|
See also:SIGISMUND I . (1467-1548), See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king of See also:Poland, the fifth son of Casimir IV. and See also:Elizabeth of See also:Austria, was elected See also:grand-See also:duke of Lithuania on the 21st of See also:October 1505 and king of Poland on the 8th of See also:January 15o6. Sigismund was the only one of the six sons of Casimir IV. gifted with extraordinary ability. He had served his See also:apprenticeship in the See also:art of See also:government first as See also:prince of See also:Glogau and subsequently as See also:governor of See also:Silesia and See also:margrave of See also:Lusatia under his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Wladislaus of Bohemia and See also:Hungary. Silesia, already more than See also:half Germanized, had for generations been the See also:battle-ground between the Luxemburgers and the Piasts, and was split up into innumerable principalities which warred incessantly upon their neighbours and each other.
Into the midst of this region of banditti Sigismund came as a sort of grand See also:justiciar, a sworn enemy of every sort of disorder. His little principality of Glogau soon became famous as a See also:model See also:state, and as governor of Silesia he suppressed the robber knights with an See also:iron See also:hand, protected the See also:law-abiding classes, and revived See also:commerce. In Poland also his See also:thrift and businesslike qualities speedily remedied the abuses caused by the wastefulness of his predecessor See also:Alexander. His first step was to recover See also:control of the See also:mint, and See also:place it in the hands of capable See also:middle-class merchants and bankers, like Caspar See also:Beer, See also:Jan Thurzo, Jan See also:Boner, the Betmans, exiles for See also:conscience' See also:sake from See also:Alsace, who had sought See also:refuge in Poland under Casimir IV., Justus Decyusz, subsequently the king's secretary and historian, and their See also:fellows, all See also:practical economists of high integrity who reformed the currency and opened out new ways for See also:trade and commerce. The reorganization of the mint alone increased the royal See also:revenue by 210,000 gulden a See also:year and enabled Sigismund to pay the expenses of his earlier See also:wars. In See also:foreign affairs Sigismund was largely guided by the Laskis (See also:Adam, Jan and Hieronymus), Jan See also:Tarnowski and others, most of whom he selected himself. In his marriages also he was influenced by See also:political considerations, though to both his consorts he was an affectionate See also:husband. His first wife, whom the See also:diet, anxious for the perpetuation of the See also:dynasty, compelled him, already in his See also:forty-See also:fourth year (Feb. 1512), to marry, was See also:Barbara Zapolya, whose See also:family as represented first by her See also:father See also:Stephen and subsequently by her brother See also:John, dominated Hungarian politics in the last See also:quarter of the 15th and the first quarter of the 16th See also:century. Barbara brought him a See also:dower of roo,000 gulden and the support of the Magyar magnates, but the match nearly brought about a See also:breach with the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian, jealous already of the Jagiello See also:influence in Hungary. On Barbara's See also:death three years later without male offspring, Sigismund (in See also:April 1518) gave his hand to See also:Bona See also:Sforza, a kinswoman of the emperor and granddaughter of the king of See also:Aragon, who came to him with a See also:dowry of 200,000 ducats and the promise of an See also:inheritance from her See also:mother of half a million more which she never got. Bona's See also:- GRACE (Fr. grace, Lat. gratia, from grates, beloved, pleasing; formed from the root cra-, Gr. xav-, cf. xaipw, x6p,ua, Xapts)
- GRACE, WILLIAM GILBERT (1848– )
grace and beauty speedily fascinated Sigismund, and contemporary satirists ridiculed him for playing the See also:part of Jove to her See also:Juno. She introduced See also:Italian elegance and luxury into the austere See also:court of See also:Cracow and exercised no inconsiderable influence on affairs. But she used her See also:great See also:financial and economical talents almost entirely for her own benefit. She enriched herself at the expense of the state, corrupted society, degraded the See also:clergy, and in her later years was universally detested for her mischievous meddling, inexhaustible greed, and unnatural treatment of her See also:children.
The first twenty years of Sigismund's reign were marked by exceptional vigour. His See also:principal difficulties were due to the aggressiveness of Muscovy and the disloyalty of See also:Prussia. With the tsars Vasily III. and See also:Ivan IV. Sigismund was never absolutely at See also:peace. The interminable See also:war was interrupted, indeed, by brief truces whenever See also:Polish valour proved See also:superior to See also:Muscovite persistence, as for instance after the great victory of Orsza (See also:Sept. 1514) and again in 1522 when See also:Moscow was threatened by the See also:Tatars. But the Tatars themselves were a See also:standing menace to the See also:republic. In the open See also:- FIELD (a word common to many West German languages, cf. Ger. Feld, Dutch veld, possibly cognate with O.E. f olde, the earth, and ultimately with root of the Gr. irAaror, broad)
- FIELD, CYRUS WEST (1819-1892)
- FIELD, DAVID DUDLEY (18o5-1894)
- FIELD, EUGENE (1850-1895)
- FIELD, FREDERICK (18o1—1885)
- FIELD, HENRY MARTYN (1822-1907)
- FIELD, JOHN (1782—1837)
- FIELD, MARSHALL (183 1906)
- FIELD, NATHAN (1587—1633)
- FIELD, STEPHEN JOHNSON (1816-1899)
- FIELD, WILLIAM VENTRIS FIELD, BARON (1813-1907)
field, indeed, they were generally defeated (e.g. at Wisniowiec in 1512 and at Kaniow in 1526), yet occasionally, as at Sokal when they wiped out a whole Polish See also:army, they prevailed even in pitched battles. Generally, however, they confined themselves to raiding on a grand See also:scale and, encouraged by the See also:Porte or the Muscovite, systematically devastated whole provinces, penetrating even into the See also:heart of Poland proper and disappearing with immense See also:booty. It was this growing sense of border insecurity which led to the See also:establishment of the See also:Cossacks (see POLAND: See also:History).
The grand-masters of the See also:Teutonic See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
Order, always sure of support in See also:Germany, were also a See also:constant Source of annoyance. Their constant aim was to shake off Polish See also:suzerainty, and in 1520-21 their menacing attitude compelled Sigismund to take up arms against them. The See also:long See also:quarrel was finally adjusted in 1525 when the last grand-See also:master, after a fruitless See also:pilgrimage through See also:Europe for support, professed Lutheranism and as fiat
duke of Prussia did public See also:homage to the Polish king in the See also:market-place of Cracow. The secularization of Prussia was opposed by the more religious of Sigismund's counsellors, and the king certainly exposed himself to considerable odium in the See also:Catholic See also:world; but taking all the circumstances into See also:consideration, it was perhaps the shortest way out of a situation brisling with difficulties.
Personally a devout Catholic and opposed in principle to the spread of sectarianism in Poland, Sigismund was nevertheless too See also:wise and just to permit the persecution of non-Catholics; and in Lithuania, where a fanatical Catholic minority of magnates dominated the See also:senate, he resolutely upheld the rights of his Orthodox subjects. Thus he rewarded the Orthodox upstart, Prince See also:Constantine Ortrogski, for his victory at Orsza by making him See also:palatine of Troki, despite determined opposition from the Catholics; severely punished all disturbers of the See also:worship of the See also:Greek schismatics; protected the See also:Jews in the See also:country places, and insisted that the municipalities of the towns should be composed of an equal number of Catholics and Orthodox Greeks. By his tact, See also:equity, and See also:Christian charity, Sigismund endeared himself even to those who differed most from him, as See also:witness the readiness of the See also:Lithuanians to elect his See also:infant son grand-duke of Lithuania in 1522, and to See also:crown him in 1529.
After his sixtieth year there was a visible decline in the See also:energy and capacity of Sigismund. To the outward See also:eye his gigantic strength and herculean build See also:- LENT (0. Eng. lenclen, " spring," M. Eng. lenten, lente, lent; cf. Dut. lente, Ger. Lenz, " spring," 0. H. Ger. lenzin, lengizin, lenzo, probably from the same root as " long " and referring to " the lengthening days ")
lent him the See also:appearance of See also:health and vigour, but forty years of unintermittent toil and anxiety had told upon him, and during the last two-and-twenty years of his reign, by which See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time all his old self-chosen counsellors had died off, he apathetically resigned himself to the course of events without making any sustained effort to See also:stein the rising See also:tide of Protestantism and See also:democracy. He had no sympathy with the new men and the new ideas, and the malcontents in Poland often insulted the aged king with impunity. Thus, at his last diet, held at See also:Piotrkow in 1547, Lupa Podlodowski, the See also:champion of the szlachta, openly threatened him with See also:rebellion. Sigismund died on the 1st of April 1548. By Bona he had five children—one son, Sigismund See also:Augustus, who succeeded him, and four daughters, See also:Isabella, who married John Zapolya, prince of Transylvania; See also:Sophia, who married the duke of See also:Brunswick, See also:Catherine, who as the wife of John III. of See also:Sweden became the mother of the Polish Vasas, and See also:Ann, who subsequently wedded King Stephen See also:Bathory.
See See also:August Sokolowski, History of Poland (Pol.), vol. ii. (See also:Vienna, 19o4); Zygmunt Celichowski, Materials for the history of the reign of Sigismund the Old (Pol.) (See also:Posen, 1900) ; Adolf Pawinski, The youthful years of Sigismund the Old (Pol.) (See also:Warsaw, 1893); Adam Darowski, Bona Sforza (1904). (R. N.
End of Article: SIGISMUND I
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!