Prohászka László: Polish Monuments - Our Budapest (Budapest, 2001)

Coat of Arms of Óbuda

GRACIA REX HUNGÁRIÁÉ. (Louis by the grace of God, king of Hungary).

In 1343 the castle of Óbuda was given as a present from Louis the Great to his mother, Queen Elisabeth, who was of Polish descent. This is why the coat-of- arms of Óbuda features both the Hungarian Anjou emblem as well as the Polish emblem with the crowned eagle. From then on until its destruction, the fortress was described as ‘the castle of queens’ in Hungarian historiography. Besides developing the castle, Elisabeth was also active in supporting the Óbuda Clarissa convent, which had a triple-aisled church. In 1380 Elisabeth, in line with her will, was buried in the convent. One item of the cloister treasury, the beautiful altar of queen Elisabeth, is today in the collection of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The first Hungarian ruler of Polish descent was Wladislas III (1424-44) of the House of Jagelló, who ascended to the Hungarian throne as Wladislas I in 1440. Aided by János Hunyadi, the young king was planning forceful measures to counter Turkish conquest. After a series of successes, however, the Hungarian- Polish army suffered a crushing defeat at Varna in November 1444, the king himself falling in the battle.

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