Mary was born in 1371, and with the death of her father, Louis I the Great, in 1382, she was crowned "King"; her mother, Elizabeth of Bosnia, managed her regency. A female king did not sit well with the nobles, who would rather have had the throne go to Mary's distant cousin, Charles III of Naples. Charles agreed.
Charles decided he should rule Hungary, and took steps to that end, arriving in Dalmatia September 1385. Meanwhile, Sigismund of Luxembourg invaded Upper Hungary (now Slovakia) in 1385, forcing Elizabeth to give him Mary in marriage. Charles' stronger claim meant he was crowned king on 31 December 1385, but the queen mother Elizabeth managed to get Charles killed in February of 1386. Mary was restored to the throne, giving Sigismund the chance to become king. Charles' supporters captured Elizabeth and Mary that July. Elizabeth was killed in January 1387, but Mary was released in June. During their captivity, Sigismund had been crowned by the nobility, and so was in a position to have his bride freed. Mary died in her early twenties in 1395, falling from a horse on a hunting trip while pregnant. (This is leading to the titular topic, never fear.)
This left Sigismund as King of Hungary under circumstances that seemed very tenuous, especially after Mary's death. He needed a way to elevate his importance in the eyes of Hungary and its neighbors and allies. An example of his status was when, in the 1396 Battle of Nicopolis that attempted to help liberate Bulgaria from the Ottomans, Sigismund's leadership was ignored by the French leader John of Nevers. It was small consolation that John was overwhelmed and Sigismund was one of the few survivors.
In December 1408 he founded a new chivalric order. The primary purpose was to unite leaders in the fight against the Ottomans; its secondary purpose (which could not have escaped notice) was to unite leaders under the founder. He did not give it a name: members wore a badge (the illustration is a recreation based on what remnants exist in museums); since the badge was clearly a dragon, it was referred to by names that were variations on "Order of the Dragon."
It lasted until the 16th century, and included many nobles and princes from that part of the world, including Vlad II Dracul and his son Vlad III Dracul, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula. There were few members from Western Europe; some of them declared themselves allies because they believed in the anti-Ottoman cause, but did not take the oath and wear the badge. One of these was, like Dracula, also the subject of a work of fiction, this time by Shakespeare (and others, to be honest). Tomorrow I'll talk a little about Henry V of England.
