Project Feature: Polish Queens

In this episode, Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek and Darius von Güttner join host Susannah Lyon-Whaley to discuss their Polish Queens project, which examines Polish queens' roles as spouses, mothers, and queens. The project is also interested in looking into the emotional side of queenship and the emotions of the individual women themselves.

Guest Bios:
Magdalena Biniaś-Szkopek, Ph.D., Professor at UAM, Department of Archivistics, Faculty of History, Director of the Polish Academy of Sciences Kornik Library. Her areas of research interest include the history of late medieval Poland, Poland of the Jagiellonians, church and secular chancelleries in the Middle Ages and modern times, changes in the institution of marriage in Poland as well as in Europe in the fifteenth century, archival science with a particular focus on issues related to diplomacy, the development of chancery forms in history. She is the author of three monographs including Spouses before the court of the bishop of Poznań in the first quarter of the 15th century, Institute of History of the Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań 2019 (Małżonkowie przed sądem biskupiego oficjała poznańskiego w pierwszej ćwierci XV wieku, Wydawnictwo Instytutu Historii UAM, Poznań 2019). She is the author of more than 30 studies and scientific articles. She is currently the grant manager of the project "Polish queens of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries as wives and mothers” (2022 - 2026). 

Darius von Güttner is a historian of East Central Europe with a particular interest in cultural aspects of transmission of ideas and identity; Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts; General Editor of series “East Central Europe” published by Brepols Publishers. Professor von Güttner completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne and now serves as the Dean of the Australian Catholic University’s Canberra Campus. His book, Poland, Holy War, and the Piast Monarchy, challenges long-held beliefs about Poland's involvement in religious conflicts, specifically the Crusades. Beyond medieval and early modern Europe, his research has broadened to tackle global history and the societal roles of elite women, such as Bona Sforza, Queen of Poland and her mother Isabella d’Aragona. He is also a regular contributor to ABC Radio Canberra's weekly history segment.

Find out more about the Polish Queens project and stay tuned for their forthcoming volume with Brepols. You can find out more about Darius’s research interests here.