Barbara Radziwill
Encyclopedia
Barbara Radziwiłł was Queen
of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania
, and consort to King
Sigismund II Augustus
.
of the Radziwiłł family, castellan
, voivode and hetman
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Jerzy Radziwiłł, and Barbara Koła
.
According to the writings of her contemporaries, Barbara was one of the most beautiful women in Europe
. She was tall for her times (162 cm, or 5' 4"), with a slim, shapely body, blonde hair and even white teeth. Moreover, Barbara had an interest in fashion and cosmetics; she used perfumes and face powder. She had been well educated by her parents and spoke Lithuanian
, Ruthenian
(Old Belarusian), and Polish
and could write in these languages. She was married
on May 18, 1537, to Stanislovas Goštautas
, Voivode of Nowogrodek and later Voivode of Trakai, who died on December 18, 1542.
Her romance
and later marriage in 1547, in Vilnius
, to Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Sigismund II August, the last monarch of the Jagiellon Dynasty, greatly increased the power of the Radziwiłł family in Poland and Lithuania, as may be seen in the rise to power of Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł.
There was substantial opposition to her marriage to the King from many noble
s, as the marriage was carried out without regard to the laws governing royal marriages. It was pursued by the King, who seemed to have disregarded the political liabilities and consequences and to have been truly in love with Barbara. A divorce
was demanded by the Sejm
, and many political maneuvers took place around the question of the marriage, and were further inflamed by the machinations of the King's mother, Bona Sforza
. This resulted in conflicts between the King and many magnate
s and lesser szlachta. A deadlock ensued, lasting two years. The opposition finally acquiesced, and Barbara was crowned Queen on December 7, 1550.
Barbara died on May 8, 1551, in Kraków
, five months after her coronation. Her death was a severe loss to the King, and there was an unproven suspicion that she had been poison
ed by the Queen Mother
, Bona. It had been Barbara's wish to be buried in Lithuania, and a funeral cortege conveyed her body to Vilnius
, where her crypt is found in Vilnius Cathedral.
Barbara's life and death have inspired legends, paintings, literary works and film. The popular legend of Pan Twardowski
has that Faust
-like figure summoning Barbara's ghost for King Zygmunt August. In 1817 Alojzy Feliński
wrote a tragedy
, and in 1858 Antoni Edward Odyniec
a drama, Barbara Radziwiłłówna. A 19th-century lithograph by Michał Kulesza
depicting her with pearls is considered among the painter's notable works.
In 1983 Janusz Majewski
directed a film, "Epitafium dla Barbary Radziwiłłówny" (Epitaph for Barbara Radziwiłł) about Barbara's romance with King Sigismund II August, her death and her posthumous return to Vilnius
. Anna Dymna
starred as Barbara, and Jerzy Zelnik
as King Zygmunt August.
Barbara has also appeared as a major character in the Telewizja Polska
television series, Królowa Bona (Queen Bona).
In Lithuania, in 1972, Juozas Grušas
wrote a play, Barbora Radvilaitė. Directed at the Kaunas State Drama Theater by Jonas Jurašas, in the Soviet period the play was very popular for its sense of intellectual resistance to the Soviet-backed regime.
Modern Belarusian writer Maryja Martysievič wrote several poems called Barbara Radziwil's LiveJournal and put it in an actual blog ~barbara_r. Verses were translated into Polish
, Lithuanian
and partially into Russian
and Ukrainian
. Verses were also included in her book Cmoki latuć na nierast (lit. Dragons fly away for spawning).
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
, and consort to King
Monarch
A monarch is the person who heads a monarchy. This is a form of government in which a state or polity is ruled or controlled by an individual who typically inherits the throne by birth and occasionally rules for life or until abdication...
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus
Sigismund II Augustus I was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548...
.
Biography
Barbara was the daughter of a powerful magnateMagnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
of the Radziwiłł family, castellan
Castellan
A castellan was the governor or captain of a castle. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum "castle". Also known as a constable.-Duties:...
, voivode and hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....
of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state from the 12th /13th century until 1569 and then as a constituent part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth until 1791 when Constitution of May 3, 1791 abolished it in favor of unitary state. It was founded by the Lithuanians, one of the polytheistic...
Jerzy Radziwiłł, and Barbara Koła
Barbara Kola
Barbara Kola was a Polish noble lady. One of her children was Barbara Radziwill, born in 1520....
.
According to the writings of her contemporaries, Barbara was one of the most beautiful women in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. She was tall for her times (162 cm, or 5' 4"), with a slim, shapely body, blonde hair and even white teeth. Moreover, Barbara had an interest in fashion and cosmetics; she used perfumes and face powder. She had been well educated by her parents and spoke Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
, Ruthenian
Ruthenian language
Ruthenian, or Old Ruthenian , is a term used for the varieties of Eastern Slavonic spoken in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later in the East Slavic territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth....
(Old Belarusian), and Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
and could write in these languages. She was married
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
on May 18, 1537, to Stanislovas Goštautas
Stanislovas Goštautas
Stanislovas Goštautas was a notable member of the Lithuanian nobility and a high-ranking member of the Lithuanian administration...
, Voivode of Nowogrodek and later Voivode of Trakai, who died on December 18, 1542.
Her romance
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
and later marriage in 1547, in Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, to Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland Sigismund II August, the last monarch of the Jagiellon Dynasty, greatly increased the power of the Radziwiłł family in Poland and Lithuania, as may be seen in the rise to power of Mikołaj "the Black" Radziwiłł and Mikołaj "the Red" Radziwiłł.
Szlachta
The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges during the 1333-1370 reign of Casimir the Great. In 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of...
s, as the marriage was carried out without regard to the laws governing royal marriages. It was pursued by the King, who seemed to have disregarded the political liabilities and consequences and to have been truly in love with Barbara. A divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
was demanded by the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
, and many political maneuvers took place around the question of the marriage, and were further inflamed by the machinations of the King's mother, Bona Sforza
Bona Sforza
Bona Sforza was a member of the powerful Milanese House of Sforza. In 1518, she became the second wife of Sigismund I the Old, the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, and became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania.She was the third child of Gian Galeazzo Sforza and his wife...
. This resulted in conflicts between the King and many magnate
Magnate
Magnate, from the Late Latin magnas, a great man, itself from Latin magnus 'great', designates a noble or other man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or other qualities...
s and lesser szlachta. A deadlock ensued, lasting two years. The opposition finally acquiesced, and Barbara was crowned Queen on December 7, 1550.
Barbara died on May 8, 1551, in Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, five months after her coronation. Her death was a severe loss to the King, and there was an unproven suspicion that she had been poison
Poison
In the context of biology, poisons are substances that can cause disturbances to organisms, usually by chemical reaction or other activity on the molecular scale, when a sufficient quantity is absorbed by an organism....
ed by the Queen Mother
Queen mother
Queen Mother is a title or position reserved for a widowed queen consort whose son or daughter from that marriage is the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since at least 1577...
, Bona. It had been Barbara's wish to be buried in Lithuania, and a funeral cortege conveyed her body to Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
, where her crypt is found in Vilnius Cathedral.
In culture
Pan Twardowski
Pan Twardowski , in Polish folklore and literature, is a sorcerer who entered a pact with the devil, similar to the figure of Faust in German literature. Like Faust, Pan Twardowski sold his soul in exchange for special powers – such as summoning up the spirit of Polish King Sigismund...
has that Faust
Faust
Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...
-like figure summoning Barbara's ghost for King Zygmunt August. In 1817 Alojzy Feliński
Alojzy Felinski
Alojzy Feliński was a Polish writer.-Life:In his childhood he met Tadeusz Czacki. He was educated by the Piarists in Dąbrownica, later in Włodzimierz. In 1778 he settled in Lublin, where he became a close companion of Kajetan Koźmian...
wrote a tragedy
Tragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
, and in 1858 Antoni Edward Odyniec
Antoni Edward Odyniec
Antoni Edward Odyniec was a Polish Romantic-era poet who penned the celebrated "Song of the Filaretes".Himself a mediocre imitator of his friend Adam Mickiewicz, Odyniec made his mark as a translator of works by distinguished writers, including Walter Scott, Byron, Friedrich Schiller and Pushkin;...
a drama, Barbara Radziwiłłówna. A 19th-century lithograph by Michał Kulesza
Michał Kulesza
The Romantic painter Michał Kulesza was among the first lithographers in the area of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania, ruled by Russia for almost all of his life. His frequent theme, sites linked to the Grand Duchy's history, reflected the growing Lithuanian and Polish ethnic activism in the area...
depicting her with pearls is considered among the painter's notable works.
In 1983 Janusz Majewski
Janusz Majewski
-Filmography:Majewski has directed over 40 films since 1957.*1975: Zaklęte rewiry. The film was entered into the 26th Berlin International Film Festival....
directed a film, "Epitafium dla Barbary Radziwiłłówny" (Epitaph for Barbara Radziwiłł) about Barbara's romance with King Sigismund II August, her death and her posthumous return to Vilnius
Vilnius
Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania, and its largest city, with a population of 560,190 as of 2010. It is the seat of the Vilnius city municipality and of the Vilnius district municipality. It is also the capital of Vilnius County...
. Anna Dymna
Anna Dymna
Anna Dymna is a Polish TV, film and theatre actress. Foundress of a charity foundation Mimo Wszystko...
starred as Barbara, and Jerzy Zelnik
Jerzy Zelnik
Jerzy Zelnik is a Polish actor. He has appeared in 57 films and television shows since 1963.He was awarded the Badge of Merit in Culture and Knight's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta .-Selected filmography:...
as King Zygmunt August.
Barbara has also appeared as a major character in the Telewizja Polska
Telewizja Polska
Telewizja Polska Spółka Akcyjna is Poland's public broadcasting corporation...
television series, Królowa Bona (Queen Bona).
In Lithuania, in 1972, Juozas Grušas
Juozas Grušas
Juozas Grušas was a Lithuanian writer, editor, dramatist and playwright.-Biography:...
wrote a play, Barbora Radvilaitė. Directed at the Kaunas State Drama Theater by Jonas Jurašas, in the Soviet period the play was very popular for its sense of intellectual resistance to the Soviet-backed regime.
Modern Belarusian writer Maryja Martysievič wrote several poems called Barbara Radziwil's LiveJournal and put it in an actual blog ~barbara_r. Verses were translated into Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Lithuanian
Lithuanian language
Lithuanian is the official state language of Lithuania and is recognized as one of the official languages of the European Union. There are about 2.96 million native Lithuanian speakers in Lithuania and about 170,000 abroad. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, closely related to Latvian, although they...
and partially into Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Ukrainian
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
. Verses were also included in her book Cmoki latuć na nierast (lit. Dragons fly away for spawning).