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History of Poland during the Jagiellonian dynasty

The rule of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Poland between 1386 and 1572 spans the late Middle Ages and early Modern Era in European history. The dynasty was founded by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), whose marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland formed a Polish–Lithuanian union. The partnership brought vast territories controlled by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for both the Polish and Lithuanian people, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries.[1][2]

In the Baltic Sea region, Poland maintained an ongoing conflict with the Teutonic Knights. The struggles led to a major battle, the Battle of Grunwald of 1410, but there was also the milestone Peace of Thorn of 1466 under King Casimir IV Jagiellon; the treaty created the future Duchy of Prussia. In the south, Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion included the far north region of Livonia.[1][2]

In the Jagiellonian period, Poland developed as a feudal state with a predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly dominant landed nobility. The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Sejm in 1505 transferred most of the legislative power in the state from the monarch to the Sejm. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" members of the Polish nobility.[1][2]

Protestant Reformation movements made deep inroads into Polish Christianity, which resulted in unique policies of religious tolerance in the Europe of that time. The European Renaissance as fostered by the late Jagiellonian Kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus resulted in an immense cultural flowering (see Renaissance in Poland).[1][2]


Late Middle Ages (14th–15th century)Edit

Jagiellonian monarchyEdit

In 1385, the Union of Krewo was signed between Queen Jadwiga of Poland and Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, the ruler of the last pagan state in Europe. The act arranged for Jogaila's baptism and the couple's marriage, which established the beginning of the Polish-Lithuanian union. After Jogaila's baptism, he was known in Poland by his baptismal name Władysław and the Polish version of his Lithuanian name, Jagiełło. The union strengthened both nations in their shared opposition to the Teutonic Knights and the growing threat of the Grand Duchy of Moscow.[3]

Vast expanses of Rus' lands, including the Dnieper River basin and territories extending south to the Black Sea, were at that time under Lithuanian control. In order to gain control of these vast holdings, Lithuania had fought the Battle of Blue Waters in 1362 or 1363 against the invading Mongols and had taken advantage of the power vacuum to the south and east that resulted from the Mongol destruction of Kievan Rus'. The population of the Grand Duchy's enlarged territory was accordingly heavily Ruthenian and Eastern Orthodox. The territorial expansion led to a confrontation between Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which found itself emerging from the Tatar rule and itself in a process of expansion.[4] Uniquely in Europe, the union connected two states geographically located on the opposite sides of the great civilizational divide between the Western Christian or Latin world, and the Eastern Christian or Byzantine world.[5]

The intention of the union was to create a common state under Władysław Jagiełło, but the ruling oligarchy of Poland learned that their goal of incorporating Lithuania into Poland was unrealistic. Territorial disputes led to warfare between Poland and Lithuania or Lithuanian factions; the Lithuanians at times even found it expedient to conspire with the Teutonic Knights against the Poles.[6] Geographic consequences of the dynastic union and the preferences of the Jagiellonian kings instead created a process of orientating Polish territorial priorities to the east.[3]

Between 1386 and 1572, the Polish-Lithuanian union was ruled by a succession of constitutional monarchs of the Jagiellonian dynasty. The political influence of the Jagiellonian kings gradually diminished during this period, while the landed nobility took over an ever-increasing role in central government and national affairs.[a] The royal dynasty, however, had a stabilizing effect on Poland's politics. The Jagiellonian Era is often regarded as a period of maximum political power, great prosperity, and in its later stage, a Golden Age of Polish culture.[3]

Social and economic developmentsEdit

Poland and Lithuania, 1386–1434

The feudal rent system prevalent in the 13th and 14th centuries, under which each estate had well defined rights and obligations, degenerated around the 15th century as the nobility tightened their control over manufacturing, trade and other economic activities. This created many directly owned agricultural enterprises known as folwarks in which feudal rent payments were replaced with forced labor on the lord's land. This limited the rights of cities and forced most of the peasants into serfdom.[7] Such practices were increasingly sanctioned by the law. For example, the Piotrków Privilege of 1496, granted by King Jan I Albert, banned rural land purchases by townspeople and severely limited the ability of peasant farmers to leave their villages. Polish towns, lacking national representation protecting their class interests, preserved some degree of self-government (city councils and jury courts), and the trades were able to organize and form guilds. The nobility soon excused themselves from their principal duty: mandatory military service in case of war (pospolite ruszenie). The division of the nobility into two main layers was institutionalized, but never legally formalized, in the Nihil novi "constitution" of 1505, which required the king to consult the general sejm, that is the Senate, as well as the lower chamber of (regional) deputies, the Sejm proper, before enacting any changes. The masses of ordinary nobles szlachta competed or tried to compete against the uppermost rank of their class, the magnates, for the duration of Poland's independent existence.[8]

Poland and Lithuania in personal union under JagiełłoEdit

Sarcophagus of King Władysław Jagiełło, Wawel Cathedral

The first king of the new dynasty was Jogaila, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, who was known as Władysław II Jagiełło in Poland. He was elected king of Poland in 1386 after his marriage to Jadwiga of Anjou, the Queen of Poland in her own right, and his conversion to Roman Catholicism. The Christianization of Lithuania in the Latin Rite followed. Jogaila's rivalry in Lithuania with his cousin Vytautas the Great, who was opposed to Lithuania's domination by Poland,[9] was settled in 1392 in the Ostrów Agreement and in 1401 in the Union of Vilnius and Radom: Vytautas became the Grand Duke of Lithuania for life under Jogaila's nominal supremacy. The agreement made possible a close cooperation between the two nations necessary to succeed in struggles with the Teutonic Order. The Union of Horodło of 1413 defined the relationship further and granted privileges to the Roman Catholic (as opposed to Eastern Orthodox) segment of the Lithuanian nobility.[10][11]

Struggle with the Teutonic KnightsEdit

Battle of Grunwald (or Tannenberg)

The Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War of 1409–1411, precipitated by the Samogitian uprisings in Lithuanian territories controlled by the State of the Teutonic Order, culminated in the Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg), in which the combined forces of the Polish and Lithuanian-Rus' armies completely defeated the Teutonic Knights. The offensive that followed lost its impact with the ineffective siege of Malbork (Marienburg). The failure to take the fortress and eliminate the Teutonic (later Prussian) state had dire historic consequences for Poland in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries. The Peace of Thorn of 1411 gave Poland and Lithuania rather modest territorial adjustments, including Samogitia. Afterwards, there were more military campaigns and peace deals that did not hold. One unresolved arbitration took place at the Council of Constance. In 1415, Paulus Vladimiri, rector of the Kraków Academy, presented his Treatise on the Power of the Pope and the Emperor in respect to Infidels at the Council, in which he advocated tolerance, criticized the violent conversion methods of the Teutonic Knights, and postulated that pagans have the right to peaceful coexistence with Christians and political independence. This stage of the Polish-Lithuanian conflict with the Teutonic Order ended with the Treaty of Melno in 1422. The Polish-Teutonic War of 1431-35 (see Battle of Pabaiskas) was concluded with the Peace of Brześć Kujawski in 1435.[12]

The Hussite movement and the Polish–Hungarian unionEdit

Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki with a colleague in a foundation scene

During the Hussite Wars of 1420–1434, Jagiełło, Vytautas and Sigismund Korybut were involved in political and military intrigues with respect to the Czech crown, which was offered by the Hussites to Jagiełło in 1420. Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki became known as the leading opponent of a union with the Hussite Czech state.[13]

The Jagiellonian dynasty was not entitled to automatic hereditary succession, rather each new king had to be approved by nobility consensus. Władysław Jagiełło had two sons late in life from his last wife Sophia of Halshany. In 1430, the nobility agreed to the succession of the future Władysław III only after the king consented to a series of concessions. In 1434, the old monarch died and his minor son Władysław was crowned; the Royal Council led by Bishop Oleśnicki undertook the regency duties.[13]



After Vytautas' death in 1430, Lithuania became embroiled in internal wars and conflicts with Poland. Casimir, sent as a boy by King Władysław on a mission there in 1440, was surprisingly proclaimed by the Lithuanians as their Grand Duke, and he remained in Lithuania.[13]

Oleśnicki gained the upper hand again and pursued his long-term objective of Poland's union with Hungary. At that time, the Ottoman Empire embarked on a fresh round of European conquests and threatened Hungary, which needed the assistance of the powerful Polish–Lithuanian ally. In 1440, Władysław III assumed the Hungarian throne. Influenced by Julian Cesarini, the young king led the Hungarian army against the Ottomans in 1443 and again in 1444. Like Cesarini, Władysław III was killed at the Battle of Varna.[13]

Casimir Jagiellon, sarcophagus sculpture by Veit Stoss, Wawel Cathedral

Beginning near the end of Jagiełło's life, Poland was governed in practice by an oligarchy of magnates led by Bishop Oleśnicki. The rule of the dignitaries was actively opposed by various groups of szlachta. Their leader Spytek of Melsztyn was killed at the Battle of Grotniki in 1439, which allowed Oleśnicki to purge Poland of the remaining Hussite sympathizers and pursue his other objectives without significant opposition.[13]

The accession of Casimir IV JagiellonEdit

In 1445, Casimir, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, was asked to assume the Polish throne vacated upon the death of his brother Władysław. Casimir was a tough negotiator and did not accept the Polish nobility's conditions for his election. He finally arrived in Poland and was crowned in 1447 on his own terms. His assumption of the Crown of Poland freed Casimir from the control that the Lithuanian oligarchy had imposed on him; in the Vilnius Privilege of 1447, he declared the Lithuanian nobility to have equal rights with Polish szlachta. In time, Casimir was able to wrest power from Cardinal Oleśnicki and his group. He replaced their influence with a power base built on the younger middle nobility. Casimir was able to resolve a conflict with the pope and the local Church hierarchy over the right to fill vacant bishop positions in his favor.[14]

War with the Teutonic Order and its resolutionEdit

In 1454, the Prussian Confederation, an alliance of Prussian cities and nobility opposed to the increasingly oppressive rule of the Teutonic Knights, asked King Casimir to take over Prussia and initiated an armed uprising against the Knights. Casimir declared a war on the Order and the formal incorporation of Prussia into the Polish Crown; those events led to the Thirteen Years' War of 1454-66. The mobilization of the Polish forces (the pospolite ruszenie) was weak at first, since the szlachta would not cooperate without concessions from Casimir that were formalized in the Statutes of Nieszawa promulgated in 1454. This prevented a takeover of all of Prussia, but in the Second Peace of Thorn in 1466, the Knights had to surrender the western half of their territory to the Polish Crown (the areas known afterwards as Royal Prussia, a semi-autonomous entity), and to accept Polish-Lithuanian suzerainty over the remainder (the later Ducal Prussia). Poland regained Pomerelia, with its access to the Baltic Sea, as well as Warmia. In addition to land warfare, naval battles took place in which ships provided by the City of Danzig (Gdańsk) successfully fought Danish and Teutonic fleets.[15]

Other territories recovered by the Polish Crown in the 15th-century include the Duchy of Oświęcim and Duchy of Zator on Silesia's border with Lesser Poland, and there was notable progress regarding the incorporation of the Piast Masovian duchies into the Crown.[15]

Turkish and Tatar warsEdit

The influence of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Central Europe rose during the 15th century. In 1471, Casimir's son Władysław became king of Bohemia, and in 1490, also of Hungary.[15] The southern and eastern outskirts of Poland and Lithuania became threatened by Turkish invasions beginning in the late 15th century. Moldavia's involvement with Poland goes back to 1387, when Petru I, Hospodar of Moldavia sought protection against the Hungarians by paying homage to King Władysław II Jagiełło in Lviv. This move gave Poland access to Black Sea ports.[16] In 1485, King Casimir undertook an expedition into Moldavia after its seaports were overtaken by the Ottoman Turks. The Turkish-controlled Crimean Tatars raided the eastern territories in 1482 and 1487 until they were confronted by King John Albert, Casimir's son and successor.

Poland was attacked in 1487–1491 by remnants of the Golden Horde that invaded Poland as far as Lublin before being beaten at Zaslavl.[17] In 1497, King John Albert made an attempt to resolve the Turkish problem militarily, but his efforts were unsuccessful; he was unable to secure effective participation in the war by his brothers, King Vladislas (Władysław) II of Bohemia and Hungary and Alexander, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, and he also faced resistance on the part of Stephen the Great, the ruler of Moldavia. More destructive Tatar raids instigated by the Ottoman Empire took place in 1498, 1499 and 1500.[18] Diplomatic peace efforts initiated by John Albert were finalized after the king's death in 1503. They resulted in a territorial compromise and an unstable truce.[19]

Invasions into Poland and Lithuania from the Crimean Khanate took place in 1502 and 1506 during the reign of King Alexander. In 1506, the Tatars were defeated at the Battle of Kletsk by Michael Glinski.[20]

Moscow's threat to Lithuania; accession of Sigismund IEdit

Poland, Poland's fiefs (striped) and Lithuania in 1466

Lithuania was increasingly threatened by the growing power of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in the 15th and 16th centuries. Moscow indeed took over many of Lithuania's eastern possessions in military campaigns of 1471, 1492, and 1500. Grand Duke Alexander of Lithuania was elected King of Poland in 1501, after the death of John Albert. In 1506, he was succeeded by Sigismund I the Old (Zygmunt I Stary) in both Poland and Lithuania as political realities were drawing the two states closer together. Prior to his accession to the Polish throne, Sigismund had been a Duke of Silesia by the authority of his brother Vladislas II of Bohemia, but like other Jagiellon rulers before him, he did not pursue the claim of the Polish Crown to Silesia.[21]

Culture in the Late Middle AgesEdit

The culture of the 15th century Poland can be described as retaining typical medieval characteristics. Nonetheless, the crafts and industries in existence already in the preceding centuries became more highly developed under favorable social and economic conditions, and their products were much more widely disseminated. Paper production was one of the new industries that appeared, and printing developed during the last quarter of the century. In 1473, Kasper Straube produced the first Latin print in Kraków, whereas Kasper Elyan printed Polish texts for the first time in Wrocław (Breslau) in 1475. The world's oldest prints in Cyrillic script, namely religious texts in Old Church Slavonic, appeared after 1490 from the press of Schweipolt Fiol in Krakow.[22][23]

Luxury items were in high demand among the increasingly prosperous nobility, and to a lesser degree among the wealthy town merchants. Brick and stone residential buildings became common, but only in cities. The mature Gothic style was represented not only in architecture, but also in sacral wooden sculpture. The Altar of Veit Stoss in St. Mary's Basilica in Kraków is one of the most magnificent art works of its kind in Europe.[22]


John of Ludzisko and Archbishop Gregory of Sanok, the precursors of Polish humanism, were professors at the university. Gregory's court was the site of an early literary society at Lwów (Lviv) after he became the archbishop there. Scholarly thought elsewhere was represented by Jan Ostroróg, a political publicist and reformist, and Jan Długosz, a historian, whose Annals is the largest history work of his time in Europe and a fundamental source for history of medieval Poland. Distinguished and influential foreign humanists were also active in Poland. Filippo Buonaccorsi, a poet and diplomat, arrived from Italy in 1468 and stayed in Poland until his death in 1496. Known as Kallimach, he prepared biographies of Gregory of Sanok, Zbigniew Oleśnicki, and very likely Jan Długosz, besides establishing another literary society in Kraków. He tutored and mentored the sons of Casimir IV and postulated unrestrained royal power. In Kraków, the German humanist Conrad Celtes organized the humanist literary and scholarly association Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana, the first in this part of Europe.[22]

Early Modern Era (16th century)Edit

Agriculture-based economic expansionEdit

The folwark, a large-scale system of agricultural production based on serfdom, was a dominant feature on Poland's economic landscape beginning in the late 15th century and for the next 300 years. This dependence on nobility-controlled agriculture in central-eastern Europe diverged from the western part of the continent, where elements of capitalism and industrialization were developing to a much greater extent, with the attendant growth of a bourgeoisie class and its political influence. The 16th-century agricultural trade boom combined with free or very cheap peasant labor made the folwark economy very profitable.[24]

Alexander Jagiellon presiding over the Senate

Mining and metallurgy developed further during the 16th century, and technical progress took place in various commercial applications. Great quantities of exported agricultural and forest products floated down the rivers to be transported through ports and land routes. This resulted in a positive trade balance for Poland throughout the 16th century. Imports from the West included industrial products, luxury products and fabrics.[25]

Most of the exported grain left Poland through Danzig (Gdańsk), which became the wealthiest, most highly developed, and most autonomous of the Polish cities because of its location at the mouth of the Vistula River and access to the Baltic Sea. It was also by far the largest center for manufacturing. Other towns were negatively affected by Danzig's near-monopoly in foreign trade, but profitably participated in transit and export activities. The largest of those were Kraków (Cracow), Poznań, Lwów (Lviv), and Warszawa (Warsaw), and outside of the Crown, Breslau (Wrocław). Thorn (Toruń) and Elbing (Elbląg) were the main cities in Royal Prussia after Danzig.[25][26]

Burghers and noblesEdit


During the 16th century, prosperous patrician families of merchants, bankers, or industrial investors, many of German origin, still conducted large-scale business operations in Europe or lent money to Polish noble interests, including the royal court. Some regions were highly urbanized in comparison to most of the rest of Europe. In Greater Poland and Lesser Poland at the end of the 16th century, for example, 30% of the population lived in cities.[27] 256 towns were founded, most in Red Ruthenia.[b] The townspeople's upper layer was ethnically multinational and tended to be well-educated. Numerous sons of burghers studied at the Academy of Kraków and at foreign universities; members of their group are among the finest contributors to the culture of the Polish Renaissance. Unable to form their own nationwide political class, many blended into the nobility in spite of the legal obstacles.[27]

The nobility (or szlachta) in Poland constituted a greater proportion of the population than in other countries, up to 10%. In principle, they were all equal and politically empowered, but some had no property and were not allowed to hold offices or participate in sejms or sejmiks, the legislative bodies. Of the "landed" nobility, some possessed a small patch of land that they tended themselves and lived like peasant families, while the magnates owned dukedom-like networks of estates with several hundred towns and villages and many thousands of subjects. Mixed marriages gave some peasants one of the few possible paths to nobility.

16th-century Poland was officially a "republic of nobles", and the "middle class" of the nobility (individuals at a lower social level than "magnates") formed the leading component during the later Jagiellonian period and afterwards. Nonetheless, members of the magnate families held the highest state and church offices. At that time, the szlachta in Poland and Lithuania was ethnically diversified and represented several religious denominations. During this period of tolerance, such factors had little bearing on one's economic status or career potential. Jealous of their class privilege ("freedoms"), the Renaissance szlachta developed a sense of public service duties, educated their youth, took keen interest in current trends and affairs and traveled widely. While the Golden Age of Polish Culture adopted western humanism and Renaissance patterns, the lifestyles of Polish nobles acquired a distinctly eastern flavor beginning in the second half of the 16th century. Visiting foreigners often remarked on the splendor of their residencies and the conspicuous consumption of wealthy Polish nobles.[27]



The teachings of Martin Luther were accepted most readily in the regions with strong German connections: Silesia, Greater Poland, Pomerania and Prussia. In Danzig (Gdańsk) in 1525 a lower-class Lutheran social uprising took place and was bloodily subdued by Sigismund I; after the reckoning he established a representation for the plebeian interests as a segment of the city government. Königsberg and the Duchy of Prussia under Albrecht Hohenzollern became a strong center of Protestant propaganda dissemination affecting all of northern Poland and Lithuania. Sigismund quickly reacted against the "religious novelties", issuing his first related edict in 1520, banning any promotion of the Lutheran ideology, or even foreign trips to the Lutheran centers. Such attempted (poorly enforced) prohibitions continued until 1543.[28]



Around 1570, of the at least 700 Protestant congregations in Poland-Lithuania, over 420 were Calvinist and over 140 Lutheran, with the latter including 30-40 ethnically Polish. Protestants encompassed approximately ½ of the magnate class, ¼ of other nobility and townspeople, and 1/20 of the non-Orthodox peasantry. The bulk of the Polish-speaking population had remained Catholic, but the proportion of Catholics became significantly diminished within the upper social ranks.[29]


Among the Calvinists, who also included the lower classes and their leaders, ministers of common background, disagreements soon developed, based on different views in the areas of religious and social doctrines. The official split took place in 1562, when two separate churches were officially established: the mainstream Calvinist and the smaller, more reformist, Polish Brethren or Arians. The adherents of the radical wing of the Polish Brethren promoted, often by way of personal example, the ideas of social justice. Many Arians (such as Piotr of Goniądz and Jan Niemojewski) were pacifists opposed to private property, serfdom, state authority and military service; through communal living some had implemented the ideas of shared usage of the land and other property. A major Polish Brethren congregation and center of activities was established in 1569 in Raków near Kielce, and lasted until 1638, when Counter-Reformation had it closed.[31] The notable Sandomierz Agreement of 1570, an act of compromise and cooperation among several Polish Protestant denominations, excluded the Arians, whose more moderate, larger faction toward the end of the century gained the upper hand within the movement.[28]


Culture of Polish RenaissanceEdit

Golden Age of Polish cultureEdit


Literacy, education and patronage of intellectual endeavorsEdit







Polish science reached its culmination in the first half of the 16th century, in which the medieval point of view was criticized and more rational explanations were formulated. Copernicus' De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, published in Nuremberg in 1543, shook up the traditional value system extended into an understanding of the physical universe, doing away with its Christianity-adopted Ptolemaic anthropocentric model and setting free the explosion of scientific inquiry. Generally the prominent scientists of the period resided in many different regions of the country, and increasingly, the majority were of urban, rather than noble origin.[35]






Modern Polish literature begins in the 16th century. At that time the Polish language, common to all educated groups, matured and penetrated all areas of public life, including municipal institutions, the legal code, the Church, and other official uses, coexisting for a while with Latin. Klemens Janicki, one of the Renaissance Latin language poets and a laureate of a papal distinction, was of peasant origin. Another plebeian author, Biernat of Lublin, wrote his own version of Aesop's fables in Polish, permeated with his socially radical views.[37]


The Dismissal of the Greek Envoys by Jan Kochanowski (1578)





Architecture, sculpture and paintingEdit





Republic of middle nobility; execution movementEdit





Wawel Hill, the castle and the cathedral






Resources and strategic objectivesEdit

Royal Prussia shown in light pink, Ducal Prussia striped


Prussia; struggle for Baltic area dominationEdit





Wars with MoscowEdit



The Jagiellons and the Habsburgs; Ottoman Empire expansionEdit






Livonia; struggle for Baltic area dominationEdit

Poland and Lithuania in 1526

In the 16th century the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became increasingly interested in extending its territorial rule to Livonia, especially to gain control of Baltic seaports, such as Riga, and for other economic benefits. Livonia was by the 1550s largely Lutheran,[54] traditionally ruled by the Brothers of the Sword knightly order. This put Poland and Lithuania on a collision course with Moscow and other regional powers, which had also attempted expansion in that area.[55]

Soon after the Treaty of Kraków of 1525, Albrecht (Albert) of Hohenzollern planned a Polish–Lithuanian fief in Livonia, seeking a dominant position for his brother Wilhelm, the Archbishop of Riga. What happened instead was the establishment of a Livonian pro-Polish–Lithuanian party or faction. Internal fighting in Livonia took place when the Grand Master of the Brothers concluded a treaty with Moscow in 1554, declaring his state's neutrality regarding the Russian–Lithuanian conflict. Supported by Albrecht and the magnates, Sigismund II declared a war on the Order. Grand Master Wilhelm von Fürstenberg accepted the Polish–Lithuanian conditions without a fight, and according to the 1557 Treaty of Pozvol, a military alliance obliged the Livonian state to support Lithuania against Moscow.[55]

Livonia in 1534, before the Livonian War

Other powers aspiring to the Livonian Baltic access responded by partitioning the Livonian state, which triggered the lengthy Livonian War, fought between 1558 and 1583. Ivan IV of Russia took Dorpat (Tartu) and Narva in 1558, and soon the Danes and Swedes had occupied other parts of the country. To protect the integrity of their country, the Livonians now sought a union with the Polish–Lithuanian state. Gotthard Kettler, the new Grand Master, met in Vilnius (Vilna, Wilno) with Sigismund Augustus in 1561 and declared Livonia a vassal state under the Polish king. The Union of Vilnius called for secularization of the Brothers of the Sword Order and incorporation of the newly established Duchy of Livonia into the Rzeczpospolita ("Republic") as an autonomous entity. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was also created as a separate fief, to be ruled by Kettler. Sigismund II obliged himself to recover the parts of Livonia lost to Moscow and the Baltic powers, which had led to grueling wars with Russia (1558–1570 and 1577–1582) and heavy struggles also concerning the fundamental issues of control of the Baltic trade and freedom of navigation.[55]

The Baltic region policies of the last Jagiellon king and his advisors were the most mature of 16th-century Poland's strategic programs. The outcome of the efforts in that area was to a considerable extent successful for the Commonwealth. The wars concluded during the reign of King Stephen Báthory.[55]

Poland and Lithuania in real union under Sigismund IIEdit

The burials of Sigismund I and Sigismund II inside Sigismund's Chapel



The Lithuanian language survived as a peasant vernacular and also as a written language in religious use, from the publication of the Lithuanian Catechism by Martynas Mažvydas in 1547.[58] The Ruthenian language was and remained in the Grand Duchy's official use even after the Union, until the takeover of Polish.[59]

The Commonwealth: multicultural, magnate dominatedEdit




Jewish settlementEdit


Poland had become the home to Europe's largest Jewish population, as royal edicts guaranteeing Jewish safety and religious freedom, issued during the 13th century (Bolesław the Pious, Statute of Kalisz of 1264), contrasted with bouts of persecution in Western Europe.[64] This persecution intensified following the Black Death of 1348–1349, when some in the West blamed the outbreak of the plague on the Jews. As scapegoats were sought, the increased Jewish persecution led to pogroms and mass killings in a number of German cities, which caused an exodus of survivors heading east. Much of Poland was spared from the Black Death, and Jewish immigration brought their valuable contributions and abilities to the rising state.[65] The number of Jews in Poland kept increasing throughout the Middle Ages; the population had reached about 30,000 toward the end of the 15th century,[66] and, as refugees escaping further persecution elsewhere kept streaming in, 150,000 in the 16th century.[67] A royal privilege issued in 1532 granted the Jews freedom to trade anywhere within the kingdom.[67] Massacres and expulsions from many German states continued until 1552–1553.[68] By the mid-16th century, 80% of the world's Jews lived and flourished in Poland and in Lithuania; most of western and central Europe was by that time closed to Jews.[68][69] In Poland–Lithuania the Jews were increasingly finding employment as managers and intermediaries, facilitating the functioning of and collecting revenue in huge magnate-owned land estates, especially in the eastern borderlands, developing into an indispensable mercantile and administrative class.[70] Despite the partial resettlement of Jews in Western Europe following the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), a great majority of world Jewry had lived in Eastern Europe (in the Commonwealth and in the regions further east and south, where many migrated), until the 1940s.[68]

See alsoEdit





  1. ^ a b c d Wyrozumski 1986
  2. ^ a b c d Gierowski 1986
  8. ^ Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 180–190
  10. ^ Stopka 1999, p. 91
  11. ^ Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 190–195
  14. ^ Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 206–207
  16. ^ 'Stopka 1999, p. 86
  17. ^ "Russian Interaction with Foreign Lands". 2007-10-06. Archived from the original on 2009-01-18. Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  18. ^ "List of Wars of the Crimean Tatars". Retrieved 2009-09-19.
  19. ^ Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 213–215
  21. ^ Wyrozumski 1986, pp. 215–221
  24. ^ Gierowski 1986, pp. 24–38
  25. ^ a b Józef Andrzej Gierowski – Historia Polski 1505–1764 (History of Poland 1505–1764), p. 24-38
  27. ^ a b c Gierowski 1986, pp. 38–53
  28. ^ a b c d e f Gierowski 1986, pp. 53–64
  32. ^ a b Davies 2005, pp. 118
  33. ^ Gierowski 1986, pp. 67–71
  34. ^ a b c d Gierowski 1986, pp. 71–74
  35. ^ a b c d e Gierowski 1986, pp. 74–79
  37. ^ a b c d Gierowski 1986, pp. 79–84
  39. ^ Gierowski 1986, pp. 84–85
  40. ^ a b c d Gierowski 1986, pp. 85–88
  41. ^ Waclaw Uruszczak, "The Implementation of Domestic Policy in Poland under the Last Two Jagellonian Kings, 1506-1572." Parliaments, Estates & Representation (1987) 7#2 pp 133-144. ISSN 0260-6755, not online
  44. ^ Basista 1999, p. 104
  45. ^ Gierowski 1986, pp. 116–118
  47. ^ a b Gierowski 1986, pp. 119–121
  48. ^ Basista 1999, p. 109
  49. ^ Gierowski 1986, pp. 104–105
  50. ^ a b Gierowski 1986, pp. 121–122
  51. ^ Andrzej Romanowski, Zaszczuć osobnika Jasienicę (Harass the Jasienica individual). Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, 2010-03-12
  52. ^ a b c Gierowski 1986, pp. 122–125, 151
  53. ^ Basista 1999, pp. 109–110
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Further readingEdit

