‘The Irish to the Rescue: the Tercentenary of the Polish Princess Clementina’s Escape’ was a seminar organised on the occasion of the tercentenary of the rescue of the Polish Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska from captivity in Innsbruck in April 1719 by a small group of Irish and French people in a most dramatic fashion.
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- Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735) [Public domain].
The event, which was attended by President Michael D. Higgins, took place in Europe House in Dublin on 30 April 2019 and was generously sponsored by The Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Dublin; the Embassy of France in Ireland; the Alliance Française Dublin; Rathmines College of Further Education; The Technological University of Dublin; and Dublin City Council.
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- Some of the audience at the seminar at Europe House
The story of the rescue itself was retold and complemented by perspectives from several historians. The podcasts from the event are now available:
Professor Marian Lyons (Maynooth) – Opening remarks
Dr Eamonn Ó Ciardha (UU) – Irish Jacobites in early modern Europe: exile, adjustment and experience, 1691-1745
Dr Jarosław Pietrzak (Warsaw) – The Sobieski: Polish royal family in the history of Europe
Richard Maher (Rathmines College / TU Dublin) – The Rescue & Escape of Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska
Estelle Gittins (TCD) – Princess Clementina’s Marriage Certificate and other Jacobite ‘Relics’ in the Library of Trinity College Dublin
Professor Edward Corp (Université Toulouse) – Clementina Sobieska at the Jacobite Court: a Catholic Queen confronted by her husband’s Protestant favourites
Dr Declan Downey (UCD) – The Habsburg-Hanoverian Alliance and its perspective on the Stuart-Sobieska match
Dr Aneta Markuszewska (University of Warsaw) – Political allusions in musical compositions dedicated to James III Stuart and Maria Clementina Sobieska in 1719 Rome’. Followed by questions from the audience
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- President Michael D. Higgins pictured at the seminar.
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- Richard Maher, Estelle Gittins, Jarosław Pietrzak, and Eamonn Ó Ciardha
Podcasting was by Real Smart Media in association with History Hub.