Alena of Poland

"I was the saddest woman in all of the land."

- Alena of Poland

Alena of Poland (ca. February 1604 - August 29 1674) was the Empress of Albania from 1623 to 1629 and first wife of Emperor Pjotr II. Most importantly, she was the Duchess of Poland. In 1625, her husband locked her up in the dungeon of the castle in Tirana where she remained for fourteen years. When she was freed in the early morning of December 31 1638, she returned to Poland were she married Miak Puroz. She gave birth to a son Wilem in 1642. She died on August 29 1674 at the age of 70.

Early Life
Alena Maria Vanessa of Poland was born Wroclaw, Poland as third daughter of Prince Hector IV of Poland and his wife Maria I. As a young girl, Alena was fair and liked the attension men gave her. She was intelligent and was one of the first women at the Polish court to learn to read and write. Alena was a devout Catholic and was even a pupil of Pope Ferandio II. In April of 1623 she travelled to Albania with her father. Here, she met Pjotr II the Emperor. Pjotr had expressed the desire of marrying her. And in August of 1623 Alena and Pjotr married. Prince Hector died a few hours later, supposedly being poisoned by Pjotr's freind and later murder Anton at The Emperor's orders.

Marrige to Pjotr II
The marrige between Alena and The Emperor was an unhappy one. Pjotr often hit her, at one occasion actually raping her when he learned she had drank from his wine. In 1624, she gave birth to their daughter Krissa of Albania. However, Pjotr was dissatisfied with his daughter because he had wished for a male heir. When two months later, she again was not preagnent Pjotr had his infant daughter drowned in a vat of wine. Overtaken by grief she told her husband he was mad and she hated him. On October 3 1624, Pjotr sentenced his wife to life-long imprisoment. She was taken to a dungeon with only one window in a high wall. She was chained to the wall and laid on hay with only one candle to light. So began a suffering for her that would last fourteen years. She was only given bread and water to consume, just enough to survive. Never she saw her husband, soldiers brought the food and occasionaly raped her with the Emperor's premission. However, Alena held a storng spirit. However, one of the  soldiers took a liking to her and brought books and documents to read. She filled her days by reading and praying. Alena was never seen and Pjotr told his people she had died. She officialy stayed "Empress of Albania" until January 1629 when Pjotr married his second wife Larrissa of Elsaban who ended up commiting suicde two years later, driven to insanity by her psychotic husband. On December 25 of 1638, the still imprisoned Alena was one of the first to learn of her husband's slaughtering at the "Red Day". She then begged God to kill Pjotr and heal the land. Her wish came true when Pjotr II was brutally assasinated by his army officials and freinds while he was on pelgrimage in the St. Markos chatedral.

Aftermath
In the early morning of December 31 1638, Alena of Poland was released from the dungeon. She was relieved. She became known as "The Survinving Maiden". She came to the castle balcony where she proclaimed that she infact was still alive. The people celebrated her return. Alena stayed in the castle for a few days, were feast in her honour were thrown. She decieded to go back to her family in Poland to recover and rest. On January 9 1639 she traveled to Poland. A new Emperor, Gustav I was crowned.

Alena of Poland came to live in Mycor Castle in Warszawa