Helena of Hungary, Queen of Croatia

Helen of Hungary, also known as Helen the Fair (Croatian: Jelena Lijepa; Hungarian: Ilona) (d. 1091), was a queen consort of Croatia.

Family

Helen was born as a Hungarian princess and was the daughter of Árpád dynasty's king Bela I, sister to Ladislaus I of Hungary, granddaughter of Polish king Mieszko II Lambert, and a great-granddaughter of Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria.

Marriage

Helen became queen of Croatia during her marriage with Croatian king Dmitar Zvonimir, a distant relative whom she married in 1063. They had a son named Radovan, who died in his late teens or early twenties, and daughters named Claudia and Vinica.

Helen had excellent family connections, being an aunt to Irene, the mother of the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos.

Helen was very popular with the Croats, and they often called her Jelena Lijepa ("Helen the Beautiful"). She is thought to have been an influential consort.

Upon the death of Zvonimir, Helen was said to have been quietly plotting the inheritance of the Croatian Crown for her brother, the King of Hungary, which caused a decade of war and instability in the kingdom. Helen died around 1091.

She is not to be confused with Helen of Zadar, who was the wife of Michael Krešimir II of Croatia.