname from the castle of Cele , which passed into their possession in 1333.

Celsk
Coat of arms of Ulrich von Zilli
Nationality
Kingdom of Hungary

In the 14th century, the Celtic counts fought with the Signors of Gorizia and Tyrol on the Habsburg side. For their faithful service to the emperor, they were awarded allotments in Styria , Carinthia and Krajina . For Count Herman II, the Battle of Nikopol (1396) was a high point during which he saved the Hungarian King Sigismund , the future emperor, from personal death by valor. For this, the grateful monarch awarded the count the Zagorje region in northern Croatia with the city of Varazdin .

Widowed, Sigismund in 1408 married his daughter Barbara , nicknamed the detractors "German Messalina ." Among other circumstances, the choice of the bride was explained by the fact that the blood of the ancient Slavic rulers Kotromanich and Shubich flowed in the veins of Barbara. From this marriage, the heiress of the Hungarian and Bohemian crowns, Elizabeth of Luxembourg , the mother of King Ladislav Postum, was born.

Celsky castle .

A few years earlier, the Lithuanian Jagiello , widowed after the death of Jadwiga , married the niece and adoptive daughter of German, Anna Tselskaya , whose grandfather was the Polish king Casimir the Great . With this marriage, he strengthened his right to the Polish throne. Some of the Polish courtiers hoped to transfer the throne to the only child of Jagaila and Anna, young Jadwiga , but she died (possibly from poison) shortly before her marriage to Margrave of Brandenburg .

The last representative of the Tsilli clan - Ulrik Zillei , Earl of Ortenburg - was the grandson of Henry II. Katerina , the daughter of Serbian despot George Brankovich and the Byzantine princess Irina Kantakuzina , took him as a wife. He spent his whole life in the struggle with Janos Hunyadi and his supporters for the Bosnian crown and guardianship over his nephew Ladislav Postum. After the death of Janos, he became the de facto ruler of Hungary, but upon entering Belgrade he was killed by the adherents of Laszlo Hunyadi . His daughter and heiress was married to his brother Laszlo, Matthias .