Jules Kossowska

Jules is a PhD Candidate in Early Modern Studies, working on Renaissance and Counterreformation in Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and Italy. They are interested in incorporating interdisciplinary perspectives into their research, connecting religious, literary, and intellectual histories with the study of Classical Reception. Through their work, they investigate early modern ideas and identities, looking at literary, hagiographical, and political works by secular and ecclesiastical authors, such as Andrzej Frycz-Modrzewski, Piotr Skarga, or Stanisław Grochowski. Jules’ dissertation project, titled “Polish Romanitas? Ideas of Rome in Counterreformation Poland”, considers the evolvement of Polish perceptions of Rome from 1540s to 1680s. Through this, they are attempting to track the making of premodern Polish identity in relation to Western ideas – from Classical past to Catholic morality.

In the past, Jules has also worked on Jesuit missions to China and Japan, and they completed their master’s dissertation on the topic of legal and cultural approaches to sexuality in Renaissance Tuscany.