Queen at the Crossroads

Prologue: 1315

     The inner bailey of the castle was busy with the Duke's company.  They had just come over from another castle and were now unpacking.  Men unloading the carts were running in to each other, and livestock was on the loose.  A flock of chickens was blocking a pathway.  A girl was freely skipping though the path, not looking at what was ahead.  A squawk of a chicken, and then a high screech was heard.  Running into the path of the chickens, the girl fell flat on her face, into the mud.  

     A milkmaid ran towards the girl to see if she was alright.  She saw the girl struggling to get out of the mud.  The milkmaid grabbed her hand to help her up, as the others in the courtyard went about there business.  As soon as she was standing, the girl wiped the mud off of her face.  Looking at the girl's face, the milkmaid was struck by the child's ice-blue eyes.  She recognized this girl.  She knew that she shouldn't have been skipping around the courtyard.  The milkmaid could not talk to this girl without permission.  She just bowed, and then looked around for the duke or duchess.

"Elzbieta!  Where are you?" a woman's voice called.  There was no response.  Then the duchess appeared from around the corner.  She then gasped in astonishment.  

"What in God's name has happened to you Elzbieta!  We need to get you cleaned up fast."

A smile crossed the milkmaid's face.  She had guessed right.  This girl was Elzbieta, daughter of the duke. 

Elzbieta stepped into the bath.  "This water is much too hot." she said.  

"You can't go to supper like this.  You must get washed off now!"  Her mother, Duchess Jadwiga scolded her.      

"No. I'll burn."  

Jadwiga turned to a nearby attendant.  "Pour some cold water in here."

Soon after the water cooled, Elzbieta climbed in.  A knock was heard at the door, and the duchess's chamberlain admitted in Elzbieta's older sister, Kunigunde.

"I heard you were out running in the mud." said Kunigunde.  "The more you misbehave, the more people will think less of our father and family.  Everything you do can help or hurt our family's honor." 

"I just wanted to live like a lowborn girl for a little.  You and mama always tell me the stories of your time spent as ordinary townsfolk before I was born.  I would like to experience that too."   

Kunigunde let out a little laugh.  "It was of time of great uncertainty.  We were very unsure what would become of us.  We were doing that because father was exiled and we had to go into hiding.  You are fortunate that you did not live through that."

Unlike most girls of her rank, Kunigunde's first memories did not involve living as a duke's daughter in a castle, attended by her share of nurses, dressed in the finest clothing, and playing with many well-crafted toys.  In July 1299, her father, Wladyslaw was sent into exile.  Wladyslaw and King Wenceslaus of Bohemia were fighting for the vacant Polish throne.  When Wladyslaw's army was defeated, the duke left the country.  Jadwiga was left behind with her three children, Kunigunde, then four, Stephen, then two and the baby Wladyslaw.  For the safety of her and the children, they lived in disguise as ordinary townspeople.  The duke returned in 1304, and soon afterwards Elzbieta was conceived.  Just months after Elzbieta's birth in 1305, the King of Bohemia died, and Wladyslaw was able to regain control of his duchies.  Wladyslaw and Jadwiga saw Elzbieta as a God-sent gift for these reasons, and knew she would go far in life.  

Uncertainty and tragedy still followed the family though.  It was still far from certain if Wladyslaw would fulfill his dream of becoming King of a united Poland.  Worse of all, the next year, his nine-year-old son and heir, Stephen died.  Jadwiga blamed their time spent in hiding on the decline in Stephen's health.  In 1310, a new baby boy, Casimir, was born, and in a way, helped the grieving parents.  But the next year, the duke and duchess lost their twelve-year-old son, Wladyslaw.  Once again, Jadwiga wondered if this had to do with how his earliest days were spent.  Kunigunde was the only survivor of the three eldest children.  

Kunigunde, now twenty, was tall, towering above both of her parents.  She was deeply skilled in many things, based on how she spent her earliest years.  Her parents needed all the allies they could get, and Kunigunde was married to Duke Bernard of Swidnica, a distant relative from her own Piast dynasty when was she fifteen.  Now she had three children.                

After Elzbieta ate supper, she was sent back to the room she shared with her younger siblings.  The nurses were entertaining her five-year-old brother, Casimir, and her seven-year-old sister, Jadzia with a puppet show.  Elzbieta sighed, and plopped down on the seat by the window, and picked up an embroidery she had been working on earlier.  She often felt lonely.  Of all her siblings, she was the odd one in the middle.  Jadzia, the one closest to her in age was silent and sickly.  Her parents thought that it was best if Jadzia become a nun, and she could depart for the convent any day now.  But others argued that they should still consider her for marriage.  But Elzbieta herself was the one who her parents would marry off next.  She knew that her father's household members were already speculating about who she might marry.  That thought crossed her mind, but she decided now was not the time to think about it.  She instead concentrated on finishing her embroidery, the only thing that mattered to her right now.