Participant Info

First Name
Talia
Last Name
Zajac
Country
United Kingdom
State
Affiliation
John Rylands Research Institute and Library, University of Manchester
Website URL
https://manchester.academia.edu/TaliaZajac
Keywords
queens and queenship, Early Rus' (medieval Belarus', Ukraine, Russia), Orthodox -Catholic intermarriage; medieval France, medieval Eastern Europe; cultural exchanges in the Middle Ages; Orthodox- Catholic relations; history of marriage; church history
Availability
1
Additional Contact Information
PhD
PhD

Personal Info

Photo
About Me

Talia Zajac (PhD, Toronto, 2017) is a social historian exploring the agency of royal women as political actors, religious patrons, and diplomatic ‘bridge builders’ between Early Rus’ (medieval Belarus’, Ukraine, and Russia) and Catholic Europe during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries. Currently, she is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library where she is investigating this topic as part of a project titled, ‘Royal Women, Cultural Exchanges, and Rus’ Ecumenical Marriages, circa 1000 –1250.’ More broadly, her research interests include medieval church history (especially Catholic-Orthodox relations), the theological and legal history of marriage, cross-cultural exchanges in the Middle Ages (particularly between Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Byzantium), and the roles of queens and female rulers in medieval society.

Recent Publications

• “Regina Binomia: Re-Examining the Evidence for Re-Baptism and Renaming of Latin Christian Brides in Pre-Mongol Rus’.” Byzantinoslavica: Revue internationale des études byzantines. Vol. 77.1-2 (2019): 264–290.
• “Remembrance and Erasure of Objects Belonging to Rus’ Princesses in Medieval Western Sources: the Cases of Anastasia Iaroslavna’s ‘Saber of Charlemagne’ and Anna Iaroslavna’s Red Gem.” Moving Women, Moving Objects (400 –1500). Eds. Tracy Chapman Hamilton and Mariah Proctor-Tiffany. Maps, Spaces, Cultures Vol. 2. Series Eds. Surekha Davies and Asa Simon Mittman. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019, 33–58.
• “The Social-Political Roles of the Princess in Kyivan Rus’, ca. 945–1240.” A Companion to Global Queenship. Ed. Elena Woodacre. Series Ed. Dymphna Evans. Leeds: ARC Humanities Press /Amsterdam University Press, 2018, 125–146.
• “Marriage Impediments in Canon Law and Practice: Consanguinity Regulations and the Case of Orthodox-Catholic Intermarriage in Kyivan Rus, ca. 1000–1250.” Proceedings of the Fourteenth International Congress of Medieval Canon Law, Toronto, 5–11 August 2012. Eds. Joseph Goering, Stephan Dusil, and Andreas Thier. Monumenta Iuris Canonici Series C: Subsidia. Vol. 15. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2016, 711–729.
• “Gloriosa Regina or ‘Alien Queen’? Some Reconsiderations on Anna Yaroslavna’s Queenship (r. 1050–1075).” Royal Studies Journal. Vol. 3.1 (2016): 28–70 <http://www.rsj.winchester.ac.uk/index.php/rsj/article/view/88>

Media Coverage
Country Focus
Early Rus' (medieval Belarus', Ukraine, Russia)
Expertise by Geography
Eastern Europe
Expertise by Chronology
Medieval
Expertise by Topic
Diplomacy, Religion, Women