Sigismund I the Old
Sigismund the Old ( Zygmunt I Stary Polish, Lithuanian Žygimantas Senasis; * January 1, 1467 Kozienice, Poland, † April 1, 1548 in Krakow, Poland) was, from 1506 Sigismund I, King of Poland and Grand Duke Sigismund II as of Lithuania, from the noble family of the Jagiellonian.
Life
Sigismund was the fifth son of Casimir IV and Elisabeth of Habsburg, who was a granddaughter of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg. His eldest brother Vladislav was King of Bohemia since 1471 and was also crowned in 1490 as King of Hungary. He gave him the duchy of Glogau 1499-1506 and 1501-1511 the Duchy of Opava, both of which were a fief of the crown of Bohemia.
Sigismund was followed in 1506 his brothers Johann Albrecht ( † 1501) and Alexander ( † 1506) on the Polish throne. During his reign, Poland reached its greatest abundance of power. However, the domestic powers of the king were severely limited, since in the Sejm of Radom the rights of szlachta were strengthened ( " Nihil Novi ").
To stave off the threat of the eastern borders by the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the southern borders by the Ottoman Empire and its vassals, the Khanate of Crimea, Sigismund teamed up with his brother Vladislav at the Vienna Princes in 1515 a treaty of friendship with the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. In 1518 he married Bona Sforza, niece of the late Empress Bianca Maria Sforza in 1510.
After decades of conflict with the Teutonic Order, the Grand Master, Sigismund's nephew Albert of Brandenburg -Ansbach, 1525, when the suzerainty of the Polish Crown acknowledged. Albrecht became the first Duke of Prussia. He was also Governor of Upper Silesia.
A great helper in Sigismund's struggle against the Tatars was the Silesians Bernard of Prittwitz, also called " terror Tartarorum " later Starosta of Bar Because Prittwitz received the office of Starosts and large tracts of land for its highly successful use, it was said Sigismund's wife Queen Bona a love affair with after Prittwitz ' father.
His son Sigismund Augustus was elected in 1529 by Vivente regulations, during the lifetime of his father, by the Sejm for Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland, hence its nickname, " The Old Man " of Sigismund I.
By his second wife spread to Poland, the ideas of the Renaissance. Science and culture flourished. The Queen Bona has remained unforgotten, but also because it was a bitter opponent of the Reformation.
After the death of Sigismund I, his son Sigismund August, who independently took over 1544 official business, the last hereditary King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from the House of Jagiellon was.
Sigismund was also a member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.
Progeny
With his first wife Barbara Zápolya (1495-1515), a daughter of the Hungarian palatine Stephan Zápolya, whom he married in 1512, he had two daughters:
- Hedwig (1513-1573); Married since 1535 with Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg
- Anna (1515-1520);
In 1518, Sigismund married Bona Sforza. With her he had six children.
- Isabella (1519-1559); Married since 1539 with the Hungarian King John Zápolya
- Sigismund Augustus (1520-1572); Grand Duke of Lithuania, King of Poland
- Sophia (1522-1575); Married since 1556 with Henry II, Duke of Brunswick- Wolfenbüttel
- Anna (1523-1596); Married since 1576 with the Polish King Stephen Báthory
- Catherine (1526-1583); Married since 1562 with the Swedish King John III .. Their son Sigismund reigned 45 years later, the country as a choice king.
- Albrecht Jagiello (* / † September 20, 1527 ), Prince of Poland and Lithuania
(? -1528 ) From his non-marital relationship with the bohemian mistress Catherine de Thelnicz he had three children:
- January ( usz ) de Thelnicz ( 1499-1538 ); Bishop of Vilnius and Poznan
- Regina Szafraniec (1500-1526); married to the Starosta, landowners and royal secretary Hieronim Szafraniec
- Catherine Countess of Montfort (1503-1548); married Count George III. of Montfort