So, as well as searching for traces of Dracula, it is well worth visiting Alba Iulia to pay your respects at the tomb of the Polish princess.

Izabela Jagiellonka – Polish princess, Lithuanian princess, Queen of Hungary

Izabela Jagiellonka (1519–1559) was a Polish princess and a Lithuanian princess; in later years, she became Queen of Hungary and – on behalf of her son – Queen Regent. Biographers provide many details to supplement this general description.

The beloved daughter of Queen Bona and Sigismund the Old was groomed from infancy to take the crown, and there is little exaggeration in this statement, for, in accordance with the customs of the time, the first suitors appeared when the princess was barely two months old. From then on, further candidates arrived, and behind each of them, as one might easily surmise, lay political considerations. Finally, in 1539, the twenty-year-old Isabella married John Zápolya, King of Hungary, who was thirty years her senior. Unfortunately, her husband died after just one year of marriage, leaving behind a son, named John Sigismund in honour of his father and grandfather.

Contrary, however, to the original arrangements, which were intended to guarantee relative peace, chaos and lurking dangers awaited the young widow and her young son. Suffice it to say that, although John Sigismund was immediately proclaimed King of Eastern Hungary, he was unable to assume power. Consequently, the Jagiellonian regent found herself locked in a struggle for the throne: on the one hand against a rival for the Hungarian crown, Ferdinand I of Habsburg; on the other, against her late husband’s adviser, the influential Bishop Jerzy Utiešenović. She received support from Sultan Suleiman himself and his Slavic wife, Roksolana, a fact immortalised in Turkish paintings. Unfortunately, even such a powerful ally could not guarantee peace for Izabela Jagiellonka.

Despite the settlement with the Habsburgs, under which the Silesian lands were to serve as compensation for her renunciation of her and her son’s rights to the Hungarian crown, this proved insufficient redress. As a result, the Polish princess settled in Poland and conducted further political negotiations from there.

Stefan Batory’s Transylvanian retinue

In February 1556, the diplomatic balance tipped in favour of Isabella Jagiellon. Whilst in Lviv, she learnt that the Transylvanian Diet had granted her and John Sigismund authority over Hungary. As early as September of that same year, she was welcomed in Koloszwar (now Cluj-Napoca) by Stefan Batory himself, then a young Hungarian magnate.

The Polish queen regained power, but she was unable to retain the entire kingdom and, as a result of various conflicts, came to rule only the Principality of Transylvania and the towns of Tokaj, Chust and Wielki Waradyn. Once again, however, her reign was not free from antagonisms. The unyielding Habsburgs continued to stir up new conflicts, and the queen herself, who had a reputation for tolerance – Transylvania was a multi-faith melting pot at the time – was accused of poisoning her opponents. It is not known how much of this is true and how much – as in the case of her Italian mother, Bona Sforza – is mere urban legend.

To this day, many more or less sensational rumours circulate regarding the death of Isabella Jagiellon. Witnesses, however, agree that the brave queen spent the last six months bedridden, from where she commanded her troops and, mustering what little strength she had left, would rise only to receive envoys. She died on 15 September 1559 following a bout of an illness unknown to us. All that is known is that she managed to say goodbye to her son and give him her final instructions, the most important of which was to seek reconciliation with Austria.

The tomb of Isabella Jagiellon in St Michael’s Cathedral in Alba Iulia

Isabella Jagiellonka was posthumously ‘encased in marble’, to use Kazimierz Przerwa-Tetmajer’s poetic phrase. In Alba Iulia, then the capital of Transylvania, near the northern aisle of St Michael’s Cathedral, stands the royal chapel. There, amongst other tombs – including that of John Sigismund – slightly to one side, lies the tomb of Izabela Jagiellonka.

It is a magnificent, free-standing monument made of white stone, with its longer side resting against the wall; it is of the so-called ‘pulpit’ type. It consists of a rather tall catafalque covered with bas-reliefs depicting motifs from the parable of the Good Samaritan. Above this stands a figure of the late Queen of Hungary depicted in a coffin pose, that is, with her body upright, her head resting on a small pillow and her hands modestly folded upon her stomach.

The attire in which the Jagiellonian princess is depicted is particularly noteworthy, as this is no ordinary robe but a ceremonial garment with richly decorated, puffed sleeves, crowned by a crown and sceptre. It is significant that the decision was made to include these items, given that Ferdinand Habsburg had once ordered their return to the Jagiellonian princess. At the feet of the deceased lie coats of arms: the Polish coat of arms featuring the so-called Jagiellonian eagle, the Hungarian coat of arms, and the coats of arms of her husband, King John Zápolya, and her mother, Queen Bona.

Queen Isabella Jagiellon’s necklace and ring

When the very young Isabella Jagiellon began her life as a monarch in a foreign country hundreds of kilometres from home, she asked her parents in letters what she should eat there (let us remember that it was thanks to Queen Bona that Polish cuisine adopted the so-called ‘włoszczyzna’ and other Mediterranean delicacies), how to sleep and go about her daily life. In this school of life, however, she did not have many advisers.

She compensated for her husband’s sudden death, the birth of her son and the hardships of ruling the country on her own – as her malicious subjects claimed – with all manner of valuables. How much truth there is in this is difficult to say today. As a beloved daughter, she was spoilt at home; it is known that her mother supplied Kraków goldsmiths with precious metal to make chains for her daughters, and the regent herself advised her brother Sigismund II Augustus on where and what jewellery to buy. This costly hobby has left behind Polish jewellery pieces – two necklaces in the National Museum in Budapest and a remarkable ring with a ‘pointed diamond’, which is, unfortunately, in a private collection.

‘Sic fata volunt’ – the motto of Isabella Jagiellon

Isabella Jagiellon’s bond with the distant kingdom proved, as it turned out, to be far stronger than the jewels. The Hungarian cardinal Ferenc Forgách noted in his memoirs that in 1551, as she was being forced to leave Transylvania, the regent was said to have uttered – or, as others claimed, even carved her motto SFV – Sic fata volunt, meaning ‘Such is the will of fate’ – onto the bark of an oak tree.

Who knows how the fate of this part of Europe might have unfolded had this perceptive and talented queen not died prematurely?