Hermann II, Count of Celje

Hermann II (; early 1360s – 13 October 1435), Count of Celje, was a Styrian prince and magnate, most notable as the faithful supporter and father-in-law of the Hungarian king and Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. Hermann's loyalty to the King ensured him generous grants of land and privileges that led him to become the greatest landowner in Slavonia. He served as governor of Carniola, and twice as ban of the combined provinces of Slavonia, Croatia and Dalmatia, and was recognized by a treaty in 1427 as heir presumptive to the Kingdom of Bosnia. The House of Celje's rise to power culminated in achieving the dignity of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. At the peak of his power, he controlled two thirds of the land in Carniola, most of Lower Styria, and exercised power over all of medieval Croatia. Hermann was one of the most important representatives of the House of Celje, having brought the dynasty from regional importance to the foreground of Central European politics.

Family

Hermann II was the younger son of Count Hermann I of Celje and his wife, Catherine of Bosnia. The House of Celje were Styrian vassals of the Habsburg dukes of Styria and Carinthia with estates along the river Savinja, in present-day Slovenia, as well as in much of Carniola and parts of Carinthia. Frederick's rebellion against Hermann ended with Frederick's imprisonment. followed in 1399 Hermann was one of the founding members of Sigismund's elite Order of the Dragon, established in 1408.

The most outstanding among the counts of Celje, Hermann inherited the headship of a family of merely local significance and eventually transformed it into one of Central Europe's most prominent noble families. Anna, married Nicholas II Garai, Palatine of Hungary, had issue; Elizabeth (died 1426), married Henry VI of Gorizia, had issue; Barbara (1396–1451), married Sigismund of Luxembourg, had issue.

Family tree

Descendants Through his great granddaughter Elizabeth of Austria, Queen of Poland, Hermann is the ancestor of the last five Jagiellonian kings of Poland, Saint Casimir, the Vasa kings of Poland, King Charles III (17th great-grandson), King Harald V (16th great-grandson), King Felipe VI (17th great-grandson), King Carl XVI Gustaf (16th great-grandson), and King Frederik X (17th great-grandson). Through her sister Anne of Luxembourg, Landgravine of Thuringia, he is the ancestor of the Dukes and later Kings of Prussia and Emperors of Germany.