Dr. Talia Zajac, assistant professor of religious studies, published a chapter in “Christian Rus in the Making, Worlds of the Slavs.” The volume highlights cutting-edge research on the religious culture and politics of Rus, the medieval ancestor state of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus.
Dr. Zajac’s chapter, "The Majesty Seal of the Rus-born Duchess Gremislava (Grzymisława) of Kraków and Sandomierz (d. 1258) and the Representation of Female Political Authority: Preliminary Observations in a Comparative Context," analyzes the unusual royal imagery on a wax seal issued in 1228 by Duchess Gremislava, who ruled the Polish cities of Kraków and Sandomierz on behalf of her infant son, Duke Bolesław V the Chaste.
The chapter examines how and why Gremislava chose to depict herself as a queen on her seal by suggesting what other possible royal women, such as queens of Hungary, were part of her social and political networks and could have provided inspirations for this royal imagery. It also suggests that by using this imagery of female power, Gremislava bolstered her own authority as a female ruler at a time of political crisis.
“Although Duchess of Poland by marriage to Leszek the White, Gremislava was born in neighboring Rus,” said Dr. Zajac. “After her husband Leszek's assassination in 1227 left her widowed, Gremislava had to defend her infant son's right to rule against political rivals who were willing to seize the throne of Kraków by force. During this time, on her seal, she depicts herself as a queen, wearing a crown, holding a scepter, and sitting on a throne, even though she ruled when Poland was politically fractured and had had no reigning king or queen for almost 150 years.”