Clergy at the Court of Queen Elizabeth of Austria (1454–1505) and Her Daughter, Elizabeth Jagiellon (1505–1515)

Abstract

Ongoing long-time research into the courts of rulers, their spouses, and their children clearly demonstrates the enduring presence of clergy in their midst. Priests performed various functions in religious practices or worked in the court chancellery. The aim of this article is to show the presence of clergy at the court of Elizabeth of Austria, wife of King Casimir IV (in the years 1454-1505), and their youngest daughter Elizabeth Jagiellon (in the years 1505-1515). The reconstruction of this environment was possible on the basis of an analysis of a very broad source base (manuscript and printed), due to its fragmentary nature and incidental occurrence of references to clergy, often in anonymized form (e.g. “chaplains to the queen”). In the case of both Elizabeths, the clergy functioning at their courts were associated with the capella and the chancellery, but they also performed duties as medics or stewards. There are still issues without satisfactory answers, which require further studies and analyses of scattered source material, for instance the question of the queen and her daughter’s relations with the Krakow cathedral and city clergy, both lay and monastic, or the question of the influence of the two Elizabeths’ knights on the assumption of benefices connected with their courts by the clergy).