Alexander Jagiellon

Alexander the Jagiellon (Polish Aleksander Jagiellon, Lithuanian Aleksandras Jogailaitis; * August 5, 1461 in Krakow, † August 19, 1506 in Vilnius ) was from 1492 Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland from 1501 from the Jagiellonian dynasty.

Life

The fourth son of Casimir IV Andreas was determined after his death to the Grand Duke of Lithuania. After his brother Jan I Olbracht death he became king of Poland in 1501. He was since 1495 with Helena of Moscow, the daughter of the Russian Grand Duke Ivan III. , Married. Nevertheless, several times came to military conflicts with the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which resulted in Lithuania was forced to resign in 1503 considerable territories to Ivan.

His reign began with a special law, in which he put the decision making power exclusively in the hands of the Senate, in which the monarch had presided.

In 1505, the law Nihil Novi was added in a Senate session to Radom the state constitution. This meant a limitation of the rule of the king, which henceforth could make decisions only with the consent of the Sejm. Poland was thus already in the Renaissance period to a de facto parliamentary monarchy and formed a political system that is now known as the Aristocratic Republic.

Alexander died at the age of 45 years in Vilnius and was buried at St. Stanislaus Cathedral.