Buffalo Hump and Sigismund II Augustus: Difference between pages

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{{Unreferenced|date=May 2007}}
{{Infobox Person
: ''For other nobles of the same name, please see [[Sigismund]].''
| name = Buffalo Hump
<!-- SCROLL DOWN TO EDIT THE ARTICLE -->
| image =
{{Infobox Polish monarch|
| caption =
| name=Sigismund II Augustus
| birth_name = Potsana Kwahip in Comanche
| image_name=Sigismund II Augustus.PNG
| birth_date = 1790s to early 1800s
| image_caption=[[Image:Sigismundus Augustus Rex.PNG|190px|]]
| birth_place = [[Edward's Plateau]], [[Texas]]
| birthdate={{birth date|1520|8|1|df=y}}
| death_date = 1870
| birthplace=[[Kraków]], Poland
| death_place = [[Fort Sill]], [[Oklahoma]]| other_names =
| deathdate={{death date and age|1572|7|7|1520|8|1|df=y}}
| known_for = A famous Comanche Chief
| deathplace=[[Knyszyn]], Poland
| occupation = [[medicine man]]
| burial_place=[[10 February]] [[1574]] in [[Wawel Cathedral]], Kraków
| reign_start=
| reign_end=
| election_date=
| election_place=
| coronation_date=[[20 February]], [[1530]]
| coronation_place=Wawel Cathedral, Kraków
| family=[[Jagiellon dynasty]], [[Gediminids|Gediminid]]
| CoA_name=Pogoń Litewska
| father=[[Sigismund I of Poland]]
| mother=[[Bona Sforza]]
| consort_1=[[Elisabeth of Austria (1526-1545)|Elisabeth of Austria]]
| children_1=none
| consort_2=[[Barbara Radziwiłł]]
| children_2=none
| consort_3=[[Catherine of Austria]]
| children_3=none
| consort_4=Barbara Giza
| children_4=Barbara Woroniecka
}}
}}


'''Sigismund II Augustus I<ref>Kings Augustus II and Augustus III bore their numbers after him.</ref>''' ({{lang-pl|Zygmunt II August}}, [[Ruthenian language|Ruthenian]]: ''Żygimont III Awgust I'', {{lang-lt|Žygimantas III Augustas I}}, {{lang-de|Sigismund II. August}}; [[1 August]] [[1520]] — [[7 July]] [[1572]]) was King of [[Poland]] and [[Grand Duke of Lithuania]], the only son of [[Sigismund I the Old]], whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. Married three times, the last of the [[Jagiellons]] remained childless, and thus the [[Union of Lublin]] introduced [[Elective monarchy]].
{{dablink|This article is about the Indian War Chief. For the medical condition, see [[Lipodystrophy]]. For the fictional character created by Larry McMurtry, see [[Buffalo Hump (Lonesome Dove series)]]}}


== Royal titles ==
'''Buffalo Hump''' (born c. late 1790s to early 1800s - died 1870) was a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] War Chief of the Penateka band of the [[Comanche]] Indians. He came to prominence after the [[Council House Fight]] where he led the Comanches on the [[Great Raid of 1840]]. In the 20th Century, a fictionalized character bearing his name was featured in [[Larry McMurtry]]'s [[Lonesome Dove series]].


* Royal titles, in [[Latin]]: "''Sigismundus Augustus Dei gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, nec non terrarum Cracoviae, Sandomiriae, Siradiae, Lanciciae, Cuiaviae, Kijoviae, Russiae, Woliniae, Prussiae, Masoviae, Podlachiae, Culmensis, Elbingensis, Pomeraniae, Samogitiae, Livoniae etc. dominus et haeres''."
==Early life==
Little is known of Buffalo Hump's early life. He became a historically important figure when, angered by the Council House fight of 1840, he led a group of Comanches, mostly his own band plus allies from various other [[Comanche]] bands, in the Great Raid of 1840. Their goal was to get revenge on the Texans who had killed thirty members of a delegation of Comanche Chiefs when these had been under a flag of truce for negotiations.[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/btc1.html]


* English translation: "Sigismund Augustus, by the Grace of God, King of [[Poland]], Grand Duke of [[Lithuania]], Lord and heir of the Lands of [[Kraków]], [[Sandomierz]], [[Sieradz]], [[Łęczyca]], [[Kuyavia]], [[Kiev]], Hereditary Lord of [[Russia]]/[[Ruthenia]], [[Volhynia]], [[Prussia]], [[Masovia]], [[Podlachia]], [[Culmer Land]], [[Elbing]], [[Pomerania]], [[Samogitia]], [[Duchy of Livonia|Livonia]] etc."
==The Council House Fight==


== Biography ==
:''Main article [[Council House Fight]]''.
[[Image:Zygmunt II August.JPG|thumb|left|150px|Sigismund II Augustus. Drawing by [[Jan Matejko]]]]


From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the country's [[nobility]], who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the nobility's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with the beautiful [[Lithuanians|Lithuanian]] [[Calvinist]], [[Barbara Radziwiłł]], daughter of [[Hetman]] [[Jerzy Radziwiłł]].
The Comanches who came to the Council House at [[San Antonio]] in the [[Republic of Texas]] in 1840 had the intention to negotiate a peace treaty. They came under a white flag of truce as they understood ambassadors should do. At the meeting the Texans made what the Indians felt were impossible demands and when the Indians refused them, reportedly the Texans then pulled out guns and threatened to kill the Comanches. The Comanches, who had come without bows, lances or guns, fought back with their knives. The Texans had concealed heavily armed solders just outside the Council House. At the onset of the fighting, the windows and doors were opened and the soldiers outside shot into the room through them. This fight left lasting bitterness in the Comanche people who believed unarmed ambassadors who had come in under a white flag of truce had been slaughtered.[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/LL/btl1.html]


But the real forces behind the movement seem to have been the [[Austria]]n court and Sigismund's own mother, [[Bona Sforza]], and so violent was the agitation at Sigismund's first ''[[sejm]]'' ([[October 31]], [[1548]]) that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused, and his moral courage and political dexterity won the day.
==The Great Raid of 1840==


By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second ''[[Sejm]]'', a reaction had begun in his favor, and the [[nobility]] was rebuked by [[Piotr Kmita]], Marshal of the ''[[Sejm]]'', who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the crown.
:''Main article [[Great Raid of 1840]]''.


The death of Queen Barbara, five months after her coronation ([[December 7]], [[1550]]), under distressing circumstances which led to a suspicion that she had been poisoned by [[Bona Sforza]], compelled Sigismund to contract a third, purely political union with his first cousin, the Austrian archduchess [[Catherine of Austria|Catherine]], also the sister of his first wife, [[Elisabeth of Austria (1526–1545)|Elisabeth]], who had died within a year of her marriage to him, while he was still only crown prince.
But Buffalo Hump was determined to do more than merely complain about what the Comanches viewed as a bitter betrayal; spreading word to the other bands of Comanches that he was raiding the white settlements in revenge, Buffalo Hump led the Great Raid of 1840. On this raid the Comanches went all the way from the plains of west Texas to the cities of [[Victoria, Texas|Victoria]] and Linnville on the Texas coast. In what may have been the largest organized raid by the Comanches to that point, they raided, burned, and plundered these towns. [[Linnville]] was the second largest port in Texas at that time.<ref name=Comanche>The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains</cite>. University of Oklahoma Press. 1952.</ref>


The third bride was sickly and unsympathetic, and Sigismund soon lost all hope of children by her — to his despair, for as he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line, the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by liaisons with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, [[Barbara Giżanka]] and [[Anna Zajączkowska]]. The [[sejm]] was willing to legitimatize, and acknowledge as Sigismund's successor, any male heir who might be born to him; however, the King was to die childless.
==The Battle of Plum Creek==


[[Image:Barbararadziwill death 19th century.jpg|thumb|left|200px|''Death of [[Barbara Radziwiłł]]'' Painting by [[Józef Simmler]]]]
:''Main article [[Battle of Plum Creek]]''.


The King's marriage was a matter of great political import to [[Protestants]] and [[Catholics]] alike. Had Sigismund not been so good a Catholic, he might have imitated [[Henry VIII of England]] by pleading that his detested third wife was the sister of his first wife, and that consequently the union was uncanonical. The Polish [[Protestantism|Protestants]] hoped that he would do so and thus bring about a breach with Rome at the very crisis of the religious struggle in Poland; while the [[Habsburgs]], who coveted the Polish throne, raised every obstacle to the childless King's remarriage.
On the way back from the sea the Comanches were attacked by Texas Rangers and militia at the [[Battle of Plum Creek]] near [[Lockhart]]. Texas history says the Rangers won this battle, but this is highly questionable as the Indians got away with a great many of the stolen horses and most of their plunder. Volunteers from Gonzales under Matthew Caldwell and from Bastrop under Ed Burleson had gathered to attempt to stop the war party and together with all the ranger companies of east and central Texas, moved to intercept the Indians, which they did at Plum Creek, near the city of Lockhart on August 12, 1840. 80 Comanches were reported killed in the running gun battle (although only 12 bodies were recovered)—unusually heavy casualties for the Indians, although they got away with the bulk of their plunder and stolen horses.<ref name=Comanche/>


Not till [[Catherine of Austria|Queen Catherine]]'s death ([[February 28]], [[1572]]) was Sigismund set free, but less than six months later he would follow her to the grave.
==Description of Buffalo Hump==
An out of print book, "''Buffalo Hump and the Penateka Comanches''" by Jodye Lynn Dickson Schilz and Thomas F. Schilz for Texas Western Press, in the Southwestern Studies Series for the [[University of Texas at El Paso]] describes the meeting of [[German people|German]] Texas settlers, the Indian agent Major Robert Neighbors and the Comanches, including the fierce and commanding Buffalo Hump, who was estimated to be in his late 30s at the time — he was probably somewhat older, probably in his 40s or early 50s. Ferdinand Roemer, a noted German scientist who was traveling in America at the time of the meetings in the mid and late 1840s, attended the council between the chiefs and white representatives. He described the three Comanche chiefs as 'serene and dignified,' characterizing Old Owl as 'the political chief' and [[Santa Anna (Comanche war chief)|Santa Anna]] as an affable and lively-looking 'war chief'.


Sigismund's reign was a period of internal turmoil and external expansion.
Roemer characterizes Buffalo Hump vividily as:
{{cquote|The pure unadulterated picture of a North American Indian, who, unlike the rest of his tribe, scorned every form of European dress. His body naked, a buffalo robe around his loins, brass rings on his arms, a string of beads around his neck, and with his long, coarse black hair hanging down, he sat there with the serious facial expression of the North American Indian which seems to be apathetic to the European. He attracted our special attention because he had distinguished himself through great daring and bravery in expeditions against the Texas frontier which he had engaged in times past.[http://www.texfiles.com/lonestarquarterly/Dawn/buffalohump.htm]
}}


He saw the invasion of Poland by the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]], and the ''peero-cratic'' upheaval that placed all political power in the hands of the [[nobility]]; he saw the collapse of the [[Knights of the Sword]] in the north (which led to the Commonwealth's acquisition of [[Livonia]]) and the consolidation of [[Turkey]]'s power in the south. Throughout this perilous transitional period, Sigismund successfully steered the ship of state amid the whirlpools that constantly threatened to engulf it. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even greater statesman than the stern and majestic [[Sigismund I the Old]].
==Role in negotiating peaceful surrender of the Penateka band==
It is notable that had the Texans ever negotiated a treaty with all the Comanche where the Comancheria had been recognized, it would have stood, and led to the return of the captives that were at the heart of the Council House disaster. Despite the Council House, and the subsequent [[Great Raid of 1840]], Sam Houston and Buffalo Hump, with other chiefs representing, for the first time, every major division of the Comanche in Texas, almost succeeded in such a treaty. In August 1843, a temporary treaty accord led to a ceasefire between the Comanches and their allies, and the Texans. In October the Comanches agreed to meet with Houston and to try to negotiate a treaty similar to the one just concluded at Fort Bird. (That this included Buffalo Hump, after the events at the Council House, showed extraordinary Comanche belief in Houston)<ref name = "Clarke"><cite>The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier</cite>. Arthur H. Clarke Co. 1933.</ref> In early 1844, Buffalo Hump and other Comanche leaders signed a treaty at Tehuacana Creek in which they agreed to surrender white captives in toto, and to cease raiding Texan settlements.<ref name= Fehrenbach > Comanches, The Destruction of a People,</cite>. Oxford Press. 1949.</ref> In exchange for this, the Texans would cease military action against the tribe, establish more trading posts, and recognize the boundary between Texas and Comanchería.[http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/indian/war/page3.html] Comanche allies, including the Wacos, [[Tawakoni]]s, Kiowi, Kiowi Apache and [[Wichita (tribe)|Wichitas]], also agreed to join in the treaty. Unfortunately, the boundary provision was deleted by the [[Texas Senate]] in the final version, which caused Buffalo Hump to repudiate the treaty, and soon a resumption of hostilities occurred.<ref name = "Clarke"><cite>The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier</cite>. Arthur H. Clarke Co. 1933.</ref>


[[Image:Death of Sigismund Augustus at Knyszyn.JPG|thumb|200px|left|''Death of Sigismund II at [[Knyszyn]]'', by [[Jan Matejko]], 1886, oil on canvas, National Museum, [[Warsaw]].]]
Finally, in May 1846 Buffalo Hump became convinced that even he could not continue to defy the massed might of the United States, and the State of Texas, so he led the Comanche delegation to the treaty talks at Council Springs that signed a treaty with the United States.[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu12.html]


Sigismund II possessed to a high degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized all the [[Jagiellon Dynasty|Jagiellons]], and he added to these qualities a dexterity and diplomatic finesse which he may have inherited from his [[Italy|Italian]] mother. No other Polish king seems to have so thoroughly understood the nature of the Polish ''[[sejm]]''. Both the Austrian ambassadors and the papal legates testify to the care with which he controlled his nation. Everything went as he wished, they said, because he seemed to know everything in advance. He managed to get more money than his father ever could, and at one of his ''[[sejm]]''s he won the hearts of the assembly by unexpectedly appearing before them in the simple grey coat of a [[Masovia]]n lord. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in this respect to carry with him the nation, always distrustful of the [[Germany|Germans]], and thus avoided serious complications with the dangerous Turks.
As war chief of the Penateka Comanches, Buffalo Hump dealt peacefully with American officials throughout the late 1840s and 1850s.<ref name = "TX Indians">[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu12.html], Texas Indians.</ref> In 1849 he guided John S. Ford's expedition part of the way from San Antonio to El Paso, and in 1856 he sadly and finally led his people to the newly established Comanche reservation on the Brazos River.<ref name = "Clarke"><cite> Buffalo Hump, a Comanche Diplomat: West Texas Historical Association Yearbook 35 (1959)</cite>Continuous raids from white horse thieves and squatters, coupled with his band's unhappiness over their lack of freedom and the poor food provided on the reservation, forced Buffalo Hump to move his band off the reservation in 1858. While camped in the Wichita Mountains, the Penateka Band under Buffalo Hump were attacked by United States troops under the command of Maj. Earl Van Dorn.<ref name = "TX Indians">[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu12.html], Texas Indians.</ref>. Allegedly not aware that Buffalo Hump's band had recently signed a formal peace treaty with the United States at Fort Arbuckle, Van Dorn '''<No prior reference in this article to Van Dorn - clarification needed> --[[User:Ronb1224|Ronb1224]] 17:44, 10 October 2008 (UTC)ronb1224''' and his men killed eighty of the Comanches, mostly women and children.<ref name = "TX Indians">[http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/BB/fbu12.html], Texas Indians.</ref>.


Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the [[Roman Catholic Church]] and the [[Protestantism|Protestants]] without alienating the sympathies of either. His most striking memorial, however, may have been the [[Union of Lublin]], which finally made of Poland and Lithuania one body politic, the [[Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth]] — the "Republic of the Two Nations" ({{lang-pl|Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów}}, {{lang-lt|Abiejų Tautų Respublika}}). Also, German-speaking [[Royal Prussia]] and Prussian cities were included. This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund.
Nonetheless, despite this, and an aged and weary Buffalo Hump led and settled his remaining followers on the Kiowa-Comanche reservation near Fort Cobb in Indian Territory in Oklahoma. There, in spite of his enormous sadness at the end of the Comanches' traditional way of life, he asked for a house and farmland so that he could set an example for his people. Attempting to live out his life as a rancher and farmer, he died in 1870.


Sigismund died at his beloved [[Knyszyn]] on July 6, 1572, aged 52. In 1573, [[Henry III of France|Henry III of Valois]] was elected as King of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth for a few months, but then returned to France where he was crowned as King Henry III of France. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund's sister [[Anna of Poland]] married [[Stefan Batory]], and they ruled as King and Queen of Poland.
==Forgotten in history, resurrected by fiction==

Before the Lonesome Dove series, Buffalo Hump was forgotten in history, the Great Raid of 1840 only remembered in Texas history classes. Buffalo Hump was resurrected as a powerful historical figure by [[Larry McMurtry]]'s books "''[[Dead Man's Walk]]''" and "''[[Comanche Moon]]''," the first two books in the [[Lonesome Dove series]]. Whether intentionally or not, McMurtry's dramatization of the character of Buffalo Hump is very similar to the historical figure described so vividly by Ferdinand Roemer.
Besides very close family connections, Sigismund II was especially allied to the Imperial [[Habsburg]]s by his pledge as member of the [[Order of the Golden Fleece]].

==Ancestors==
<center>{{ahnentafel-compact4
|style=font-size: 90%; line-height: 110%;
|border=1
|boxstyle=padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0;
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #999;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #bbb;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ddd;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #eee;
|1= '''Sigismund II Augustus'''
|2= [[Sigismund I the Old]]
|3= [[Bona Sforza]]
|4= [[Casimir IV Jagiellon]]
|5= [[Elisabeth of Austria (d. 1505)|Elisabeth of Austria]]
|6= [[Gian Galeazzo Sforza]]
|7= [[Isabella of Naples]]
|8= [[Jogaila]]
|9= [[Sophia of Halshany]]
|10=[[Albert II of Germany]]
|11=[[Elisabeth II of Bohemia]]
|12=[[Galeazzo Maria Sforza]]
|13=[[Bona of Savoy]]
|14=[[Alfonso II of Naples]]
|15=[[Ippolita Maria Sforza]]
}}</center>

== Marriages and children ==

He married three times:
[[Image:Elzbieta Habsburzanka.jpg|35px|right]]
*On [[May 5]], [[1543]], Sigismund married his first wife [[Elisabeth of Austria (1526–1545)|Elisabeth of Austria]] (July 9, 1526 - June 15, 1545), eldest daughter of [[Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor]] and [[Anna of Bohemia and Hungary]].
[[Image:Barbara Radziwiłł.jpg|35px|right]]
*Between [[July 28]] and [[August 6]], [[1547]], Sigismund married his second wife [[Barbara Radziwiłł]] ([[December 6]], [[1520]] - [[May 8]], [[1551]]).
[[Image:KatarzynaHabs.jpg|35px|right]]
*In the summer of 1553, Sigismund married [[Catherine of Austria]] ([[September 15]], [[1533]] - [[February 28]], [[1572]]), a younger sister of his first wife.

==Mistresses==
*[[Diana di Cordona]]
*[[Miss Weiss]]
*[[Miss Relska]]
**daughter
*[[Zuzanna Orłowska]]
*[[Anna Zajączkowska]]
*[[Barbara Giżycka]]
**Barbara - married Jakub Zawadzki

==Patronage==
Sigismund Augustus was a passionate collector of jewels. According to [[nuncio]] [[Bernardo Bongiovanni]]'s relation, his collection was allocated in 16 chests.<ref name="cynarski_aug">Stanisław Cynarski, ''Zygmunt August'', Wrocław 2004. ISBN 8304047144</ref> Among the precious items in his possession was [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]]'s ruby of 80 000 [[Italian scudo|scudo]]s' worth, as well as the [[Emperor]]'s [[diamond]] medal with [[Habsburgs]] Eagle on one side and two columns with a sign ''[[Plus Ultra (motto)|Plus Ultra]]'' on the other side.<ref name="cynarski_aug" /> He had also a [[sultan]]'s sword of 16 000 [[ducat]]s' worth, 30 precious horse trappings<ref name="cynarski_aug" /> and 20 different private-use [[armour]]s.<ref name="scrolls_arm">[http://www.zwoje-scrolls.com/zwoje31/text08p.htm Polonica w Szwecji], Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection</ref> His possession includes a rich collection of [[Tapestry|tapestries]] (360 pieces<ref>[http://encyklopedia.interia.pl/haslo?hid=117996 encyklopedia.interia.pl]</ref>), commissioned by him in [[Brussels]] in the years 1550-1560.<ref name="wawel_tex">[http://www.wawel.krakow.pl/en/index.php?op=22 Textiles], Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection</ref>

<gallery>
Image:Sigismund II Augustus by Lucas Cranach the Younger.JPG|Portrait of Sigismund II Augustus by [[Lucas Cranach the Younger]], 1553-1555
Image:ArrasWawel.jpg|Tapestry with Shield-Bearing [[Satyr]]s with the royal [[monogram]] ''S.A.'' (Sigismund Augustus), woven in Brussels in about 1555<ref name="wawel_tex" />
Image:ArrasyWawl.jpg|Verdure [[tapestry]] from King Sigismund Augustus’s collection, made in Jan van Tieghem’s workshop in [[Brussels]] in about 1555
Image:Spanish Pendant 16th century.jpg|Golden eagle pendant on a chain, made in [[Spain]] in the mid-16th century, it belonged to the King<ref>Lileyko Jerzy, ''Vademecum Zamku Warszawskiego'', Warszawa 1980. ISBN 8322318189</ref>
Image:Royal armoury Stockholm 1.jpg|Parade [[armour]] of King Sigismund Augustus, made in [[Nuremberg]] by [[Kunz Lochner]] in the 1550s<ref name="scrolls_arm" />
Image:Zamek-niepolomice.jpg|Inner courtyard of the [[Niepołomice]] Castle reconstructed in the early 1550s by Sigismund Augustus
Image:Atstatomi Lietuvos Valdovu rumai. Rebuilding Royal Palace of Lithuania in Vilnius.jpg|[[Royal Palace of Lithuania|Royal Palace]] in [[Vilnius]] was expanded and reconstructed in the [[Renaissance]] style for the King
Image:Sigismundus Augustus Bridge in Warsaw.jpg|Sigismundus Augustus Bridge in [[Warsaw]], constructed between 1568-1573 on the King's order
</gallery>


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
<references/>

==See also==
{{commons2|Sigismund II August of Poland}}
* [[History of Poland (1385-1569)]]
* [[History of Poland (1569-1795)]]

{{start box}}
{{s-hou|[[Jagiellon dynasty|House of Jagiellon]]|1 August|1520|7 July|1572|}}
{{s-reg|}}
{{succession box two to two|title1=[[King of Poland]]|title2=[[Grand Duke of Lithuania]]|before=[[Sigismund I the Old]]|after=[[Henry III of Poland|Henry III]]|years1=1548–1572|years2=1548–1572}}
{{end box}}
{{Monarchs of Lithuania}}
{{Monarchs of Poland}}


{{1911}}
==Bibliography==
* Bial, Raymond. ''Lifeways: The Comanche''. New York: Benchmark Books, 2000.
* Brice, Donaly E. ''The Great Comanche Raid: Boldest Indian Attack on the Texas Republic'' McGowan Book Co. 1987
* "Comanche" [http://www.gbso.net/Skyhawk/comanche.htm Skyhawks Native American Dedication] ([[August 15]], [[2005]])
* [http://www.historychannel.com/thcsearch/thc_resourcedetail.do?encyc_id=206146 "Comanche" on the History Channel] ([[August 26]], [[2005]])
* Dunnegan, Ted. [http://www2.itexas.net/~teddun/tedspage.htm Ted's Arrowheads and Artifacts from the Comancheria] ([[August 19]], [[2005]])
* Fehrenbach, Theodore Reed ''The Comanches: The Destruction of a People''. New York: Knopf, 1974, ISBN 0394488563. Later (2003) republished under the title ''The Comanches: The History of a People''
* Foster, Morris. ''Being Comanche''.
* Frazier, Ian. ''Great Plains''. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1989.
* John, Elizabeth and A.H. Storms ''Brewed in Other Men's Worlds: The Confrontation of the Indian, Spanish, and French in the Southwest'', 1540-1795. College Station, TX: Texas A&M Press, 1975.
* Jones, David E. Sanapia: ''Comanche Medicine Woman''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974.
* Lodge, Sally.'' Native American People: The Comanche''. Vero Beach, Florida 32964: Rourke Publications, Inc., 1992.
* Lund, Bill. ''Native Peoples: The Comanche Indians''. Mankato, Minnesota: Bridgestone Books, 1997.
* Mooney, Martin. ''The Junior Library of American Indians: The Comanche Indians''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1993.
* [http://www.nativeamericans.com/Comanche.htm Native Americans: Comanche] ([[August 13]], [[2005]]).
* Richardson, Rupert N. ''The Comanche Barrier to South Plains Settlement: A Century and a Half of Savage Resistance to the Advancing White Frontier''. Glendale, CA: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1933.
* Rollings, Willard. ''Indians of North America: The Comanche''. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 1989.
* Secoy, Frank. ''Changing Miliitary Patterns on the Great Plains''. Monograph of the American Ethnoligical Society, No. 21. Locust Valley, NY: J. J. Augustin, 1953.
* Streissguth, Thomas. ''Indigenous Peoples of North America: The Comanche''. San Diego: Lucent Books Incorporation, 2000.
* [http://www.texasindians.com/comanche.htm "The Texas Comanches" on Texas Indians] ([[August 14]], [[2005]]).
* Wallace, Ernest, and E. Adamson Hoebel. ''The Comanches: Lords of the Southern Plains''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952.


[[Category:Polish monarchs]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo hump}}
[[Category:Native American leaders]]
[[Category:Grand Dukes of Lithuania]]
[[Category:Native American people of the Indian Wars]]
[[Category:House of Jagiellon]]
[[Category:1840 in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Knyszyn]]
[[Category:Battles involving the Comanche]]
[[Category:People from Kraków]]
[[Category:Comanche tribe]]
[[Category:1520 births]]
[[Category:Texas-Indian Wars]]
[[Category:1572 deaths]]
[[Category:1870 deaths]]


[[be:Жыгімонт Аўгуст]]
[[nl:Bisonnek]]
[[be-x-old:Жыгімонт Аўгуст]]
[[cs:Zikmund II. August]]
[[de:Sigismund II. August]]
[[et:Zygmunt II August]]
[[es:Segismundo II Augusto Jagellón]]
[[eo:Sigismondo la 2-a (Pollando-Litovio)]]
[[fr:Sigismond II de Pologne]]
[[it:Sigismondo II Augusto di Polonia]]
[[lv:Sigismunds II Augusts]]
[[lt:Žygimantas Augustas]]
[[hu:II. Zsigmond lengyel király]]
[[mr:सिगिस्मंड दुसरा ऑगस्टस, पोलंड]]
[[nl:Sigismund II August van Polen]]
[[ja:ジグムント2世]]
[[no:Sigismund II August av Polen]]
[[pl:Zygmunt II August]]
[[pt:Sigismundo II da Polônia]]
[[ru:Сигизмунд II Август]]
[[sv:Sigismund II August]]
[[uk:Сигізмунд II Август]]

Revision as of 17:47, 10 October 2008

For other nobles of the same name, please see Sigismund.

Template:Infobox Polish monarch

Sigismund II Augustus I[1] (Polish: Zygmunt II August, Ruthenian: Żygimont III Awgust I, Lithuanian: Žygimantas III Augustas I, German: Sigismund II. August; 1 August 1520 — 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. Married three times, the last of the Jagiellons remained childless, and thus the Union of Lublin introduced Elective monarchy.

Royal titles

  • Royal titles, in Latin: "Sigismundus Augustus Dei gratia rex Poloniae, magnus dux Lithuaniae, nec non terrarum Cracoviae, Sandomiriae, Siradiae, Lanciciae, Cuiaviae, Kijoviae, Russiae, Woliniae, Prussiae, Masoviae, Podlachiae, Culmensis, Elbingensis, Pomeraniae, Samogitiae, Livoniae etc. dominus et haeres."

Biography

File:Zygmunt II August.JPG
Sigismund II Augustus. Drawing by Jan Matejko

From the outset of his reign, Sigismund came into collision with the country's nobility, who had already begun curtailing the power of the great families. The ostensible cause of the nobility's animosity to the King was his second marriage, secretly contracted before his accession to the throne, with the beautiful Lithuanian Calvinist, Barbara Radziwiłł, daughter of Hetman Jerzy Radziwiłł.

But the real forces behind the movement seem to have been the Austrian court and Sigismund's own mother, Bona Sforza, and so violent was the agitation at Sigismund's first sejm (October 31, 1548) that the deputies threatened to renounce their allegiance unless the King repudiated his wife Barbara. He refused, and his moral courage and political dexterity won the day.

By 1550, when Sigismund summoned his second Sejm, a reaction had begun in his favor, and the nobility was rebuked by Piotr Kmita, Marshal of the Sejm, who accused them of attempting to unduly diminish the legislative prerogatives of the crown.

The death of Queen Barbara, five months after her coronation (December 7, 1550), under distressing circumstances which led to a suspicion that she had been poisoned by Bona Sforza, compelled Sigismund to contract a third, purely political union with his first cousin, the Austrian archduchess Catherine, also the sister of his first wife, Elisabeth, who had died within a year of her marriage to him, while he was still only crown prince.

The third bride was sickly and unsympathetic, and Sigismund soon lost all hope of children by her — to his despair, for as he was the last male Jagiellon in the direct line, the dynasty was threatened with extinction. He sought to remedy this by liaisons with two of the most beautiful of his countrywomen, Barbara Giżanka and Anna Zajączkowska. The sejm was willing to legitimatize, and acknowledge as Sigismund's successor, any male heir who might be born to him; however, the King was to die childless.

Death of Barbara Radziwiłł Painting by Józef Simmler

The King's marriage was a matter of great political import to Protestants and Catholics alike. Had Sigismund not been so good a Catholic, he might have imitated Henry VIII of England by pleading that his detested third wife was the sister of his first wife, and that consequently the union was uncanonical. The Polish Protestants hoped that he would do so and thus bring about a breach with Rome at the very crisis of the religious struggle in Poland; while the Habsburgs, who coveted the Polish throne, raised every obstacle to the childless King's remarriage.

Not till Queen Catherine's death (February 28, 1572) was Sigismund set free, but less than six months later he would follow her to the grave.

Sigismund's reign was a period of internal turmoil and external expansion.

He saw the invasion of Poland by the Reformation, and the peero-cratic upheaval that placed all political power in the hands of the nobility; he saw the collapse of the Knights of the Sword in the north (which led to the Commonwealth's acquisition of Livonia) and the consolidation of Turkey's power in the south. Throughout this perilous transitional period, Sigismund successfully steered the ship of state amid the whirlpools that constantly threatened to engulf it. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even greater statesman than the stern and majestic Sigismund I the Old.

Death of Sigismund II at Knyszyn, by Jan Matejko, 1886, oil on canvas, National Museum, Warsaw.

Sigismund II possessed to a high degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized all the Jagiellons, and he added to these qualities a dexterity and diplomatic finesse which he may have inherited from his Italian mother. No other Polish king seems to have so thoroughly understood the nature of the Polish sejm. Both the Austrian ambassadors and the papal legates testify to the care with which he controlled his nation. Everything went as he wished, they said, because he seemed to know everything in advance. He managed to get more money than his father ever could, and at one of his sejms he won the hearts of the assembly by unexpectedly appearing before them in the simple grey coat of a Masovian lord. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in this respect to carry with him the nation, always distrustful of the Germans, and thus avoided serious complications with the dangerous Turks.

Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestants without alienating the sympathies of either. His most striking memorial, however, may have been the Union of Lublin, which finally made of Poland and Lithuania one body politic, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth — the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). Also, German-speaking Royal Prussia and Prussian cities were included. This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund.

Sigismund died at his beloved Knyszyn on July 6, 1572, aged 52. In 1573, Henry III of Valois was elected as King of the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth for a few months, but then returned to France where he was crowned as King Henry III of France. Shortly thereafter, Sigismund's sister Anna of Poland married Stefan Batory, and they ruled as King and Queen of Poland.

Besides very close family connections, Sigismund II was especially allied to the Imperial Habsburgs by his pledge as member of the Order of the Golden Fleece.

Ancestors

Jogaila
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Sophia of Halshany
Sigismund I the Old
Albert II of Germany
Elisabeth of Austria
Elisabeth II of Bohemia
Sigismund II Augustus
Galeazzo Maria Sforza
Gian Galeazzo Sforza
Bona of Savoy
Bona Sforza
Alfonso II of Naples
Isabella of Naples
Ippolita Maria Sforza

Marriages and children

He married three times:

Mistresses

Patronage

Sigismund Augustus was a passionate collector of jewels. According to nuncio Bernardo Bongiovanni's relation, his collection was allocated in 16 chests.[2] Among the precious items in his possession was Charles V's ruby of 80 000 scudos' worth, as well as the Emperor's diamond medal with Habsburgs Eagle on one side and two columns with a sign Plus Ultra on the other side.[2] He had also a sultan's sword of 16 000 ducats' worth, 30 precious horse trappings[2] and 20 different private-use armours.[3] His possession includes a rich collection of tapestries (360 pieces[4]), commissioned by him in Brussels in the years 1550-1560.[5]

  • Portrait of Sigismund II Augustus by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1553-1555
    Portrait of Sigismund II Augustus by Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1553-1555
  • Tapestry with Shield-Bearing Satyrs with the royal monogram S.A. (Sigismund Augustus), woven in Brussels in about 1555[5]
    Tapestry with Shield-Bearing Satyrs with the royal monogram S.A. (Sigismund Augustus), woven in Brussels in about 1555[5]
  • Verdure tapestry from King Sigismund Augustus’s collection, made in Jan van Tieghem’s workshop in Brussels in about 1555
    Verdure tapestry from King Sigismund Augustus’s collection, made in Jan van Tieghem’s workshop in Brussels in about 1555
  • Golden eagle pendant on a chain, made in Spain in the mid-16th century, it belonged to the King[6]
    Golden eagle pendant on a chain, made in Spain in the mid-16th century, it belonged to the King[6]
  • Parade armour of King Sigismund Augustus, made in Nuremberg by Kunz Lochner in the 1550s[3]
    Parade armour of King Sigismund Augustus, made in Nuremberg by Kunz Lochner in the 1550s[3]
  • Inner courtyard of the Niepołomice Castle reconstructed in the early 1550s by Sigismund Augustus
    Inner courtyard of the Niepołomice Castle reconstructed in the early 1550s by Sigismund Augustus
  • Royal Palace in Vilnius was expanded and reconstructed in the Renaissance style for the King
    Royal Palace in Vilnius was expanded and reconstructed in the Renaissance style for the King
  • Sigismundus Augustus Bridge in Warsaw, constructed between 1568-1573 on the King's order
    Sigismundus Augustus Bridge in Warsaw, constructed between 1568-1573 on the King's order

References

  1. ^ Kings Augustus II and Augustus III bore their numbers after him.
  2. ^ a b c Stanisław Cynarski, Zygmunt August, Wrocław 2004. ISBN 8304047144
  3. ^ a b Polonica w Szwecji, Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection
  4. ^ encyklopedia.interia.pl
  5. ^ a b Textiles, Wawel Royal Castle – State Art Collection
  6. ^ Lileyko Jerzy, Vademecum Zamku Warszawskiego, Warszawa 1980. ISBN 8322318189

See also

Template:Commons2

Sigismund II Augustus
Born: 1 August 1520 Died: 7 July 1572
Regnal titles

Template:Succession box two to two

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

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