Bona Sforza crowned queen consort of Poland
One of the more fascinating figures in Polish history is Bona Sforza.
She was not a Polish lady but an Italian one, who by marriage became Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.
She was also a consort who made quite an impact.
Bona Sforza was born on 2nd February 1494, the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the 6th Duke of Milan, and his wife Isabella of Naples.
As rulers of Milan, the Sforza family were a powerhouse, and a long-time force in Italian politics.
For any high-born girl of her day the subject of marriage was never far away.
The tendency of her great uncle Ludovico Sforza, to make enemies made it difficult to secure a marriage alliance.
Ludovico had set himself against the Pope and the King of France so options in Italy, Spain or France were pretty scarce.
When her cousin Bianca Maria Sforza secured a match with the grand and powerful Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, it was the House of Habsburg which helped arrange the marriage of Bona Sforza to another Austrian ally ~ the widowed King Sigismund I of Poland.
Bona Sforza was about 24, not extremely young by the standards of the day, but her husband, known as “King Sigismund the Old” was 51!
The wedding and Bona’s coronation took place on 18th April 1518.
It was a political and cultural international event of great importance, the cream of European elites were present.
Bona was dressed in a blue satin dress embroidered with gold.
As her small figure moved forward, the crowd assembled released a sigh ~ Bona was beautiful, with the kind of beauty that was foreign to the eyes of Krakow people.
They may have looked quite the odd couple ~ the delicate Milanese young lady and the rugged, bearded Polish king, but both were made of tough stuff and Bona was determined to succeed as Queen consort.
The marriage of Bona and Sigismund initially appeared to be happy.
Sigismund was very much in love with his wife, and he was almost crazy about her.
He admired her beauty, was impressed by her education and praised her sense of humor.
For the first few years of their marriage he did not see any bad qualities or cruelty in her.
Later in their marriage however, Bona’s vicious side started to show, which greatly troubled the King.
Bona possessed admirable qualities for the job of queen, she was perceptive, resourceful and never wasteful or frivolous.
Almost from the beginning of her life in Poland, the energetic queen tried to gain a strong political position and began forming a circle of supporters.
Bona built her own base of support, winning allies among the powerful Polish nobility and gaining favour from the Medici Pope Leo X.
Bona and Sigismund did disagree on many domestic and foreign issues and were known to have arguments, but the marriage did not collapse.
Bona was also kept fairly busy in the bedroom too….
She gave the King six children ~ a son and four daughters, who all went on to illustrious titles when they grew up.
Queen Isabella of Hungary.
King Sigismund II.
Augustus of Poland.
Duchess Sophia of Brunswick-Lüneberg.
Queen Anna I of Poland.
Queen Catherine of Sweden, Duchess of Finland.
Bona lost her sixth child, another son, after falling off a horse.
She was never able to have any more children.
Securing the succession of her son Sigismund II Augustus, was her top priority.
As Queen of Poland, Bona sought to support her husband who, like most Polish monarchs, was constantly having to fight to maintain his position.
Frugal by nature, the rise of her own family in Italy had taught her that power comes from independence and independence comes from wealth.
With that in mind she set herself to expanding the fortune of the Jagiellon dynasty as much as she could.
When it came to dealing with enemy nobles and foreign relations, Queen Bona was no push-over.
Despite the Habsburgs being responsible for her marriage, Bona opposed them, favouring an alliance with France.
She viewed the Habsburgs as a threat to Poland, and was willing to be friendly with any power that would keep their attention elsewhere.
It was during this time that Protestantism began to arrive in Poland.
Queen Bona took actions against Protestants for heresy, but was not an intolerant person and had no problem with Protestant views being discussed.
In any event, Protestantism was never able to take root in Poland.
Queen Bona did have some problems with her husband, clashing over a potential bride for their son ~ a famously gorgeous Lithuanian Calvinist being the choice, which Bona opposed.
In 1548 King Sigismund died, leaving his son as sole King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.
When his lovely Lithuanian consort Queen Barbara, died many suspected Bona, now Queen mother, of being involved.
She had always opposed the marriage and it definitely led to a cool relationship between mother and son.
Bona retired to her Duchy of Bari where she died under somewhat suspicious circumstances on 19th November 1557, at the age of 63.
Bona was buried in the Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Southern Italy ~ where her daughter Anna had a tomb erected for her.
