The author discusses the Polish-Czech relations, mainly during the late Middle Ages. In the article there are examples of positive images of the Poles, which have been taken from the voluminous Czech writing from the 14th century. In the 15th century the main question in the mutual relations was the Hussite cause. Yet, it did not end in breaking the political relations in spite of the fact that the Kingdom of Bohemia was isolated in Europe at that time. Just the reverse, it was just then that a project of a union with the Czechs was created. Finally, it was not implemented, but a representative of the Jagiellonian dynasty ascended the Czech throne (Vladislaus Jagiellon, Czech: Vladislav Jagellonský, Polish: Władysław Jagiellończyk). In the 19th century, when the two nations did not have their own states, the idea of the union between them was often evoked and their ancestors were being criticised for not taking advantage of the chance to build a political power of the Western Slavs, which – it was believed – could have saved the two nations from the subsequent political catastrophe.
In the studies on the court ceremony the place and role of the queen is nearly always neglected. The basic difficulty with recognising the problem of the queen’s place and role in the court ceremonial is a limited number of sources, particularly noticeable in many areas of the “court” studies in Poland is the lack of sources of a normative nature (until the end of the 16th century). Research on the queen’s place and role in the court ceremonial can be, as I think, focused on two groups of questions. The first one is a court ceremonial representative for the queen’s court and associated with her, which included: inauguration, which was a solemn arrival to the homeland of the husband and introduction to the royal castle, nuptials, ceremonies associated with the birth and baptism of children, and funerary rites. The second of the abovementioned groups of issues should focus on the place of the queen in the court ceremonial that was linked to the king’s court and its political (or the state’s) role.
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