The Memoirs of Helene Kottanner (1439-1440)

Eye-witness account of the theft of the crown of St Stephen in 15c Hungary.

Helene Kottanner was servant and confidante of the widowed Queen Elizabeth of Hungary (1409-1442). This is her first-person account of the part she played in the theft of the holy crown of St Stephen from the treasury of the royalstronghold Visegrad on 20 February, 1440, when the crown was smuggled out of the stronghold hidden in a pillow. It was immediately rushed on a sled to the queen, who within hours of its arri...