Coat of arms of Ulrich II
Ulrich II of Celje
(, ) (1406 – 9 November 1456), also known as
Ulrich Cillei, was
Count of Celje.
Ulrich II. was the son of
Frederick II, Count of
Celje, and Elizabeth
Frankopan. Little is known of his youth. About 1432 he married Catherine, daughter of
Đurađ Branković, despot of
Serbia.
His influence in the affairs of the
Kingdom of Hungary and the
Holy Roman Empire early overshadowed that of his father, together with whom he was made a prince of the Empire by Emperor
Sigismund (1436). Hence feuds with the
Habsburgs, wounded in their rights as overlords of Celje, ending, however, in an alliance with the Habsburg King
Albert II, who made Ulrich for a short while his lieutenant in
Bohemia. After Albert's death (1439) Ulrich took up the cause of his widow
Elizabeth, and presided at the coronation of her infant son
Ladislaus V Posthumus (1440).
A feud with the
Hunyadis followed, embittered by
John Hunyadi's attack on
Đurađ Branković of Serbia (1444) and his refusal to recognize Ulrich's claim to
Bosnia on the death of
Stephen Tvrtko II (1443). In 1446 Hunyadi, now regent of Hungary, harried the Celje territories in
Croatia-
Slavonia; but his power was broken at the
Second Battle of Kosovo (1448), and Count Ulrich was able to lead a successful crusade, nominally in the Habsburg interest, into Hungary (1450). In 1452 he forced Emperor
Frederick III to hand over the boy king Ladislaus V to his keeping, and became thus practically ruler of Hungary. In 1454 his power was increased by his succession to his father's vast wealth; and in 1456 after the death of his rival he was named by Ladislaus Captain General of Hungary, an office previously held by
John Hunyadi.
Young king Ladislus and in Ulrich of Celje, oil 1870
On the
8th of November, he entered
Belgrade with the king; the next day he was killed by
László Hunyadi's men in unknown circumstances. With him died the male line of the Counts of Celje.
Ulrich's ambition was criticized by Aeneas Sylvius (the later
Pope Pius II), although his writings were politically-minded.
Marriage and children
On
20 April,
1434, Ulrich married Catherine Cantakuzina. She was a daughter of
Đurađ Branković and
Eirene Kantakouzene. They had three children:
- Herman of Celje (d. 1452).
- Georg of Celje (d. 1445).
