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Biografie [Ossolineum]
Bona Sforza
Polish
311 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 21, 2023
Bona Sforza was a fascinating figure, who came from the powerful House of Sforza, ruling the Duchy of Milan. She became the Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania in 1518.
What I was looking for in her biography (besides learning more about her) was the cultural aspect she took from her native land and seeded in Poland. This book doesn’t offer it, and doesn’t even mention it.
The style of writing is very dry. The first 100 pages are concentrated on political situation. It involves everything that is happening around her, but doesn’t bring her character at all. Setting the background is needed, but I wished her character came through early in this biography.
In the next 50 pages, we learn something about her, about her enemies and supporters, and about her relationship with her children. Her only son becomes her enemy, who accuses her of poisoning. Thus, the stigma gets attached to her as someone who liked to poison, but it doesn’t seem as there is prove for it.
In the following pages, again she becomes a background, shortly weaving in her influence and then waning influence on Polish politics. For most part, it feels as the story is about Polish history and at some points she is woven into the history.
The last 50 pages bring her to the center again. Nevertheless, overall, this biography doesn’t fully portray who she truly was and how much she brought to the Polish culture.
What I was looking for in her biography (besides learning more about her) was the cultural aspect she took from her native land and seeded in Poland. This book doesn’t offer it, and doesn’t even mention it.
The style of writing is very dry. The first 100 pages are concentrated on political situation. It involves everything that is happening around her, but doesn’t bring her character at all. Setting the background is needed, but I wished her character came through early in this biography.
In the next 50 pages, we learn something about her, about her enemies and supporters, and about her relationship with her children. Her only son becomes her enemy, who accuses her of poisoning. Thus, the stigma gets attached to her as someone who liked to poison, but it doesn’t seem as there is prove for it.
In the following pages, again she becomes a background, shortly weaving in her influence and then waning influence on Polish politics. For most part, it feels as the story is about Polish history and at some points she is woven into the history.
The last 50 pages bring her to the center again. Nevertheless, overall, this biography doesn’t fully portray who she truly was and how much she brought to the Polish culture.
November 27, 2020
Mam słabość do tych polskich królowych, które chciały robić coś więcej aniżeli rodzić dzieci i uczęszczać na msze kilka razy dziennie – nie żeby coś było nie tak z tymi dwiema czynnościami, tylko dlatego, że samorządne i samodzielne królowe, które prowadziły swoją własną działalność polityczną czy gospodarczą, miały mocno złą prasę u braci Sarmatów. Nie tylko zresztą u nich; onegdaj w niewinnej książce Gomulickiego o Warszawie ni z gruchy, ni z pietruchy wyskoczyły na mnie inwektywy na Bogu ducha winną Marysieńkę, którą Gomulicki był łaskaw nazwać “wyrachowaną Francuzicą” czy jakoś tak… żeby tylko Francuzką! Za co?
Trudno mi nie docenić tej biografii królowej Bony, choć nie do końca zaspokoiła mój apetyt, ale jeszcze bardziej go pobudziła. Napisana jest suchym, chwilami wręcz niezgrabnym językiem, tak że ciężko mi było przebrnąć przez pierwszą połowę, traktującą głównie o politycznych przedsięwzięciach królowej, opisujących jej wrogów i popleczników, a także nieporozumienia między nią a synem. Wszystko teoretycznie bardzo ciekawe, ale doprawdy, ten dziennikarski styl… Druga część, w której mowa o rozmaitych osiągnięciach gospodarczo-ekonomicznych Bony, była tak ciekawa, że i o stylu udało mi się zapomnieć. Pod koniec autorka co prawda nie rozprawia się z “czarną legendą” królowej Bony (oddając w tym względzie pierwszeństwo W. Pociesze z jego “Królową Boną” z 1949 roku), ale bardzo wnikliwie i ciekawie opisuje jej powstanie.
Ogólnie – warto przeczytać.
August 17, 2022
Dobra naukowa biografia wspaniałej królowej, serdecznie polecam <3
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews