Overview

In Mulieres suadentes - Persuasive Women, Martin Homza scrutinises the genesis of ruler ideology among the most prominent East Central and Eastern European dynasties from the early and later Middle Ages. At the center of attention are the Premyslids, the Piasts, the Rurikids, and the Arpads, but also the main dynasties of the Balkans, namely the Trpimirovic and the Nemanjic dynasties, as well as the House of Bogdan, and the Moldova dynasty of the Musatins. Unlike previous work, which has focused on narrative sources of male ruler hagiography, Homza studies texts concerning female royal figures. More broadly, this book also attempts to bridge the artificial gap between West and East in Europe.

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9789004314665

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This book examines the hagiography of female rulers in East-Central and Eastern Europe, mostly from the 10th to the 13th century. By focusing on the figures of St. Ludmila in Bohemia, St. Olga in Rus, and Princess Adelaide in the Kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, it shows how the commemoration of these women helped entrench both Christianity and the ruling dynasty in their respective lands. The book accomplishes a wider goal, however: by identifying the broader aspects of female royal saints and their cults, by tracing their origins and models in Byzantium, and by showing profound knowledge of such relevant comparative figures as St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Bertha of Kent, it contributes to the process of de-ghettoizing Eastern and East-Central Europe in European historiography. Nadieszda Kizenko, in JAHRBUCHER FUR GESCHICHTE OSTEUROPAS, 68 (2020)

Author Information

Martin Homza, Prof. Dr. (1967), Faculty of Arts of Comenius University, Slovak Republic. He researches, and has published several monographs on, the early medieval history of East Central Europe. In 2012 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland.

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