A Little bit of art

Maria Karolina Rosalia Johanna Countess Nemes de Hidvégi et Oltszem (April 5, 1826–April 18, 1906). She was the daughter of Johannes Nepomunk Nemes de Hidvégi et Oltszem (born 1792) and Maria Karolina Berchtold (born May 21, 1795). She married Count Vladimir Logothetti, whos lineage descends from the Byzantine Emperor Nikophros II LOGOTHETES (REIGN 802-811) on August 4, 1822 in Tamassy. They had four children:
 
-Hugo II (1852–1918), later a high Austro-Hungarian diplomat.
 
-Alfred (1853–1923), Austro-Hungarian army officer and after 1918 Romanian landowner.
 
-Rosalia (1856–1942), honorary lady of the Noble Ladies' Convent Maria Schul in Brünn (Brno).
 
-Maria (1859–1929), married Paul Lamoral Baron Taxis von Bordogna und Valnigra (1852–1901).

Róza Laborfalvi (b. Judit Benke de Laborfalva, Miskolc, 8 April 1817 – Budapest, 20 November 1886) Hungarian actress, wife of novelist Mór Jókai.
 
She was the daughter of the actor and theatre director József Benke. Her father was a Székely noble.[1] She started her career in the Castle Theatre of Buda in 1833. From 1837 she played in the National Theatre of Pest. Many have praised her beautiful alto voice, her looks, her talent for recitation and her expressive glance.
 
On March 15, 1848 she met the writer Mór Jókai at a performance of József Katona's The Viceroy. They married in the same year. Their marriage caused a scandal; several of the writer's friends (among them Sándor Petőfi) were against the marriage, mostly because she had a 12-year-old illegitimate daughter, Róza Benke, whose father was the actor Márton Lendvay. The opponents of the marriage were reconciled when Laborfalvi saved Jókai's life during the revolution of 1848/49. (Róza Benke later had an illegitimate daughter herself, Róza the youngest, who later married the painter Árpád Feszty).
 
Until her retirement in 1859 Laborfalvi was the most successful actress of the era. On September 3, 1857 the newly built National Theatre of Miskolc opened with her guest performance and Jókai's speech. She later appeared on the same stage in 1883, as her last performance.
 
Her most important roles
 
Gertrudis (The Viceroy); Volumina (Shakespeare: Coriolanus); Mary, Queen of Scots (Schiller); Lady Macbeth (Macbeth); Goneril (King Lear); Orsina (Lessing: Emilia Galotti); Lady Milford (Schiller: Intrigue and Love).

Adila Fachiri (26 February 1886[1] – 15 December 1962) was a Hungarian violinist who had an international career but made her home in England. She was the sister of the violinist Jelly d'Arányi.
 
Born Adila Arányi de Hunyadvár in Budapest, her early musical education was at the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. She began to study violin when she was ten years old, under Jenő Hubay. At the age of 17 she won the artists' diploma, the highest musical distinction in Hungary. She was a grandniece of Joseph Joachim, and she then studied with him in Berlin until his death, being possibly the only private pupil he ever accepted. He bequeathed to her one of his Stradivarius violins.
 
She first went to England in 1909, and in 1915 she married Alexander Fachiri, an English barrister living in London. By 1924 she had played in public in the chief cities of Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, France and the Netherlands, as well as appearing regularly at London concerts.
 
Adila Fachiri made a recording of the Beethoven 10th violin sonata with Donald Tovey.[2] She was the dedicatee of the two violin sonatas of Béla Bartók, and of the 1930 violin concerto by Sir Arthur Somervell.
 
On 3 April 1930, she and her sister gave the first performance of the Concerto for Two Violins of Gustav Holst, at a Royal Philharmonic concert at the Queen's Hall, under the direction of Oskar Fried. Holst wrote the concerto for them.
 
The sisters were concerned together in a spiritualistic séance in London in March 1933, at which the existence of Robert Schumann's Violin Concerto in D minor was revealed to them through the 'voices' of Schumann himself and of their late granduncle, Joachim.
 
She died in 1962, aged 73.

(I think I have done a set on her, except the portrait of her was an old black and white sketch from an old book.)
 
Elisabeth of Austria (1436 – 30 August 1505), (in Polish Elżbieta Rakuszanka, Hungarian: Erzsébet), was a Polish-Lithuanian queen. In Polish, she is known as Elżbieta Rakuszanka and Elżbieta Austriaczka, both names meaning Elisabeth of Austria, or Elżbieta Habsburżanka, meaning Elisabeth of Habsburg.
 
Elisabeth was the daughter of King Albert of Hungary (also King of Bohemia, and elected but never crowned King of Germany) and his wife Elisabeth of Luxembourg, daughter of Sigismund of Hungary (later also King of Bohemia and Holy Roman emperor). On 10 March 1454, she married King Casimir IV of Poland. Four of her sons became kings, which is why she is also called "mother of the Jagiellons" (or "mother of kings").
 
After the 1457 death of Elisabeth's childless brother, King Ladislaus the Posthumous, she and her family started to advance their claims to the thrones of Bohemia and Hungary. Ultimately, her eldest son became elected to both monarchies.
 
Her younger sons, in turn, became monarchs of Poland and Lithuania.
 
Upon the death of her brother Ladislaus, his remaining heiresses shared the inherited rights in a way which put all their mother's rights to Polish principalities to Elisabeth and her children. Elisabeth's said mother, also named Elisabeth, was the only child of the then deceased Emperor Sigismund, himself the eldest son and heir of his mother, Elisabeth of Pomerania, heiress of her mother, Elisabeth of Poland, the eldest daughter of Casimir III of Poland who also had inherited the principality of Kujavia (the elder branch of Masovia-Sandomir) and some rights to successions in parts of Greater Poland and Silesian principalities (Wladyslaw the Short's wife was from Poznan branch and mother from Wroclaw and Legnica branch). Since 1431, no other legitimate descendants of Casimir III survived than Elisabeth of Pomerania's. This was the way some ancient Piast estate property passed to the Jagiellons.
 
In 1467, she renounced her claim to the Duchy of Luxembourg to Charles the Bold,[citation needed] Duke of Burgundy, whose father had bought the territory in 1443 from Elisabeth, Duchess of Luxembourg.
 
Casimir and Elisabeth had the following children:
 
Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary (1456–1516), who became elected to thrones earlier held by Elisabeth's parents (Wladyslaw, Vladislav, Ulaszlo)
Hedwig (1457–1502). Duchess of Bavaria in Landshut, wife of Duke George.
Saint Casimir (Kazimierz) (1458–84)
John I Albert of Poland (Jan Olbracht, Jan Wojciech) (1459–1501)
Alexander (1461–1506) of Lithuania, then also of Poland
Sophia (Zofia) (1464–1512). Margravine of Brandenburg in Ansbach, wife of Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and mother of Albert of Prussia
Elisabeth (Elżbieta) (1465–66)
Sigismund I of Poland (Zygmunt) (1467–1548)
Frederick (Fryderyk) (1468–1503) cardinal-archbishop of Gniezno.
Elisabeth (Elżbieta II) (1472–80)
Anna (1476–1503). Duchess of Pomerania, wife of Duke Bogislas X.
Barbara (1478–1534). Duchess of Sacony, wife of George, Duke of Saxony.
Elisabeth (Elżbieta)(1482–1517). Duchess of Legnica in Silesia, wife of Duke Frederick II.

Empress Xiaozheyi (25 July 1854 – 27 March 1875), also known as the Jiashun Empress, was the Empress Consort of the Tongzhi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty.
 
Empress Xiaozheyi was born in the Alute clan, which was under the Mongol Plain Blue Banner. Her personal name was unknown.
 
Lady Alute's father Coci was the top candidate in the 1865 imperial examination, and was also the only top candidate of Mongol ancestry in the Qing Dynasty. He was a professor in the Hanlin Academy and also served as Secretary of Ministry of Revenue. Lady Alute's mother was the daughter of Duanhua and Empress Dowager Ci'an's aunt.
 
Alute was tutored by her father since young and she demonstrated high potential and intelligence as a child. She could read "ten lines at a glance". She also showed interest and talent in poetry, literature, music and art. Under the influence of her father, Lady Alute learned to write with both hands aptly. She was famous among the Manchu aristocracy for her talent, moral character and looks.
 
On 15 September 1872, Lady Alute was chosen to be Empress Consort by the Tongzhi Emperor. She was specially chosen to help in the reconciliation of rivals in the Qing imperial court. Lady Alute's maternal grandfather Duanhua used to be an enemy of Empress Dowager Cixi in the past. It was said that there was an argument between the empress dowagers Cixi and Ci'an over the choice of empress. Ci'an, who favoured Lady Alute, claimed that the empress should possess high moral standards, while Cixi felt that the empress should be wise and shrewd. The conflict was resolved by the Tongzhi Emperor when he eventually chose Lady Alute for Empress. Cixi was displeased with Tongzhi's decision. Another four candidates chosen for Empress became Tongzhi's concubines. One of them was Lady Alute's aunt, Imperial Honoured Consort Zhuanghe (1857 - 1921).
 
Empress Dowager Cixi once complained about Lady Alute:
 
"We made a mistake in selecting a wife for him. How could we tell that her beauty was false? She was very beautiful, but she hated us."
 
On the night of 15 October 1872 at around 11.30pm (an auspicious hour recommended by imperial astrologers), Lady Alute left her family residence for the Forbidden City. Her furniture - a bed, a mirror, two wardrobes, chairs and eight marriage chests - had symbolically preceded her. After their marriage, the Tongzhi Emperor evidently favoured Lady Alute over his four other concubines. The emperor spent almost every night with Lady Alute, while the four consorts waited in vain for the emperor to summon them. Empress Dowager Cixi was unhappy about the unfair treatment of the emperor's spouses and she turned hostile towards Lady Alute. She warned Lady Alute that as empress she should allow the emperor to share favor equally among his wives and not seize him for herself. Cixi also reminded Lady Alute that since both she and Tongzhi were still young, they should spend more time learning how to govern the country. When she saw no signs of change in Tongzhi's attitude, Cixi eventually ordered the emperor and empress to be separated, so that they could focus more on learning how to become ruling sovereigns.
 
The Tongzhi Emperor could not cope well with loneliness so he grew more ill tempered over time. Once a eunuch secretly suggested to Tongzhi to visit brothels outside the Forbidden City. As a result, it was assumed that the emperor contracted syphilis. Empress Dowager Cixi regarded this incident as a humiliating scandal, so she warned the imperial physicians to remain silent about it. The physicians lied that the emperor was ill with smallpox and prescribed medicine and treatment for smallpox.
 
A court official Yun Yu-ting wrote in his memoirs that Lady Alute was visiting the Tongzhi Emperor on his sickbed, and complaining about Cixi's interfering and domineering ways, was happily looking forward to the day Tongzhi would be well again and they could live and rule together. Cixi, tipped off by eunuchs, entered the room in stockinged feet, and hearing Lady Alute's criticisms, flew into a rage and rampaged through the room, seized the empress by the hair and hit her, shouting that by making love to the emperor she would cause him to be ill again. She ordered the eunuchs to take her away and slap her on the face.
 
The Tongzhi Emperor died in January 1875. Some sources claim that Lady Alute was pregnant at that time. Tongzhi had not chosen a successor before his death, so it was up to Empress Dowager Cixi to choose the new emperor. Cixi chose her three year old nephew Zaitian, who succeeded Tongzhi as the Guangxu Emperor.
 
Lady Alute was not mentioned in the crisis over the succession. Neither was she granted the title of Empress Dowager, which was the custom after the death of an emperor. She received the title of Jiashun Empress instead. Within 100 days of the death of the Tongzhi Emperor, Empress Dowager Cixi pushed the blame of the emperor's death on Lady Alute. She ordered Lady Alute's food rations to be reduced. Lady Alute wrote a letter to her father asking for help, but his reply was simply, "Your Majesty knows what to do." It was said that Lady Alute committed suicide but official court records state that she died after a long and serious illness. Empress Dowager Cixi granted Lady Alute the posthumous title of "Empress Xiaozhe".
 
In 1876 a censor to the throne wrote that Lady Alute, as a wife who had committed suicide after her husband's death, should be posthumously honoured. Empress Dowager Cixi rebuked him curtly for writing a memorial based on rumors.
 
In 1900 as the armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance pressed on Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi asked Lady Alute's father Coci to remain behind and handle state affairs. Coci and his family committed suicide after the capital fell to the foreigners.

Vilma Pázmándy de Szomor et Somodor (1839 – 1919) was a Hungarian noblewoman, wife of Count Ödön Lónyay de Nagylónya et Vásárosnamény. She was a daughter of Dénes Pázmándy. Vilma Pázmándy and Ödön Lónyay had four children:
 
Gábor (1861–1917)
Elemér (1863–1946), second husband of Princess Stéphanie of Belgium
Sarolta
Vilma (1869-1897)

Bona Sforza (2 February 1494 or 2 February 1493 – 19 November 1557) was a member of the powerful Milanese House of Sforza. In 1518, she became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.
 
She was the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife Isabella of Naples. Her older brother was Francesco Sforza and her sisters were Ippolita Maria and Bianca Maria. All of Bona's siblings died young.
 
When her mother Isabella of Naples died in 1524, Bona succeeded to the titles Duchess of Bari and Princess of Rossano. She also became the holder of the Brienne claim to the title of King of Jerusalem.
 
Bona was born into the powerful and wealthy Italian Sforza dynasty who had ruled Milan since 1447. Although her father belonged to the authority of the Duchy of Milan, he was ousted by his uncle Ludovico Sforza, known to history as "Il Moro". He exercised power on behalf of the young prince, until his death in 1494 at the castle in Pavia. Shortly afterwards, the Princess Isabella, together with her daughters, went to Bari. To regain political significance and their former possessions, Isabella had to find a husband for Bona (her surviving daughter). Her first attempts were unsuccessful due to the unfavourable political situation at the time but due to the support of the House of Habsburg she succeeded in marrying Bona to the widowed Polish King Sigismund I the Old. The marriage ceremonies and Bona's coronation were held in Krakow on 18 April 1518.
 
In her youth, Bona obtained a good education. Her teacher was Crisostomo Colonna, a member of the Academy of Pont, who supervised her education along with Antonio Galateo. She received instruction in history, law, administration and theology. She was thrifty, economical, and she also had the ability to influence people. She demonstrated this skill in all her activities.
 
Almost from the beginning of her life in Poland, Queen Bona tried to gain a strong political position. She began to form her own cabal and also benefited from the support of the king. She was also supported by Piotr Kmita Sobieński, Andrew Ladislaus and Piotr Gamrat, taking them to her offices and creating the so-called Triumvirate. She managed to also get Pope Leo X to decide on the appointment of fifteen ecclesiastical benefice of very high importance (e.g. in Kraków, Gniezno, Poznań, Włoclawek and Frombork).
 
Bona came out of the belief that one of the most important things needed for the effective implementation of policies and plans for strengthening royal authority is access to appropriate high finance. Therefore she set herself the objective of magnification and the assembly domain of dynastic wealth as much as possible, which would give the Jagiello family financial independence. The family gained numerous estates in Lithuania, and finally in 1536-1546 they took over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This generated huge profits.
 
In 1527, as a result of a fall from a horse, the queen gave birth prematurely to her second son Albert, who died at birth.[4] After this event, the Queen could not have any more children. Bona, wanting to ensure the continuity of the Jagiellonian dynasty on the Polish throne, decided to make the nobles and magnates to recognise her only son, the minor Sigismund Augustus as heir to the throne. First, the Lithuanian nobles gave him the ducal throne (ca. 1527-1528). Then, in 1529 he was crowned Sigismund II Augustus. This led to huge opposition from Polish lords, which led to the adoption of the bill that the next coronation will take place after the death of Sigismund Augustus, and that will consent of all the noble brothers.
 
From the outset, Bona was reluctant to the growing power of the Radziwiłł family and was later accused of poisoning her daughter-in-law Barbara Radziwiłł.
Queen Bona as a widow
 
In foreign policy, she was a fierce opponent of the Habsburgs and a supporter of a closer alliance with France. In Hungary during the wars that took place after the Battle of Mohacs in 1526, supported by János Szapolyai against the Habsburgs. Bona also sought to maintain good relations with Sublime Porte and contacts with Hürrem Sultan, the most important wife Suleyman the Magnificent. Bona was also a spokesperson for connecting Silesia to the Crown in return for her hereditary principality Bari and Rosano, but Sigismund the Old did not support the idea and the whole project collapsed. Bona managed to also carry out tax reforms in Lithuania and agricultural products (including uniform duties of the peasants and a unit of area measurements).
 
In 1539 Bona Sforza had presided, reluctantly, over the burning of 80-year old Katarzyna Weiglowa for heresy, but this event ushered in an era of tolerance, and her confessor Francesco Lismanino assisted in the establishment of a Calvinist Academy in Pińczów.
 
In 1544, Sigismund II Augustus was given independent authority in Lithuania, and he moved there. It was the cause of a significant weakening of power in the queen, who did not want his departure. The pair had originally entered into a conflict over her son's marriage to Barbara Radziwiłł.
 
On the 1 April 1548, Sigismund I the Old died, leaving Bona a widow. Their son succeeded him.
 
After the death of the King, Bona moved to Masovia and stayed there for eight years. Then she moved back to her native Bari.
 
A year after returning to the Duchy of Bari Bona Sforza was poisoned by her trusted officer, Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda. Pappacoda was acting on behalf of King Philip II of Spain, who wished to avoid repaying his sizable debts to the Polish queen. She was buried in St. Nicholas' Basilica in Bari, where her daughter Anna had a beautiful tomb made in the current Renaissance style for her remains.
 
She is one of the characters on the painting Prussian Homage by Jan Matejko.
 
Bona and Sigismund I the Old had six children:
 
Isabella (18 January 1519 – 15 September 1559), was a Queen of Hungary, wife of John Zápolya,
Sigismund II Augustus (1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572), was a King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania,
Sophia (13 July 1522 – 28 May 1575), was a Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, wife of Henry V, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg,
Anna (18 October 1523 – 9 September 1596), elected Queen of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, wife of Stefan Batory,
Catherine (1 November 1526 – 16 September 1583), was a Queen of Sweden and Grand Duchess of Finland, wife of John III of Sweden,
Wojciech Olbracht, born and died 20 September 1527.

Zsófia Bosnyák (Slovak: Žofia Bosniakova, Nagysurány (Šurany), June 2, 1609 – Sztrecsnó (Strečno), April 28, 1644) was a Hungarian noble and wife of Count Ferenc Wesselényi.
 
Bosnyák was the daughter of Baron Tamás Bosnyák and Mária Kenderes. At the age of seventeen, she married Mihály Serényi, captain of Fülek (Filakovo) and Szendrő Castles, but the marriage lasted only for a few months (until Serényi's death in March 1626). After the death of her first husband, she returned to Nagysurány to her parents. Later that year, her mother died, and in the following year, she lost her 22-year-old brother. Her father was serving in Fülek Castle at that time, so it was she who dealt with the management of their estate. Soon, she became known by the neighborhood as a generous supporter of the poor and the sick. At the age of 21, as a result of the mediation of cardinal Péter Pázmány, she married Ferenc Wesselényi. They lived in the Sztrecsnó (Strečno) Castle and had two boys, Ádám (1630) and László (1633).
 
After Bosnyák's father died of cholera in 1634, her husband Ferenc Wesselényi took over the duty of the captain at the Fülek Castle. Wesselényi rarely came home to his family which, in the meantime, moved to Vágtapolca (Teplička nad Váhom) on account of many attacks against Fülek by Turkish soldiers. The management of their estate and the care of the children remained the duty of Bosnyák. In Vágtapolca, she took care of the poor, and with her husband, she founded an almshouse in the village which also served as a hospital. People of the neighborhood thought of her as a living saint.
 
Later Wesselényi had an affair with Mária Széchy, known as the Venus of Murány.
 
After her second husband's affair, Bosnyák donated even more than before to the poor and at nights, she went to pray in the chapel. According to a legend, she had a vision in which the Virgin Mary appeared and warned her to pray.
 
Bosnyák died at the age of 35 and was buried in the castle chapel.
Remains
 
In 1689, the castle changed hands, and the new owner decided to transfer the remains of the Wesselényi family members who were buried in the castle. During the transfer, the mummified body of Bosnyák was found which was later transferred to the church of Vágtapolca.
 
Her final tomb became a place of pilgrimage. Every year on Assumption Day (15 August), many people from the neighborhood came to visit her glass-covered coffin.
 
On April 1, 2009, a 31-year-old Slovak man broke the glass cover of the coffin and lit the mummy on fire after entering the church with a key obtained from a nearby confectioner shop. The mummy has burned to cinder within minutes. The man, who was thought to be suffering from schizophrenia, was sent to a psychiatric clinic. He claimed that Bosnyák was a vampire, and came to haunt him at night.

(Adèle on the left with her husband, Louis VII of France.)
 

Adèle of Champagne (c. 1140 – 4 June 1206), also known as Adelaide and Alix, was the third wife of Louis VII of France (they married in November 1160, only five weeks after his previous wife Constance of Castile had died at childbirth) and the mother of his only male heir, the future Philip II. She was also the daughter of Theobald II of Champagne and Matilda of Carinthia.
 
She was active in the political life of the kingdom, along with her brothers Henry I of Champagne, Theobald V of Blois, and Guillaume aux Blanches Mains, archbishop of Reims. Henry and Theobald were married to daughters of Louis VII and his first wife, Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine. She and her brothers felt their position threatened when the heiress of Artois, Isabelle of Hainaut, married Adèle's son Philip. Adèle formed an alliance with Hugh III, Duke of Burgundy and Count Philip of Flanders, and even tried to interest Frederick Barbarossa. War broke out in 1181, and relations became so bad that Philippe attempted to divorce Isabelle in 1184.
 
Although her power decreased after the accession of Philip in 1180, she acted as regent of the kingdom in 1190 while Philip was away on the Third Crusade. She returned to the shadows when he returned in 1192 but participated in the founding of many abbeys.
 
She died on 4 June 1206, and was buried in the church of Pontigny Abbey near Auxerre.
 
She had two children with Louis VII of France:
 
Dieudonné, the future Philip Augustus (born 21 August 1165), Louis VII's only male heir
Agnes of France, Byzantine Empress (1171 – after 1207)