Italian Greens from Italian Queens: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Bona Sforza (drzeworyt).jpg|thumb|upright|Bona Sforza d’Aragona (1494–1557), Queen of Poland]] | [[File:Bona Sforza (drzeworyt).jpg|thumb|upright|Bona Sforza d’Aragona (1494–1557), Queen of Poland]] | ||
One of the wealthiest was the Duchy of Milan, which had been ruled for over a century by the Sforza family descending from common mercenary soldiers. When Bona was born, the Duke of Milan was her father, Gian Galeazzo Sforza, although real power was held by his uncle, Ludovico Sforza. Bona’s mother, Isabella d’Aragona, fiercely competed with Ludovico’s wife, Beatrice d’Este, over which of their children would inherit power in Milan. Since Isabella had the backing of her father, the King of Naples, Ludovico and Beatrice allied themselves with the King of France — who himself laid claim to the Neapolitan throne. Bona was only seven months old when French troops entered Italy, launching the so-called Italian Wars, which the Valois would mostly wage across a patchwork of Italian statelets with ever-shifting alliances and which would not end until two years after Bona’s death. | |||
Isabella | Meanwhile, Isabella was forced to flee to the Kingdom of Naples, where Bona was raised and came of age. Thanks to Isabella’s wide network of family ties, she and her daughter could still count on powerful allies. Isabella’s brother-in-law was none other than Emperor Maximilian I Habsburg, who — true to the matrimonial politics of his dynasty — personally arranged Bona’s marriage to King Sigismund I of Poland. Sigismund was more than twice Bona’s age, though it would only be much laster that he would come to be known as Sigismund the Old. The wedding took place on 6 December 1517, in Naples, where the not-so-young groom was represented, as was customary, by a proxy. | ||
The wedding banquet’s menu has survived and gives us some sense of the cuisine Bona may have been accustomed to. The cosmopolitan bill of fare reflected Bona’s Neapolitan and Spanish ties, but the aesthetic of the feast — with its abundance of colourful cakes and jellies, and sweet-and-sour sauces based on vinegar and sugar — was still far more medieval than modern. | |||
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