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Darius von Guttner Sporzynski, Professor of History, Australian Catholic University

This Renaissance queen helped build a nation. Her (male) critics called her dangerous

United States Isabella Italy Poland Lithuania Europe
Bona Sforza, woodcut in the De vetustatibus Polonorum liber I. Cracoviae, 1521. Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

Bona Sforza was one of the most remarkable women of Renaissance Europe. Born into one of Italy’s leading ruling families and connected to figures such as Lucrezia Borgia through the tangled politics of Italian dynasties, she became queen consort of Poland and grand duchess of Lithuania.

More than a royal bride, she brought to Poland the administrative, financial and cultural ideas of Renaissance Italy. She understood how wealth, land and government could be used to strengthen a dynasty.

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