A Queen In The Kitchen

Have you ever wondered how it is that languages that seem to have absolutely nothing in common, say Slavic and Romance, share vocabulary? Usually, the case is that the borrowed words simply don't exist in the language doing the borrowing. In Polish, names for many vegetables come from Italian and the word 'vegetable' itself translates into 'Italian'. So how did these Italian words slither into the Polish language in the first place? And who's responsible?

On April 18, 1518 Princess Bona Sforza of the Milanese House of Sforza married Polish King and Grand Duke of Lithuania Sigismund I of the Jagiellon Dynasty. The marriage produced King Sigismund II, Isabella, queen consort of Eastern Hungary, Sophia, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Anna I, Queen of Poland, and Catherine, Queen of Sweden.

Aside from producing the future King of Poland, three queens and a duchess, Sforza had great influence on Polish architecture, culture, politics, and language. The Polish name for cauliflower, beans and tomatoes, for example, is, in effect, the Italian name. Meaning these foods were unknown and ungrown in Poland prior to their introduction by the Italian Princess. Though Poland had many centuries of contact with Italy Sforza's influence as Queen opened Poland to its rich and attractive culture ushering Poland's rebirth or Golden Age. The influence this left on the language is one that can be easily recognized today. Click here for a list of words and a somewhat romantic biography of Bona Sforza.

In truth, Sforza was politically ferocious and overzealous. Can't say such a pairing makes for good bedfellows. Her ambition was a gift and a curse. She tried to interject the Italian style of governing in the Polish court, namely having her son 'elected' and crowned king during his father's lifetime turning the nobility and gentry against her. Her disdain for Barbara Radzwiłł of Lithuania, Sigismund II 's second wife, had her under suspicion for poisoning her daughter-in-law when Radzwiłł died just 5 months after her coronation. As a result Sforza had to relinquish all her Polish and Lithuanian estates to her son in order to be granted permission to leave for Bari where she ultimately met the same fate she was accused of administering. She was poisoned by her trusted private secretary Gian Lorenzo Pappacoda. The reasons are conflicting. One being that Pappacoda was a confidant to the Habsburgs (whom she fiercely opposed) and acted at their behest. The other being that Philip II of Spain commissioned her murder to avoid repaying a sizable loan. It was all rather Greek.

Nevertheless, her influence was undeniably great, bringing Poland into the forefront culturally and economically and greatly impacting the art, architecture and cuisine of the country she adopted.