Sigismund I (Poland)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sigismund I in 1530, oil painting on wood by Hans Dürer
Prince's coat of arms of Sigismund at the Matthias Tower in Bautzen
Sigismund I kneeling in front of Saint Stanislaus
Princely Congress of Vienna from 1515 BC. l. To the right: Emperor Maximilian I, his granddaughter Maria, Ludwig II of Hungary next to his father King Vladislav II of Hungary, his daughter Anna and his brother King Sigismund I of Poland

Sigismund the Old ( Polish Zygmunt I Stary , Lithuanian Žygimantas Senasis ; * January 1, 1467 in Kozienice ; † April 1, 1548 in Krakow ) was from 1507 as Sigismund I King of Poland and as Sigismund II Grand Duke of Lithuania , from the Jagiellonian noble family .

Life

Sigismund was the fifth son of Casimir IV and Elisabeth von Habsburg , who was a granddaughter of the Roman-German Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg . His eldest brother Vladislav had been King of Bohemia since 1471 and was also crowned King of Hungary in 1490 . He gave him the 1499-1506 Duchy Glogau and 1501-1511 the Duchy of Opava , both a fief of the crown of Bohemia were. From 1504 to 1506 he was also governor of Upper Lusatia and Lower Lusatia , which is reminiscent of the only surviving monumental relief of his prince's coat of arms on the Matthias Tower in Bautzen .

Sigismund succeeded his brothers Johann Albrecht († 1501) and Alexander († 1506) to the Polish throne on January 24, 1507 . During his reign Poland reached its greatest power. However, the domestic political powers of the king were severely limited since the rights of the Szlachta (" Nihil Novi ") had been strengthened at the Sejm of Radom .

In order to fend off the threat to the eastern borders from the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the southern borders from the Ottoman Empire and its vassals, the Khanate of Crimea , Sigismund and his brother Wladislaw II made an alliance of friendship with the Roman-German at the Prince's Day in Vienna in 1515 Emperor Maximilian I. In 1518 he married Bona Sforza , the niece of Empress Bianca Maria Sforza, who died in 1510 .

After decades of conflict with the Teutonic Order , the Grand Master , Sigismund's nephew Albrecht von Brandenburg-Ansbach , recognized the suzerainty of the Polish crown in 1525 . Albrecht became the first Duke of Prussia . He was also the governor of Silesia.

A great helper in Sigismund's fight against the Tatars was the Silesian Bernhard von Prittwitz , also called "Terror Tartarorum", later Starost von Bar . Because Prittwitz received the office of Starost and large estates for his extremely successful service, Sigismund's wife Queen Bona was said to have a love affair with Prittwitz's father.

His son Sigismund August was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of Poland by the Sejm by Vivente Rege in 1529 while his father was still alive, hence the nickname "The Old One" for Sigismund I.

It was through his second wife that the ideas of the Renaissance spread in Poland . Science and culture flourished. Queen Bona has not been forgotten in Poland to this day, but also because she was a bitter opponent of the Reformation .

The king's remains were buried in the Wawel Cathedral in Krakow , where his sarcophagus is in the crypt under Sigismund's Chapel . After the death of Sigismund I, his son Sigismund August, who took over official duties independently as early as 1544, became the last hereditary King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from the Jagiellonian family .

Sigismund was 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:

In 1518 Sigismund married Bona Sforza . He had six children with her.

From his illegitimate relationship with the Bohemian mistress Katharina de Thelnicz (? –1528) he had three children:

See also

Web links

Commons : Sigismund I. (Poland)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans v. Gizycki: Chronicle of the Gizycki family of the Gozdawa coat of arms ; 1913
predecessor Office successor
Alexander King of Poland
1507–1548 		Sigismund II./III.
Alexander Grand Duke of Lithuania
1506–1548 		Sigismund II./III.
personal data
SURNAME Sigismund I.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sigismund the Old
BRIEF DESCRIPTION fifth ruler of the Lithuanian house of Jagiellonians
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1467
PLACE OF BIRTH Kozienice , Poland
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1548
Place of death Krakow