Helena of Hungary, Duchess of Austria

Helena (Ilona) of Hungary (c. 1155 – 25 December 1199), a member of the royal Árpád dynasty, was Duchess of Austria from 1177 and Styria from 1192 to 1194 by her marriage with the Babenberg duke Leopold V of Austria.

For other people with the same name, see Ilona of Hungary.
Helena of Hungary
Duchess consort of Austria
Duchess Helena, Babenberger Stammbaum, Klosterneuburg Monastery
Bornc. 1155
Died(1199-12-25)25 December 1199
Burial
Heiligenkreuz Abbey
SpouseLeopold V, Duke of Austria
IssueFrederick I
Leopold VI
Agnes of Austria
Bertha of Austria
HouseÁrpád
FatherGéza II of Hungary
MotherEuphrosyne of Kiev

Biography

Helena was the daughter of King Géza II of Hungary and his wife, Euphrosyne of Kiev, a daughter of Grand Prince Mstislav I of Kiev by his second wife, Liubava Dmitrievna. Little is known of her life or character. The only clear facts about her life are that at Pentecost 1174 she was married to Leopold V of Austria. The marriage reflected the westward orientation of the Hungarian House of Árpád in view of the expansionist politics of the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos. Leopold's sister Agnes had already married King Stephen III of Hungary, Helena's elder brother who had died in 1172.

Helena and Leopold had issue; he died on 31 December 1194 as a result of a horse accident. Helena died five years later in 1199[1] and was buried beside her husband in Heiligenkreuz Abbey.

Marriage and children

By her marriage to Duke Leopold V, Helena had at least two (possibly as many as four) children:

Footnotes
  1. Cawley, Charles (April 2014), Hungary Kings, Medieval Lands database, Foundation for Medieval Genealogy
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