Johann I (Poland)

King Johann I. Albrecht

Johann I. Albrecht (also Albert, Polish Jan I Olbracht , Lithuanian Jonas Albrechtas ; * December 27, 1459 in Cracow , † June 17, 1501 in Thorn ) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death . He came from the Jagiellonian dynasty .

Life

The third of the sons of Casimir IV Andrew ascended the throne in 1492 after the death of his father, while his younger brother Alexander ruled over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . He carried out reforms that strengthened the nobility in their position. In the statute of 1496 it was stipulated that access to higher ecclesiastical offices was reserved only for the nobles, that the acquisition of estates was forbidden to the commoners and restricted the freedom of the peasants. In foreign policy, he focused on Turkish affairs and tried to improve the Polish situation by controlling the Danube principalities.

The southern parts of Poland and Lithuania were devastated by raids by the Crimean Tatars , encouraged by the Ottomans , who captured the fortresses of Kilija and Białogród on the Black Sea in 1484. King Jan Olbracht undertook a campaign against the Ottoman rule in these two cities in 1497 , but was unsuccessful because his nominal vassal, Ștefan cel Mare , turned against him.

During his reign, since 1493, a meeting of the two-chamber Reichstag was established, which consisted of members of the parliament and the senate.

As compensation for not running against his brother, the Bohemian King Vladislav II in the election of the king in Hungary, the latter transferred to him the pledge of the Silesian Duchy of Glogau on February 20, 1491 , which he held until 1496. The king's remains were buried in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Karl Borchardt: Konrad X. von Oels († September 21, 1492) . In the S. (Ed.): Schlesische Lebensbilder, Volume 10 . Degener Verlag, Insingen 2010, p. 67, ISBN 978-3-7686-3508-0 .

predecessor	Office	successor
Casimir IV. Andrew	King of Poland 1492–1501	Alexander I.