Jelena Lazarević

Jelena Lazarević (Serbian Cyrillic: Јелена Лазаревић; 1365/1366 – 1443), also known, by marriages, as Jelena Balšić or Jelena Hranić or Jelena Kosača, was a medieval Serbian princess, daughter of Prince Lazar of Serbia and Princess Milica Nemanjić. She had a very strong personality and significantly influenced the way her husbands, first Đurađ II Balšić and second Sandalj Hranić Kosača, 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, upon his death, by Balša III. 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, a medieval manuscript collection.