Interview with the Royal Studies Journal Article Prize Winner 2025: Patrik Pastrnak

In this episode, host Ellie Woodacre interviews the winner of the Royal Studies Journal PGR/ECR Article Prize Winner for 2025, Patrik Pastrnak. We discuss his research on bridal journeys, what can go wrong at royal weddings and his prize winning article (see link below).

Article: Mechanics of Royal Generosity: The Gifts from the Wedding of King Matthias Corvinus and Beatrice of Aragon (1476), Speculum 98.3 (2023) https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/725011

Guest Bio: Patrik Pastrnak is an assistant professor at the Department of History, Palacky University Olomouc (Czech Republic). He earned a DPhil degree at New College, Oxford, where he held the Robert Oresko Memorial Scholarship. He is interested in royal nuptials and wedding journeys in medieval and early modern times, as well as court, queenship, royal, festival, and Neo-Latin studies in Europe (mostly Central Europe and Italy). He is the author of Dynasty in motion. Wedding journeys in late medieval and early modern Europe (Routledge, 2023) and several other studies on the topic of travelling, wedding ceremonies, and rituals. His current project deals with Bohemian queenship in the late Middle Ages.