with the strategically important castle of Skrad, instead. Elizabeth was married to the Celje scion around 1405, probably in one of the Celje estates in Carniola. Count Hermann bestowed the young couple with the castles of Samobor, Kostanjevica, Novo Mesto, Mehovo, and Krško, where they set residence. Troublesome marriage and death Elizabeth and Frederick had two sons, Ulrich II, Count of Celje and Frederick III; the latter would die as a child, while the former would remain his grandfather's sole heir. The marriage seems to have been an unhappy one, since the spouses lived separately from at least 1414 onward. The situation deteriorated to the extent that Elizabeth's father-in-law Hermann intervened in an attempt to reconcile the spouses. In 1422 (or 1423, according to other sources), Elizabeth and Frederick met at the family castle in Krapina, in the Slavonian County of Zagorje. Instead of a reconciliation, however, Elizabeth was found murdered in her chambers. Aftermath Soon after Elizabeth's death, the rumor that she was killed by her husband spread in Slavonia and beyond, as attested by the anonymous chronist at the court of Celje. Frederick is said to have fled to Buda, where his sister Queen Barbara lived. The chronist Eberhard Windeck who claimed to have witnessed the fallout between the spouses, wrote that Elizabeth had been stabbed in her bed during the night, and that the evening before the murder she had expressed her fears to her entourage: "My lords and friends, what benefit will this reconciliation [with Frederick] bring? I know very well that tomorrow morning, you shall find me dead beside my husband". Historian Nada Klaić expressed skepticism regarding the veracity of these reports. Elizabeth's death caused a rift in the already precarious alliance between the Houses of Celje and Frankopan who were competing for influence in Croatia and Slavonia. Elizabeth's kinsman Ivan VI Frankopan challenged Frederick to a duel. After the intervention of Frederick's brother-in-law Sigismund of Luxembourg, the dispute was to be settled by the Danish king Eric of Pomerania who enjoyed the trust of both parties. It seems that Eric ruled in Frederick's favor, since he returned to his estates soon afterwards. There, he married Veronika of Desenice, a woman of much lower social standing. He did this without his father's nor the king's consent. This caused Hermann's wrath, leading to Frederick's imprisonment, and Veronika's assassination by the hands of the Celje patriarch. Cultural