Everything about Stephen B Thory Of Poland totally explained
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This article is about the ruler of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century.:
Stephen Báthory (,, ) (
27 September 1533–
12 December 1586) was
Prince of Transylvania (
1571-
1586), then
King consort of Poland (
1576-
1586) and Duke consort of Lithuania (1576-1586) to
Anna Jagiellon. He was a member of the Somlyo branch of the
Báthory family. Many historians consider him to be one of the greatest of the
elected Kings of Poland.
Biography
Stephen Báthory was born in
Somlyo as the son of
Stephen Báthory (d.
1534). His father was a partisan of
John Zapolya, who claimed the crown of Hungary in opposition to the Habsburg claimant
Ferdinand I, and had been appointed
Voivode of Transylvania.
Stephen Báthory the son won renown as a valiant lord-marcher, and as a skillful diplomat at the imperial court. His advocacy for the rights of Zapolya's son
John Sigismund incurred the animosity of the emperor
Emperor Maximilian II, who kept him in prison for two years.
The Habsburgs and Zapolya courts finally reached an agreement in
1570 and John Sigismund contented himself with Transylvania. After his death in
1571, the Transylvanian estates elected Stephen Báthory Voivod of Transylvania — against the provisions of the late Prince, who had appointed Gaspar Bekesy his successor. Supported by the Habsburgs, Bekesy insisted on his claims but in a
civil war Báthory ultimately drove his rival out of the country.
In
1572, the throne of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, at the time the largest and one of the most populous states in Europe, was vacated when King
Sigismund II of Poland died without heirs. In April
1573, his sister
Anna, the sole heir to the crown, convinced the
Sejm to elect the French prince
Henry of Valois as ruler. A marriage with Henry was to further legitimize Henry's rule but less than a year after his coronation, Henry fled Poland to succeed his brother as King of France.
On
December 12,
1575, after a
interregnum of roughly one and a half years, the
Sejm, persuaded by the
Papal nuncio, elected the
Emperor Maximilian as the new monarch. However, after three days the
nobility threatened the senate with civil war and demanded a
Piast king, a Polish King. After a heated discussion, it was decided that Anna should be elected King of Poland and marry Stephen Báthory. Representatives of Lithuania left the Sejm and didn't participate in this election. Among the strongest supporters of his candidacy were the Protestants and Socinians, who feared a Habsburg ruler could introduce
Counter-Reformation in Poland, whereas Stephen's Transylvania was known for freedom of religion.
On
December 13,
1575 Anna Jagiellon was elected in
Warsaw King of Poland and
Grand Duke of Lithuania and on
May 1,
1576 Stephen married Anna and was crowned
King of Poland and
Grand Duke of Lithuania (de facto
King consort).
This coronation almost made the
Union of Lublin obsolete, as the representatives of the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania who were not present at this election seriously considered to elect
Emperor Maximilian. After some negotiations and assurance of Lithuania's full federal rights within the Commonwealth, Stephen Báthory was recognized as
Grand Duke of Lithuania, Duke of
Ruthenia and
Samogitia.. As a token of his recognition he established
Almae Academia et Universitas Vilnensis Societatis Jesu.
Stephen Báthory's position was at first extremely difficult. The country was badly damaged by the troubles of the interregnum. Emperor Maximilian, insisting on his earlier election, fostered internal opposition and in league with
Tsardom of Russia prepared to enforce his claim by military action. However, Maximilian's sudden death completely reversed the situation.
All armed opposition collapsed with when the prolonged
Siege of Danzig (1577) by Batory's forces was lifted as an agreement was reached. The
Hanseatic League city, encouraged by its immense wealth and almost impregnable fortifications, as well as by the secret support of
Denmark and Emperor Maximilian, had supported the latter's election and shut her gates against Stephen. After a siege of six months, the Danzig army of 5,000 mercenaries was utterly defeated in a field battle on
December 16,
1577. However, since Stephen's armies were unable to take the city by force, a compromise was reached: Stephen Báthory confirmed the city's special status and her
Danzig law privileges granted by earlier Polish kings. The city recognised him as ruler of Poland and paid the enormous sum of 200,000
guldens in gold as payoff ("apology"). Danzig later remained loyal to the Kingdom during wars with
Sweden and
Tsardom of Russia, providing help when requested.
This victory gave Stephen a chance to devote himself to strengthening royal authority, in which he was supported by his chancellor
Jan Zamoyski, who was just as skilled a politician. The two managed to win several factions of the
Lithuanian and Polish nobility, mostly
by means of better taxation of
crown lands and royal property leased to the
nobility. Stephen completely reorganized the Polish Army. Among his genuine inventions was the
piechota wybraniecka semi-professional infantry formation, composed of peasants trained in both infantry warfare and engineering. Stephen also reorganised the judiciary by formation of legal tribunals. He also founded the
Academy of Vilna, the third
university in the Commonwealth and a predecessor of the modern Vilnius University. Stephen also ordered the execution of
Samuel Zborowski, whose death sentence for treason and murder had been pending for roughly a decade.
In external relations, Stephen sought peace through strong alliances. Though Stephen remained distrustful of the Habsburgs, he entered into a defensive alliance with Maximilian's successor,
Rudolf II, fostered by the papal nuncio. The difficulties with the
Ottoman Empire were temporarily adjusted by a truce signed on
November 5,
1577. The
Sejm gathered in
Warsaw was persuaded to grant Stephen subsidies for the inevitable war against
Muscovy. Two campaigns of wearing marches, and still more exhausting sieges ensued, in which Stephen Báthory, although repeatedly hampered by the parsimony of the Sejm, was uniformly successful, his skilful diplomacy at the same time allaying the suspicions of the Ottomans and the emperor.
Stephen, together with his chancellor Zamoyski, led the army of the Commonwealth in a brilliant decisive campaign during the
Livonian War (which formed part of the
Muscovite wars between Poland-Lithuania and
Muscovy).
Ivan the Terrible had invaded Livonia and took
Dorpat,
Duchy of Courland, which a few years earlier had become a vassal of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth army routed the Russian force at
Velikiye Luki. In 1581 Stephen penetrated to the very heart of
Russia and, on
August 22,
laid siege to the city of Pskov, whose vast size and imposing fortifications filled the little Commonwealth army with dismay. But the king, despite the murmurs of his own officers, and the protestations of the papal nuncio Possevino, whom the curia had sent to mediate between the
Tsar and the king of Poland to arrange a church union, closely besieged the city throughout a winter of arctic severity, till, on the
December 13,
1581, Ivan the Terrible, alarmed for the safety of the third city in his empire, concluded the
Peace of Jam Zapolski (
January 15,
1582), thereby ceding
Polatsk and the whole of
Livonia back to the Commonwealth.
With the eastern borders secure, Stephen planned a Christian alliance with
Tsardom of Russia against the
Ottoman Empire. However, Russia's lapse into the
Time of Troubles left him without a Russian partner, while the proposal of a
personal union with Muscovy was rendered moot by his own sudden death, on
December 12,
1586 in
Hrodna. (His
necropsy there was the first such act in the
Eastern Europe.)
His death was followed by an interregnum of one year. The Emperor's brother
Archduke Maximilian, was elected King but was contested by the Swedish
Sigismund III Vasa, who defeated Maximilian at the
Byczyna and succeeded as ruler of the Commonwealth. According to contemporary
panegyrics Stephen Báthory's deeds surpassed previous monarchs and can be compared only to
Vytautas.
Ancestors
Gallery
Image:King Stefan Batory by Marcin Kober.JPG|Portrait by his court painter Marcin Kober with black jewelled szkofia at his hat.
Image:Zbroja Batorego.jpg|Stephen Báthory's armour (displayed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna).
Image:Stary Zamek2.jpg|Old Castle in Hrodna, the mannerist main building was built in the 1580s by Scotto of Parma.
Image:Skargi3.jpg|The Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University (established in 1579 by the King).
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