Dr. Natalia Zajac

Biography

Talia Zajac (PhD, University of Toronto, 2017)’s teaching and research interests include church history (especially Catholic- Eastern Orthodox relations), the theological and legal history of marriage, cross-cultural exchanges (particularly between Western Europe, Eastern Europe, and Byzantium), as well as the roles of queens, female rulers, and women in medieval society. Her current research explores the agency of royal women as political actors, religious-cultural patrons, and diplomatic “bridge builders” between Early Rus’ (medieval Belarus’, Ukraine, and Russia) and Latin Christendom during the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.