A medieval queen finds herself caught between powerful nobles and foreign kings. Her reign over Bosnia is a constant struggle for survival.

The documents she signed limited her own power

This episode explores the turbulent reign of Helen, a queen of medieval Bosnia, and the forces that shaped her time on the throne. What would you do if the people who put you in power were the same ones tearing it away?

Person: Queen Helen
Date: 1391-1398
Location: Bosnia
Event: Discovery of 14 skeletons, one identified as a queen
Topic: Medieval Bosnian politics

- In 2014, construction workers near Bugojno, Bosnia, unearthed the ruins of a church and 14 skeletons, one belonging to a queen named Helen.
- Helen ruled Bosnia for approximately three years, navigating threats from a foreign king and the Ottoman Empire.
- Helen's husband, King Dabiša, came to the Bosnian throne in March 1391, succeeding Tvrtko I.
- In 1394, Dabiša signed an agreement designating Hungarian King Sigismund as his heir, a move observed by Bosnia's powerful nobles.
- Upon Dabiša's death in September 1395, the Bosnian nobles rejected Sigismund's claim and chose Helen to be queen, seeing her as a manageable solution.

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