Culinary tribute of Queen Bona

[Bonobo]

www.ancient-origins.net/history-famous-people/bona-sforza-underestimated-queen-famous-italian-family-005947

Bona Sforza: An Underestimated Queen of a Famous Italian Family

Polish nobles considered her a dangerous woman who had a surprising amount of power over her husband King Sigismund I. Their wedding started a new chapter in the history of Poland, but Bona Sforza was never a favorite queen of her subjects.

Bona Sforza was born on February 2, 1494 in Vigevano, Italy. She grew up surrounded by stories about great world explorers, danger from the Ottoman Empire, and the beauty of the Italian Renaissance. She was very ambitious, well-educated, and charismatic. Her energy and passion for life made her one of the most important queens in Europe during her time but nowadays she seems to be forgotten.

She was a daughter of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the legal heir of the Duchy of Milan, and his wife Isabella of Naples. Her childhood took place in Milan and Bari, where Isabella and four of her children lived since 1502. The beautiful castle Normanno-Svevo was where 8-year-old Bona started the education which allowed her to be one of the most interesting young ladies in Europe. Her teachers were the famous Italian humanists Antonio de Ferraris and Crisotomo Colonna. She studied mathematics, history, classical literature, Latin, law, theology, geography, natural science, and learned how to play several instruments.

When Bona was 24 years old, she left her country and became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. She started her long travel to Crackow (Kraków), to a country with a colder climate and completely different mentality.

A Woman Who Ruled Like a King

If the Polish believed that the young and beautiful lady would be content as just the mother of the king's children and stay far away from politics, they would have been totally wrong. Bona started to be active politically from the moment she became the queen. She didn't understand the social norms in Poland, which was a far less civilized country than the kingdoms of Italy, France, or Spain at the time. Poland’s political position was strong, however, society there still needed to advance.

The first months of her stay in Poland were very difficult for Bona. The Italian princess was used to a diet full of fresh fruits, vegetables, and olive oil, but in Poland they ate a lot of meat, which made her sick. Polish cuisine was based on meat, beans, and some strongly-spiced foods. After a few months, she started to grow her own vegetables in the garden near Wawel castle.

At first the Polish nobles did not understand Bona’s diet, but with time, vegetables started to be more popular among Polish people. Nowadays, a basic bunch of vegetables that includes celery, carrot, parsley, and leek is called ‘‘włoszczyzna’’ (Włochy).





Cultural transfer is not always a matter of architectural styles, musical genres or fashion. Sometimes the arrival of a foreign queen affects more mundane things and she make a lasting contribution to the lives of her new subjects and not just to the court. An example of this is the vegetables that Bona Sforza (1493/4-1557), daughter of Gian Galeazzo, Duke of Milan, introduced into Poland-Lithuania after her marriage to the Polish King Sigismund in Krakow in April 1518. We can see the Italian origin of these vegetables in their names. Tomatoes - pomodori in Italian - are pomidory in Polish, cauliflower - cavolfiore in Italian - is kalafior in Polish, artichockes - carciofi in Italian - are karczochy in Polish, green beans - f*giolo in Italian - are called fasola in Polish and salad - insalata in Italian - is sałata in Polish. Even the bundle of vegetables for the stockpot that you can buy in the market consisting of carrots, leeks and parsnips is known in Polish as włoszczyzna, which literally means ‘something Italian’ or ‘something from Italy’ (Italy in Polish is Włochy). Thanks to Queen Bona, these vegetables, up to that point unknown in the north, found their way into Polish gardens and kitchens. Every child in Poland today knows that it was Queen Bona who brought them with her!
www.marryingcultures.eu/item-of-interest/cultural-transfer-through-vegetables

[jeanne]

Michelle Obama had a vegetable garden put in on the property of the White House to provide fresh produce for their use, plus to set an example that it's a healthy thing to do...does she count as a queen?

[Bonobo]

Feb 10, 2017 0:36:47 GMT 1 jeanne said:

Michelle Obama had a vegetable garden put in on the property of the White House to provide fresh produce for their use, plus to set an example that it's a healthy thing to do...does she count as a queen?

What do we know about her ancestors? Any with blue blood?

[jeanne]

Feb 10, 2017 0:44:19 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Feb 10, 2017 0:36:47 GMT 1 jeanne said:

Michelle Obama had a vegetable garden put in on the property of the White House to provide fresh produce for their use, plus to set an example that it's a healthy thing to do...does she count as a queen?

What do we know about her ancestors? Any with blue blood?

But this is the U.S....anyone can be president (example: Donald T.), so I suppose that it would follow that anyone could be queen...or at least as the president's wife, she was the closest thing to a queen we could have in the U.S.! Unless, of course, Hillary had been elected...

[Bonobo]

Feb 10, 2017 0:51:34 GMT 1 jeanne said:

But this is the U.S....anyone can be president (example: Donald T.),

No, no no! You haven`t passed the exam for an American citizen? If you had, you would know that not everyone can be Mr President!

www.washingtontimes.com/quiz/2015/feb/11/us-citizenship-test-could-you-pass/

[jeanne]

Feb 10, 2017 1:07:56 GMT 1 Bonobo said:

Feb 10, 2017 0:51:34 GMT 1 jeanne said:

But this is the U.S....anyone can be president (example: Donald T.),

No, no no! You haven`t passed the exam for an American citizen? If you had, you would know that not everyone can be Mr President!

www.washingtontimes.com/quiz/2015/feb/11/us-citizenship-test-could-you-pass/

All right, all right, I was speaking in general terms, meaning that any citizen who meets the qualifications can be president, regardless of their status as far as class, ethnicity, religion, wealth, lack of wealth, etc., etc.,etc. also most importantly, without being a member of the nobility.

[Bonobo]

Bona`s veg cult rememberance today




















Veg instead of poison

[Bonobo]

www.onet.pl/informacje/kronikidziejow/stanczyk-mial-ja-nazywac-wloska-gadzina-jaka-naprawde-byla-krolowa-bona/pmq47z6,30bc1058

Stańczyk was to call her "the Italian reptile". What was Queen Bona really like?
Queen Bona Sforza, wife of Sigismund the Old, came from Italy. Her biography was rich in important events and interesting facts, her achievements can also be easily mentioned. It is thanks to her that the so-called golden age of Poland. In turn, her children, or actually most of the daughters, were married off to representatives of families in Sweden and Hungary, even becoming the queens of these countries themselves. Her aspirations were not harmed by the execution movement or the specific event related to it, i.e. the hen war. However, she was a controversial figure. She was even accused of poisoning her daughter-in-law, the wives of Zygmunt August.

Herbert Gnaś
7.6K
January 5, 2022, 11:10 am
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Woodcut of Queen Bona - Public domainWoodcut of Queen Bona - public domain - Domena publiczna / Kroniki Dziejów
The following article was published on the Onet portal on April 5, 2021

Bona's origin and education
Bona was born in 1494. She was the daughter of the Duke of Milan, Giangeleazza Sforza and Isabella of Aragon. The very word Sforza comes from the Italian sforzae, meaning forcing. For the first time, still as a nickname, it was given in 1385 by Jacopo Attendolo, who was a mercenary soldier. The Sforza family itself came from a minor knighthood, and later this family won, among others, a prince's crown and a throne in Milan.


Due to wrong decisions, she lost not only power, but also her head. The story of Maria Stuart
Various tragic events were present in Bona's life since her youth. First her father died. Later her brother died after he was taken prisoner by the French. She grew up with her mother and relatives in the Kingdom of Naples. Unfortunately, they were not allowed to live there peacefully. The Spanish and French invasions forced her and her mother to constantly move. Eventually, they settled in Bari and Rossano, and Bona herself was also in Naples, where she stayed, among others, at the court there.

Woodcut of Queen Bona - Public domainWoodcut of Queen Bona - public domain - Domena publiczna / Kroniki Dziejów
As for her education: Mariusz Markiewicz aptly describes it, using the following quote: "she obtained the education of a little princess typical of Renaissance Italy, whose birth predestined to dominate others and rule, therefore it could not be worse than the boy's education" (Markiewicz, p. 342). Paweł Jasienica mentions her excellent political school and the fact that she was accustomed to diplomacy. Before she married the Polish king, for political reasons, attempts were made to marry her, including even the future Emperor Ferdinand Habsburg.

Zygmunt Stary and Bona
How did it happen, however, that Zygmunt Stary took Bona to be his wife? After Barbara Zapolya's death, four candidates for his second wife were considered: Duchess Joan of Mazovia, Duchess Joan d'Aragona, just Bona, then 22 years old and the emperor's granddaughter, only 17-year-old Eleanor of Habsburg. The first two were rejected because of their age, they were too old for the king, although, for example, Joan of d'Aragona was then 37 years old. Sigismund wanted to marry Eleonora, but her brother and future emperor Charles did not agree to it. In this situation, there is only one option left.

While still in Italy, the wedding ceremony was held per procura, i.e. by proxy. The ceremony was conducted by a Polish priest, Jan Konarski, and the king's representative was Stanisław Ostroróg. The ceremony itself is interesting enough to be described. Well, the representative of Zygmunt Stary was supposed to: deliver the sacramental formula, put a ring on Bona's finger, kiss his two fingers, then touch Bona's forehead with them, kiss them again and bow down to his "wife".

The actual wedding of Zygmunt Stary and Bona took place on April 18, 1518, in which Bona was 24, and Zygmunt Stary was 51. Bona came to Poland that day. As a dowry, she brought a dowry of 100,000. guilders. The royal couple had five children altogether, one of whom, however, died prematurely. In the order of their birth, they were: Izabela (1519), the future queen of Hungary, Sigismund Augustus (1520), Sophia (1522), Anna (1523) and Catherine (1526), ​​the future queen of Sweden. Their last child was their second son, Olbracht, born in 1527, but he died after only a day, as he was born prematurely as a result of Bona's accident in the Niepołomice Forest.

In Bona's sources it is characterized differently. Her beauty is mentioned, as well as her tough character: "although she carried her head high, she was able to manipulate people, but she hated opposition" (Rosik, Wiszewski, p. 836). She was energetic, resolute, and she could not deny her political talents, which she had to prove many times during her marriage to Sigismund I. It is even mentioned that both the Seym and the Senate sometimes trusted the queen and her decisions even more than the old king. Bona used quite a clever tactic towards the parliamentarians of the time: she tried to gradually overshadow the people who previously held important functions in order to replace them with loyal ones and grateful for the fact that thanks to her their importance grew. Bona's main collaborators were the otherwise known to us Piotr Kmita,

What was Bona's policy characterized by? Foreign, at least dislike of the Habsburgs, which was expressed, inter alia, in in search of an alliance with France. This reluctance was later reflected in her attitude towards the two wives of Zygmunt August: Elżbieta and Katarzyna Habsburżanek, although she also did not like Barbara Radziwiłłówna, the second wife of Zygmunt August. There are some "curiosities" associated with this, for example rumors were spread that she contributed to her death by poisoning her, although Barbara's death was most likely caused by cancer. On the other hand, in the context of Elżbieta Bona was accused, inter alia, of for starving her.

The years of Bona's policy are assessed extremely differently. On the one hand, she modernized the royal estates and the state itself, even spending its own money on it, contributed to the construction of schools, hospitals, etc. exceeding these limits, let us mention, for example, the accusations that were made against her in the context of the so-called the Kokosze War, when she was accused of numerous abuses. The famous Stańczyk himself was to call her an Italian reptile. Opponents of Bona were, for example, the castellan Jan Tarnowski and the bishop of Kraków, Samuel Maciejowski.

When assessing Bona's way of conducting politics, it should be noted, however, that she grew up in a completely different environment, including a political one, than the one to which Poles were then used to. The style of her politics was significantly influenced by her biography and her origin. While in our part of Europe the importance of legalism, relying on the law, including customary law, etc., in Italy, then fragmented, it hardly mattered. Rather, the rule was "I stronger" and it was the prince whose army and henchmen were stronger who won. Not infrequently, power was brought to power as a result of coups, killings, coups and de jure, nothing later legitimized this power. Manipulation, intrigue, and even lies were commonplace, all to achieve a political goal.

The golden age of Poland and Queen Bona
It should be emphasized, however, that Bona did all this with the development of Poland in mind, according to her idea, but still. An example of this can be her activities in Lithuania, where she bought state property from magnates, sometimes with the help of nobility and the middle class. In general, 16 cities and 191 villages were purchased in this way throughout Poland in the years 1530-1536. The acquired properties were then thoroughly renovated. As we would say today Bona, she completely changed the zoning plan. The buildings were organized. New types of crops were introduced, including those imported from Italy. In agriculture, the so-called spear measurements. What's more: even order and hygiene were taken care of. These are just examples of the actions of the queen, thanks to which the golden age of Poland could have come about.

However, Bona's actions to strengthen the position of his aforementioned Zygmunt August were spectacular. First, in the years 1528-1529, legal and economic reforms were introduced in Lithuania. Then, on October 18, 1529, she contributed to the appointment of her barely 9-year-old son as Grand Duke of Lithuania. The finale of her actions was to lead to the fact that the Seym in Piotrków, only two months later, elected Zygmunt August as the king of Poland, from that moment they started to be called Zygmunt I the Old. It was the only election of vivente rege in the history of Poland, that is, during the life of the present king. It was such a shock to the deputies that those in the Sejm in 1530 decided that such a procedure would be forbidden.

It was the conflict with her son that was the main reason why Bona decided to leave Poland in 1556. Besides, Zygmunt August was against it. In addition, there was a belief that Bona could try to remove the accumulated treasures from Poland, and also take out loans against the pledges of the owned lands. In the context of the former, for some time there was even a ban on helping her leave. Bona was not about one or the other. It is believed that she wanted to leave, wanting to then return to politics as heiress in the principality of Bari, reportedly even being offered viceroy in Naples. It was also supposed to have certain hopes, ironically, with the Habsburgs, whom it borrowed for a specific percentage of 150,000. ducats in 1553. These loans were later referred to as Neapolitan sums, and attempts were made to recover them for a long time. Unfortunately, none of Bona's plans came true. She was poisoned by the henchmen of Philip II of Habsburg, who were among her courtiers. She died in Bari on November 19, 1557.

Bibliography:

P. Jasienica, Jagiellonian Poland, Prószyński i Spółka, Warsaw 2018.
F. Koneczny, The History of Poland for the Jagiellons, Publishing House of the Krakow Society of People's Education, Krakow 1903.
M. Markiewicz, Historia Polski 1492-1795, Wydawnictwo Literackie, Krakow 2002.
S. Rosik, P. Wiszewski, The Great Pack of Polish Kings and Princes, Wydawnictwo Dolnośląskie, Wrocław 2007.
Source:
Chronicles of Acts