Queen of Heaven, Queen of Bohemia: Patronage of Religious Writing by Abbess Kunigunde as a Means of Self-Promotion, International Medieval Congress Leeds, 4 July 2023
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Description | The paper presented the eldest daughter of Ottokar II, Kunigunde of Bohemia, who became abbes of the Convent of Saint George at Prague Castle, the oldest Benedictine nunnery in the region, in 1302. A mother of two, and the only female progeny of the Bohemian ruling House of Přemyslids, Kunigunde must have experienced considerable pressure to re-enter the royal marriage market after her encloisterment. To secure her position as the sworn bride of Christ, she commissioned a series of religious texts promoting the affective devotion towards Christ and Virgin Mary for her personal usage and communal worship of her nuns. Through the mimetic devotional practices prescribed in these works, known as imitatio Mariae, or emulation of the Virgin, Kunigunde not only secured her position as a celibate woman, but placed herself (almost) on a par with the Mother of God herself. To the same effect, she had herself depicted in the front page of a luxurious manuscript, known as the Passional of Abbess Kunigunde, as a venerated patron of the convent, the image most probably subject to communal veneration after her death. |