Courtiers and Court Life in Poland, 1386–1795
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Book Series
East Central Europe, 476–1795 AD/CE, vol. 8
Queen Bona Sforza of Poland
Sources and the Practice of Rulership in East Central Europe
Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński, Agnieszka Januszek-Sieradzka (eds)
- Pages: approx. 300 p.
- Size:156 x 234 mm
- Illustrations:13 b/w, 40 col.
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2026
- € 95,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-2-503-60123-6
- Hardback
- Forthcoming (Jul/26)
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- ISBN: 978-2-503-60124-3
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Bona Sforza (1494–1557) was a key figure in the political, diplomatic, and economic life of early modern Europe. This volume explores Bona Sforza’s political life and the ways she exercised power, integrating research on artistic, literary, and other forms of cultural patronage exercised by elite women with analysis of the economic forms of power.
Subject(s)
BIO
Darius von Güttner-Sporzyński, Principal Research Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne, Australia is a historian of East Central Europe with a particular interest in transmission of ideas. His research explores the common patterns which emerged across all cultures and aspects of world history which have drawn people together. He is the author of: “Poland, Holy War, and the Piast Monarchy, 1100-1230” (2014) and the editor of “Writing History in Medieval Poland” (2017).
Professor Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland; Curator of the Kórnik Library: historian specialising in women history and aspects of medieval marriage. Her research encompass the political history of the twelfth century Poland and early modern cultural life of elite women. Her recent publication presented details of matrimonial disputes handled by the consistorial courts in Poland in the Middle Ages. She is the editor of the academic journal Historia Slavorum Occidentis.
Summary
Bona Sforza (1494–1557) was a key figure in the political, diplomatic, and economic life of early modern Europe. The niece of Lucrezia Borgia, she was an economic innovator and reformer and patron of architecture and the arts. Bona was the legitimate heir to the Sforza throne of Milan, Queen Consort of Poland, Duchess of Bari, and Princess of Rossano, and claimant to the crown of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, the latter Italian possessions inherited from her mother in 1524.
This volume brings together studies of diverse aspects of the Queen’s activity. The authors examine Bona’s immediate economic, political, and cultural impact, the resentment expressed by Poland’s oligarchs, and a heavily gendered yet appreciative popular response. This collection of studies will contribute to the consideration of women’s dynamic and relational concept of agency from a historical perspective by exploring the circumstances under which women rise above their restrictive situations and illuminate the factors (age, political or economic climate) that determined their ability to manage their own lives.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
New Studies and Sources on the Practice of Rulership of Queen Bona Sforza
Chapter 1. Bona Sforza: Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania
DARIUS VON GÜTTNER-SPORZYŃSKI
Chapter 2. Bona Sforza and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
RAIMONDA RAGAUSKIENĖ
Chapter 3. Bona Sforza and the Legal Culture of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
RASA LEONAVIČIŪTĖ-GECEVIČIENĖ
Chapter 4. Queen Bona Sforza and Her Three Daughters-in-Law
AGNIESZKA JANUSZEK-SIERADZKA
Chapter 5. Witchcraft and Power at the Court of Queen Bona
EWA LETKIEWICZ
Chapter 6. Queen Bona’s Records in the Chancellery of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
KRZYSZTOF PIETKIEWICZ
Chapter 7. Contested Will and Testament of Bona Sforza: The Documentary Evidence of the Mediation by Ferdinand I
JÚLIA BENAVENT
Chapter 8. The Portrait Medals of Sigismund I: Their Makers and Impact
MATEUSZ GRZĘDA
Chapter 9. The Prayer Book of Queen Bona in the Bodleian Library
RAFAŁ WÓJCIK
Chapter 10. Queen Bona Sforza’s Prayer Book in the Collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw
KATARZYNA KRZAK-WEISS
Index
