Queen Jadwiga of Anjou’s relations with the episcopate of Gniezno and Halych Archdioceses — an outline

The author presents the relations between Queen Jadwiga of Anjou (1384–1399) with the episcopate of Gniezno and Halych Archdioceses during her reign in Poland and the Great Duchy of Lithuania with Władysław Jagiełło. In speeches delivered by such intellectuals as Stanisław of Skarbimierz, she appears as a monarch respectful of bishops and concerned with the welfare of the Church. On the other hand, Jadwiga and her husband are known to have followed a consistent ecclesiastical policy, having control over episcopal nominations in the Polish-Lithuanian state, frequently against the will of local chapters and even the Holy See amidst the Western Schism crisis. The author points out that historiographers often too hastily credited Jadwiga with initiative and control over bishops’ nominations in a given area. In reality, the initiative came from both royal spouses and, whenever different candidates were proposed, it was the queen who acquiesced to her husband. The second part of the article outlines the nature of Jadwiga’s relations with key members of the episcopate, with special emphasis on the queen’s close relations with bishops of Krakow: Jan Radlica and Piotr Wysz, with whom she cooperated to further the University of Krakow’s restoration.