Jelena Balšić

Jelena Balšić
Lady of Zeta; Grand Duchess of Hum
Detail of Tsar Lazar and his family (1860)
Born	1365/1366 Fortress of Prilepac near Novo Brdo, Serbian Empire (modern-day Kosovo)
Died	1443 Beška, Lake Skadar, Serbian Despotate
Spouse	Đurađ II Balšić Sandalj Hranić
Issue	Balša III
House	Lazarević Nemanjić Balšić Kosača
Father	Lazar of Serbia
Mother	Milica of Serbia
Religion	Serbian Orthodoxy
Occupation	Noble Writer

Jelena Balšić (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Балшић; 1365/1366 – 1443), also known as Jelena Lazarević, was a medieval Serbian noblewoman, daughter of Lazar of Serbia. She had a very strong personality and significantly influenced the way her husbands, first Đurađ II Balšić and second Sandalj Hranić, and her son Balša III governed their realms. Jelena encouraged them to resist Venetian encroachment on territory belonging to Zeta, the medieval Serbian state ruled by Đurađ II and then by Balša III after Đurađ II's death. She is also known as a writer in epistolary literature, particularly her correspondence with Nikon of Jerusalem, a monk in the Gorica monastery on Lake Skadar (Montenegro). Her three epistles are part of the Gorički zbornik (Cyrillic: Горички зборник), a medieval manuscript collection.

Jelena's nickname was "Lady Lena" (Госпођа Лена) or the "Learned one" (Учена). In some English sources she is referred to as Helen. She was referred to as Jelena Lazarević because of her father's noble family. Based on her marriage to Đurađ II Balšić she was referred to as Jelena Balšić, while because of her marriage to Sandalj Hranić she was sometimes referred to as Jelena Balšić-Hranić or Jelena Hranić. In a Venetian document from 1409 she is referred to as "Magnifica Domina Elena".

Jelena was born in 1365 or 1366 as the third daughter of Princess Milica of Serbia and Lazar of Serbia. Her mother belonged to the Nemanjić dynasty, while her father was the founder of the Lazarević dynasty. He created Moravian Serbia, the largest and most powerful state to emerge from the ruins of the Serbian Empire. Hence, Jelena was a member of the highest Serbian aristocracy. She was born in Prilepac and spent her childhood in Kruševac, where she lived until she married her first husband, Đurađ II Balšić, in 1386. She had one child with him, a son named Balša III who was born in 1387. Balša III had three children, a son whose name is not known and two daughters, Jelena and Teodora. His son died at a very young age in 1415. In 1424, Balša's daughter Jelena married Stjepan Vukčić Kosača and became the mother of Queen Catherine of Bosnia and Vladislav Hercegović.